Part 2:
SPECTRE STRIKE
"The right place at the right time, or the wrong place, depending how you see it..."
Falco put his bag in the storage locker in the back of the Arwing. He took a farewell glance around the hanger before hopping into the ship. It lifted off slowly. Falco rubbed at his beak, it left a streak of blood across the back of his hand. He wasn't particularly angry, which surprised him. He was just sad it had come to this. Great Fox's bay doors opened and he flew slowly out. He wasn't sure how long it would be before he returned there. For a moment his anger resurfaced "I don't care" a mean little voice in the back of his mind said. He ignored it. He did care really. He decided to head for the nearest base, put out a message to his Wandering Avion friends and see who responded, maybe hook up with one of them and go see some of the brighter places in the Federation. Falco was sick of only ever seeing planets when they were up in flames. Once he found someone or somewhere to stay he would call them and tell them where he was. It wasn't fair on Peppy not to say anything. He drifted further from the ship, as planed no-one had noticed his departure. He guessed he would have about half an hour before anyone noticed, if he went at a moderate speed he could be off the scanners by the time anyone looked for him. Even so he headed in the opposite direction to Great Fox.
"Fox! What the hell did you say to him?"
"Huh?" Fox looked sulkily up from the chair in the common room.
"What did you say to him?" Peppy asked again.
"Nothing"
"Well you must have said something! He's gone Fox!"
"I didn't-What? What d'you mean gone?"
"Gone, as in, not onboard anymore"
"I-oh shit. He wouldn't"
"Wouldn't what?"
"Listen to me for once"
"What did you say to him?" Peppy asked angrily
"I told him to get off my ship..."
"Fox you idiot!!"
"I didn't think for one minute he would take me seriously!"
"That's the problem Fox you didn't think at all!"
"I... where's he gone?"
"I don't know Fox" he said exasperated. "I wish I did. He's gone too far for scanners to find him..."
Falco fiddled with the radio, eventually he picked up something remotely interesting, the news as it happened. He tapped his hands against the controls and listened with mild curiosity.
"-Forest fires continue to spread on Korona. Local fire fighting units have been battling the flames since early yesterday with little success. The local planets have also sent in their services to assist but they are struggling to contain the blaze as it moves closer and closer to one of the major cities in the southern hemisphere. Reporter Mandy Simmons is there now-
"The fire has now reached the outskirts of the city, fire-fighters and local people are doing their best to repel the flames and protect their property but it looks to be a loosing battle. Little rainfall and hot conditions over the last three months have led the surrounding landscape to be as dry as matchwood. Fierce winds are also helping to fan the flames closer to the houses. I am standing in one of the streets and I can tell you the heat is incredible! Plans are in place to evacuate the residents however they are unwilling to leave their homes"
Thank you Mandy.
In other news the Federation has again refused to comment on the increasing humanitarian crisis on Andolonia as supply convoys again fail to breach the rebel blockades. After three months of civil war hundreds of thousands face starvation as the separatists hold the planet to ransom, preventing all but their own supply vessels from reaching the surface. The Federation stood by its refusal of military assistance to ensure the supplies get through. Further diplomatic efforts have failed. The separatists are refusing to drop the blockades until their demands are met. Aid workers predict that there will be serious famine on the planet if supply lines cannot be restored within the next few days. Large protests have been held in anger at the Federation's decision, military commanders are meeting again today to discuss the situation.
A bleeping stirred Falco from his thoughts. He reached down and switched the radio off. He looked down at the scanners.
"That's funny" he said to no-one in particular. A strange set of signals were coming through. Falco's curiosity got the better of him. He turned his Arwing to head towards them. "There's no shipping lanes for miles around here... If they're in trouble maybe I can lend a hand..."
As Falco got closer to the strange readings his suspicions increased.
"Those look like fighter signals... nah can't be, not this far out. But if those are fighters what the hell's that big thing they're circling round? Its enormous, that thing must be 20 times the size of Great Fox! There's definitely something funny going on here" Falco still approached the source of the readings although slower now with more caution.
"What the hell? That's a ship?" Falco stared at the ship in the distance. It was dark black and massive, lumbering along slowly. "This can't be good" Falco continued to stare at it "there must be 50 fighters patrolling that thing, and even that isn't many. There must be bay space for a thousand on that thing!... I think I'd rather if it doesn't spot me."
He cut the engine and systems to their minimum then began scanning the ship with everything he had, even photography. He'd never understood before why Slippy had bothered fitting the Arwings with cameras.
"I'm just one more ship out here amongst all those other ones, so hopefully they wont notice me. Maybe I can get a little closer. Besides if they do spot me I can be long gone by the time they organise fighters to give chase... I hope so anyway"
He pushed his Arwing as close as he dared "Scans are better the closer you get..." Falco looked up "But I think this is close enough" he stayed for a little longer scanning and taking photos "time to leave now I think"
Falco pulled the Arwing away and sped off into the distance, towards Corneria, though he didn't realise it.
"Shit what if that thing wasn't one of ours?" Falco said suddenly "The Federation is in major trouble! There goes my quiet couple of weeks. So what the hell do I do now... I can't go back to Great Fox... Corneria I suppose. Tell General Pepper. Oh hell I seriously hope I've got this all wrong!"
Falco headed for the nearest shipping lane. "maybe someone will pick me up. I need to get there fast, before that thing does any damage" Falco stopped suddenly then sighed "phew, at least Fox is going in the opposite direction, they wont run into it..."
"you don't think he could have gone home, back to Avion do you?"
Peppy looked round from the panel where Slippy was trying to increase their sensor range.
"no"
"What makes you so sure?" Fox asked
Peppy had never been certain if Falco had told Fox. He guessed not. Peppy had only found out himself a few months ago, when he'd pressured him to visit his family that little bit too hard, after avoiding the issue and shrugging their proximity to Avion off for days Falco had finally exploded. His exact words seemed to be burned into Peppy's mind, mainly because they had come as such a shock, though they had still confirmed suspicions Peppy had never been able to fully shake off.
"If I go back there I wont be held responsible for my actions. If I ever see my father again it wont be him doing the beating! I'll make him regret what he did to me. I'm not so defenceless anymore!"
Falco had only been 8 when he had been forced onto streets in fear that the next time his father's abuse would be fatal. For a month he had thieved and fought to survive, working with a pack of StreetRunner as they called themselves. Falco owed their leader Jedd his life several times over. When the police finally found him and picked him up he'd been afraid to go home. He suffered abuse at the hands of his father for the next few months, but the streets had taught him to defend himself. Fortunately for him the Star Fox team had come along shortly afterwards and in his words "rescued" him. Longer and he would have been killed in the conflicts or forced to flee again...
"Falco wont go back to Avion. I'm certain of that" Peppy said angrily.
The after-blast of the massive cargo carrier shook Falco's Arwing. He watched it recede into the distance.
"Thanks" he mumbled irritably as he pushed his Arwing as fast as it would go along the edge of the shipping lane. It was fairly busy so he hoped there would be something else along soon. The scanner started to bleep again. Another smaller cargo carrier came into range, as it approached it began to reduce its speed until it passed him and then matched speed with him flying along just ahead and to his left.
"Need a lift buddy?" a voice asked
"Yeah!" Falco answered... "well duh" he thought
"Where you headed?"
"Corneria, as fast as possible"
"We're heading for Katina, we'll drop you off on the way. Hop aboard!"
Falco watched the cargo bay doors open and landing lights come on to guide him in. He coaxed his Arwing into the docking bay, docking at these kinds of speeds was scary, his ship could barely go quick enough. He managed however and landed on the cramped deck between boxes of supplies. He left his Arwing to cool. Its over pressured engines whining their objections. The voice greeted him over the intercom.
"Welcome aboard, can you find your way to the bridge?"
"Err..."
"Top deck, find an elevator and go all the way up"
Falco walked out of the docking bay into a massive hold. Crates piled up to the ceiling at least three decks' height above. Falco knew there would be at least two other holds of this size in the ship. They were massive. This particular cargo carrier wasn't even one of the big ones. It was only about as big as Great Fox. The thought of the sheer size of some of them made Falco's head hurt. He looked round for an elevator. He spotted a promising set of double doors and headed towards them. When they opened they revealed a lift. Falco stepped inside and pushed the button to take him to the top deck.
Falco came out into a quiet corridor. He looked either direction. One end of the corridor stopped at a set of double doors, the other disappeared round a corner and had many doors leading off it. Falco made a guess and headed for the double doors. As he had hoped they led onto the bridge. Two people turned round to greet him. A Vulgarian, a badger like creature for want of a better comparison and a young Canite, like Fox.
"Welcome aboard The Grand Duchess" the Vulgarian said grinning. Falco looked around dilapidated bridge and grinned too, their was nothing grand about this ship. The Vulgarian smiled and patted one of the control panels. "She's an old girl, we have to be gentle... Sydney Tarbuck" he said holding out a hand which Falco shook "And this is Tom"
"Hi" Tom said shyly
Falco was about to introduce himself when Sydney spoke again.
"Hey don't I know you from somewhere?" he asked. Falco shook his head wearily.
"Falco Lombardi" He said simply.
"Yeah that's it! From Star Fox right?"
"My reputation precedes me. Yeah that's right"
"Where your buddies? I haven't seen your ship on any of our scans"
Falco formulated a lie that would answer lots of awkward questions quickly.
"I'm on holiday, some friends of mine were supposed to pick me up but they got delayed, that's why I'm heading for Corneria, I'm going to meet them there."
"oh right"
"We're supposed to be getting a shuttle to an outlying colony this evening, so I'm in a bit of a hurry. I really appreciate the lift."
"Sure thing, it brightens up the journey. Mighty boring going form one side of the Federation to the other all the time. Its not every trip we can pick up a hitch-hiker"
"I never thought of it like that" Falco said mildly leaning against one of the chairs and looking out at the stars flicking quickly past.
"how long till we reach Corneria?" he asked.
"A couple of hours, chill buddy, its not going anywhere"
When Falco thought of the ship he wondered.
"Yeah I suppose not"
"We'll get you there in plenty of time to meet your friends and your shuttle."
Falco suddenly felt a small presence beside him tugging on his sleeve.
"Can I see your ship?" An equally small voice asked. Tom looked up at him with big child eyes.
"Yeah ok..." he went to leave the bridge "you don't mind do you?" he suddenly asked Sydney, remembering how touchy Peppy could sometimes get.
"Of course not! I'd like to come too, but someone has to drive!" Falco smiled and walked through the double doors followed by Tom.
Falco lifted Tom into the cockpit.
"Ohhh!!!" He cried in young delight. Falco smiled to himself as he watched the small boy in the cockpit, if Fox could see him now... they'd be laughing about this for weeks... Falco showed Tom the airbrake pedals and where they corresponded to the moving parts of the wing. The first thing Fox had ever shown him, when he was only a little older than Tom. Falco let him play as he checked one of the engine inspection panels. He had to make sure he hadn't burnt anything out in his haste to get away from the ship. The engine smelt a bit hot but nothing obvious was hanging off. Falco closed the panel again as he listened to Tom make engine and laser noises. Falco climbed the ladder on the side of the ship and lent into the cockpit to watch him. Tom looked up and spoke.
"Daddy'll never believe I got to ride in a real Arwing!" Falco frowned at him, he knew better than to ask the question playing on his mind. Instead Tom answered it for him "He's asleep, its Sydney's turn to fly the ship. He wont be up for hours! They let me fly it a while back! Daddy will get in trouble if mummy finds out" he laughed to himself "mummy doesn't usually let me go with daddy and Sydney on their trips but I'm on holiday from school. She finally let me go"
Falco lent into the cockpit "would you like to be a pilot?"
"Yeah, I'm gunna fly Cargo Carriers like daddy. He said he'd give me Duchess, but I think all she'll be good for is scrap by the time I'm big" Falco smiled but said nothing. He could hear the ship's engines struggling to keep up their speed, she seemed to rattle a lot more than Falco was used to as well.
A little later they returned to the bridge. Tom chattered happily to Sydney as Falco lent against one of the rails. He decided however it was probably better to stand up when it moved under his weight. He listened mildly as Sydney talked on the comm.
"Cargo Carrier Grand Duchess this is shipping control. You are now entering the Lylat quadrant, please your reduce speed."
"Roger Lylat" Falco felt the ship lurch as is speed dropped considerably.
"Please state your destination"
"Katina, Adria city"
"Thank you Grand Duchess, please observe the speed limit and shipping rules. Have a safe and pleasant journey"
"Thank you control. Grand Duchess out"
Sydney cut the comm.
"Well Falco you're welcome to stay with us a bit longer but if you're in a hurry it might be quicker for you to go on alone. The shipping lanes are always bottlenecked around Corneria"
"I know" Falco smiled "'Cept when we come in we get a military escort and bypass the lot"
"ah you haven't lived until you've sat in the Cornerian entrance corridor for 4 hours... lovely"
Falco smiled.
"I hate making deliveries to Corneria, heck anywhere in the Lylat quadrant, its always packed!"
Falco looked out the window. Their speed was now very low.
"It probably would be quicker for me on my own. My Arwing will slip through the crowds. Thanks for the lift. I owe you one, I'll give you a wave if I see you on my travels"
"Military escort would be nice next time we have to deliver to Corneria!"
Falco smiled "I'll se what I can do."
"Goodbye Falco" Tom shouted
"Bye Tom. Thanks again Sydney"
Falco walked off the bridge. He was reminded that he was in a hurry. That ship was definitely up to something, but he couldn't risk using the comm. to talk about it. Even the most secure lines could be tapped, as Slippy had proven more than once.
The bay doors opened and Falco flew out. He barrel rolled briefly as he passed the bridge window then pulled away. Small vessels could fly just about anywhere except the shipping lanes.
Falco dropped down into the Cornerian atmosphere.
"I remember this place" he mumbled to himself. "Crowded, hot, smelly, noisy. Ugh give me a moon with no-one on it any day" He drifted above the skyscraper filled world "and people call this place beautiful? Deprived, the poor things." He glided closer to the buildings. In the hazy distance he could see the massive bulk of the military base and the long stretches of runway needed for some of the ships.
"unidentified vessel, please reduce your height to road level, you are currently blocking cruiser landing approach routes"
"Sorry" Falco said over the comm. as he pitched his Arwing's nose down. It struck him how much easier things had been when Fox was there. He dropped into the highest level of normal traffic, where vessels on long trips used. The lane was high above the buildings but for some reason was still called "road level".
"is it always sunny here?" he asked as the Arwing logged hot conditions outside. There hadn't bee a cloud to see when he had flown in. "nice day for the beach. Have to take lots of sun block... hold on what's going on up here then?"
Up ahead a police ship sat in the road. Most of the traffic was pitching down into the main streets, flying between the buildings.
"Oh yay! Today just keeps getting better and better!" he followed the lane. The police cruiser directed him down onto the streets
"No, I want to carry on along there" The police cruiser signalled again "but..." it still signalled "alright, alright!!" Falco followed the stream of traffic down "Who am I to wonder at the logic of a traffic cop? Send a military vessel into the heart of civilian territory, makes perfect sense" Falco shook his head and checked his weapons were disarmed. "Hey, I'm not even licensed to fly in city streets but never mind. As long as the police don't stop me huh?... Ah! This is what city life does to you. I'm talking to myself...oh well, nothing unusual there" Falco looked around as he passed between two large buildings "they couldn't even send me onto one of the expressways! Now, where the hell am I? I think the base was in this direction..." As he flew through Corneria's busy streets Falco was again reminded that it was a nice place to visit but he wouldn't want to live there. It was too crowded, noisy and polluted. It reminded him of Avion too much. If he ever settled on a planet it would have to have a population density of about 1 person to every 100 miles. Falco reprimanded himself for being anti-social. He took it back when a bakery van cut him up. He swore standing on the brakes.
"That's why I hate flying in cities!" he considered shooting the van but decided it wouldn't do his reputation much good. He was already getting funny looks from some of the civilian drivers. Not many Arwings were seen flying through the city streets. He tried to get the computer to log into the street map, something was interfering with the signal.
"Argh you piece of crap, you'd better start working soon or I'll be totally lost!" he thumped his hand on the panel as he sat waiting at traffic lights. The screen crackled but still read "Searching". The ship behind blew its horn at him. The light was green.
"Oops sorry!" he said and signalled apologetically. Falco thumped the control panel again, it still read "searching".
"Cheap piece of crap!" he shouted at it he looked around at the landscape outside "haven't Cornerians ever heard of sign posts?"
He followed the flow of traffic in the direction he hopped the base was in. Finally there was a bleeping sound. The computer had logged into the map.
"Find Corneria military base" Falco said to it. The road map displayed a route to the base. Starting with a turning on the left Falco had just missed.
"Find alternate route" he said irritably.
Fortunately for the computer it directed him up a few side streets and out onto an expressway,
"Good computer" Falco mumbled as he followed the directions.
Falco tried to ignore the fact that he was breaking the law as he sped a long the expressway. Peppy would have his head if he could see him now. Still the information had to get to General Pepper and this was the best way to do it. He sighed, things had been easier with Fox. Everyone recognised him... which wasn't always a good thing. Falco still remembered the hit squads, the assassination attempts, the car bomb meant for them...
Falco nearly had an accident as he tried to get off the expressway again. A small red personal transport undertook him and he narrowly avoided pulling into the side of it.
"Idiot!" he screamed as it sped past. The next thing in the lane, a purple van let him across.
"Thank you" he called and signalled gratefully. Arwings weren't designed for this kind of thing so he was left shaking the wing tips. He was glad to pull off. The new lane was empty apart from him and a couple of vans going in the opposite direction. Arwings came and went from the base all the time so most of the security posts didn't give him a second glance. The I.D on the ship had clearance and didn't register as stolen so they had no reason to stop him. Most people just didn't notice who it was registered to.
Falco left the Arwing in the secure compound outside the front of the base. As he walked through the entrance doors he noted how strange it was to be here not accompanied by Fox and the rest. The guards stopped Falco as he went to walk up the familiar corridor by pointing their guns at his head.
"Hey! What the hell? Let me through!"
"Do you have clearance?" Someone sat behind a table asked. Falco paused at that question, he'd been into the base more times than he could count, but before he'd always been with Fox. The guards had hardly batted an eyelid at him.
"Falco Lombardi, here to see General Pepper"
"Yeah, and I'm Fox McCloud" The sarcastic guard behind the table said.
"Fox is a lot shorter than you" Falco said equally sarcastically drawing out his I.D. He ignored the armed guards as they lowered their guns as he walked away from the corridor. He showed the card to the Canite behind the table and put his hand into he biochip reader.
"Err do you have an appointment?" he asked looking at the card and the readout.
"No" Falco said irritably
"Then you can't see him" the guard said smugly
Falco tapped the table "Just call him and tell him I want to talk to him"
"I can't sir, you'll have to leave now"
"Yeah, right" Falco said "I'm not going anywhere until I speak to him"
"I'm afraid you'll have to sir."
Falco lent over the desk and picked up the comm. and dialled the number he knew related to Pepper's office
"Call him" he said handing him the receiver. The shocked guard took it and waited for Pepper to answer. Falco leant back grinning.
"Uh, Sir there's a Falco Lombardi here insisting that he sees you"
General Pepper looked up. "Really" he commented.
"I'm sorry sir, we asked him to leave but he refused"
"Oh really, send him up." The general said. The guard's jaw dropped
"Sir?"
"Send him up" The comm. cut out. The guard turned a confused face to Falco and spoke resentfully.
"Let him through"
Falco smiled satisfied and walked off. "Thanks" he called causally to the fuming guard as he walked into the base.
Falco knocked on General Pepper's door.
"Enter" a familiar voice said. Falco stepped inside. General Pepper was standing facing the door. Falco noted his bright airy office hadn't changed much. His big desk sprawled with papers, a model Arwing on top of a computer monitor. A few photos of family and friends, one of those of James McCloud. It was quite nice, for an army general anyway. His window was wide open flooding the room with warm Cornerian sunlight.
"So Falco, what brings you all the way to Corneria?" He asked cheerfully
"Err..." Falco wasn't sure where to start, Pepper sat down heavily and gestured to offer Falco a seat. Falco sat down before continuing "Err... I was passing through the Martiri quadrant and I encountered something unusual" Pepper's head snapped up.
"What?" he asked so loudly it made Falco jump.
"uh... a ship" Falco said alarmed at his reaction. Pepper calmed himself down a little.
"Really, what sort of ship" he asked more casually
"I don't think it was one of ours sir..." he pulled a disk out of his pocket and gave it to him. Pepper stared at it for a moment before putting it in the computer.
"It think I got fairly good scans before I risked being picked up"
Pepper stared at the images on the computer. His face worried, flicking quickly through the scans
"Ah shit" he said to himself
"Sir have I stumbled upon something wasn't supposed to?" Falco asked uneasily. He didn't appear to hear him
"Falco, have you told anyone about this?"
"no"
"Did Fox and the rest see it?"
"No sir, we were going in opposite directions, unless it changes course they wont see it"
"Right..." Pepper stared at the scans for a long time "... the Martiri quadrant you say... makes sense." Pepper got up and closed the window. Falco followed him with his eyes.
"Sir?" Falco asked confused. Pepper pulled a file from a locked cabinet marked "top secret". Falco wondered what he was letting himself in for. Pepper sat down forlornly.
"Please don't be offended when I remind you that everything that goes on in this office must not go beyond the walls" Falco nodded
"Of course sir... can I ask... What the hell is that thing?"
"I was hoping you could tell me, you're the first to see it and live to talk about it"
Falco's breath caught in his throat. He coughed.
"What?!!" he finally managed to say. Pepper opened the file and handed Falco a diagram of a ship. He looked at it, it was a long range cargo carrier.
"This is a Celadon Cargo Carrier, the Mary Rose. She was travelling through the Lantini quadrant three days ago hauling food supplies. She turned off the main shipping lane towards her destination down a quiet route at 0700, an hour later shipping control lost contact with her"
Pepper paused for a moment to allow his words to sink in. Falco put the pieces together. The Lantini quadrant was next door to the Martiri. The cargo carrier was massive. He looked up.
"This is the last conversation of the pilots recorded and sent by the ship's systems." Pepper put a disk into the computer. It burst into the sounds of voices
"Real funny Ray" a female voice said. Laughter could be heard in the background. Eerily suddenly it stopped.
"Hey Jean do you see that on scanners?" a male voice asked
"What?... What the hell is that thing?"
"It's right over the shipping lane!"
"What's it doing? We've got priority"
"Stop! Before we hit it"
Sounds of the engines being run on an emergency stop rattled the cockpit.
"Wow look at that thing!"
"What's it doing?"
"Hey, is it gunna board us?"
"This is the Celadon cargo carrier Mary Rose what is your business? We are a civilian crew carrying food to Almec. Please respond"
Silence, then a scream.
"Mayday, mayday, Mary Rose to shipping command may-argghhh!"
The recording cut to crackles then nothing more.
Falco sat stunned in the oppressive silence. General Pepper then gave him a few images from the file.
"This is what was on the Mary Rose's last scans" Falco stared at the pictures. Heat scans, 3d modelling. He struggled to make sense of what he was seeing.
"The next vessel to go through was a personnel carrier, but not for several hours. It reported wreckage, but nowhere near enough to account for the destruction of a ship the Mary Rose's size. There was no sign any other ship. We have a mystery on our hands"
Pepper paused again and handed Falco another snatched picture.
"The same thing happened over another outlying shipping lane a week ago, another a few days before that."
He stopped again and nudged the photo Falco was staring at.
"Look familiar? Is that your ship?" Falco looked up helplessly and nodded.
"I picked a hell of a day to leave Star Fox" he groaned. Pepper looked up at the comment but said nothing.
"This vessel poses a military threat to the security of the Federation. You know that don't you"
"All those fighters, I gathered they were up to something"
"Fighters? How many did you count" Pepper asked flicking back to Falco's scans.
"Lots, maybe fifty patrolling and bay space for lots more"
"Really... Falco did you say you left Star Fox?"
"Sort of sir..." Falco said a little uneasily.
"Right..." That was good enough for him. Pepper paused for a long time "Where're you staying?"
"Uh, right now, nowhere"
"You can stay on the base"
Falco frowned suspiciously.
"Sir... can I ask what are you going to do about this thing?"
Pepper looked up and smiled grimly.
"We've been formulating a plan for the last few days... it still has lots of holes... more holes than fabric actually"
"Well what do you need?"
"Are you volunteering Falco?" Pepper asked his face cracking into a smile that was oddly familiar, though thoroughly unnerving. Falco got the impression he'd walked into a trap.
"... depends what you have in mind"
"Well actually Falco we have very little in mind, your scans are the first real pieces of information that are of any use to us."
"Can I offer my opinion sir?"
"Of course"
"That thing is so enormous... there must be space for a thousand fighters. Sir even if you could rally a fleet of 5 thousand they wouldn't even make a dent. Air combat's always been my specialty. If you send in the fleet I wouldn't rate their chances very highly. Arwings wont even make a dent"
"So what are you getting at?"
"We're going to have to take that thing out from the inside"
"That's what we thought. Excuse me a second" He pushed a button on the desk. "Could I have security in here please?" Pepper took the disk out of his computer wrote a quick note and shoved it in an envelope along with the disk. Then a guard knocked on the door. "Come in"
A tall Canite, a boxer like Pepper came into the room
"Ah Sam please take this to Doctor Davies for me"
"Yes sir" The Canite turned and trotted out of the room.
Pepper stood up "Come with me"
Falco stood and followed the General out of the office and down a long series of corridors. Falco could tell just by the feel of the place they were entering the hangers. Pepper led him down a hallway off the main corridor. He ran an access card into a scanner and put his hand out for a biochip reading. The door slid open.
"Come on Falco" he said as he looked nervously round. Pepper talked as they walked. "This is one of our research areas. Top secret as you might have gathered. I have something to show you. A neat little trick that would probably be more Slippy's sort of thing than yours"
Falco smiled "I guess I wont be able to share it with him though"
"No. We took the decision not to involve mercenary teams in this"
"Oh... so sir, why am I here?"
"You came at the right time, besides your not with Star Fox right now are you?"
"Not exactly no..." Falco said uneasily, that had never been his intention, he felt as though he was being backed into a corner.
"We might have a little mission for you after all..."
"Oh look my quiet few weeks just flew out the window, bye, bye!" Falco thought in his mind and waved mentally.
Pepper took him into a large bay. A shuttle sat in the middle of it. A few people scurried around it.
"General pepper?" a little voice asked. Falco looked to see a young rabbit face peering round one of the doors. He was startled by just how young. He must only be the same age as Slippy. Slippy was far too young to be doing what he was.
"Falco this is Salty, the leader of this research team" Falco frowned. Salty emerged from the shuttle. His features reminded Falco of a much younger Peppy, but his face and manner were like Slippy through and through, wiping his oily hands on an even more oily cloth. Another young mechanical genius.
"Hi!" He said and Falco was sure. He grasped the outstretched hand.
"Salty will you show Falco what you've been working on"
Salty looked at him suspiciously then nodded.
"Ok guys time for a test run!" he called. A couple of others scampered around then Salty called out again "Ok hit it Max"
The shuttle faded and disappeared. Falco blinked and rubbed his eyes in disbelief. The shuttle still wasn't there. Salty smiled at his reaction. Helplessly Falco looked at General Pepper who nodded to Salty.
"Ok Max that's enough" he called. The shuttle reappeared.
"Thank you Salty" General Pepper said. Salty smiled and trotted off.
"How?" Falco asked when he managed to get his mouth to work again.
"You'd have to ask Salty that" He walked off and gestured for him to follow.
Pepper turned to look out the window of the side room onto the bay where Salty and his team were working.
"Do you think it could be useful?" he asked a still stunned Falco.
"Err...well... uh?"
"Thing is for the power source we loose shields... its been a long time since I flew any combat missions. Since before you were born probably. Times have moved on"
"Well sir... if you can just disappear... you wouldn't need shields if you can slip past the fighters unnoticed"
"yes... do you think you could land in a docking bay without being noticed?"
Falco began to realise what he was getting at.
"well it depends on the security systems... Great Fox used to pick up anything that came in... it depends what the ship scans for and what that device covers up... honestly sir I don't know."
"Ok thank you Falco. I have to meet with some other Generals this afternoon. We are discussing this mission. If we need your help would you be willing?"
"Yes sir." Falco was sure he couldn't really say no, he knew to much now.
"good. The exact mission hasn't been detailed yet, I think we would be glad of your input, you are after all the only one to have seen this thing properly"
"Ok..."
"good, bring your ship around here, I'd rather if no-one spotted a Star Fox Arwing in the back yard. The press and all you know"
Falco nodded.
Several Generals sat round a large table in an unpleasantly warm Cornerian office. Falco and Salty, the mechanic, sat side by side felt thoroughly out of place.
"I feel like a sparrow in a cattery" Falco whispered to him as they waited for the meeting to start. Falco was surprised when Salty laughed. Falco found himself grinning for some reason he didn't really understand.
"What's funny?" General Pepper asked. They both looked up.
"Nothing" Falco said coughing to smother laughter, watching Salty out of the corner of his eye as he sniggered into his hand. There was something oddly familiar about him. Falco found himself seeing Slippy again when he looked at him, which was surprising as his rabbit features were more like Peppy's. There was something in his eyes, a youthful vitality and curiosity for life that they shared. Falco turned to watch an older rabbit wearing a white coat enter the room.
"Ah Doctor Davies, we've been waiting for you" General Pepper said. "if everyone could take their seats now"
The group of people who had been dotted around the room came and sat down in various places. When Falco looked round he found he knew most of them, by name if not personally.
"sorry sir, I've been busy looking at these scans" Doctor Davies said.
"Not at all" Pepper smiled. Once every one was sat down he spoke again "Welcome everyone. First I must introduce Salty Greenbank, the mechanical genius responsible for our new cloaking technology, and for those of you who don't know him, Falco Lombardi, who brought us those scans. Doctor Davies, have you found anything out?"
"Well" he stood up and put a disk into a computer in the table. A now familiar shape flashed up as a hologram in the middle of the table. A mostly square ship, which seemed never to have encountered the idea of aerodynamics, it was hard even to tell which side was the front. "Thanks to Falco's scans we now have significantly more information on this "Behemoth" as my team and some others have come to call it. It is massive for want of a better word. We scanned a patrolling fleet of 47 vessels, which has led up to believe that this ship's onboard fleet must be extensive. We have found at least 7 large docking bays and 4 smaller ones" He clicked the controls so the hologram zoomed in on a specific area "The weaponry on this ship is extensive"
One of the Generals whistled to himself as a huge cannon was displayed.
"Indeed. We've counted at least 20 of these cannons all across the hull, they are more than capable of destroying Arwing and Javelin class fighters with single shots. The hull is also peppered with smaller automated laser cannons. An aerial assault is impractical, if not suicide. An internal strike team is the only logical option if this threat is to be removed, and clearly it is a threat. The situation has not changed much with the addition of these scans, our options remain the same I feel, however we now have more information to go on "
"Any suggestions?" One General asked
"Yes. Salty, Falco and I have been discussing a plan. Salty's new cloaking device will allow a shuttle to become invisible, it may be possible to use this to our advantage-"
"What, just fly up to its docking bays and hope no one spots us??"
"More or less, yes"
One of the generals laughed out loud. He was silenced by a look from a few of the generals and Salty.
"Unfortunately" an old Vulgarian whose hair was now more grey than black said slowly "This is, so far, our only plausible plan" he spoke even more slowly to emphasis his point, Falco spotted Pepper flash him a grateful look. The Lupine who had laughed looked disgruntled.
"How do you suggest we do this without half this thing's crew knowing we're there?"
"The shuttle can become invisible"
"Yes Pepper I heard you the first time. There's more to getting into a ship like this than simply not being able to be seen with the naked eye"
"Salty." Pepper coaxed.
Salty found his voice but when he spoke it came out like a nervous squeak.
"The cloak will make the shuttle, and just about any other ship completely untraceable on most forms of sensors. You could pass within a few feet of a patrolling Arwing without them ever noticing we're there."
"Even so how do we get into the docking bay?"
"With that many fighters patrolling the bay doors would be open nearly all the time" Commander Alsair, border control pointed out.
"Surely the when the atmospheric barrier was broken they would notice something"
"That's the problem" Salty said weakly. "The cloak can't get rid of the physical object so the barrier would be disrupted. Also the ground crew would hear it coming in"
"With that many different ships coming and going its unlikely that there would be an automatic alarm triggered by the shuttle landing... isn't it?"
"Yes... but you might have... what... a few seconds of confusion until some smartass goes to raise the alarm?" A Canite like Fox said, General Hughes, Special Ops.
"Then the whole secrets out"
Falco spoke up.
"Not necessarily. You could glide the shuttle in, cut all the power except manoeuvring thrusters, that'll help with the heat signature and the noise levels. Have a couple of snipers ready to knock off the ground crew and you should be able to do it before anyone raises an alarm. If your fast... you'd need a damn good pilot too..."
"Could you do it Lombardi?"
Falco looked intently at the hologram shoving the docking bay. Finally he looked up.
"No"
"They say you're one of the best"
Falco smiled the shook his head "In an Arwing maybe, I have very little experience with personnel shuttles" Falco chuckled to himself "the last time I flew one it blew up, but that wasn't entirely my fault. Short answer. Find someone else. I'll do the sniping"
"I think I know someone who might be able to do it" General Pepper mused "Silver Allret. If she can't do it no-one can"
Falco was thoughtful "Sir... in my view it's not getting in that will be the problem. Its getting out again" He said softly.
"Lets concentrate on getting in first Lombardi" A Lupine General Falco didn't know very well said. Oddly he reminded him of Wolf O'Donnell, only with both eyes, one of Fox's old... Friends? Hopefully long dead.
"I'm not in the business of suicide runs, there's no point in considering this operation if we can't get out again"
"Alright Falco, but lets just see if getting in is practical first" general Pepper said
That would be hard to get used to, with Fox they always planned the evacuation first, then worked out the rest of the mission. The Star Fox team always had more to lose than the army. Falco noticed Salty looking at him nervously, he tried to smile reassuringly, but Falco was suddenly overwhelmed with the sensation that he was in over his head.
"Do you think it would be possible to knock off all the ground crew... just like that?"
"It would have to be all of them. We can't afford to miss even one."
"How many we talking about? What ten, twenty?"
"Depends how big the docking bay is, get one of the smaller ones and your looking at ten, fifteen max" General Hughes said
Falco swore under his breath "Why did I choose today of all days to fight with Fox? I could have done without this. I really need to learn to say No!"
"Well how long we gunna have... a good sniper can take... what five...in about fifteen seconds can't they?"
"Not without making a bloody mess they can't!" Falco heard himself object. Salty beside him jumped and stared at him. "oh crap I've done it again! I do seem to have a knack for dropping myself in it today..."
"Control yourself Lombardi" Pepper warned.
"Sorry sir"
"Well Commander Alsair. I think you were being a little optimistic. General Hughes, your trained snipers, one of your best. How many, how long?"
"Mm" he rubbed his chin. "I don't know... sniping isn't something you usually rush... a fast sniper can get maybe... one every five seconds... Hell this is impossible to judge! It depends on the spacing and movement! I can't possibly say... The faster you go when sniping the more you risk missing, miss and you give the game away. You'd almost be better letting off a few rapid-fire rounds into them."
"That's too random! Hit a power relay and you'll have every alarm on the ship going off!"
"Snipe too fast and you risk that anyway"
"We'd need more than one... one each side of the shuttle at least, one on each door... This I going to be damn close... its stupid. The pilot would have to open the doors as soon as the shuttle breaches the atmosphere. This isn't just going to be close, it's going to be virtually impossible!"
"Does anyone have a better idea?"
Silence. Pepper turned to General Hughes
"Simple question, can it be done, yes, or no?"
"Um... Yes. I think so, though I'd say you'd need four snipers each facing opposite directions, two on each door. Even then it's going to be close."
Falco shrugged. "If it goes wrong at this stage the pilot can pull out and we can retreat. It's later that the real problems begin" Falco paused "oh shit I just said "we", I've as good as volunteered for this!"
"We haven't finished organising this stage yet Lombardi. Hold your horses!"
"Lombardi does make a good point. Ok, lets just say we get in without an alarm being raised. Then what?"
"Plant some DH4's and blow this thing to the other side of the Federation!"
"We'd need half a tonne to blow a ship that size!"
"If you strap it to a reactor core or something the chain reaction will do most of the work for you" Salty suggested.
"How do you suggest we find a reactor core Greenbank?!"
"Just track the power source. That's not hard, anyone in my team could build you a power source tracker out of the spare parts of children's toys"
Falco was surprised by Salty's words. He seemed to have had a sudden boost of confidence. He seemed to be regretting it now. Falco wondered it the heat was getting to them both.
"Alright Greenbank, but will your tracker stop you walking into a dead-end?"
"No, but I can adapt it to scan metallic surfaces, that'll give you as good as a map for about 100 meter radius. They'll have to make good on the route as they go, just head in the general direction of the power source."
The idea of getting lost in that ship terrified Falco.
"That's the best we can hope for. Unless someone's got an insider I don't know about"
There were little grunts of laughter from around the room. Falco found what they were discussing anything but funny. These generals had definitely lost touch with reality.
"You lot talk as though the strike team is going to be able to walk around undisturbed! Sooner or later someone will challenge them. From then on it could be a running gun battle if it goes pear shaped and someone raises the alarm. They will never be able to plant a bomb, get out and blow it. If the people on the Behemoth discover the bomb they can disarm it and all the effort's wasted! The strike team doesn't need to have to contend with risking getting lost as well!" "that's better..."Them" not us"
"Well what else do you suggest Lombardi?"
"I'm just telling the truth. I've been on black-ops that had more intelligence than this and seen them go wrong, and only just got out with my life. There are too many holes in this mission. You can't seriously justify going ahead with it until you remove some of the variables."
"No-one told me Lombardi was a coward. He doesn't live up to his reputation." The Lupine Falco still hadn't found a name for snarled. Falco bristled.
"By the look of things I'm going to end up going on this mission. I'd like to be able to come back with my feathery hide intact! So far I'm not overly confident."
"I thought you mercenaries loved the risky missions?"
Falco laughed. "Sure, we just love throwing our lives away. Although I do concede that so far, nothing better has presented itself. I just thought you should be reminded of how risky this mission is. And if it goes wrong you'll lose your best advantage, your cloak. That will only fool them once. Twice at best."
"What would make you more confident?" Pepper asked giving Falco an appraising look that thoroughly unnerved him.
"Can't you get more deep set recognisance scans, the ones I brought in barely scratched the surface. Try and give us an idea of the internal layout, how many people on board and their locations. I'd rather not land in a shuttle bay right next to the soldier's mess-hall. Find an area that's mostly unoccupied and it would go a long way to making me breathe easier. At least find a docking bay that's close to the main reactor. We don't want to have to cross the entire ship to get to it then go back again!"
"Reasonable requests. Does anyone have any objections to that?"
"No, as long as the scanning vessels don't get caught."
"They won't. Alright Lombardi, I'll organise that... ok, so we get the bomb to the core. Is there anything we can do to stop them being able to remove it before we can get our people out?" Pepper asked
"Special Ops can deal with that, enough proximity alarms so that if anyone tampers with it, it will blow up anyway, hell if we're attaching it to something belching out as much power as a reactor core we could set up low level shielding! You'd need one of my guys to do that though"
"Alright Hughes, find someone"
He smiled "Already have just the guy or guys, if you want"
"Mm 2 special ops can't go amiss. Alright Hughes"
"How do we handle getting out again? Even I'm not optimistic enough to think we'll be able to slip out unnoticed"
"Thick blaster armour for a running gun battle... we can't do much more than that... except pray"
"That's easy for him to say, he's not going" Falco thought
"But that shuttle... even with the cloak it'll be a sitting duck, it's too slow" Commander Alsair said.
"Then we do what we always do, give the shuttle an escort" Pepper said
"But to do that we would need to carry Arwings in the shuttle and have pilots in the team!"
Pepper nodded towards Falco briefly and he suddenly realised why he was there, that was good though. He would be back in familiar territory.
"1 escort won't be enough. We'll need another one."
"I already have someone waiting in the wings" Pepper said smugly.
"We'd need to fit the Arwings with the cloaks"
"I can do that" Salty said simply.
"So what do the escorts do then... what... fly at the shuttle's wings and just blow away anything that seems too interested" Falco smiled "Cool!... Insane, but cool." "I guess I am going, great." Falco thought sarcastically "Peppy's gunna kill me..."
"I don't like the idea of a running gun battle... isn't there anything we can do about that?" Pepper asked nervously.
"Any ideas?"
"Lots of grenades and swift feet" Falco mumbled helplessly
"The only thing I can think is to set bombs on the way there so you can blow them on the way back and block the path of the pursuers"
"That'll make the journey there more dangerous."
"And they will know the way around the ship better than we will. They will be able to head us off." Falco said "I don't like this..." Falco mumbled then looked up "If we lose too many we wont have enough people to make good our escape... if I... and your other pilot go down the shuttle doesn't stand a chance. How many shuttle pilots you taking?"
"My boys can fly a shuttle at a push" General Hughes said
Falco nodded, reassured, but only a little. "So can I. But I'd rather be in an Arwing. I'd prefer if I knew I had external support waiting to help us out."
"That might help you inside too... If we time it right with enough fighters, they might not even notice the internal strike team. Send in enough fighters to worry them and make them think it's a real fight. That ship can't have much internal security. Most of the troops are probably pilots. Get the pilots into the sky and there's less chance of you getting shot, and less chance of the bomb being discovered. Question is when do we send them in."
"Yes, excellent..."
"How many fighters we talking about committing to helping them get out?" The Lupine asked, Falco finally remembered who he was, Commander Kramer, Katina Aerial defence, in charge of a huge fleet.
"And helping ensure the bomb goes off... maybe 250, enough to look impressive but not be a serious threat... we'll just have to pretend we've been misinformed" Pepper said grimly.
"We cant keep 250 fighters flying out secret."
"If we get this thing it wont have to be a secret anymore."
Falco suddenly wondered why it was a secret anyway... but he supposed the public would panic.
"When should we send them in? Too soon and we'll have too large a pilot casualties. To late and the strike team will be discovered"
"Just before they set the bomb. That will be their most vulnerable time, because they'll be stationary, and that way by the time they come to run, most of the pilots will be in the air."
"Right, should we put it on a timer or have the team call in the fleet"
"If you have them call it in there's a risk the communication will be picked up. If that happens we're all screwed!"
"Timer then... how long do you think"
"That depends on how far we have to go" Falco said
"We can't decide that until we get our new intelligence reports-"
The discussion was broken when a tall Vulgarian came into the room, he paused at the foot of the table and saluted General Pepper at the head.
"Priority intelligence report, received sir"
General Pepper looked up.
"Lets hear it sergeant Kane"
"30 minutes ago shipping command lost contact with a Cargo Carrier in the Martiri quadrant."
General Pepper exchanged nervous glances with several of the others around the table. Falco felt a chill climb up his spine.
"Thank you sergeant, anything else?" he walked around the table and handed Pepper a file. "This is the Cargo Carrier's design specification and service history, along with the cabin voice recordings." Falco noted a slight smile touch Kane's lips, and he wondered if Pepper and the Vulgarian were friends out of the office. Pepper nodded and Kane left the room. The group watched silently as Pepper opened the file and retrieved a disk from it. He placed it in a slot in the table and waited a few seconds...
"-Wanna fly high, so I can reach the highest of all the heavens-" The cabin flight recording. Falco wondered if the pilot would have been singing if he'd, known who would end up listening in. There were smothered chuckles from around the room, maybe that explained why Kane had smiled. "Somebody will be-" Falco found the song oddly familiar, it was secretly an Avion favourite "waiting for me, so- huh?" The singing stopped abruptly. "What the hell?" A few seconds of silence "No way, shit man get off the shipping lane! Rising Star to unidentified vessel, you're blocking a high speed cargo lane, MOVE! Shit, it aint moving, I aint never gunna stop in time!" Again the sounds of engines running on an emergency stop. "All hands brace for impact!!!" Again a few seconds silence "Shiiiit!" The voice grew panicked in expectation. Then there was a loud crash, a shriek and the recording cut off suddenly.
There was silence in the room. Falco swore in his head, high speed collisions were never nice. He wondered how much damage would have been done to the Behemoth, he knew the Cargo Carrier would have come off worse. At least for the poor pilot it would have been quick. Salty beside him looked especially alarmed, shocked. Falco guessed he'd never heard a dead man's last words before. Falco never could rid his mind of the sound of various pilots screams as they plummeted to their deaths or were consumed in flames. A numb part of Falco's mind, speaking a language he thought he'd long forgotten suddenly started to chirp. Falco tried to ignore it, suppress it, but the thought came through nonetheless... The pilot had been singing a Wanderer's song... his voice, the sound was familiar, though he spoke in Lylat, the way he had screamed.... Falco forced himself to think of something else. The pilot probably wasn't Avion, and even if he was it was unlikely to be anyone Falco knew. What did it mater anyway, like the other pilots in the other carrier he was dead, along with his crew, and Falco could do nothing for them.
"I don't have to tell anyone sitting in this room what I think caused this accident, although I still don't understand why" Pepper paused "Four Cargo Carriers have been lost in two weeks. We need to release a statement. One that will make it more difficult for the Behemoth to pick on our shipping."
"What sort of statement" Another Canite Vulpine, like Fox asked, though his fur was almost black. He hadn't spoken much in the conference.
"One that will keep Cargo Carriers from wandering off the well travelled paths, all these attacks have taken place down unfrequented routes. We have to get them to travel in groups, or not at all. Without causing panic"
"How do we do that?"
"You're propaganda minister! Make something up!" Pepper snarled "I don't care what, Pirates, rouge asteroids, escaped circus animals, anything, just ensure that there are no more of these incidents"
"y-yes sir" he stammered.
Falco was thoughtful and only half listened as the conversation went on to talk about how the recognisance missions were going to be carried out, and which squadrons would form the fleet. The conversation became gradually less formal as little teams formed and discussed their parts in the mission.
"It doesn't make sense" Falco mumbled to himself, so only Salty beside him could hear "If this thing's been built as a military power why risk early detection by doing pirating ops? Why throw away the element of surprise... surely they can't believe they're that invincible... Even I'm not that stupid" Falco paused "They must need something... something these Cargo Carriers have in plentiful supply" Falco looked up suddenly "Sir, what was the Rising Star hauling?" only after he spoke was he aware he'd broken in on a conversation. He cursed inwardly. "You're not with Star Fox now Falco, remember that and keep your big yellow beak shut!" Pepper and the other general went back to their conversation and ignored him. Falco wished a big hole would open up in the ground and swallow him, he was really pushing his luck.
"Food" Falco didn't even realise he was being addressed until Salty nudged him. Just General Pepper was talking to him now "What are you thinking Falco?"
Falco was startled that they were asking his opinion.
"W-Well sir" he said uncertainly "This Behemoth must need something from those Cargo Carriers... The Mary Rose was carrying food too wasn't it?"
"Yes..." Pepper paused "Of course! Clever boy! They must have a huge crew on that thing, they can hardly go to a base and stock up. Why not steal it? That ship is more than capable of raiding a few measly Cargo Carriers"
"That doesn't explain the lack of wreckage though" General Hughes said
"Maybe they took it into a hold to strip it, then they'll dump the Carrier somewhere else when they're done" Commander Alsair said.
"Yes, that would explain it" Pepper mused
Falco's mind however was running along a different track. Images flashed across his mind, things he hadn't noticed consciously before. The Behemoth seemed disjointed, almost as though it was made of...
"Scrap!"
"What?"
"What are you talking about Lombardi?" The Lupine sneered.
Falco's mind was racing, he was having trouble keeping up with it, finally he managed to grab hold of his thoughts and put them into words.
"The Behemoth, its hull, was made of all different kinds of metal!" he paused trying to get his thoughts in a logical order, all of a sudden it seemed to make sense, to him if not to anyone else. "It must take a huge amount of resources to build something like that, waste not want not! Capture the Cargo Carriers and strip them of their armour, those Celadon Carriers have hull plating half a meter thick... why not pinch that too. That way they clean up after themselves, there's less evidence. That's something I've always been taught to do" Falco paused again "... and maybe that explains why it hasn't attacked... maybe they haven't finished it yet..." Falco's head started to spin "Ugh... the thought of that thing getting any bigger is terrifying"
He was suddenly aware that everyone in the room was staring at him. Pepper smiled.
"Well everyone, Lombardi here's just solved our mystery for us. I hope he has now proved his doubters wrong." Pepper's voice had an edge to it and he glanced faintly around the room at various people. Now Salty encouraged piped up.
"It would take a huge amount of resources to build a ship like that... no-one could source that amount of metal without someone getting suspicious..." Salty paused uncertain "Sir... this ship can't have been built entirely out of scrap on the move, the initial superstructure will have to have been built in a base... even that would have been a mammoth task requiring a huge amount of workers, equipment, not to mention components" Salty finally came to the point, though his voice couldn't mask his uncertainty "Its not the kind of thing you can hide... or even hope to accomplish without an enormous wallet... or the support of a vast underground organisation..."
"The people who built this were organised" General Hughes mused.
"But there's nowhere in the Federation a ship like that could be built without us finding out!" A Vulgarian said, General Marvin, Shipping Control.
"Then maybe it wasn't built in the Federation" Falco offered.
There was an uneasy pause.
"I've done it againFalco thought.
"No, it can't have gotten across the border unnoticed, Condor Squadron would have picked it up." Commander Alsair objected.
"Condor Squadron can't be everywhere, the border is vast. It can't hope to pick up everything that comes through" Pepper soothed.
Falco knew that was true, Great Fox had crossed the border lots of times without ever being challenged.
"But something this size?"
"Even the Behemoth is nothing compared to the size of the border. It wouldn't have been that hard to get it through."
"Its the only option, something like this cannot have been built in a Federation base. We are left with a more worrying problem. Who built this monster? There is definitely a group that is getting dangerously out of hand."
Falco felt that creeping sensation run up his spine, and a flash of a nightmare crossed his mind... he pushed it away. It was impossible, Fox had made sure of that.
"it doesn't have a bearing who built this thing, it wasn't us and that's all that matters" Pepper said. "It has to be stopped"
There were mumbles of agreement from around the room.
"Hughes, I want personnel profiles on your two guys on my desk in fifteen minutes. If they are fit for the mission the team will be assembled and formally briefed on the mission tomorrow at 10. Anything else?"
No-one spoke "meeting adjourned. Dismissed.
People around the room started to leave. Falco and Salty remained where they were. Now the meeting was over an odd sense of unreality spread through Falco. Had he agreed to be part of this mission or had he been volunteered? He sighed, he'd offered to help, and he supposed that meant whatever he was needed for.
"Ugh..." he groaned "I've got a bad feelin' about this one" hethought and let his head rest in his hands.
"What's the matter Falco?" Salty asked. Falco looked up and smiled.
"Nothing, I have a headache that's all"
"Aw poor you" Salty said sympathetically.
Falco wasn't sure if he was serious or not "I think I'll live"
"Good"
Falco looked around the room, it was now mostly empty, aside from them, General Pepper and one other, to whom he was speaking. Then they finished the other saluted and left. General Pepper turned to them.
"Salty, would you begin modifying Falco's Arwing as soon as possible"
"I'll have someone start on it right away sir" he said meekly
"That's alright with you isn't it Falco, we can supply you with one from the fleet if you don't want yours changed"
"Nah, I don't like rentals, I've had that bird three years, I got her just how I like her"
"I'd better not break anything then" Salty said softly.
Falco laughed. "No, or Slippy will never let me hear the end of it"
"Goodnight Falco, Salty. I have lots to do"
"Err sir... about that..." Falco began
"oh yes... I promised you accommodation" Pepper turned to Salty "Salty you have a spare bunk in your room since Remir left don't you?"
Salty looked uncertainly at Falco before nodding.
"Then why don't you two share, you don't mind that do you Salty?
Salty frowned for a moment and Falco was sure that he probably did mind. Then to his relief he smiled.
"No sir" he winked at Falco and whispered "You'll have to turn a blind eye to the mess till I get a chance to tidy up"
"I'll pretend I didn't hear that shall I?" Pepper chuckled. "Salty show Falco around and help him bring in his things" he said and started to walk off. That made Falco think of something so he went after him.
"Sir. Am I free to leave the base for a bit?"
Pepper turned back round.
"Of course Falco, you're not a prisoner here, just be back before 10"
Falco nodded and Pepper walked off. As Falco went back to Salty he heard Pepper call to him
"Don't get lost again Falco" Falco stopped dead, and felt his face get hot. Had Peppy told everyone about that?
"You got lost?" Salty asked
"Yes..." Falco sighed self-consciously. Salty started to laugh. "They left me in a shop! By the time I realised they had gone they were miles away! No-one noticed I wasn't there" Falco pouted. "Fox and Peppy seem to have taken great pleasure in telling everyone possible about it and how I also seemed unable to read sign posts"
"This was in Corneria City right?"
"Yeah"
"Sign posting's crap, if you don't know your way around you're in trouble"
"That's what I said!... Looks like I'll need a guide then... fancy a run into the City Salt'?"
"What tonight?"
"Yeah, has to be tonight" Falco held out his arms "because I didn't bring much more than what I'm standing in. If I'm going to be here for a while I'm going to need to pick up a few things"
"You were in that much of a hurry to leave?"
"mm... Have you ever actually seen the size of an Arwing luggage compartment? I have one bag, and that's it, and I wasn't really thinking straight when I packed it... I brought all the wrong kind of things. One change of clothes isn't going to last me long."
Salty smiled "When you put it like that..."
"Come on then, I'll buy you a burger"
"Cool, anything's better than the stuff they feed you here!"
"Oh yeah... army food..." Falco shrugged "eh, can't be worse than Fox's cooking!"
Salty laughed at him. "So what's Fox really like?" he asked
Falco shrugged again "I dunno how to describe him"
"Well we got plenty of time for you to figure it out. You want to get the bus into town or have you got transport"
"Nope, have to be the bus"
"Well we'll have even more time then. Bus is about as reliable as a rusty spanner"
"We'll get a taxi then" Falco offered.
Salty looked worried. "Falco they don't pay me so good-"
Falco cut him off "That's alright, I'm paying. I can't stand the bus"
"Any particular reason?"
"Nah... just don't like it"
20 minutes later Falco and Salty arrived in Corneria City, where exactly Falco had no idea, but that was why he'd brought Salty along. Salty led him along a few side streets until they came out into a wide precinct.
"This is Corneria Grand" Salty said gesturing up the wide street "they say it's the ancient heart of the city, the city centre of Corneria's capital… before the whole planet became a city. They've redeveloped it a lot over the years. Especially since the Andross Wars, because its so close to the military base it got pretty flattened both times." Salty told him.
Falco looked up at the whitewashed buildings, mostly shops or restaurants. The Grand was straight and long slowly climbing uphill, in the distance Falco could see an ornate fountain glistening in the late sunshine. People of all species and ages milled about, most carrying shopping bags of varying sizes, none taking any particular notice of anyone else.
"Whatever you need, you should be able to find it here"
"Come on then" Falco said looking down on him.
They walked up the street. Falco was pleased most people seemed too consumed by their shopping lists to bother looking at the passers by. If anyone recognised him they weren't saying anything, talking to the public was more of a Fox thing. Falco spotted a clothes shop fairly quickly. It wasn't specifically selling Avion clothes but he hoped to get something that fitted.
"I hate clothes shopping" he thought to himself. Unless he found a specialist Avion supplier, and they were very rare off-world, it was virtually impossible to find trousers that fitted. They were either too short, too wide at the waste, or had no-where to put his tail. Most of the trousers were designed for Canites. Eventually however he found something, a little shorter than he would have liked but about as good as he could have hoped for. He stayed to his customary colours of dark greens, blues and khaki browns. He never wore black, except on combat. He didn't like to draw attention to himself with bright colours. That way people generally noticed Fox, before him.
Shirts and tops were generally less of a problem, he stuck to long ones to make sure they covered the base of his tail. These were generally plain white, or again dark colours. Finally he picked up the last few other things he thought he would need.
"Why didn't I pack more clothes?" Falco asked himself "Come on Salty lets get out- Salty… Where you gone?"
Falco looked around the shop. Unfortunately Salty wasn't tall enough for his head to be seen over the aisles. After a few moments searching Falco found him buying a new pair of trainers. Which was probably a good thing as the ones he was wearing looked to be nearly as old as he was.
"You ready?" Falco asked
"Yep" Salty said holding up blue and silver trainers
"Nice…" Falco commented.
At the till Falco paid with his biochip by inserting his hand into a reader. He groaned when he saw how much it had come to. Salty paid with cash as Falco watched. Very few people used cash now.
"Birthday present, had my sixteenth couple weeks back" Salty told him as they left the shop. Falco was startled, sixteen was too young for the Army surely… He smiled, that meant Salty wasn't much younger than him.
"My wages are crap, so I have to make things last" Salty said pointing down at his ancient trainers
"Mm it's Slippy's birthday commin' up, I'll have to get him something while I'm here"
Falco wasn't allowed to say how old they were, but Salty was actually a month or so Slippy's elder.
"I should be back from the Behemoth in time for it" Falco mused.
"You still haven't told me what Fox is like."
Falco sighed "Fox is kinda hard to describe…"
"Well try"
"Mm… it depends what sort of mood you catch him in. A lot of the time he's an argumentative git. Although… he can be sweet if it pleases him" Falco admitted "Mostly when he's after a girl… makes me wanna puke… ugh"
"I don't spose he would have to try too hard, most of the girls around here thinks he's great"
"Mm all that fame went to his head a little" Falco chuckled.
"I was wondering… coz you're not at all like what I was expecting"
"Really, how so?" Falco asked. Salty looked embarrassed.
"You're nicer than I thought you would be"
Falco laughed.
"Coz the press always made you out to be horrible. They make it seem like you're really arrogant and… don't care about anyone but yourself" Salty stammered out then looked up "Sorry"
Falco continued to smile "Do you think that's true?"
"No way!"
"Well then. Just ignore what the press say. I do"
"But it's not fair! You shouldn't let them say you're horrible"
"Even if I wanted them to stop Salt' there's nothing I can do about it. They like me as the Arrogant Avion. And it doesn't bother me anymore. I like it because it means most people leave me alone. I don't want people coming up to me in the street, I'd rather just be left to go on my way. Fox deals with the publicity. I prefer to slide into the background."
"And let them say all those horrible things about you? Because you never say anything at the press conferences they make out that you're barely literate."
Falco laughed "I wiped the floor with Fox and Slippy academically"
"Really?"
"Yeah. The press kept that one quiet." Falco smiled "Fox and the others are just more social than me." Falco shrugged "May as well let them have the limelight if they want it" Falco paused "Slippy's kinda shy, and doesn't talk much either until you get him started on his mechanics. Then you have trouble getting him to stop. You'd like Slippy." Falco smiled softly.
"Well what's he like"
"A lot like you really" Falco said as he led him into a supermarket "Totally obsessed with his mechanics. I don't know what he finds to do in the docking bay all day." Falco chuckled "And frankly I don't think I want to know!... He's smart, a little too smart if you ask me-"
"But you said you got better than him"
Falco shrugged "he's really smart, in places where tests can't reach, but he's dopey in the extreme, and his memory's terrible!"
"You're right, that does sound like me, the dopey and bad memory part anyway" Salty chuckled "Mechanics, we're all of the same mould it seems"
Falco picked up a bar of soap and mouthwash from the shelves.
"So… Peppy, what's he like?" Salty asked picking up a bottle of bright liquid from the fridge behind him. Falco felt himself smile.
"Peppy…" he mused also selecting a drink, something with less colourings in it "He's… I'm not sure…" Falco trailed off. "He's the adult… and everything that goes with that to us"
Salty nodded quietly and didn't look at him for a moment. Falco frowned at him.
"Not that he's overly mature." Falco grinned "Least not all the time. He'll arm wrestle with the rest of us when he's in the mood. He's definitely the brain of the group, and the… diplomat… so to speak." Falco chuckled to himself.
"Mm…" Salty said to himself.
"I'll take you to meet them, if you like."
"Really!"
"Yeah, Fox keeps telling me I should get out more… meet new people… etcetera, etcetera"
"Nice"
Falco grinned "I'll get that." He said taking Salty's drink off him.
"Hey!!" Falco paid for the stuff
"Too late" He said handing it back "Already paid for"
"But… you paid the taxi too!"
Falco smiled "I don't mind, I have huge savings left over from various missions, I don't get much of a chance to spend it, like Fox said, I don't get out much"
Salty didn't know how to answer that "But…"
"I also know how bad army wages are, Peppy used to complain about it!"
"But…"
"Don't worry about it Salty. I like spoiling my friends"
"Your friend?"
"Yep, unless you have some aversion to being my friend"
"No of course not"
"Good come on then, I could murder that burger… I missed lunch"
General Pepper looked up at the knock on his door.
"Enter"
General Hughes came into the room
"Ah Michael."
"I have those personnel files you wanted." he said handing them to him. Pepper read the names off the top. Blaze Jackson and Lupus Kelly
"I've heard of Jackson"
"Yes, he did some black ops for you a while back, he was the bombardier on the Whitestone Bridge op"
"Mm" Pepper mumbled and put the files down. "They should be ok. Good service history?"
"Both of them excellent"
"Yes. Good"
There was another knock at the door.
"Was there anything else Mike?"
"No"
"Enter"
Commanders Kramer and Alsair entered the office. Hughes remained where he was.
"We have been discussing the mission and would like to recommend a new addition to the strike team. If we're going to be relying on the cloak we need someone who can fix it in a hurry. Greenbank designed it didn't he?"
Pepper's heart sank.
"Yes."
"Then the logical choice would be him"
"Salty Greenbank is below combat op age-" Pepper began, worried.
"So's Lombardi" Kramer snarled "And has been for years"
"He's exempt, and you know it." Pepper said tersely, though now increasingly worried on two fronts.
"Then make Greenbank exempt" Kramer snarled
"I'm not prepared to do that. He has no specific training for this kind of operation."
"He's done basic arms training hasn't he?"
"Yes."
"Then he can top it up before they leave. If I'm going to commit 150 of my fighters to this I want to be assured that the cloak isn't going to break down mid op"
"What makes you think Greenbank will be able to do anything when the shuttle is in motion anyway?"
"He'll be able to do more than anyone we can train before the mission."
"But Greenbank's not trained, he'll just get in the way" Pepper tried.
"No he wont, he'll be an extra gun and another brain to sort out the bomb in case anything goes wrong with the special ops guys. It's easier to train Greenbank to fight than it is to teach someone what he does."
Pepper had a sinking feeling that there was nothing he could do to stop this.
"Alsair, Marvin, O'Connell and I agree that this is important. We're willing to take it to the highest level, and if we have to do that by the time we get a decision in our favour your little mechanic will be left with very little time to prepare. The very fact that you allowed him to attend that meeting made him part of this mission. He's a member of this Army so he must do as is needed"
Pepper didn't like the idea but conceded that they had a point. "Alright. Greenbank will accompany them, I'll inform him shortly"
"Inform him when you like."
"I'll tell my boys tonight, the basics so they no roughly what to expect."
"Yes, there will be a formal briefing tomorrow. The rumours of the Behemoth are already flying, I'm telling mine it's the Behemoth and giving them the personnel files but nothing else till tomorrow, if you tell yours make sure they know to keep their mouths shut."
Hughes nodded "They're special ops, we're always keeping secrets I'll do likewise and give them the personnel files though, its good for them to know who they'll be working with."
Pepper nodded "Anything else?"
No-one spoke. So they all took themselves away. Once they were gone Pepper felt his heart sink even further. They were going too far this time…
After the promised burger Falco and Salty wandered back down the Grand, watching the sun set in the western sky.
"I need to get Slippy's birthday present….Salty, what would you want for your birthday, if you could have anything in the world."
Salty sighed. "You couldn't buy me that, even with all your money"
Falco wondered if he'd just broken one of the Federation's unwritten rules.
"Ok, something I can buy here"
Salty smiled again "This is for Slippy right?"
"Yeah."
"Why you asking me, you know him better than I do"
"Yeah but the stuff he likes makes my head hurt. I don't even know what he uses half his tools for."
Salty giggled.
"If you like it, there's a good chance Slippy will too… it can't be worse than what I got him last year."
"And what was that?"
"A took kit and set of rubber duckies"
"Rubber duckies?"
"Yeah, in joke…" Falco laughed "Likes to swim, spends more time in the bath than the rest of us put together… Commando ducky in camouflage colours… desert, arctic, and the green brown one they use the rest of the time."
Salty laughed.
"It was a sort of joke, I always threatened I'd buy him some, I finally did"
Salty smiled "Follow me. I know just the place"
Salty led Falco down a few side streets until they came to a much smaller shop. Salty led him inside. A familiar smell greeted Falco, like a docking bay, engine oil, welded metal and ships in general. Falco stared around, it was an Aladdin's cave for mechanics. From floor to ceiling various glistening ship components lined the walls, some Falco recognised, others he didn't. They were all the kind that if they fell on you would break bones. Falco suddenly heard a noise, he turned to see a scale model of an Arwing flying towards him. He had to duck to avoid being hit in the head. Once he recovered form the shock he smiled.
"Cool!"
"I got one of those" Salty said then shouted "Hey Roy! Would you mind not dive bombing Falco for a bit?"
"Hey Salty" A voice from behind one of the counters said. Then the source of the voice became clear. A short, burly Canite stood up grinning. Salty sidled up to the counter, followed by a still bemused Falco.
"This here's Falco, he wants a birthday present for a friend of his"
The Canite studied Falco for a moment before grinning.
"So my man, what kinda thing does your buddy like?"
"Well he likes all those remote control flight kits, but he's got most of them… and it seems silly buying him one of those when he makes them full scale anyway"
The Canite smiled and rubbed his chin
"I think I've got something that might suit. What about an A384 GoldenHawk kit"
"Oh! Does it have all the little SilverFalcons too?"
Judging by Salty's reaction that was a good thing
"Yeah, but they don't fly, what do you think I am Salty?"
Salty laughed. "You'd go nuts trying to put those together. How much?"
"For you and your friend… Mm… 150 Feds, I'll give you a discount coz the box is a little dirty. It's usually 175."
Salty looked at Falco.
"Err.. first off what is it?"
Salty smiled "Model with a difference, Slippy'll know what it is"
Falco blinked "Alright Salty, I'm trusting you, you wouldn't play a trick on me would you? I'm well aware I have no idea what I'm doing"
"Nope, I swear." He made a gesture crossing his heart. "If Slippy doesn't like it you can blame me"
"or bring it back and get summin else" The Canite offered
Falco nodded reassured "Alright then."
The Canite disappeared for a few moments, Salty went off around the shop poking at things with startlingly Slippyish curiosity. A few moments later the Canite came back with a plain white box stained with oily finger prints. Falco paid again by putting his hand in the biochip reader. That done he went to pick up the box and found it to be surprisingly heavy. He said thanks to the shopkeeper then went to leave.
"Come on Slippy, before you break summin" he called to the half hidden form behind a shelf. Salty followed him out of the shop.
"Bye Roy" he called.
As they walked Salty kept glancing up at Falco a wide grin on his face. Falco couldn't understand why. Finally he stopped.
"What the hell is so funny?" he asked.
"You called me "Slippy"!" Salty giggled
Falco felt his face get hot.
"Sorry" he stammered, embarrassed.
Salty shook his head "That's ok, actually I was kinda flattered!"
"What, by being compared to Slippy?" Falco laughed
Salty shrugged, it was his turn to go pink "He's a hero to a lot of us…"
"Really?" Falco said softly "I'll tell him that… I'm sure he'd be proud"
On the way back to pick up the taxi Falco picked up a newspaper and some bright yellow wrapping paper with blue balloons. He had a feeling he wouldn't have time to come back again in the next few weeks. They managed to flag a taxi back to the barracks surprisingly quickly.
As they entered the barracks a voice hailed them.
"Greenbank?"
Salty jumped and turned surprised to the guard on the door.
"Yes sir?"
"You're wanted in General Pepper's office immediately"
"Uh… Thank you sir"
Salty glanced worried at Falco as they walked off
"Do you think I'm in trouble? Surely he couldn't have expected me to have started on your Arwing yet! We're back way before curfew… Oh no…"
"Calm down Salty! He probably just wants some technical advice about the cloak or summin'"
Salty didn't look reassured, they walked the rest of the way in silence.
Salty knocked cautiously on the suddenly intimidating door.
"Come in" They heard him say. Slowly Salty opened the door. Pepper looked up at him wearily.
"Ah Salty" he said weakly.
"You wanted to see me sir?"
Pepper stood and gestured to offer him a seat, when he did so he noticed Falco waiting outside.
"Falco, you'd better come in too"
Surprised Falco entered the room. Salty flashed him a relieved glance. There was only one seat in the room so Salty took that and Falco stood slightly to his right.
"Salty, umm" General Pepper looked uncertainly to Falco. Falco couldn't help him, he was as confused as anything.
"Salty… its been decided that the strike team needs a mechanic that can work with the cloak…" Pepper paused, the colour was draining out of Salty's face. Falco looked openly alarmed and had folded his arms in a manner Peppy had always warned him about "We've decided you'd be the best person for the job…"
"Y-Yes sir…" Salty stammered. His hands trembling slightly.
"You will be accompanying Falco and the others in the shuttle and going with them while they set the bomb."
Salty felt as though he was going to be sick, sheer blind terror crept up on him and assaulted his soul. Pepper noticed Falco's eyes had gone dark, Peppy had warned him about that too.
"Y-Yessir" Was all he managed to stammer.
"Don't worry Salty, I'll be there to look after you" Falco tried to grin reassuringly at him.
"y-yeah…"
"I'm sorry to dump this on you like this Salty, but its only just been decided. I assure you, you will be fully trained before we let you leave."
"Yes sir" Salty said again, emptily.
There was silence, none knew what to say to the other.
"Salty, I left the bags outside, would you look after them for a sec? I need to talk to General Pepper about getting a message to Fox. Will you wait for me, there's no way I'll find my way to dormitories on my own, you know how I am with signposts!"
Salty smiled, just a little.
"Yeah ok…" Salty stood up and took himself out of the room. Falco waited for him to close the door behind him. Falco was about to speak but Pepper beat him to it.
"I don't like this any more than you do Falco but it's a necessary step."
Falco was a little taken aback. It took a moment for him to find the words.
"I like Salty, but he's not a soldier! If we take him he's not only going to be a danger to himself, he could put the rest of the team at risk"
"He passed his basic weapons training-"
"Bullshit! You know as well as I do that doesn't count for anything. He's not cracked up for a combat missions, physically or mentally… He's a bigger threat than advantage, he'll get himself and possibly some of the rest killed. I need to be able to trust my life to every member of a team, I know he would do his best but frankly I don't think he would be able to do what's required." Falco would say anything so that he wouldn't have to go "He's serving you better in that docking bay, tinkering with his ships than he will being killed on the Behemoth" Falco's voice softened "And on a more personal level… I don't want to see him get hurt. "
"Neither do I. I've known Salty for some time. This wasn't specifically my decision, but I stand by it. You are free to give him any additional training you think he might need. There's nothing you can do to make me change my mind."
"What about if I break both his legs?" Falco asked.
Pepper's voice took on a powerful tone "I would have you up on charges for assault." Falco was about to say it would be worth it but Pepper again cut him off. "And the Behemoth would fall to Max, Salty's second, a much worse proposition I can assure you"
Falco went to object.
"Dismissed Lombardi" he snarled. Falco scowled down at him, then turned his back and walked out. He wanted to slam the door but didn't dare.
He made sure he composed his face before looking at Salty.
"Come on then Salt' which way?"
Salty looked round to Falco, nodded his head up the corridor and walked off. Falco followed him in silence, thinking to himself.
"This is stupid…Salty's just a kid… Well I'm just a kid but that's besides the point. What the hell is Pepper doing?"
"We're here" Salty said as he put his hand into the biochip reader on the door. It slid open "Excuse the mess!"
Falco looked into the room, it immediately felt well lived in, giving a homely feel, not dissimilar from his room back on Great Fox. Actually it was more like Slippy's room. Falco wandered inside. He was careful where he put his feet as he had to avoid stepping on various items strewn across the floor, most of these seemed to be small ship components, sweet wrappers or the occasional item of clothing. Even so Falco wouldn't have described Salty's room as being overly messy. Fox and Slippy's were both worse. The walls were adorned with schematics of various ships. His desk in the corner of the room was only just visible beneath piles of books, papers and a half finished model of a Javelin fighter. Salty began scurrying around the room, picking up his mess and hastily hiding it away. On the other side of the room there was a door, half open which promised to be a bathroom. Falco grinned to himself, Army barracks, here at least weren't so bad. He brought his stuff in and swung it onto the top bunk, the bottom bed obviously belonged to Salty. Falco grinned at the stuffed animal only just apparent above the ruffled covers. Falco set about making up his bed as Salty continued to clear away his things.
"Remir, left a few months back, I'm afraid I rather let the cleaning go since then. We were both mechanics, and believe it or not he was messier than I am." Salty chuckled.
"Don't worry Salt' I've seen much worse. My room back home wasn't exactly spotless. I could write my name in the dust on some of the shelves."
Salty laughed "Well don't look too hard, and for goodness sake don't open my side of the cupboard for a bit!.. unless you want to be knocked unconscious by falling objects."
Falco grinned from where he struggled with the sheets "Which side's that?"
"The left"
"Right I'll remember that. There gottcha!" Falco said to a defiant piece of sheet. Salty looked up at Falco.
"Got what?"
Falco smiled sheepishly "one of the sheets was trying to defy me. Its safely locked up under my mattress now"
Salty laughed "Are you sure you're all there Falco?"
"huh?"
"The Army make you take a psychiatric exam before they let you in for pilot training. Did you ever do one of those?"
"Nope, thank goodness"
"You think you'd have passed?"
"Nope" Falco said simply, smiling "I got more than a few screws loose in here" He tapped his head. "I fit right in on Great Fox… in a weird twisted kinda way"
Salty laughed though it sounded forced.
"Falco… I… don't think I can do this" He stammered weakly.
Falco paused and looked up.
"I've never been on a combat mission… I've never killed anyone before. I… don't want to. Shooting on the ranges is different to how it is when its real ammunition and real living people…"
Falco sighed deeply, remembering his own past, inwardly cursing the people who had volunteered Salty for this.
"I… I've built weapons… designed ships… but that's different… its never been my finger that squeezed the trigger before. I don't want to fight. That's why I'm a mechanic"
Falco frowned "Why be an Army mechanic then, why not just work for an engineering company?"
"I had no choice" Salty said a little bitterly.
"Why not?"
Salty sighed sadly and sank onto his bed. Falco turned to him and leant his head and arms against the top bunk.
"It's a long story" Salty mumbled.
Falco smiled and climbed up into his bunk "I'm not going anywhere. I've got plenty of time if you feel like elaborating. You tell me your story and… I'll tell you… some of mine."
Salty sighed "I'd like to hear yours… I'm scared Falco. I'm not cracked up to be a soldier… like you…"
Falco broke in "None of us are born warriors Salty. Life just seems to make us that way. Understand that. I hate killing people and I hate fighting"
"But it's what you do"
"That doesn't mean I have to like it. Someone has to do what we do or there would be no-one to stand in bastards like Andross' way. We do what has to be done and nothing more."
Salty was silent. He couldn't be sure if he had somehow offended Falco. Falco sighed, his voice softened
"I was very young on my fist combat mission… Flying an Arwing and dropping bombs and shooting down fighters is so impersonal… its easy to forget it's people you're killing…" Falco sighed. "The first time I shot someone…" he was glad Salty couldn't see his face "I was… in truth it was an accident. It should never have happened, not then, not alone. I was running with the team… but we got separated. It was in some base. I got cornered by a guard. He thought I was just one of the staff's kids until he spotted my gun… next thing I knew I was boxed into a corner staring down the barrel of an enormous rifle…" Falco's voice broke a little "I just squeezed the trigger… and… that was it. I'd killed a man. Face to face… By the time the rest got back to me I was a little bit of a wreck… we got out the rest of the way cleanly pretty much. Peppy and maybe Fox pulled the rest of the shots. I don't remember much about it. It's just a kind of blur to me…" Falco sighed "After that… It got easier. It sounds terrible… but… it was them or me, I let them get me and they would slaughter the innocent civilians I was trying to protect. Kill or be killed. That's what it came down to in the end. Sometimes in life we… sometimes…" Falco trailed off… "I still get scared… the day I stop being afraid or don't regret the blood I've shed is the day I hang up my wings. What I do I do to save life. Not destroy it. That's what the Behemoth's about. If we let it carry on it'll wipe out our military and then the civilian population would have nothing to protect it. Wives, mothers, babies, children, brothers, sisters, sons… innocents…"
Salty was quiet. Falco sighed wishing he could help Salty more, Peppy had always been better at this kind of thing. Falco sighed thoughtfully.
"I said I'd tell you some of my story… what did you want to hear?"
"Err… I dunno… start at the beginning…"
Falco laughed "That would be the logical place… Salty listen… I can't tell you all of it…" Falco trailed off.
"That would take too long" Salty said more lightly
"Yeah… yeah it would… Ok… the beginning.
"I was born on Avion, like most of my kind. Malcapay City, its on the southern coast of the northern continent. Um… My mama was Silvia O'Shay, before she married father and… he was Mark Lombardi. He was a lawyer. My mama never worked, father made enough money for her not to have to. We lived in a big house in the posh suburbs of the city. Thoroughly middle-class. My granddad was the source of my love of Arwings and the sky, though I think I would have been a Wanderer anyway." Falco sighed "He was killed in the battle of San Tidi, during the first Andross war… never even hit the ground. I really miss him, part of me died with him. My life went steadily down hill from there. I became a Wanderer. I wont go into the politics, but basically anyone who shows any inclination towards "bird like" ways is treated as a freak. That includes wanting to be a pilot." Falco sighed and suppressed a shudder. "some things went wrong in my family… and trust me when things went wrong in the Lombardi household they went spectacularly wrong." Falco fought the memories and carried on "my mother was afraid of what would become of me if I ended up a Wanderer… and was forced to live the life that led there… she wrote to Peppy… and he took me on. Star Fox was the best of a lot of bad options. And as its turned out it was a good move. I left Avion… and I've never looked back. The Star Fox team became my fam- Star Fox became my life and that was ok by me." Falco sighed again "Anything was better than Avion"
"What was so wrong with Avion?"
"It wasn't Avion… as such… it was the people… the culture… my family… I was seen as a weirdo, even by them. That doesn't make for easy relations"
"But aren't families supposed to stick together no-matter what?"
Falco felt anger surge through him, but not at Salty.
"Well mine didn't" he said harshly. Remembering back to the nightmare that had been the last few months with them. Peppy had had no idea what he was saving him from.
"I wouldn't know" Salty said sadly.
Falco snapped out of his thoughts somewhat gratefully.
"Huh?"
Salty sighed deeply "I don't have a family to speak of. When I was 2 I lived in Corneria City with my parents and older sister… These are turbulent times we live in… There was a terrorist bombing. My house… wasn't the target, but I guess we had the wrong kind of neighbours. A bomb was blown in one of the houses, next door or one or two along… They killed their target outright, and his family, it was some diplomat or something… there was a fire… I was just a baby… I was in the back bedroom. By the time the fire fighters arrived my house was ablaze. They did their best but I was the only one they could save…" Salty sniffed "The Army was blamed for what happened so I became their responsibility. After that I got passed around Army funded orphanages and foster carers. Until they discovered my gift for mechanics, some strings were pulled and I was given early entry into the Army RD training school. I was fully trained, basic weapons and all, working by the time I was twelve. Since I joined I've lived here, in this room. That's why its half decent, because its my permanent residence." Salty stopped and sighed "I don't even remember them… all I have is Smokey… this" Falco jumped when a stuffed rabbit appeared at the side of his bunk, held up by Salty's grey-brown hand. "Apparently I was hanging onto him when the fire fighters found me… you can see how close it came, his ears are all scorched."
Falco took the toy from Salty. Its ears were singed slightly, the toy had a look of well loved age to it. Its sapphire eyes gazed brightly at Falco, he found its inane smile oddly comforting. Grinning he toyed with its long ears before handing it back.
"I used to have stuffed animals… my favourite was a dog, oddly enough, Scrappy I think I used to call him… summin like that, coz he looked like a stray mongrel… He was brown with a really soft coat, ears that flopped over at the tips and his tongue hanging out. He always looked so… happy…" Such a contrast to how Falco had felt when he curled against him for comfort, to ease his pain… just a little.
"Do you still have him?"
"Somewhere…" he'd never been able to get rid of all the blood…
"I suppose you think I'm a baby for having stuffed animals"
"Nope, we all have things like that. I only put Scrappy away because Fox laughed at me"
"That's mean. Doesn't Fox have anything like that?"
Falco sighed "He has his pictures of his mum and dad. I don't care for that kind of thing."
"So what do you have? If you don't mind me asking."
"I've got lots of things" Falco thought back "old toys, photos, school books- though not many of those, school wasn't really much fun. A few of my sweetheart's feathers… That kind of thing. I even kept a toy Arwing Fox gave me on the day we met. That's one of my favourites…"
"I don't understand how you see Fox, Falco. One minute you say he's being mean to you, the other your talking about keeping something to remember him by… I don't understand."
"We have kind of a love-hate relationship. We fight, a lot, but when it's come down to it… we've always been able to rely on one another. That's what being part of a team is all about. Most of the time though he's a complete git, to me anyway."
"Is he the reason you left?"
Falco was silent for a moment.
"You don't have to answer that" Salty added suddenly
"No, he wasn't. I just needed out for a while. I was going to call and all that… but I've gotten wrapped up in something I wasn't expecting. The Behemoth has rather screwed up my plans. I was intending to have a holiday for a while… you know a week or so of peace… see the sights… leave my blaster at home for a bit" Falco said a little bitterly. "That not going to happen now"
"You volunteered for this mission though didn't you?"
Falco sighed "What was I supposed to do, just pretend I never saw the Behemoth? No way, my conscience would never let me…" Falco yawned "My holiday can wait, finish the Behemoth first. I'm just worried about whether Peppy will be able to restrain the urge to ring my scrawny birdie neck when I go back"
"Why would he do that"
"I can't tell him I'm here, so he'll be well pissed off with me by the time we've done this. A week or 2 without any contact at all is way out a line"
yawning again Falco jumped off the bunk.
"I really need a shower" he mumbled and wandered away.
Falco explored the bathroom. For an Army barrack it was surprisingly luxurious. It was simple clean and effective, without feeling overly utilitarian. Salty didn't know how lucky he was.
A while later Falco remerged from the bathroom dressed in pyjamas, rubbing his head with a towel, thinking how much he hated being covered in feathers at times. Salty, also dressed in pyjamas was sat on the side of his bed reading something. He looked up as Falco approached. Salty eyed his strange Avion features, most notably his bright yellow feet. As he studied them he noticed something that didn't seem quite right.
"What happened to your foot?"
Falco looked down, expecting to see a cut or something. Instead he saw nothing unusual.
"What?"
"Well… that's not normal is it? I mean…" Salty trailed off, uncertain. Falco suddenly realised what he meant.
"Oh right my toe… no that's not normal" Falco laughed
"Old war wound?" Salty asked. He was surprised when Falco only responded with hysterical laughter. Salty turned to frown at him. Falco managed to answer through giggles.
"No… that's why it's funny." Falco was still laughing "It happened just after Andross…. I think it's ironic, even if no-one else does. The toxic wastes of Zoness, the baking heat of Solar, several hundred tanks, Arwings and ground troops down the line and I get through all that with cuts and bruises. We go on holiday a few weeks later and I end up having my toe surgically removed. And you wanna know why?"
Salty just looked at him, bemused.
"Because I decide to get on the wrong side of a horse!"
"A horse?" Salty said sceptically.
"Yep! It reared up, and decided my foot looked like a soft place to land. Hurt like hell."
"ouch!"
"Yeah, my foot was in more pieces than an Arwing that's flown into a wall, and before you ask, yes, I have seen that! Thanks to Foxy"
Still laughing he climbed up to the top bunk.
"I wont ask. Hey Falco Pepper dropped off the personnel files while you were in the shower"
"Really? Oh are these them?" Falco asked picking up a pack of files from his bed
"Yeah"
Sitting with his legs dangling over the side of the bunk he opened the first file- Blaze Jackson. He scanned the page, this guy had an impressive service history, a munitions expert by the look of things, member of special ops. Smart strong and clever. He couldn't bring himself to read the whole file, let alone anyone else's, the words were beginning to blur on the page. Briefly he looked at the others, to put faces to names, at the very least he needed to have some idea as to who was who. That done and yawning again he spoke.
"What time is it Salty?"
"11 local time…err… I don't know on space time"
Falco yawned again. "Its been a long day. I was up early this morning and didn't sleep particularly well last night… right now I'm feeling fairly wrecked" he reached down to put the personnel files on the bedside table.
"I'm turning in now too" Salty said. "Goodnight Falco-hope you don't snore"
"Nope, I don't snore! Goodnight"
Falco could hear thunder rumbling in the distance. Rain pelted down on him. So heavily it stung his skin. Wind howled in his ears, like wolves on the hunt. He stared down the street, light from one of the few working streetlamps lit up the rain, so he could see the drops of water falling sideways continually. The water dripped off him, sinking into his badly fitting clothes. Jedd standing beside him was no better. He looked up at him, waiting for him to decide what to do. There was a flash. Falco suddenly stared into an unfamiliar Avion face, his mouth moved as though he was speaking but Falco heard no words. There was another flash, Falco was running, being chased by dogs. Then the dogs turned to men, carrying guns, hounding him, shooting at him. Now just for a brief moment he ran through corridors, then he was back on the streets, a Canite girl was suddenly running beside him. She ran faster than him, his legs seemed to be made of lead, as though all his strength was draining away. She ran forward into the storm and disappeared. Falco felt something ahead, a looming presence, the storm blinded him to it until it was too late. Him! Falco skidded to stop, his legs went from under him and he fell to the floor. He came closer, seeming to grow incredibly. Falco shuffled back through the rain water.
"No, no you're dead… get away from me! Get away form me!"
Falco was boxed in a corner, like he was in a prison cell. He came closer, Falco couldn't run any more, He took hold of him by the neck, lifted him up as though he was just a rag-doll and started to squeeze.
"No! let me go! let me go!" he croaked. Falco felt his neck break, just before everything went black.
Salty listened to Falco's cryptic mumblings, after reaching a frenzied crescendo he had fallen silent again. Wishing he would snore instead Salty drifted away again…
The bleeping of an alarm woke Falco from his slumbers. He was laid face down with his face buried in his pillow one arm wrapped over his head the other stretched out straight above him. For a moment he thought he was dreaming, then he realised he wasn't.
"No… its too early" he mumbled wearily.
"Wha!" Salty below him jumped "heck Falco I forgot about you. You gave me a fright" Salty said, way to cheerfully for the time of the morning.
"Ugh… what time is it?" Falco asked rolling onto his back
"8:30"
Falco groaned, it felt like much earlier. He was normally a morning person, for a teenager anyway. Today he felt was going to be an off day. He groaned again and wrapped the blankets round him.
"Do you always talk in your sleep?" Salty asked yawning. Falco felt his face get hot.
"Apparently… what did I say?"
"Dunno, couldn't understand a word of it"
Falco sighed in relief "Makes me grateful Lylat's me second language… I was probably speakin' Avion again. I thought I'd forgotten it till I came out with some halfway through a combat op. Scared the life out of the others I think." Falco grinned.
"Yeah… It sounded like a funny language… like… I dunno… squawky…" Salty paused "You kept sayin' the same thing over and over… did you have a nightmare or summin?"
Falco shrugged, though Salty couldn't see him.
"Dunno, can't remember"
That was a lie, he remembered every detail vividly, as though it had all actually happened. Well some of it had, he had been on the streets with Jedd in a thunderstorm, he'd been chased by dogs… but the Canite girl… Falco had never seen her before…and then… He turned up… It felt like a premonition, he'd had them once or twice… but that was impossible…
Falco listened as Salty got up. Falco lay soaking up the warmth from the bed, wishing helplessly that he could have a long lie in. This had been meant to be a holiday, at least back on Great Fox he didn't have to get up at a set time. This morning particularly he felt exhausted. His very soul felt tired, drained, weary. He felt more tired than he had before he'd gone to sleep. His eyes grew heavy again as he lay there.
"Don't for get we have to meet the rest of the team at 10" Salty said, Falco roused from his slumbers somewhat unwillingly.
"Aww… I wanna sleep…"
"The saying about the early bird aint true then?" Salty chuckled.
"eh?" Falco mumbled sleepily
"Never mind" Salty wandered off to the bathroom with his toothbrush
"Falco aren't you up yet!" Salty shouted. Falco leapt awake again. "Come on, if you want any breakfast you had better get up"
Groaning Falco forced himself to sit up. As he sat rubbing his face he mused to himself.
"This aint like me. Fox is the one for bad mornings. Why the hell am I so tired?" Falco yawned, shook his head and jumped off the side of the bed. He walked into the bathroom and promptly dunked his head in a sink full of cold water.
"Argh! Cold!"
Slightly more awake Falco dressed and got ready to leave.
By the time Salty showed him to the canteen he was yawning again. His eyelids felt as though they had bricks tied to them. His whole body felt weary for a reason Falco couldn't quite comprehend. Breakfast was quiet and uneventful, mainly because Falco wasn't in the mood for talking.
Once they had finished Salty showed Falco to a room.
"I have to go see Max, get him started on your Arwing, the strike team are being assembled in there. I'll be back later." Salty trotted off before Falco could make his mouth work to say anything. Falco let himself into the room. What he found was a conference room similar to the one the generals had met in the previous day. It was of a similar size, though the central table was smaller however and the room was much more airy. There were several large windows in the room, which Falco set about opening. One of these gave a surprisingly good view of the base. He looked down on an airstrip where the training fighters were housed, two-seat Arwings, Javelins and a few FireFoxs. Falco could just see a few of these in the distance, flying a training course, the early light glistening off their wings. The sun hung pale yellow and seemingly wet in yet another cloudless sky. The air that blew in the windows was fresh and surprisingly clean considering they were in the middle of a city. In the distance, beyond the Arwing's training grounds Falco could see the tall skyscrapers that covered much of the planet. As he gazed out the window he heard the door handle turn.
Lombardi was not at all what she had expected, he was too young. He stood looking out the window at the base. He turned to look at her as she approached, he smiled, a strange smile, his yellow beak didn't seem to move much, yet she could still tell he was smiling. His eyes, golden yellow, piercing, but in a kind way. Eyes that had seen more war and death than they would have liked, but so had all in the Federation these times. He was a little taller than her, thin, but she'd been told most Avions were like that. She was intrigued, she'd never met an Avion before, his royal blue feathers flicked softly across his head, so unlike her fur, standing up in a pointed crest at the back of his head. But the most prominent features on his face were by far his eyes, marked around by a splash of vivid red… he held out his feathered hand for her to shake.
For a Canite Silver was very pretty. Falco could see where she had gotten her name, for her fur was silvery grey, with the faintest hints of blue and black in places. She was slim, but not skinny, well built Falco thought, not like the stupid supermodels who looked like they hadn't seen a proper meal in their lives. Her clothes were modest, though not hiding her feminine figure. She walked with an air of authority, but not arrogance. Like her fur her eyes were a silvery blue, with a sharply intelligent look to them. She came forward to shake Falco's hand. As she reached out to him Falco noticed the only piece of adornment she seemed to be wearing, a thin solid silver bracelet around her right wrist. She smiled up at Falco.
"Nice to meet you" Falco said. His accent and voice were strange, not like a Canite's anyway. His voice surprisingly soft. Silver nodded her head and responded.
"And you."
Falco let go of her hand thoughtfully and turned to look back out the window briefly then turned round fully to face her.
"So what was the Behemoth really like?" She asked. Falco paused thoughtfully
"They got the name right that's all I can say…" Falco smiled "That's about all I noticed, I was too busy worrying about how badly I was going to get my ass kicked if they spotted me"
His response surprised her. He didn't seem to be at all what she'd expected, what the press had led her to believe he would be like. Again as she looked into his eyes she was struck by how young he seemed in person.
"So how come you ended up here without Star Fox?" Falco turned and looked back out the window at that question and didn't face her when he responded.
"I decided a break was in order… It just seems I have very bad timing…" He turned back to her, a grin spreading across his face "there I was flying along, minding my own business and there's this whopping great ship sitting in my way. After I saw it I didn't know where else to go… So I came here"
Silver thought she heard a note of sadness in his voice, quickly smothered, but she couldn't be sure. Silver looked him up and down and decided to forget all her preconceptions of what Falco would be go. Her fears as to what it would be like working with a mercenary, especially this one, could be put aside, Falco was not what she had though he would be.
"Hey Falco, I have to go back to my room for some things, I was just coming back from breakfast and thought I would pop in and see if anyone was here yet. I'll see you in a couple of minutes ok?"
"Aww was it summin I said?" Falco asked grinning.
Shaking her head Silver let herself back out of the room.
Falco turned back to the window again. His first thoughts on Silver were, oddly enough that Fox would like her. He laughed quietly. Fox liked just about anything female. That thought made him laugh all the more, then grimace as all the wrong images crossed his mind.
"Eww!" he mumbled to himself as he heard the door open again.
Falco was startled when he first saw Tyson, the Canite pilot, but that he lacked the blaze of white fur down the middle of his head he could have been a slimmer Fox. His fur had more red in it and his brush tail was a little finer, as though it was only just growing back. His eyes were more yellow than Fox's familiar warm brown, and held a much harder look. From his manner Falco immediately saw a strange familiarity. He held himself in a way that said, "leave me alone and I'll let you live". That was a lesson Falco had been forced to learn the hard way, and it was that that had given rise to his arrogant appearance. Falco had been able to mostly let go of that persona after living and working with Star Fox for so long, Tyson obviously hadn't been afforded that luxury.
"Hello?" Falco said tentatively.
Tyson turned an appraising eye to him and looked Falco up and down. Not bothering to hide a scowl.
"You're Lombardi?"
"Oh yeah we got a smart one here!" Falco said sarcastically.
Incredibly Tyson's scowl deepened. "Mm, idiot just like I thought"
Tyson turned and walked off. Falco decided to let him go. He'd taken worse insults.
"Ignore him" a cheerful new voice said. "He was the same to us"
Falco turned his attention to the Canite Lupine addressing him. He was of medium build, his wolfish features sharper than Fox's, his fur grey, plain aside from black tips to his ears muzzle and tail; lacking the glamour of Silver's coat. His eyes burned a bright orange-yellow and had mischief dancing in them. The faintest hints of teeth were apparent either side of his dark muzzle.
"Hi, I'm Lupus and this here is Blaze!" he said
Falco went over to them and shook Lupus's outstretched hand, then he turned to Blaze.
"I'm Blaze Jackson, you name it, I've blown it up!"
"I read your profile, I'm inclined to believe it"
Falco smiled at Blaze. He was easily the largest in the room. Standing taller than even an adult Avion. His shoulders were abnormally broad, though only just out of proportion to his height. He was undoubtedly the oldest of the group Falco realised, although he wouldn't have liked to have guessed at his age, however he suspected that Blaze would be the only one into his twenties. Falco found that made him a little uncomfortable. Falco could see where he had gotten his name. A bright white blaze streaked down the centre of his otherwise black head. His eyes were small and brown and just a little shrewd.
"Well Blaze I think you got competition, Falco's seen his share of explosive situations" Lupus chuckled.
"Oh man that's bad, even for you" Blaze said. His voice deep and rumbling to match his size
"I know!"
Falco shook his head smiling, these two would be a welcome change from Tyson, when Falco looked back to him he was staring moodily out of the window, ignoring the rest of the room's occupants. At that moment Salty and Silver joined them in the room. Tyson perked up visibly when he saw Silver and immediately left his lonely spot in the corner to greet her.
"Hey beautiful!"
Silver stared at him then blushed slightly.
"Oh god it is Fox"
"If Tyson would kindly put his tongue back in his mouth I'd like to meet our new members" Lupus said
Silver laughed and turned to Lupus. Lupus ignored the deadly look Tyson was giving him.
"Silver Allret, the shuttle pilot" She said smiling warmly.
"MmLupus Kelly" he pointed at Blaze "Blaze Jackson"
"Nice to meet you"
Falco suddenly noticed another presence, briefly he glanced over his shoulder.
"The shy bunny behind me is Salty, the mechanic" Falco said.
"Hi…" Salty said cautiously, very aware that everyone in the room was bigger than him. Even Silver.
"Hiya Salty!" Lupus called "Come on don't be shy! We don't bite… Well Blaze does…"
"No I don't!"
Salty laughed and stepped into the group more, though he stayed close to Falco's side. Falco noticed Blaze and Lupus exchange a nervous glance. Tyson looked openly repulsed.
"So Falco… tell us about the Behemoth… is it really as big as they say?" Lupus asked.
"Depends how big they say it is"
"They say it's twenty times the size of a Celadon Cargo Carrier"
"Mm that'd be about right" Falco mused.
"But that's enormous!" Lupus shouted… "Ouch that makes my head hurt"
"Mine too"
"Oh great they're all idiots" Tyson mumbled.
"What is your problem?" Lupus growled.
"Just ignore him" Blaze soothed "If he can't say anything constructive"
"The conversation isn't exactly riveting, or particularly intelligent" Tyson snarled
"Oh give it a rest Fo-Tyson" Falco said, only just catching himself.
"Why should I listen to you birdie?"
"Is that a racist remark Khan?" Lupus growled
Tyson made a face grunted and walked away. Falco blinked confused by the exchange. He'd never thought of those kind of remarks as racist before and didn't care to.
"Khan's obviously an asshole, ignore him" Lupus said grinning.
Just then General Pepper walked into the room. Silver, Blaze and Lupus saluted, Tyson wasn't paying attention so missed the opportunity. Falco spotted Pepper's eyes, just slightly irritated on him.
The seven of them sat down around the table. General Pepper detailed the mission to them, although Falco noted he played down the most risky parts, so as not to draw their attention to them. Falco soon realised that he and Pepper would be the only ones to know how dangerous this mission would be. Salty too young and inexperienced would not understand the risks, the rest were not being well informed. Falco found himself getting more and more nervous, this was not how he was used to doing things. Falco sighed wearily and tried to assure himself that this was normal Army procedure… "Some things its better they don't know" Pepper had once said. Falco agreed with him to a point but he couldn't shake the sensation that this was taking it a little too far.
Once the briefing was over, it didn't take nearly as long as the one the day before Pepper gave the team a training schedule then dismissed them. As Falco stood up with Salty Pepper gestured for him to remain behind. Falco's feeling of foreboding increased immeasurably and for just a moment he felt physically sick. Then as quickly as the feeling had arisen it passed again. Pepper waited for the room to empty before turning his attention to Falco and speaking.
"So what do you think of them Falco?" General Pepper asked.
"They're young for the army…" Falco said, startled by the question, unable to think of anything else.
"Mm…" Pepper mumbled in agreement and seemed lost in thought for a moment "They haven't seen that much combat between them. Blaze has seen quite a few missions, but he's far from a veteran. Tyson and Lupus have seen a few missions and Silver's done some hairy shuttle ops but Salty's never been on combat before. None of them have as much experience as I would like…" Pepper paused again thoughtfully "They need a leader Falco. I was going to have Tyson do it but he's a pilot and hasn't seen many strike missions, and frankly his attitude sucks…"
Falco turned suddenly alarmed to look at him.
"You on the other hand have seen ground and air missions, and have repeatedly proven yourself to be able to improvise in the worst circumstances…"
Falco stared at him his beak hanging slightly open. Finally he got his voice to respond.
"You must be kidding! I've got about as much command experience as the average tree!! The only one I outranked was Slippy, and you know that's not saying much"
"Who else do you suggest Falco, they all seem to respect you…"
"Not Tyson"
"Tyson doesn't respect anyone. He only looks after himself, just like all the street kids"
"Not all of us apparently" Falco thought to himself and smiled, if only Pepper knew.
"You've been doing this for years longer than them Falco, even Blaze"
Falco frowned.
"I've never led anything sir, I think Blaze or Lupus would be better bets"
"You led the fleet against the Trigean uprising"
"Only because I didn't have any choice! I just… fell into that… it was never intentional, how was I to know Fox and Peppy would both get shot up in the first three minutes"
"You took it in your stride though…"
"All I did was relay the command instructions to the squadron leaders. Slippy could have done that standing on his head juggling eels"
Pepper chucked. "You do both yours and Slippy's talents down Falco, although I would like to see Slippy try that…"
Falco smiled "Oh I know Slippy's smart, I'd have been cooked, drowned and flash fried hundreds of times without his adaptations to the Arwings and his help in combat…" Falco trailed off "But if Fox was here you'd be saying this to him"
Pepper chuckled
"Fox would have taken the job without ever doubting himself, but yes, I wouldn't interrupt your usual chain of command. But Fox isn't here, and he isn't going to be."
"There was a reason I wasn't in command"
"Yes, Fox was following his father and Peppy was the oldest. You're good at your job Falco"
"But Fox was always in command! I wasn't even second."
"So?"
"I have no experience!"
"Neither do they Falco."
"Then why are you sending them?"
"Personnel selection is not your business Falco."
Falco was cut short by those words and he was left with the strongest impression Pepper was hiding something.
"It's just up to you to mould the six of you into a team"
"Huh, you need Peppy for that. I'm no good at team building, I'm the "Arrogant Avion" remember"
"Falco anyone who actually knows you knows that's not true." Pepper paused "Falco I want someone in charge I trust and can rely on"
Falco made a face.
"I'm not going to order you to do it. I consider you to be a friend, so I'm not going to force you, but I do think you're the best person. Blaze will be second under you."
Falco turned away thoughtfully, rubbing wearily at his eyes.
"Alright… I'll do it" He sighed, again feeling as though Pepper had pushed him into a corner.
"Good. I'll make the arrangements…" Pepper paused "Thank you Falco" He said sincerely "You can go now, you have weapons training this afternoon, don't be late."
"No sir" Falco mumbled and walked out the door.
He nearly fell over Salty and Silver waiting outside.
"What was all that about?" Salty asked.
Falco blinked, wondering if it had actually happened, wondering what he had let himself in for.
"Err…" Falco mumbled unsure how to tell them "Pepper and I just had to have a little chat… seems there was an opening for commander of the strike team" Falco sighed "Guess who got the job"
Salty smiled "Cool! Congrats Falc'!"
Salty seemed to think it was a good thing. Falco turned to Silver for an opinion. She smiled at him, a smile that was reassuring.
"Seems like the logical choice. Come on Lupus and Blaze are waiting for us in the meeting room"
Still wondering if it was all a dream he would wake up form Falco followed them down the corridors.
They led him into a large room. It was plain, white walls white ceilings, the kind of place that would drive even the most normal person nuts. About the room there were various styles decaying chairs, all in shades of vomit. People clustered in small groups round about. Falco spotted Blaze and Lupus in a corner. Following Salty and Silver he went over.
"So Falco what did Pepper want to talk to you about?" Blaze asked
"Um…"
"Falco got command" Silver answered for him
To Falco's immense surprise Lupus and Blaze exchanged expressions of glee.
"That'll show his arrogant ass!" Lupus cried.
"Yeah!"
"What?" Falco asked, remaining standing while Salty and Silver sat.
"Tyson will be pissed!" Lupus laughed "If its going in seniority you'll get second as well Blaze"
"Yeah he did" Falco commented
"Really?"
"Ah yes this'll annoy the hell out of him!"
"What will!?" Falco asked again.
"You being in charge"
"Why?" Falco asked, finally sitting down
"Because Tyson's an arrogant asshole. He thinks he should be in command" Lupus snorted "He thinks he's better than you"
Falco put his head on one side "Maybe he is"
"Oh please, he's only been qualified 2 years. And my granny's seen more ground missions than him!"
"Really I didn't know your old grand-mama was in the army"
"She's not idiot! It's an expression"
"Ah an ex-press-ion…" Blaze mocked
"Where is Tyson anyway?" Falco asked
"Don't know, don't care"
"Probably gone to see his old gang. We got a few hours off, were not booked into the ranges till this afternoon, for now we're supposed to socialise"
"Someone needs to tell Tyson that"
"He was in a gang?" Salty asked.
"Some street pack. The army picked him up a while back-"
"Tyson was a StreetRunner? He got from there up to being a pilot, wow, he can't be all that bad" Falco said genuinely impressed. He was looking at what his own life could have been without Star Fox, if he'd been lucky… very lucky.
"Are we talking about the same Tyson?" Lupus asked
"Well anyone who can manage that has my respect" Falco said
"What did you call it… Street what?" Silver asked
"Runner" Falco answered "I suppose it's an Avion expression. Don't you use it here?"
"Not that I've heard"
"Me neither"
Falco shrugged "There were lots of them where I grew up. So it was a phrase I heard a lot" not least because he'd been one of them "That was the nicest thing they called them anyway"
The morning passed slowly, the team started to get to know one another, as was important if they were to work well together. Tyson remained absent until late and only arrived 10 minutes before they were due to be at the firing range. Falco stared at him, with a sick familiarity, he would have fitted in well back with Altayu and Jedd, Falco again saw himself in Tyson; how things could have been. Falco had been glad to put that life behind him and worked to forget it, Tyson it seemed was unwilling to let go. Falco was far from proud of some of the things he'd done…
Falco followed the rest to the firing ranges. He watched as Blaze, Lupus and the rest selected booths.
"What's the biochip reader for?" Falco asked
"It logs you in, so the computer will keep your score" Blaze told him
Falco put his hand in the reader. His name flashed up on the screen, along with an Army serial number.
"Lombardi, Falco, 0795868" Falco mumbled to himself, someone was working fast. The screen changed and then read:
"Login accepted, begin when ready. Select weapon and difficulty"
Falco looked around, uncertain as a target dropped from the ceiling. Only then did he spot a weapons rack at the back of the room. He wandered over to it, where he met Lupus standing stroking his chin as though selecting his breakfast cereal. In the end he pulled a pistol from the rack, spun it round his finger, grinned at Falco and walked off. Falco decided to stick to basics and took down a standard blaster, the same model as the sidearm he carried in his Arwing. Falco returned to his booth. He had always found target practice boring. Falco fired off a few shots, the target was fairly close, 5 metres or so, if he didn't hit it at this distance he deserved to be shot.
After the first few rounds Falco started to get bored, his mind began to wander. He always found range work kind of patronising; at least he had since he was about ten. What challenge were targets that barely moved? No-one on the Behemoth was likely to oblige by running around in circles. Falco sighed as aimed a sniper rifle; he would rather be in the sky.
"Falco! Falco! Oi birdbrain are you listening?" Lupus walked up to him "hello? Falco"
"Huh what?" Falco snapped back from troubled thoughts to look at Lupus' grinning face.
"What planet are you on?" Lupus asked
"Not this one obviously!" Silver giggled.
"Sorry… I was thinking"
"Did it hurt?"
"mm just a little" Falco laughed at Lupus' mocking.
"We're finished Falco, we can do what we like now"
"Really, cool" Falco looked down. In front of him sat a large rifle, field-stripped. "ugh… idle hands" Falco mumbled staring at it before beginning to put it back together under Lupus and Blaze's gaze. Falco picked up the reassembled rifle and took it back to the rack.
"Whoa, that was quick, for a pilot" Lupus said
"Huh?" Falco looked at the gun "oh right, you'd be surprised how boring life on Great Fox can be" Falco grinned "besides, that was one of Peppy's favourite punishments, ugh, field-strip and clean every gun in the armoury. It used to take me the whole day!"
"Were you in trouble a lot then?" Silver asked coyly, twiddling her bracelet round her wrist
"Only Fox is faster…"
"Well he must be fast then-for a pilot, they make us do that so many times we can-"
"Pilots are a lot more skilled than you. So what if we can't take a gun apart in 30 seconds" Tyson growled
Lupus stared at him
"I don't think he meant it like that" Blaze said trying to diffuse things.
"You special ops guys think you're so great, makes me sick"
"Well Tyson, tomorrow you can show us how good you really are" Lupus snarled back.
"I'll be glad to whip your tail Kelly"
Lupus rolled his eyes and stormed out the armoury door. Followed closely by Blaze Silver and Salty.
"Touchy, touchy… The sky's the place to be aint it Lombardi?"
"I got nothing but admiration for the guys on the ground, I'd be dead without them, but yeah, I'll take the sky any day" Falco said truthfully.
"Fair do's Lombardi" Tyson said as they followed the team towards the meeting room. Up ahead Lupus was fuming.
"Don't let him get to you! He just loves winding you up!"
"Ugh, I can't stand him! If the Behemoth doesn't get him I'll shoot him"
The meeting room was busier now, filled with the talk and laughter of the young men and women that made up this part of the Cornerian Army. Music from some rock band was playing in the background, the mood seemed jovial. As Falco walked into the room he smelt alcohol and his stomach did a brief summersault, it wasn't strong, but he was sensitised to it, he supposed. He looked around and spotted a small canteen bar type arrangement, after occupying a table in the corner of the room Tyson and Lupus made B-lines for it.
"Nothing like alcohol for fuelling fights."
Falco found a seat at the corner of the table beside Silver. Tyson and Lupus returned together a little later, a temporary truce seeming to have been called. Lupus offered round beer to everyone except Salty. Falco shook his head
"No thanks Loop'"
"You sure? We only get one, one night a week"
Falco nodded
"Fair enough, more for me!"
"You don't drink?" Silver asked somewhat surprised
"No, not really."
"How come?"
"I had… a bad experience"
Silver frowned at him
"We need to be on alert on Great Fox all the time. I've never really seen it as a good idea for us all to be pissed." Falco chuckled "I've been designated driver for years"
"Why do you need to be alert?"
"Occasionally some idiot thinks it's smart to attack Great Fox" Falco raised an eyebrow "Not a good idea, we-"
"I am not going on your team!" Lupus shouted
"Fair enough wolf. I'll just blow you to pieces"
"What team?" Falco asked Silver
"We have aerial combat training tomorrow 3 on 3, its supposed to be team building"
Blaze stood up.
"Back off guys" he said slowly
"I'll show you what I can do" Lupus growled
Alcohol and fights set all the major alarms ringing in Falco's head. He found himself on his feet.
"Cool it!!" He shouted at the top of his voice.
All of the team and a few on a table nearby turned to stare at him. Falco felt suddenly embarrassed.
"Ugh…" now he had their attention he'd better do something about their feud, split them up, that was what Peppy used to do "Lupus, you and Salty are with me tomorrow. Save it for the simulator"
Falco sat back down, just waiting for someone to challenge him, to his surprise no-one did and Lupus and Tyson were civil to one another for the rest of the evening.
Falco went with Salty when he retired, as they walked Salty spoke.
"I didn't know you could shout so loud"
Falco shrugged "I can do lots of thing if you put me in the position. I was not going to have them fighting on my first day in command." "How would that have made me look? I'm not cracked up for this" "Salty, do we have flight training tomorrow then?"
"Yes all day, ugh you Silver and Tyson are supposed to go over basic flight controls with the rest of us. I'm dreading it, I'm more than a little rusty"
"Hmm" Falco said more to himself than Salty as they found their way to their room.
The next morning Falco was last into the meeting room, Salty having beaten him to the shower by 30 seconds. He wandered up to the table where Blaze and Salty were eating. Lupus and Tyson were in the breakfast queue, Silver was sat reading the morning paper, Falco peered over her shoulder at it.
"Oh look they've sent in the Blockade-Runners to Andolonia. 'Bout bloody time too. A few more days and it would have been a job for us"
"Scanning the tabloids for business are you Falco?" Blaze asked mildly.
"We have to keep our eyes out for potential work… pickings have been a bit slim recently" Falco said dropping into a chair at Salty's side.
"Yeah, but you get a fortune for every job you do, don't you?" Blaze asked. Falco laughed.
"You can't believe everything you read in these things! The last job we did was a month's meteor clearing. We got paid peanuts! By the time we paid for bombs and other equipment it was hardly worth our while. Great Fox has definitely seen better days… Slippy was down to paperclips and duck tape by the time I left! You don't hear about that in the news do you?"
"I thought mercenaries were never short of money"
"Its alright when we get a big job, but if we're stuck doing cargo escorting and that kind of thing for more than a few months we start to run out"
"But you got paid a fortune for Andross!"
"Yes, but we still had to pay to get the Arwings fixed, restock the armoury and pay Fox and Slippy's medical bill. That doesn't come cheap you know, and that was three years ago now…"
An uneasy memory flickered across Falco's mind, accompanied by a shiver running up his spine, hastily he pushed it aside.
"What happened to Fox and Slippy?" Salty asked through a mouthful of cereal.
Even though they hadn't been on the best of terms when he left the memory of that day made Falco feel sick, angry and sad all at the same time. No-one could deny it had been awful, on more levels than he was willing to admit to. Falco was aware of his hands balling into fists when he responded.
"Andross nearly shot Fox to pieces before he ended it… him and his guard robots, he was too much of a coward to stand and fight for himself. Bastard." Falco's voice was like a growl. Salty's spoon was held motionless half way to his mouth, dripping milk down his front as he stared at him. "There was more blood outside his body than in it when he finally got back, but the robots seemed to have burnt him more than anything…" Falco looked around at his team-mate's expressions, and suddenly remembered that Blaze and Salty were eating. "Sorry" he added hastily. Then he smiled, aware that his expression was angry "Slippy cut open his arm" He laughed quietly "None of us ever worked out exactly how… complete mystery some of the things Slippy manages…"
Silver stood up without looking at him "you want some breakfast?" she asked, Falco nodded and followed her over to the canteen.
Once they were out of earshot of the others Falco spoke "Pilot training… Why are we bothering?"
Silver looked at him but said nothing, instead she turned to toying with her bracelet again.
"It took me six weeks to get basic flight controls, and that was fast!" Falco said exasperated.
Silver sighed "I know"
"What do they think we can teach them in what, how long we got… 20 hours?"
"I don't know. I think it's a moral booster, so that if we screw up the rest still have hope of being able to get out alone"
"But its suicide!"
"I know Falco!!" Silver shouted, Falco was surprised. She turned to him her face pale "My fighter skills aren't so good. I'm a shuttle pilot, I can't fly fighters, I've tried; it made me ill. I need to believe you can teach me enough to survive too Falco. Coz if you screw up and leave me alone…" Silver stopped a lump catching in her throat "I'm not stupid, there isn't much margin for error in this. If too many of us die… none of us are getting out." She looked at him "How good do you think Blaze can fly a shuttle? Or Lupus, or even Tyson? How well do you think Salty is going to do in a fighter?"
Falco knew the odds were grim, perhaps even more than she did "We'd better not die than had we?" Silver smiled and slid her try along the side towards the hot food "That was the good thing about Star Fox… we all learnt pretty much everything, or at least had two of each. Fox never got his shuttle licence, he didn't have the patience, but Peppy and I both did. Fox and Slippy can both use the Landmaster and Blue Marine, I wasn't volunteering, there's no way you'll get me underwater in something Slippy built without a fight! Apart from that we're all fairly interchangeable… although we have our preferences. Bacon and egg please. I do a lot of the ranged attacks, sniping and the like-Thanks" more Army food was dumped onto his plate "and you name it, I've flown it… might not have been very good, but that's besides the point. Hang glider was fun, even though I nearly had a close encounter with a tree."
Silver smiled "I just specialised in Shuttles, personnel and PLT's mostly, I never had many heavy shuttle ops so I'm a little out of practice"
"Pepper seems to think your one of the best" Falco said following her back to the table. At that Silver said nothing.
After breakfast Falco followed the rest of the team to the simulators, he still didn't know his way around the base. When they arrived at the simulator the supervisor asked them for the commanding officer a team name.
"We don't have a team name do we?" Lupus asked
"No… someone needs to think of one" Silver said "Falco you need to sign us in!"
"Really, uh Falco Lombardi… team leader" Falco said feeling fairly odd, offering his hand for the biochip reader. To his surprise it was accepted and they were allowed into the large room containing the simulators.
Falco looked up at the simulator pods, sighing. What's the point? I can't teach these lot to fly in time…we'd be better off spending the time in the firing ranges… oh shit we're screwed… really, really screwed… Falco watched as the others got into the simulator. He caught Silver's eye as she ducked into the door, he frowned at her, she just shrugged helplessly back. Falco turned back to the pod. He was last to enter. He sighed to himself as the door closed sealing off the last of the light, plunging him into darkness. Ahead of him the screen flickered into life. Watching he pulled the comm. link onto his head. The screen showed the mission selection screen. Falco stared bemused at it; it showed the others' status as "ready". He guessed he had to pick what they would all do, he noticed at the bottom of the screen it said "commander position". Falco gazed thoughtfully at the options…
"Hey Lombardi, we haven't got all day, would you select a mission already!" Tyson's irritated voice came over the comm.
"Keep your fur on Tyson" Falco growled, finally he found a suitable mission for all levels of ability. "Alright, let's try something nice and simple to brush up on your skills"
Falco selected a training course, ring navigation and basic combat controls.
"Oh how patronising, what do you think I am Falco, a god dammed rookie?"
"We're not all pilots Tyson!" Lupus growled.
"This can be as easy or as hard as you want it to be, there's multiple paths, just chose the one that suits you."
"Which one's the easy one?" Salty asked meekly, Falco heard Tyson scoff down the comm.
"Easy path is marked in blue, medium yellow, hard red" Falco said as the screen changed to display blue skies. Ahead of him he could see the first of the rings, blue, then as his eyes followed they branched off into the three colours. As Falco gazed at the display he noticed something he wasn't expecting. An option on the corner of his display read "observe and assist" mildly he selected it. The names of all the team flicked up. Falco clicked on Salty's name. His screen flickered and changed. Falco was looking out over Salty's course. Falco watched him for a moment as he made a nervous route through the first few rings. Falco decided he needed a little reassurance, he pushed his Arwing forward down towards the course.
"Don't be frightened Salt'!" he called pulling into his field of vision "Show those rings who's boss! It won't hurt if you hit or miss one I promise. Just go for it!"
Salty stopped.
"I can't Falco. Its like trying to do eight things at once, I'm having major problems at this speed let alone any faster. I just can't think about all those things fast enough"
"Then don't think" Falco said simply
"What?"
"Just feel. Let your Arwing become part of you. She wants to, you just have to let her. You don't have to think about making your legs walk, now just let your Arwing become your limbs. It takes a while, but once you get that your well on your way to becoming a fine pilot"
"I can't do that!"
"Just relax… Would it help if I led the way?"
"yeah maybe"
"Come on then, chase me tail!" Falco barrel rolled and sped off, followed more slowly by Salty. As he came to the first set of rings Falco slowed down again.
"ok Salt' I'll talk you through" Falco flew easily through the first ring then tilted the controls to the left.
"nice and gentle now." Falco eased right through the next ring. "That's it" Falco led him through successive rings until they came to one above the other. "Summersault now Salt, watch me then you try ok?"
Falco accelerated a little and flew through the bottom ring then pulled up hard turning so that his Arwing went through the upper ring on its back, then he pushed down again and skimmed through the bottom ring again.
"you don't have to go through the bottom one twice… I was just showing off a little… sorry…"
"you make that look easy Falco!"
"We all have to start somewhere, I've been doing this for eight years, now you try it, use your thrust and brake to make sure you get the loop tight enough… off you go!"
Falco watched as Salty tried. The first time he missed the second ring, too high, the second he couldn't get the Arwing onto its back, the third time however he succeeded.
"Whoa Salt', well done you're a natural! Come on catch me!" Falco sped off around the rest of the blue ringed course, gradually increasing the speed. Salty missed a few rings, but Falco was pleasantly surprised by his skills. At the end of the course they paused
"Well done Salty! Why don't you try it again, a little faster this time. I'm going to check on the others for a bit then we'll do something else"
Falco switched the screens so that he could observe the others in turn. He watched each for a time, Silver it seemed wasn't nearly as rusty as she thought she was, and seemed to have gotten over her motion sickness, as she barrel rolled and somersaulted through the rings. It looked as though Lupus had missed his vocation when he joined Special Ops. Blaze on the other hand… was rusty… he seemed to be struggling more than all the rest, perhaps even more so than Salty, which worried Falco considerably as he was supposed to be one of the reserve shuttle pilots.
"Need any help Blaze?" Falco asked
"Huh?!" He flew into a ring "Ugh, I really am crap at this aint I Falco?" He asked
"Just rusty" Falco reassured "Besides, you're not meant to be a pilot. You're a fish out of water up here"
Blaze laughed at that "Unlike you"
"I was made to fly! Want to know something? I hate water, terrified of drowning, and I could never do half the combat moves I was supposed to learn."
"Really? How come?"
"Not strong enough. We all have our weak and strong points" "God I sound like Peppy" "Yours might just not be flying fighters"
"To be honest its never been my thing. I prefer shuttles. Arwings go so fast I always seem to be two moves behind whatever its doing!"
"Try taking it a little slower then. Until your legs stop getting tied in knots"
"You know Falco that's exactly the problem I have"
"Mm, I know, I've been there… once my legs grew long enough to reach the pedals!"
Blaze laughed again "I never had that problem. I've always been a foot taller than everyone else. That's what made me so good for Special Ops." Falco watched Blaze on the course "I like Special Ops. How can you beat a job where they let you play with high yield explosives on a regular basis?"
"Yeah… I think I was always destined to be a pilot, no matter what everyone else said… my heart always burned for the sky… Father wanted me to follow him in his trade… he wanted me to be lawyer… Ugh, shirts and collars suffocate me. I can't think of anything worse."
"Falco how old are you?"
Falco felt part of him go cold… "Not old enough" "Hey Blaze look! You're at the end of the course!"
"Really, hey that was easier when I was talking to you!"
"Yeah, you shouldn't think about it so much, try and let it be automatic. I just have to check on Tyson then I think we'll have a little dogfight"
"oh yay, another excuse for Tyson and Lupus to get at one another"
"I know, but I'd rather they battled it out in the simulator than anywhere else"
When he checked on Tyson he wasn't surprised to see him showing off. Shooting through the hard course at breakneck speed then destroying everything in the combat section. Falco shook his head, part of him willed him to screw up and hit the deck and be blown into little tiny bits. He smiled to himself, he usually only reserved those kind of feelings for Fox.
"All units listen up" Falco said "I 'spect your getting pretty bored with that by now, so how about a little dogfight"
Falco noted a little whoop of delight over the comm. from Lupus and pretended not to hear Tyson say "at last". He flicked the screen. Pictures of the 6 Arwings flashed up on the screen along with their pilots' names and an option for a handicap, grinning Falco took his and Tyson's shields down to 30. "That should make life more interesting" Along with that he assigned teams, true to his word he took Lupus and Salty on his and Silver, Blaze and Tyson on the other, quite fair teams as it turned out.
The screen flicked into life, blue skies high above Corneria, or somewhere like it, too high up to risk hitting the ground. Falco was aware of Lupus behind and to his right and Salty behind on his left. It felt very weird to be flying in Fox's position.
"Ok boys, we have to stick together ok? Work as a team, if we combine our firepower we can bring them down without too much fuss. Besides, if you get separated you're vulnerable" he'd flown with rookies before, the most important thing was for them not to panic "if we get separated don't worry, I'll come and find you ok? Just hold your own for as long as you can" he said mainly for Salty's benefit. Falco would be dammed if he was going to let Tyson pick on him. Well he should probably worry more about Lupus on that front. "Fly together"
On the other team Tyson had an entirely different approach. He boosted away from the others intent only on the clash with the opposition.
Salty spotted Tyson on scanners first
"Here he comes!" he squeaked nervously, his flight path wavering.
"Fly straight and tight, guys, don't let them split us up." The others appeared in view a little behind Tyson "Here they come. Concentrate your fire on Tyson!" Dirty tactics Falco knew, without him the rest would be easy prey, but in a real battle they would be shown no mercy. Tyson needed to learn how to use all his team-mates' strengths.
Falco's team and Tyson clashed in what turned into a giant game of chicken. Falco's inexperienced team broke too soon leaving him and Tyson charging towards one another in a battle of wills firing and barrel rolling, seeing who would blink first. Falco pulled up suddenly Tyson shot under him Falco then faced the others coming behind. Salty had engaged Silver and was taking damage so he turned to her, outnumbered she was forced to leave Salty and flee.
"Form up!" Falco shouted to Lupus who flew up to join his wing, between them they chased Silver. By the time Tyson decided to help her, her ship was aflame. Falco saw him coming and turned to meet him.
"Stay on Silver" he commanded "Bring her down then I'll meet you" Falco pulled away and tried to circle round to get behind Tyson, hoping he was concentrating on Lupus. Tyson broke off his attack just as Falco went to fire his first shot. They then entered into a large game of tag. He chased Tyson, and Tyson chased him. Tyson was good but not good enough, Falco went to squeeze off a final volley that would finish it… Something slammed into his side. His Arwing tumbled away, spinning. Falco fought the controls, he had to get control again. Eventually the stomach churning fall stopped and he managed to level out.
"Falco, Falco are you ok?" Salty's voice as he and Lupus dived towards him, followed distantly by Tyson and further back Blaze.
"Yeah… what happened?"
"Blaze hit you. But we got Silver though!" Lupus told him. Falco noted an Arwing crossed out on the screen.
"Stay tight, they're coming back for more. They're outnumbered" "Yeah but my Arwing now has the manoeuvrability of the Landmaster with both treads missing"
Falco braced himself for an attack he wasn't sure he would survive. He led the team on evasion patterns for a while then cried:
"Break!" The three of them shot off in different directions, Falco somersaulted and came up behind the two of them. Tyson broke away, but Blaze was too slow. Though he had hardly any damage he was unable to escape Falco's pursuit. After a short time Falco sent him towards the ground in a ball of flame. As he did so he heard a bleeping sound. An Arwing flashed up on the screen then was crossed through. Tyson had caught Lupus
"Salty, where are you?" Falco asked
"I'm still here" Came his frightened reply then- "help me! Tyson, he's coming!"
Falco boosted towards them. Every moment seeming to take too long
"He's firing on me! I can't shake him. Falco hurry!"
He could see them, both Arwings trailing smoke. Tyson was truly merciless, Salty didn't have long left…
"Aaaa!" Salty cried, his Arwing lost all power, Falco saw a wave of blue run across the ship as the electrical systems shorted out. Tyson shot over him. Falco followed shooting him, Tyson somersaulted and came up behind him, Falco's Arwing's manoeuvrability chose that moment to give up completely. He couldn't get away. There was an explosion and his simulator shut down…
Tyson stared about himself. He'd just got Lombardi, so why hadn't the machine shut down?
"Peep, peep, peep" Someone had a lock on him. He turned his head quickly to see Salty's stricken Arwing… Firing on him!
A loud raucous cheer roared round the simulator room. Then the machines shut down flashing "Victor, Salty Greenbank" on the main screen the others had been watching.
"Yee ha! Well done Salty!!!!" Lupus cried dragging him out of the simulator. "You killed Tyson! Way to go man!"
"Nice one Salty!" Falco cried, realising what must have happened.
"That was a fluke" Tyson growled "Only because Lombardi set the handicap so his team could win"
"Tyson our handicaps were set both the same" He grinned at Salty "Don't be a sorry looser"
Falco watched with admiration and glee as Lupus and Blaze lifted Salty onto their shoulders and paraded him around the room with whoops and cries of delight. Tyson's scowl was deeper than Falco thought it was possible for a Canite's to be, he was sure that if Fox had walked around with a face like that it would have given him a headache… well it would have because Falco would have hit him before long!
"I could take you all and win" Tyson snarled under his breath
"Oh please, you couldn't even beat Salty! No offence."
"Why don't you take Falco on? It would make good viewing for the rest of us" Salty suggested, to Falco's annoyance
"Yeah, why don't you show us how it's done?" Lupus growled
"Fair enough Lombardi, you're on… or are you chicken"
Groaning Falco nodded in agreement. The expressions of the rest of the team, mainly Lupus told him he couldn't back down, and that they would all be rooting for him. Wondering mildly what he was letting himself in for and what the upshot would be if he lost he stepped back into the simulator.
The screen came into life, some planet Falco couldn't identify. The ground was of red rock, hard, the kind of surface you really didn't want to hit hard, totally unforgiving. He sighed. The scanners showed canyons ahead, not the kind of place you wanted to get chased into… but it was ok if you were the one doing the chasing. He grinned to himself. Avions were known for their reaction speeds… and Tyson, like Fox didn't seem like the kind of person capable of doing more than one thing at a time. In those canyons he'd have the advantage… now it all depended on whether Tyson was stupid enough to allow himself to be chased into them…
Falco drew up high into the sky, to give his scanners the best chance of tracking Tyson, even though it lit him up like a Christmas tree. He spotted Tyson crossing the red plains below him and to his right, heading straight for the canyons.
"Perfect" Falco thought to himself "unless he's got the same idea as me… well, we'll just have to make sure I'm the hunter… Mmm I wonder what Canite tastes like… wait EWWW!... is that cannibalism?"
He shook his head and turned his mind back to the battle. Tyson had turned his Arwing up to approach him, Falco dove down and away from him, leading him towards the canyon, he would get behind and chase him in later, he'd just have to play bait for a minute
"Come on little foxy chase the chicken. Huh, I'll give you chicken you arrogant asshole"
Sometimes it helped to provoke and insult the enemy, shooting down friends was always harder than killing someone you despised… sometimes a little anger helped, provided it wasn't too much, that way you just made mistakes, it was never good when things got personal. Falco looked back to see Tyson following, just out of range. He was pleased, and kicked a little more speed out of his Arwing to keep the distance, a plan formulating in his mind as the canyon grew closer and closer.
The first crack in the ground soon appeared below him, widening into a trench and then the promised canyon. Gradually he allowed Tyson to draw closer. As soon as it became deep and wide enough Falco dove down and stood on the breaks. Tyson didn't react fast enough and shoot over the top of him, down into the canyon, Falco surged after him, raining fire on his Arwing, Tyson for want of a better term panicked. It seemed he found it hard to do two things at once. He couldn't avoid the tight canyon walls and evade Falco's fire. First one of his wings hit one side then he bounced and hit the other. When he tried to pull out Falco blocked his route with a succession of bombs. Falco darted around another corner cleanly as Tyson's damaged Arwing struck the walls then he disappeared round another corner and as Falco rounded it he met only a receding blast wave. The simulator shut down.
The door opened and Falco met Lupus' grinning face. The delight in his eyes made Falco laugh, especially as he stood up and tried to look around casually as though the results of the match were of no interest to him at all.
"Hey you guys, you know we needed a name"
There was a pause. Lupus halted his silent celebrations
"Yeah?" Blaze asked
"Well umm I was thinking…"
"Come on Salt' spit it out!"
"Well my shuttle… it disappears, kinda like a ghost right?... Well I was thinking maybe we could be The Spectres… coz we fly in a ghost ship, and hopefully we're gunna sweep through the Behemoth without them ever knowing we're there" An odd smile crept across his face "At least, not until its too late"
"Mm Spectre Strike, sounds good to me. What do you think Falco?" Blaze asked
"I like it"
"Me too" Silver agreed
"Shall we go for that then?" Falco asked, looking around the team. Everyone, even Tyson, who seemed grateful for the distraction from his defeat nodded. "Cool"
Peppy wandered guiltily into Falco's bedroom. The room was a mess of clothes strewn about on the floor, the hastily raided cupboards still gaping open. Almost automatically he picked up the things and put them away. Thinking only briefly that he should leave him to clear up his own mess. After he'd done that he wandered into the bathroom and washed the blood from the sink. Once he'd done that he slowly plodded back into the main part of the room. It looked more normal now, if perhaps just a little too tidy. He sat heavily on the half made bed, peering round the room, filled with the trinkets of their shared lives. Large pictures of varied landscapes on the walls, a bookcase running from floor to ceiling filled to breaking point with books against one of the walls. His desk and computer in the corner, spread with books and scraps of paper, above that more shelves filled with even more books. Laughing Peppy thought how Falco now had nearly as many books as him! On top of his computer monitor sat a brown horse that moved if you touched it, Slippy had bought Falco that a few years ago as an ironic get well soon present. Peppy sighed, in the eight years he'd known Falco, since he'd picked up the scared, quiet child they'd barely been apart. Since then Peppy had raised him, and he liked to think he hadn't done too bad a job. But now Falco was gone. He sighed to himself, maybe he was overprotective, but he just wished he knew where Falco had gone, if he'd knew that he would have no reason to worry. Part of him was angry at Falco for not putting his mind at rest, all he had to do was call, but then, he always had been stubborn. Peppy knew Fox would say he was being stupid if he could see him, they all said he worried too much. But it had been four days, and he'd had no word. It was early morning, he hadn't slept properly the night before, he was up early, even for him. Part of him had hoped that he would have come into the room that morning and find Falco asleep peacefully in his bed. Peppy didn't mind admitting the satisfaction he would have gotten from waking him to shout at him and tell him how worried he'd been, but this morning there was no such luck, the room was still stubbornly absent. Feeling even more guilty he decided upon something he had to do, for his own sake. He knew where Falco kept his diary.
"It really has been one of those days. Fox beat me in the simulator, so I suppose he'll be gloating about that for a while. Then I blew out another power relay on my port cannon, so Slippy had a go at me. Then I managed to delete my history essay, its due in next week. I'd been working on it for ages, so I'm well pissed about that, and I can't find my notes. Then I burnt the lunch, which gave Fox another excuse to take the mick – not that he can cook. Then this afternoon I totally failed to do anything at all right… Apart from that today's been just great, its now nearly tomorrow as I've been up for ages trying to remember how my essay went… ugh "Discuss the contributing factors to the formation of the Lylat Federation and say which you think is most significant and why". To think I chose to do this! Fox doesn't do any school work anymore. Good job they're flexible about deadlines or I'd be well screwed, but no combat missions, no extensions. Never mind I think I'll be finished in time. I'm going to get up early tomorrow and finish it. I'll get Peppy to check it then send it. The sooner the damn things out of here the better! Must sleep now, very tired. Goodnight."
Peppy looked at the page, no matter how many times he read it, it didn't give any real clues as to where Falco had gone. He'd done it now, he may as well make a full inspection, hoping Falco would forgive him for this gross invasion of his privacy he flicked back to the day before.
"Today's been fairly normal, if life on Great Fox is ever is. Slippy set the docking bay alight again and I had to help him put it out. We managed to sort it quick enough for Fox and Peppy not to find out, which relieved Slippy no end. I finally completed the "Taliri Shuttle Escort" mission on the simulator, it's been getting on my nerves for ages, and I did it before Fox, which is always a good thing. He's getting on my nerves a bit at the moment, nothing new there I know but… well I don't know, he just seems to be that little bit more irritating lately…"
Ok so they weren't getting along so well, that wasn't anything new Peppy thought but he could still find no reason for him to run out or any clue on where he would go. Sighing Peppy flicked through the pages until something caught his eye just a few days before.
"-I've been having nightmares. I've always had nightmares but never anything like this before, I can't explain it, only that they leave me screaming in the middle of the night and unsure as to where and indeed who I am. Last night was the worst by far… I was in a dark place, I don't know where… Maybe Avion on the streets again, but I don't think so… I was holding a gun. Something was after me but I couldn't see it, it was hidden by the shadows… Then it jumped me, a familiar presence, but one long dead. Andross isn't my ghost he's Fox's, heaven knows I have enough of my own, so why the hell am I having nightmares about him? He killed Fox, Slippy and Peppy in front of me before ripping off my head… What the hell does that mean? I woke up crying… I keep trying to tell myself Andross is long gone but something keeps nagging at me, its like that time before Peppy crashed, I dreamt that before it happened… nah it was coincidence. I always dream we're crashing. Andross is long dead."
Peppy noted the last part seemed more like a prayer than a fact. He shook his head. Mildly he tried to think his way into Falco's shoes. From the looks of things his departure hadn't been planed, perversely that made Peppy feel better, he hoped Falco would find he had neglected to take all the things he would need, Peppy hoped he would be forced to return by necessity. Nevertheless he still had no idea where Falco would go, he wouldn't return to his home world, Avion, he knew him well enough not to think that. Peppy didn't know where else he could go, Great Fox was home to all of them. He sighed, the feeling of guilt returning slightly as he flipped through Falco's diary again, he found a section which confused him immensely. He starred at it for a moment before realising what it was. Avion text, he knew Falco could read, write and speak it but he often forgot that, there wasn't much call for it on Great Fox. The alien alphabet meant nothing to him, whatever Falco had written he definitely he didn't want anyone to understand, either that or they were words only fitting to the Avion language. Peppy looked instead to the doodles around the page, a smudged emblem of the Wandering Alliance, an Arwing chasing what looked oddly like the old Wolfen Star-fighters owned by the Star Wolf team, supposedly long dead. He found it strange that Falco would choose to draw that of all things, maybe this entry was his recollections of the past, that way it seemed fitting that the text should be in Avion. Sadly he put the book back where it belonged, looking around the room he sighed to himself.
"I'll let you have your secrets for now little one… I just wish I knew where you are." He picked up one of the photo frames by the bed Falco hadn't emptied, of the team and gazed at it. "Stay safe"
Peppy found a printout of the history essay on Falco's desk. He picked it up and started to read it. He had to laugh, Falco had spelt "accumulation" wrong within the first sentence. Spelling never had been one of his strong points, he supposed in part he could blame that on his teacher. Laughing to himself he did as the diary had asked of him and sent it on its merry way through cyberspace to the central marking board on Katina. That done his thoughts were allowed to wander, eventually he decided a word with an old friend was in order, it couldn't hurt.
General Pepper looked up at the sound of the bleeping of his comm. mildly he wondered who would be calling him, he wasn't expecting any external contacts. Leaning heavily on the pile of mission reports on his desk he answered the comm. He was surprised when he saw a familiar face appear on the screen.
"Peppy!" Pepper said surprised and pleased "long time no see…"
"Yes… it's good to talk to you again Charles" Peppy tried to smile but he wouldn't have bought it had he been looking at himself.
"What's troubling you Peppy, I get the impression this isn't a social call"
Peppy's eyes dropped for a moment "No…I'm calling to ask if you've heard from Falco"
Pepper was surprised and slightly alarmed, but his face didn't show it, he hadn't risen through the ranks to become Cornerian Minister of Defence by letting his face give his secrets away.
"Because I know you hear things I don't… he ran out on us a few days ago now and we haven't heard from him… I was wondering if he'd turned up at one of your squadrons or something." Peppy looked up, a pleading hopeful look in his eyes.
Pepper's face didn't so much as flicker as he lied to his friend of almost 20 years. "No, I'm sorry Peppy I'm afraid he hasn't" This was the worst thing he could lie to him about and Pepper knew it.
Peppy looked deeply disappointed.
"What do you mean by him running out?" Pepper asked
"Exactly that, no note, no communications, no nothing. He and Fox were squabbling like they always do one minute, the next I'm looking for him and he's gone off sensors."
"That seems out of character doesn't it?"
Peppy shrugged and looked down. It wasn't hugely out of character… Falco had run away from his childhood home, and had been known to be the most lonesome member of the team, often taking himself off on solo flights for hours at a time… but it had never been like this before, he'd never taken his things… it seemed that this time it would be an extended absence, Peppy couldn't bring himself to imagine it would be permanent.
"I'm worried about him Charles…" Peppy's eyes were filled with pain.
Pepper decided he should do his best to reassure him.
"Falco is more than capable of taking care of himself"
"Its not his abilities that I doubt… there are lots of people out there who don't like us very much… They wouldn't dare attack Great Fox, but a lone Arwing is an entirely different story. I'm scared of what might happen to him… he's still young, with the capacity to be foolish"
"Falco wont allow himself to get into a situation like that, he's got more sense. We all make irrational decisions from time to time, Falco is no different."
Peppy sighed "If you hear from him ask him to call home, or if you find out where he is let us know"
"Of course I will Peppy. Take care, I'm sure Falco is safe wherever he is, and he'll turn up like a bad penny when it suits him"
Peppy managed to smile "I hope so. Thanks Charles…" He paused thoughtfully for a moment "Star Fox is still open for business… hell we need the money. Thanks again Charles, get in touch if you hear anything, anything at all"
"Yes, yes… Goodbye Peppy"
Peppy nodded and cut the comm.
Pepper paused for a moment. He hadn't realised Falco had just run out on Star Fox. He considered whether this would be a problem for the mission, he guessed not, Falco was committed now and wouldn't, couldn't back out. He knew better than to break the secrets act, even to them. It didn't matter whether Peppy was looking for him or not. Pepper sighed, he owed it to Peppy to at least talk to him, especially after having lied to him about it. "Teenagers." Pepper thought rolling his eyes.
"Falco can I talk to you for a moment?"
Falco looked at Silver and shrugged before following the General out of the room. He took him into his office just down the hall. He closed the door behind them. Falco started to get a little nervous. He looked around uneasily as Pepper sat down. As before he gestured for Falco to sit.
"I've just had Peppy on the line" He said slowly. "You gave me the impression that you had resigned from Star Fox"
Falco looked up "you didn't tell him where I am did you?"
"no" Pepper sighed "this strike mission is a secret"
Falco sighed in relief. He didn't really want Peppy to know. The image of him marching into the base to drag him home flickered across his mind. Besides if he knew he was going on a mission like this he would get nervous. It suddenly occurred to him that Pepper might be about to reprimand him.
"He's very worried about you" Pepper said after a long pause. Falco's fear of a reprimand changed to something much worse, guilt. He looked down, unable to answer for a long time.
"It was never my intention just to run out… I was going to call once I'd found some friends or someone to stay with. I just never got there. You can imagine his reaction if I told him I was with the Cornerian Army"
"Yes… but its very difficult to lie to an old friend. You can talk to him as long as you don't tell him where you are"
"He'd want to know" Falco sighed then smiled "Third degree, Where are you? Who are you with? When are you coming back? I can't answer any of those can I?"
"But at least tell him you're safe"
"He wont believe me if I avoid questions, he knows me too well for that, and I cant lie to him, that's the problem, he can just see through me, like glass, no matter how hard I try. If I lie, or avoid questions it'll just make things worse. He'll have Slippy try to track the call. If he finds it leads here he'll think the worst, that I've been arrested or something... If Slippy can't find where I'm talking from that will make them suspicious too. Its best if I just disappear."
Pepper looked up. "I have found that in this Federation it is very hard to simply disappear"
"My friends did a fairly good job of it" Falco said bitterly.
"Yes Avions do seem to have a certain knack for it. Other than your lot the only thing that disappears around here is Salty's shuttle"
"And Slippy's tools" Falco said mildly.
Pepper grinned "Will you go back to them once this is finished?"
Falco paused thoughtfully "Yes, if they'll still have me. I never meant to be leaving permanently, just an unscheduled holiday…"
"Peppy will certainly have you back" Pepper said.
"I know… but its not him that decides is it?"
"I'm sure Fox will be just as glad to see you home as him"
"I don't think so, we weren't on the best of terms when I left…"
"Really?"
"no… we had a fight, a big one, that was what tipped the balance"
"I'm sure Fox didn't mean whatever it was he said…"
"I'm not sure he didn't… he gave me an order to leave and I obeyed. Even if he didn't mean it, it doesn't matter, because I did" Falco shrugged "I couldn't stay any longer, fighting for causes I wasn't always sure I believed in. I'm sick of only ever dishing out death and destruction." Falco looked up helplessly "My people have disowned me! I haven't heard an Avion voice for months. I'm beginning to think they were right to reject me"
"Why do you say that?"
"My people see Wanders… pilots, as being primitive, evil, freaks of a backwards nature. I'm beginning to think their beliefs are right."
"Now you're just being silly"
Falco shrugged. "Can I go now sir"
"Yes" Pepper said looking at him intently, for a moment Falco thought he saw where Peppy got it from. He escaped the office as quickly as possible.
"What was all that about?" Silver asked when Falco returned to the canteen.
"Oh nothing, nothing" he shrugged it off, he was more homesick than he had realised "What we got today?" he asked
"Infiltration training then target practise"
"oh lovely… sneaking around some dark stuffy building for hours then shooting at red and white targets until we see them in our sleep. YAY!"
"Your such a happy soul Falco" Silver joked. Falco looked up at her and smiled
"It comes form living with Fox for years… How we never killed one another I don't know"
"Ah you love him really"
"You really think so?"
"Yes. Even if you're too stubborn to admit that to yourself."
"Aw man do they have to insist on us wearin' this stuff?" Lupus groaned
"What is it?" Salty asked holding up the black armour shirt in front of him
"Laser armour. If you get hit it registers it and then some system paralyses whatever part got hit" Blaze told him in his usual soft voice.
"Creepy as hell it is" Lupus said.
"I got shot in the head first time I wore it" Silver said "Couldn't understand why I was on the floor all of a sudden"
"You were dead" Lupus laughed
"No shit Sherlock" Tyson, of course
Falco pulled the armour over his head "We don't have this on Great Fox. We could never afford it, we've still got the old cattle prod system"
"huh?" Salty asked
"It electrocutes you when you get hit" Blaze said
"OUCH!" Lupus cried
"Yeah count yourself lucky, they were still using it when I was doing my training. You lot got it easy" Blaze chuckled
"Yeah, I'd rather be paralysed than electrocuted any day" Falco said
"How long does it make you paralysed for?" Salty asked
"If your dead not long, otherwise until the end of the training" Lupus groaned "makes running real hard"
Salty started to put the armour on but was having trouble getting it on properly subconsciously Falco moved to help him.
"our system's practically stone age. Slippy updates it now and then, but we were so broke it was all we could do to afford to hold the ship together. I'm sure I saw a pipe held together with duck tape… and I'm pretty sure it was the oxygen supply" Falco did up the shoulder straps on Salty's armour "its best not to ask about things like that though. You might not like the answer!"
"Everyone ready?" Silver asked
The team nodded.
"The guards inside have been briefed only to provide standard internal guard duty. They aren't protecting anything specific and they don't know what to expect, numbers or target. We have the element of surprise, we'll only have that once. So let's go get 'em!" Falco said and opened the door into the large simulator hall.
"Whoa, it's blacker than Blaze's ass in here!" Falco heard Lupus say over the comm. He could hear soft varied laughter echoing from everyone.
"Switch to night vision" Falco said pulling down the corresponding part of his visor on his helmet, listening to the snapping sounds as the others did the same.
"Do I want to know how you know how black Blaze's butt is?" Silver asked coyly
"Oh well… umm" Lupus mocked
"Careful Loop or I might just shoot you by mistake in this dark"
"Come on, cut the chatter" Falco said firmly, but not without humour in his voice.
The six of them stalked off along the dark corridors, following Salty's directions as they moved closer and closer to the pinpoint of the colour on his energy tracker that was the core. They walked cautiously along the corridors, uncertain, straining all their senses to detect anything. Suddenly Lupus by Falco's side stopped.
"I hear voices"
Tyson was about to make a wise crack about seeing a psychologist when he heard them too.
"So do I"
Falco listened and faintly managed to hear people speaking up ahead.
"Tyson your with me. Everyone else wait here"
Wordlessly he moved off and Tyson followed.
They crouched behind a convenient crate, watching the junction in the corridor.
"Do you think there's another way round?"
"Oh come on Lombardi are you going to let a few guards stop us?"
Ahead several guards blocked their way, Falco could count at least six, and he had a feeling there would be more not too far away.
"We don't want to risk raising an alarm"
"Come on we can do it"
Tyson stood up and began to walk off. Falco grabbed hold of his tail and pulled him back by his side.
"I admire your bravery Tyson but there is a very fine line between courage and stupidity, and you seem to have forgotten who's in charge. For now we do this my way"
Tyson gave him a hard look but for the moment remained at his side. Being in command felt very strange to Falco, he'd never been the one giving orders before, not that anyone had ever taken Fox too seriously, yet when it had mattered, and orders had needed to be swift and decisive they had all followed Fox unquestionably, that was the way Falco would like it to be, he needed to earn the team's respect and perhaps more importantly their trust. He stared at the guards again, they didn't look like they would be moving any time soon.
"Come on, lets find another way around"
Together they returned to the rest of the group.
"The way ahead's blocked, we'll have to find another way around" Falco turned to Salty "I trust you can do that Salt'"
He nodded "Follow me" and set off back the way they had come.
Tyson's reckless behaviour was to get him in trouble again. They came around a corner up behind a group of guards just a little away. He ran at them before Falco could stop him.
"Back! Back!" Falco screamed practically pushing Silver and Salty out of sight, seeing the inevitable before them.
"That guy's a liability!" Lupus shouted pinning himself against the wall.
Falco turned his head so he could hear what was going on down the corridor. A few shots, then voices.
"Drop the gun"
A clattering sound and Tyson's groan.
"Hands above your head"
Then footsteps, moving away from them.
"We'll have to leave him. They think he's alone, there wont be an alarm."
"No!" Falco shouted, with depth and intensity the others wouldn't have believed him capable of. A voice that commanded attention "In my team no-one gets left behind!"
"Aw, even Tyson?"
"Lupus" Falco growled, silencing him. "Right. Lupus take the bomb and give Blaze your rifle. Take Salty and Silver on and set the bomb. See any more guards hole up somewhere and wait for us. Otherwise we'll catch you up"
Lupus looked as though he was going to say something.
"Don't even think about arguing. Go! Now! Blaze you're with me."
Falco watched Lupus lead the others off, following Salty's tracker. Then Falco turned and drew out his own tracker and locked it onto Tyson's bio-signature. The guards hadn't taken him far. Falco and Blaze went quickly after them.
They found Tyson held by a ring of guards, two holding to his arms another four standing around. Falco and Blaze hid behind a wall.
"five, six" Falco counted. "How many can you take from here?"
"Mm, one, two, before they blow my head off. No more than that without risking hitting Tyson"
"Right… I'll get the two holding him. We'll snipe one each now. You think you can handle the rest… if I confuse them a bit"
"Yeah, but how you gunna?!"
Falco smiled
"I've had worse odds on my days off" He grinned, though inside he wasn't so confident. "Get ready" Falco lifted his blaster. "Head shots remember"
Blaze nodded grimly.
"three, two, one. Shoot!" Blaze's sniper cracked over Falco's right shoulder as he squeezed the trigger of his gun and two guards went down easily. Falco chose that moment to run.
"Get them while they're confused. The ones holding Tyson wont be able to reach guns so quick!"
Blaze's rifle cracked again and Falco heard another guard go down. Falco headed for the two holding Tyson. Seeing a rescue Tyson somehow managed to elbow one of the guards in the groin as Falco shot the other one. Tyson was released and jumped away giving Falco a clear shot at the groaning guard. He had just finished making the shot when Tyson screamed out to him.
"Lombardi! Look out!"
Falco looked left and saw the guard only just in time, he jumped away and a blaster bolt skimmed past him dangerously close, the armour didn't register him as hit. Blaze's rifle cracked again and the guard thudded to the floor. Falco looked briefly around for more. There were none
"Come on lets get out of here!" He ordered.
Blaze and Tyson didn't refuse and turned and ran with him.
"You can talk about taking stupid risks!" Tyson gasped.
Falco turned to him "I never leave my people behind"
Tyson looked startled then Falco was sure the faintest hint of a smile crossed his lips, though he turned his head quickly away.
"We're closing on the other's signals. They're all still there thank goodness" Blaze reported. "wait they're coming back this way"
Falco raised his arm to his beak.
"Lupus, report!"
"Bomb's set, we got company though"
"Can you get to us?"
"Think so"
"Right we'll take some of them, just run past us"
"Yes sir"
Falco found a good place where there was a junction in the corridor and a recess a little ahead.
"Tyson, Blaze up there." He pointed to the recess. "Take some of the bastards chasing them. No heroics, once they're past run like hell"
They ran ahead and took up position, Blaze again looking over Tyson's shoulder as he had done with Falco. Falco felt very vulnerable, his side was open down a corridor. He would have to watch two directions. Then he heard running feet and a few shots. He held his gun ready as the others came into view. The way Silver hung on to Salty's shoulder it was obvious she was hit. They were bunched close together, Falco wondered how they hadn't had more casualties. Then as they drew closer Falco realised Lupus was limping as he turned back to fire. The others chose that moment to open fire. Several rapid cracks and the higher note of Tyson's blaster. A surprised yell from the pursuers then amazingly a call to withdraw. Falco couldn't believe his luck. He ran with Tyson and Blaze after the others. Blaze reached Lupus and practically lifted him. Salty swerved round a few corners then seemingly remarkably quickly they were at the docking bay. They ran through the door designated as the shuttle and the exercise was over.
The six of them stood panting in the bright outfitting room.
"Well that was fun!" Lupus said as Blaze let him go. Mildly he moved his newly freed leg "I'll never get used to that paralysis thing"
Salty panting more heavily than the rest found his voice between gasps "This-is-why-I… wanted–to–be–a mechanic"
Falco noticed Blaze and Lupus again exchange a nervous glance. Falco smiled and put his hand on Salty's slouched shoulder.
"You did good Salt'"
"Really?" he gasped
Falco nodded. Then looked up "Everyone ok?"
"Yeah" Lupus said "just a flesh wound, apparently"
"Me too" Silver said
There were nods from the rest of them.
"Good. Mission complete, I think."
"You took a big risk going after Tyson"
Falco's voice was stern "I don't leave team members behind Pepper. If you don't like that get someone else" Falco's voice softened "Although I wouldn't put the others in danger, that's why I left Blaze hidden… If we hadn't had a good chance I would have left him. I suppose this is different… back ho- with Star Fox we were all willing to risk a lot to help one another. It seemed to work for us." Falco looked up "I'll be more careful next time" He sighed "I agree it probably was stupid… Maybe I'm not cracked up for this"
Pepper chuckled "I never said it was the wrong decision. You saved him didn't you?"
"Yeah… but if I'd screwed up they wouldn't have had an escort" Falco groaned "Ugh I fucked it up!"
"Your strike team is alive and the target was destroyed. Sounds like mission accomplished to me. Besides I heard you when you reached Tyson. You assessed the scene and wouldn't have gone in if you couldn't win"
"But anything could have happened to the others!"
"Anything could have happened to them with or without you. If they were caught when you weren't there you could have helped them. The ones chasing them might have caught them if you hadn't set up to stop them. Look Falco one thing I learnt as a commander was not to start second guessing myself, trust your first instincts, they're usually the right ones"
Falco looked at him "Did you learn that from James or did you teach him that?"
Pepper smiled "if anything this training exercise has preformed a more important function. The team trust you. They believe you will get them through it. Believing someone is watching your back is powerful encouragement. You've shown them how to be a team. That's what it is to be a team-helping each other." Pepper chuckled "You also learned how to make yourself into an authority figure." He smiled "if I'd have been out there, I'd have done what you said… you're scary when you get the bit between your teeth." Pepper laughed "I wonder where you get that from…"
"No teeth" Falco mumbled "please… I don't want father's temper…"
Fox found fighting Slippy not nearly as much fun as fighting Falco, mainly because he felt guilty about hitting him. Slippy on the other hand didn't seem to have any qualms about hitting him. Slippy was an entirely different challenge to Falco. The biggest problem with Falco was actually catching him. Slippy was stronger, despite his tiny size and harmless appearance he could pack quite a punch. He seemed to be fighting with unusual ferocity today Fox thought as he again laid pinned to the ground, the wooden sticks they were training with pressed against his neck.
"Slippy 3-Fox 2" Peppy said leaning through the hatch into their combat training area.
"Alright that's it no more Mr Nice Fox" he said standing up. Slippy grinned at him panting and gripping the stick more tightly.
A bell rang and they were at it again. Slippy swung the stick low to try and take out Fox's feet, he jumped it and brought the stick in on Slippy's shoulder and down his back, knocking him to the ground. Fox thought he'd had him beaten when the pole came round and hit him in the side of his knee, making him stagger and yelp in pain. Angrily he brought the stick down on Slippy's head who still lay on the ground. Slippy cried out and then Fox was aware of Peppy shouting.
"Hey that's enough! I told you one body hit for a win." Peppy took the pole from Fox from behind "Slippy you were beaten, you shouldn't have struck Fox again." his voice turned more angry as he looked at Fox "But you should know better than to hit him in the head. The last thing I need is to be explaining is why you have brain damage. Of course you pair don't seem to be bothering to use your brains anyway"
Fox looked like he was about to say something.
"Its ok Peppy I'm alright" Slippy said sitting up. Without taking angry eyes from Peppy Fox offered Slippy a hand to his feet, which he accepted.
"I can spare a few brain cells, unlike Foxy" Fox waved a warning fist, which Slippy laughed at and poked his tongue out.
Peppy sighed "That's enough combat training for today" he said taking both sticks and walking off.
Fox rolled his eyes at Peppy's back "Anybody would think we were still kids the way he treats us, you'd have thought by now we'd be able to referee our own training"
"well, you know how sometimes things get carried away…Its best to have someone there to make sure no-one gets hurt"
Fox just grunted "I can't do anything right at the moment, everything's my fault, jezz if Corneria disappeared he'd blame it on me!"
"If you could make Corneria disappear, I'd respect you" Slippy chuckled.
Fox shook his head "So what'd we do now?"
Falco stood at the front of the Strike team. He pushed Salty and Silver behind him, but he knew there was no way he could protect them all. They were being surrounded by enemies, guns all pointing at them. Then there were cries, and Falco was standing alone, in a place he'd never seen before, a podium covered in grass, sitting in the middle of a silent swamp with stinking mist rising from it. Buildings rose from the water, the markings on them… almost… tribal? With a sudden feeling of terror he looked up. Fox hung from a pole, his fur matted with his blood, his head lolling to one side, eyes rolling, gasping for breath, stabbed repeatedly and left to die. Falco ran forward to him, to help him. Andross stepped out from behind the pole brandishing a spear dripping with blood.
"Andross? How…" Falco asked sliding to a halt
Andross laughed his vile laugh as a new figure stepped from the shadows. An Avion figure. Falco was perhaps more afraid of him than any other.
"You never were very smart were you Falcy? You must have gotten that from your mother's side"
That voice, that… man… no, not a man, a monster. Falco surged with anger. How dare he hurt Fox, as though he had a right to even touch him. He saw red. He surged forward, nothing but anger and aggression. Something purple struck him from the side, he flew through the air screaming, away from Fox.
"Now you're flying, are you happy filthy Wanderer?" That sly voice asked clearly in his mind. A voice he hated and feared at the same time.
"Aaaaarrrrhhhhhg"
Falco hit the floor hard; Salty screamed and sat up in bed. The lights came on. Salty stared at the floor where Falco lay in a heap face down. Falco's senses having come back to him a little finally found his voice again.
"Oww!" He moaned indignantly and rolled onto his back, blinking in the light.
"Falco do you want to give me heart failure in the middle of the night?" Salty asked his breathing quick, but not as fast as Falco's.
"S-Sorry Salty" Falco mumbled
"And I thought Remir's snoring was bad" Salty chuckled "You alright?"
Falco stood up shakily rubbing his beak "I think I'll live"
Salty laughed "That's what you always say!..."
Falco lent against his arms and head against own bunk so he looked down on where Salty sat.
"I know you had a nightmare that time… You look awful… What was it about?"
Falco felt ill. Salty looked up at him concern on his face. The nightmare would have been bad enough, but this one felt different, felt wrong, more real. It felt like a premonition. Fox had looked so… Falco was aware Salty was staring at him.
"Falco should I call the medic?"
"No! No… I'm alright" he forced himself to smile "I landed on my head, I'm just a little stunned"
Salty smiled but remained silent. He watched as Falco climbed wearily back into his bunk. He waited until the shuffling had subsided before speaking.
"You sure you're ok?"
"Yes" Falco yawned rolling over and suppressing an uneasy shudder. The idea of going back to sleep again was not a pleasant one.
"Alright…" Salty mumbled and turned off the lights.
Falco lay on his side in the dark, his eyes wide open, unable to see anything. Even with his eyes open images from the nightmare flashed across his mind, making him shake slightly. They brought back all the wrong memories. He wondered what the dream meant. He just knew he had a really bad feeling about the mission, and for some reason, the Federation as a whole. Falco missed Peppy; this was the kind of thing he would talk to him about. He'd only had dreams like these one or two times before, back then he'd told Peppy and Peppy alone. Fox would have laughed at him, and Slippy would probably have worried. What frightened him was that the last two times he'd felt like this he'd been right. The first time had been with Peppy, he'd dreamt that he'd been injured in a serious crash, that in itself wasn't unusual, it was the vividness and the feeling that had made it different. He could remember being inconsolable, waking believing Peppy to be dying… 3 days later they had a combat mission. And the team had never come so close to loosing a member. The second time had involved a civilian airliner… and a midair collision. He'd put it down to coincidence or self-fulfilling prophesy. Falco pushed the dreams aside with those thoughts now.
"They mean nothing. Andross is dead. You trust Fox don't you? Andross is dead, Fox made certain of that!"
His heart eased, though only a little Falco closed his eyes. From the sound of Salty's breathing it seemed he'd fallen asleep again, Falco was glad to know he hadn't disturbed him too much. Falco lay there for a long time thinking mostly of… home.
"Whoa Falco you look wrecked!" Was Lupus' cheerful greeting the following morning as he and Salty entered the canteen. A cold shower had done nothing to help shake off the weariness Falco felt, it seemed to cling to his soul, wrapping around him like an uneasy blanket. He felt physically and emotionally drained. Salty beside him was laughing.
"Falco woke me up last night screamin' his head off and doing a kamikaze out of the top bunk!"
Falco felt himself grow hot with embarrassment. He stopped walking.
"He looked like a bird that had flown into a window pane! It-" Salty stopped aware Falco wasn't by his side. For the first time he noticed his mortified expression. The rest of the strike team burst into laughter. Falco felt a lump catch in his throat. He looked from one member to the other. They were all laughing at him. Turning his back on them he stormed towards the canteen to get some breakfast. Salty stared after him.
"Wha- Falco wait!" Salty called, Falco either didn't hear or was ignoring him. Confused Salty turned to the rest, they were laughing all the more. Salty found Silver, who was laughing slightly less than the rest and pleaded with her for help. She made a face. Tyson walked straight past Salty then, a snide grin on his face, heading to where Falco was. At that Silver's expression fell. She watched with mounting unease as Tyson strode up beside Falco.
"Hey, little Lombardi's having bad dreams, gunna cry for mummy?"
Falco felt his hands tighten around the breakfast try. His insides burnt with fury, Tyson had no idea. He wanted nothing more than to hit him. He stepped sideways along the queue trying hard to keep his anger in check; again he didn't want his father's temper.
"Aw come on Lombardi gunna have your teddy bear… mummy, mummy the bogyman's coming to get me!" Tyson mocked.
Falco turned round slowly, only just keeping his balled fists from Tyson.
"Fuck off Tyson" He said as evenly as he could.
"Oh touchy, touchy! Who you gunna get to fight your battles, mummy's not here"
"Mummy's not been here since I was eight" "I don't need anyone to fight my battles for me. I warn you Tyson you're picking a fight with the wrong guy. I've taken older, stronger and much wiser people than you."
"Oh I'm so scared"
"You don't know what it is to be afraid"
"You gunna show me Lombardi? Come on bring it on"
For a moment Falco was tempted, he knew which Canite bones were weak; he'd broken Fox's jaw. But this was the Army…
"Get a life Tyson!" Lupus' voice. Falco felt Silver by his side
"Leave it" she said softly, only to him, touching his hand. Falco's anger dispersed, he looked around, Tyson was outnumbered, the strike team had rallied around him, and secretly he was grateful, despite what people liked to believe he was a team player, he felt vulnerable alone.
"There's no need to get your fur in a knot Kelly. We were just playin', weren't we Lombardi?"
Falco scowled at him. To his relief Tyson backed off.
"I came here to get away from people like Fox… Wait… I prefer Fox, now that's saying something" Falcosighed "Some commander I'm going to be"
"Touched a bone didn't he?" Falco jumped out of his thoughts "I never seen you look so angry" Silver asked softly, still by his side
"Yeah…" Falco sighed "Still a particularly painful one"
"Our generation are know as the orphans of the Federation… there's a lot of truth in what they say… Tyson knows that, and doesn't seem to care about stepping on other people's tails"
Pain resonated from somewhere deep within Falco, suddenly he wasn't so hungry.
"There's been so much war in my lifetime… it seems to be all I've ever known" He looked up at her "and it isn't getting any better. Its always the wrong people who die. The bastards that deserve it always seem to get away with their hideous hides intact"
Silver turned her head on one side and just looked at him for a moment "Yes…" She finally sighed "Like my parents"
Falco turned to her "Sorry I didn't know"
Silver shook her head "You weren't to… they were Army transport pilots. They were killed when I was fourteen"
"I'm sorry…"
"Don't be… these things happen, I'm just one of a million others" They turned to head back to where the rest of the team, minus Tyson, who had made himself scarce sat. "just look at our team, we really are the orphans of the Federation. Kind of ironic that we all ended up in the Army when it was war that took our families away… most of us anyway. I don't know about you… or a couple of others. I guess Tyson was on the streets for a reason"
"No-one would be there by choice" Falco said sitting down
"Where?" Lupus asked
"Nowhere" Falco forced a smile
"The streets" Silver answered for him.
"Why you talkin' about that?" Blaze asked
"We were talking about Tyson-"
"Don't tell me you feel sorry for that idiot" Lupus growled "He's nothing more than a dirty, petty street thief, and not a particularly good one at that. Why the army let him in I don't know-"
"Hey! Not all thieves are bad people!" Falco growled at him furiously "Not everyone has the benefit of a cushy childhood"
"Yeah Falco? Me included, and I don't act like that. I'd never stoop so low as to be a street thief-"
"Some people don't have the luxury of that choice!"
"I can't believe you're defending Tyson!"
"I'm not defending Tyson I'm-"
"Would you two knock it off?" Blaze said evenly "The rest of us are tired of listening to you bicker. You're both angry at Tyson, not each other. For goodness sake just shut up!"
Falco and Lupus looked at one another. Realising Blaze was right Lupus actually laughed. Falco looked down feeling thoroughly dejected and ashamed. Ashamed both of his past and his reaction.
"We're idiots aren't we?" Lupus asked him
Falco looked up.
"Having a bloody bitch fight in public" Lupus laughed. Falco's sentiment broke and he had to laugh, shaking his head.
"Yeah" he agreed "But that's what being in a team's all about. You're not friends without the occasional fight!"
"Spoken with experience?" Silver asked coyly
"Oh yeah! When Star Fox isn't dealing with one crisis or another we're always at each other's throats. It turned into a form of entertainment, at least between me and Fox anyway"
"Love hate relationship, like you said?" Salty offered. To which Blaze and Lupus burst into laughter, Silver tired but failed to suppress it.
"What'd I say"
"Don't worry Salty" Falco said through laughter, his head in his hands.
"I don't- oh wait…" Salty too started to giggle.
"What we doing today? If everyone's finished making fun of my social life?" Falco asked over their laughter.
"I'd rather laugh at your social life thanks" Lupus giggled
"Same as yesterday" Silver answered his question
"Except me, I've go to work on fitting you and Tyson's Arwings with the cloak this afternoon"
"You get out of infiltration practise… bastard!" Lupus moaned
Another boring morning was spent in the firing ranges, much like the evening before, and every other session in them, so much so that Falco actually relished the idea of more infiltration training in the afternoon. He went through more guns than he could count in his quest to ease the boredom, but blowing targets to pieces didn't seem to be nearly as much fun as it had when he'd been younger.
"Oh bollocks!" Falco slammed the blaster down on the hip high wall in front of him.
"What's up Falcs you miss?" Silver asked
"No" Silver raised an eyebrow and fired her last bullet at the target "my history essay was due in today"
Silver poked her head round the dividing wall into Falco's compartment.
"History…" she said doubtfully frowning at him. she smiled "Falco are you playing with me?"
"No" Falco said looking hurt. "I was doing a course in it. The deadline for my third essay was tonight. Giant bollocks! I'll have to retake the whole thing now"
He sighed and went to put the blaster back on the rack, Silver followed him.
"You never struck me as the history type"
Falco shrugged and looked thoughtfully at the weapons rack. He pulled down a portable rocket launcher and slung it over his shoulder grinning in a way that made Silver very nervous. She backed away from him a little as he walked past her to the firing range. Falco sent the target to the back of the room. He looked down the gun's length ignoring the scope.
"No scope? You must be a good shot… Or overconfident"
Falco flicked his eyes back to look at her briefly.
"Hawk eyes" was all he said before bracing himself against the recoil and firing the rocket. It screamed away and struck the target blowing it to pieces.
"Shit!!" Blaze shouted, Silver heard him drop his rifle.
"We under attack?" Salty asked
There was silence for a moment until the team realised what had happened. Lupus trotted to where Falco stood holding the launcher, a sheepish grin across his face.
"Who pissed you off?" he asked looking at the smoking wreckage that used to be the target. Falco just grinned at him.
"That feels better, nothing like mindless destruction of CA property to blow off some steam"
"Too right" Blaze shouted firing a few shots off his rifle, then he came to stand with them.
"Come on, time's up" Lupus said putting his gun back on the rack. Gratefully Falco followed.
"Whoa Falco this stuff is ancient!" Salty cried his voice echoing from inside the Arwing "What the hell… is this tin foil?" Salty asked pulling a piece of metal out of his Arwing's innards. Falco wandered over
"Probably. Slippy was getting real good at doing things on the cheap by the time I left"
Salty made an almost appalled face "Cheap is one thing but this might be going a little too far. I wouldn't send anyone on a round trip to the moon in a ship like this, let alone out on combat"
For a moment Falco was irritated "I've always trusted Slippy's work. He's always been thorough where our safety's concerned. He's not above grounding an Arwing that's not fit for the job. But you have to bear in mind we work on a limited budget, he has to make do with a lot less than the ideal most of the time"
"Well I'd have used my savings to patch this thing up. The whole engine looks like it needs a complete refurbishment"
Falco came to peer over his shoulder.
"She's always done me fine this old bird" he lay an affectionate hand on its wing "Never let me down… We've had our little scrapes" Falco held out his arms "but I'm still here. There's nothing wrong with Slippy's work" Falco said firmly.
"No, I suppose not…" Salty put his hand back inside "That stuff had fallen off one of the power relays, so I guess it wasn't tin foil. I stand corrected." Salty looked up "how old is this one anyway?"
"Umm… I'm not sure… I think it was one of the spares when James was still in the team so… she must be at least 10 year old"
Salty whistled "She's not in bad nick for that age"
"I think she's had most of her hull plating changed over the years though, there isn't much of the original left" Falco smiled "And I've crashed her at least five times!"
"At least, what you don't remember?" Lupus asked coming over with Silver and Blaze.
Falco shrugged "Do you remember how many times you've been shot?"
"I lost count after ten" Blaze said
"You including armour hits"
"Yeah"
"Then no"
"Most of the time when I crash I bang my head… so I don't remember much about anything" Falco chuckled "Who are you again?"
"Very funny"
"So how many flights this bird seen?" Salty asked, his voice echoing from inside one of the inspection panels.
"How the hell should I know?"
"So how many Arwings have you got?" Blaze asked mildly
"Seven, if you count the two-seat. That's 1 each and 2 spares for emergencies. Believe it or not we're flying the best four. We really need to buy some new ones…"
Salty looked round "Tell me this is the oldest"
"Nope. Peppy's is. He's using the old secondary one from back when James and Pigma flew. He lost the one he was in when they went to venom of course but the one he's in is from the same batch. I think Fox's is the newest; we got Slippy's second-hand after he banged up the last one. "
Salty stared at him "Why the hell haven't you bought some new ones!"
"They don't come cheap! We have been saving for some new ones, last time we nearly had enough Great Fox decided she needed an engine job. That was two years ago. We haven't come close again since"
"Well I for one won't let you take this Arwing out of here without patching it up. You may as well have a few freebies courtesy of the Cornerian Army." Salty smiled shrewdly at him "You'll be then envy of the others when you go back!"
"Oh that'll get up Fox's nose!" Falco laughed "What you doing to it"
"Well she's already better than the standard Arwings… Even if Slippy's modifications were a little… unconventional. But with the Army budget and my special touch I should be able to get you 3 times the shields, double the power of your hyper lasers… bigger bomb capacity, I'll soop up the speed, you should get almost double what you have now… oh yeah and the cloak of course. I do that and you'll have the best Arwing in the fleet, even if she is 10 year old. I know you'd be loathed to part with her"
"Yeah, she's my baby"
Silver, Blaze and Lupus burst into laughter.
"Your baby?!" Lupus laughed "Creepy…"
"I've heard of pilots getting attached to their ships but that's ridiculous!" Silver said
"Don't you have a favourite shuttle?" Falco asked
"No, I've never flown the same one more than twice. Don't get the chance when you're in the Army"
"Oh. Well Blaze you have a favourite gun don't you? It's just the same for me"
"Yeah I suppose" Blaze said "Hey what have you painted on the side?"
Falco waked down and stood next to the cockpit, intrigued the rest followed. Falco pointed at a circular symbol encasing a flying bird and two wings crossing.
"That's the emblem of the Wandering Alliance" he pointed at a triangular design cut into four segments "That's my lucky charm" then he pointed to text "That's my name in Avion… Falco "RedEye" Lombardi"
"Why RedEye?" Silver asked
Falco pointed at his face. "This isn't normal, where I have red is normally green." He chuckled "I was some sort of genetic accident. I just kind of acquired the nickname, it wasn't always a nice one, it just depended who called me it. But in the first real… team I ran with their leader used to call me RedEye, and that was ok. It just sort of stuck."
Silver shrugged. "come on, the rest of us have to be in the main hall in ten minutes"
Groaning the rest of the team except for Lupus and Falco followed her out the door.
Looking back at Salty briefly Lupus spoke
"I can't understand why you like bunny-boy so much" he said light-heartedly
"He's like Slippy and Peppy rolled into one"
"Slippy was like that?... No wonder you left!"
Falco smiled and watched Salty toy with the ship. One of the power relays sparked.
"Ouch!" he said to himself and sucked one of his fingers
"Yeah, he's exactly like Slippy" Falco chuckled to himself before following Lupus out the door.
The five of them moved slowly, pressed up against the wall. Silver was so close at Falco's side he could hear her breathing. He looked across to Lupus and Tyson against the opposite wall, signalling them to be quiet. There were guards stationed just beyond the T junction they were approaching. Motioning for the others to remain where they were Falco cautiously peered around the corner. A group of four guards stood down the corridor, fortunately looking away. Falco heard footsteps, all of a sudden Tyson was in the middle of the corridor firing at the guards.
"Tyson! Everybody now!" Falco shouted, leading the others into the attack, being left with no other choice. A fierce gun battle ensued.
Once it was over Falco grabbed Tyson and shoved him up against a wall.
"I did not give you the command to attack!" Falco stared at him angrily "Why are you so reckless?!"
"I don't have anything to loose"
Tyson's words made Falco feel as though he'd swallowed a lump of ice. He could remember telling Peppy the same thing when he'd asked him that question.
"Besides, it worked didn't it" Tyson's tone of voice brought back Falco's anger.
"But it might not have. You could have gotten someone else killed. Regardless of whether you value your own skin it doesn't give you the right to risk anyone else's! Get behind me." Falco let Tyson go and walked off.
Fortunately no alarm was raised and the rest of the mission was a success, aside from Silver receiving a blaster wound to her abdomen on the way out and needing to be carried by Blaze. The mission report said she would have survived, just about, but it made Falco nervous…
Tyson's attitude problem followed him out of the simulator. Falco could hear him muttering to as they walked along the corridor. Finally he could stand it no longer.
"Why don't you lot carry on, we'll catch you up"
"We will not"
Falco turned on Tyson "You're under my command, you'll do as you're told"
Tyson swore at him under his breath, but Falco ignored him.
"Go on" he said to the others. They walked off, except Silver, who lingered for a moment, but a look from Falco sent her on her way.
"Come on, in here" Falco opened the door into a side room that seemed to be a small classroom.
"What Lombardi, you're going to beat me up in private?"
Falco laughed "I'm not gunna hit you Tyson. Come on you're bigger than me, and if you're anything like Fox, stronger too, I'm not that stupid. I just want to talk to you."
Bemused Tyson followed Falco into the classroom. Falco hopped up onto one of the desks before speaking again.
"How long have you been in the army?"
"Nearly six years sir." he said harshly
"Including your three years in the academy right? And don't call me sir"
"Yes" Tyson's eyes flashed angrily
"Mmm. Tyson, I've been doing assassinations since before you knew what the word meant… hell I've been doing them since before I knew what it meant. And you want to know a secret, if you haven't already worked it out. I'm younger than you are."
"So what, all the more reason I should have gotten command"
Falco shook his head almost helplessly "Squadrons are anonymous aren't they, you don't have to be close to anyone." Falco sighed "I know I'm not the easiest person to get along with, and I also know its not all that easy to take orders from someone younger and smaller than you are. In fact, I don't want it to be like that, I don't want to have to pull rank to get you to do as I ask. I'd much rather if we could be friends"
Tyson just snorted.
"Because were not so very different you and I"
"Bollocks, we couldn't be any more different!"
Falco made a face. "I'm not so sure. My army personnel record isn't all that accurate. In all my records there are big gaps"
"So what! There's gaps in my records too, about eight years worth from when I was on the streets!"
"Exactly."
Tyson continued as though he hadn't heard "And don't you even pretend to know what that's like. You can't possibly understand what that does to you. The way people look at you!"
Falco said nothing, he decided to let Tyson say what he needed to.
"How people treat you like dirt. They all assume you're something you're not and don't even give you a chance to be anything else. So you may as well just be what they expect, it's easier. No-one gives a damn, so long as you don't get in their way!"
"Life on the streets is tough, but you have to let it go, that's not who you are anymore"
"What the hell would you know about it?" Tyson shouted.
"More than you might imagine" Falco said from where he perched on the edge of the table, doing his best to keep his voice calm and casual.
"Bullshit! You've always had a place to go home to; you've never sat out in the rain every night in some gutter."
"No, it was a bridge." Tyson stopped shouting suddenly. He stared at Falco, who looked back at him evenly. "I wont pretend it lasted nearly as long for me as it did for you, or could have been as awful. But it still happened, and it still changed me. We all have our secrets Tyson… some of us more than others. I know what those looks feel like." Falco picked at a loose thread on his jacket cuff "So what were you saying about me not understanding?"
"I don't believe you" Tyson said, but with less venom this time, less conviction.
"Then what can I say?" Falco raised an eyebrow "Sounds to me you don't want anyone to understand… That's fine by me if it's how you want it." Falco looked up, anger spreading across his face for the first time "But I'll tell you one thing Tyson, for me the streets were safer than home."
"Then they can't have been the real streets" Tyson said angrily. Falco tilted his head on one side then looked down.
"Certainly felt like it, the concrete was hard, the nights were cold, so cold you wondered if you were going to wake up in the morning. It felt fairly real when the older ones talked about "road kill" when members didn't come back - and I saw that first hand, or when they brought home our girls when the men went too far." Falco snapped the piece of thread he'd been playing with. "I knew exactly what I was doing every time I put a crowbar through someone's window." Falco looked up anger again in his eyes "So don't tell me I don't understand"
Tyson just stared at him, uncertain as to what to say. Falco held his eyes, until finally Tyson broke away.
"You didn't seem the type" Tyson mumbled.
Falco stood up and stretched "What does a StreetRunner look like?" Tyson just shrugged in response "Do you want some dinner then or not, foul as army food is?" Tyson frowned at him then relented and sighed "Alright"
"Good, good I could eat a dinosaur, I'm starving" Falco led the way out of the room, at the door he paused and looked around at Tyson. "I'd appreciate it if no-one found out about our little discussion ok?"
"Ok…Falco" Tyson still looked shocked. Falco smiled gratefully at him and pushed open the door
"Thanks"
As they walked along the corridor in silence Falco made a mental note to thank Peppy for his displays of psychology.
When they arrived back in the Meeting Room Silver was waiting for them, twiddling her bracelet round her arm nervously. She seemed enormously relieved that they both had all their limbs intact and still sticking out at the right angles when they arrived. She had obviously been expecting a fight. Falco was secretly hurt that she didn't think better of him. He and Tyson approached the table the others were all gathered round. Tyson frowned at what Salty, Blaze and Lupus were eating.
"Mm you're right Falco, army food does suck, I never noticed before. I think I'll stick to the vegetarian option tonight, might be safer"
"This is the vegetarian option!" Lupus said poking at the green brown sludge with his fork.
"Ugh!" Falco said looking at it; he was sure he saw the strange substance on Lupus' plate blow a bubble at him.
"I'd rather eat the stuff growing under my bed. Never mind a Falco, we've had worse" He gave Falco a meaningful look before walking off towards the canteen, Falco went to follow him but Silver stooped him by touching his arm.
"What did you say to him?" She asked. Falco watched Tyson in the queue.
"I reminded him he wasn't alone" he said thoughtfully, then Falco turned to her and smiled "Have you eaten already?"
"No I was waiting for you two"
"I don't know why you bothered" Falco said smiling, Silver just shrugged.
The meal was even worse than Falco had been expecting. He had gone for the vegetarian option as the meat dish looked as though it was still moving. Falco stared hopelessly at it. The "stew" as they had called it looked as though it had already been eaten at least once. Falco poked it carefully with his fork, almost expecting it to bite back; he was greatly relieved when it didn't.
"Well" Falco said "I think I've finally found something worse than Fox McCloud's cooking"
"If Fox's cooking was like this I don't blame you for leaving" Lupus chuckled.
"Oh yeah, Fox's cooking was the stuff of legends! Between the hair and the burnt there's nothing like it" Falco looked down "or so I thought"
Laughing with the rest of then Tyson pinched his nose and took a bite. He chewed for a moment then acted out collapsing onto the table.
"Oh no Tyson's dead!" Blaze cried in mock alarm.
"Ne'er mind" Lupus said casually.
"Hey!" Tyson said sitting up and pulling a hurt face, which made everyone, including him laugh.
Later as they ate, the food didn't taste so bad, provided you didn't look at it too hard, Silver spoke quietly to Falco.
"Whatever you did, it worked" She said watching Tyson, who seemed to be telling Salty a story of some sort. Falco nodded.
"Yeah and I didn't have to hit him once!" He said sarcastically. Silver frowned at him. Falco rolled his eyes. "I wouldn't, I don't hit people on the same side, no matter how annoying they are… with the exception of Fox, but he doesn't count" Falco grinned widely
Silver watched him "I knew something more happened when you left"
Falco almost choked, he was left coughing so that all the team's eyes were suddenly on him.
"God this stuff is bad!" He managed to splutter. Most of the others laughed and went back to what they were doing; Tyson sat by Falco's side gave him a playful slap on the back. Silver's eyes however remained locked on him.
"Talk" She said and poked at her dinner thoughtfully
"Err what can I say… um no" Falco said roughly
"What happened?"
"That's none of your business" Falco growled and half turned his back on her.
"Suit yourself" Silver said, sounding a little hurt.
After a moment Falco's guilt got the better of him
"sorry Silv' I didn't mean to snap at you"
She smiled at him "That's ok… everyone's getting annoyed with each other today… Its been a long day…"
"Yeah"
The next day the date of the mission was announced, alarmed Falco found it was a lot closer than he'd been expecting, they had only a few days left. The announcement sent ripples through Spectre Strike as they all had to mentally prepare themselves for the mission much faster than they would have liked. The final details were organised, the docking bay selected and all intelligence gathered and collaborated to give them the best possible chance. The bomb was ordered from the munitions department. The modifications to Falco's and Tyson's Arwings were hastily finished… everything was falling into place.
The team's training exercises seemed to take on a more sombre note. Gone was the laughter and the joking that used to epitomise their lessons and for which in their short history Spectre Strike became known. The six of them knuckled down to their work, forging themselves into a team. Even Tyson seemed willing to toe the line. They quickly came to trust and rely on each other as they became one unit, under Falco's command.
Silver endlessly practiced her shuttle approach routine. Tyson, Lupus, Falco and Blaze shoot at increasingly distant targets with their sniper riffles, until they took to taking pot-shots at each other. Salty spent more and more time in the docking bay tinkering with every last little component of his cloak. Salty hastily taught each member of the team the basics for repairing the cloak. Every day the sick feeling in Falco's chest grew stronger, and the more he longed for Peppy, and home.
The final run through the infiltration hall went better than anyone could have hoped. Especially considering in the previous attempt the team had been ambushed and all killed. This time Spectre Strike lived up to their name and swept through unnoticed, planted the bomb and were nearly back to the shuttle bay before anyone even got a whiff of their scent. They were clear in record time. Silently removing the laser armour suit Falco unlike the others was not celebrating, he was far from reassured. He knew there was a lot to go wrong…
Later that night the six of them met up in the docking bay.
"Whoa you scrub up nice!" Tyson called to Silver who was wearing a pale pink top and flared purple jeans rather than her usual baggy army gear. Falco was again reminded of how pretty she really was.
"Shame about you Scruff" She retorted, referring to Tyson's torn leather jacket, and t-shirt that looked to be at least 1size too big for him.
"I hate team photos" Falco heard Lupus groan to Blaze as they walked in together.
"Team photo?" Falco asked, no-one had told him that was what the meeting was for. He suddenly felt underdressed in what he's been wearing most of the day, his grey Star Fox jacket with the wings still pinned to the collar and black trousers.
"I suddenly feel underdressed" Falco said sideling up to Silver.
"Nah you're not. I think you'd look handsome no matter what you were wearing!"
"Oh really?" Falco asked raising an eyebrow.
Silver blushed "You know what I meant!"
Falco smiled at her "Why do you take that from him?" Falco asked looking over at Tyson where he sat on the wing of his Arwing, waiting for it to be loaded into the back of the shuttle "He acts like you're an object" Falco shook his head "I couldn't stand that"
Silver chuckled "He's only playing. Actually I think Tyson's kinda cute"
"You must be crazy! You'd probably like Fox then, I'll introduce you when this is over"
"Cool" Silver grinned "As long as I get to go with you…" she mumbled softly turning away.
"What?"
"Nothing"
At that moment General Pepper came in to the bay.
"Good evening everyone!" He said cheerfully waving off their hasty attempt at salutes. After a moment's trivialities he shepherded them all to stand in a suitable position for the photo.
"Come on Smile! Tyson would it hurt you to look cheerful just this once?" Pepper asked peering over the camera. His scowl said it would. Pepper shook his head and sighed
"Fair enough Tyson" He grinned "Everyone else smile"
"Watch the birdie!" Falco cried, Lupus laughed just as the flashbulb went off
"Ah! I'm blind!" Silver said blinking
"Ugh I'm seeing little white dots, that's not good is it?" Lupus asked squeezing his eyes shut
"If you go blind can we leave you behind tomorrow?" Blaze asked.
The team responded only with a forced chuckle. Pepper came up to them
"Try to get some sleep now, everyone. Goodnight" Pepper said shooing them away from the shuttle towards the barracks.
"Yes sir" A few mumbled and walked off towards their bunks.
Late that night they all received a copy of that photo.
The team all had their own ways of preparing for a mission. Blaze read, Lupus and Tyson forced themselves to sleep, Salty read a magazine and at one point was caught singing by Falco. Falco stared at the ceiling for a while, thinking of what he would do when he got home again and wondering what he would say to Peppy. Silver took the time to write her thoughts in her diary.
That night the six of them drifted uneasily to sleep, all fearful of what the next day would bring…
