Chapter I
Falco put his glass down and laughed, even though the feeling of dread hit him again. "Fox, in trouble? Please. He took on General Scales' army with a stick of wood alone. You're going to have to come up with a better excuse to convince me to walk out of the bar where your friends are waiting to mug me."
The mouse rolled her eyes. She was losing patience. Pulling out a piece of paper, she scowled as she handed it to Falco. "There, proof."
Falco skimmed over the note, and the signature at the bottom. His face fell faster than a nuclear bomb. "This is General Pepper's handwriting…"
"Now that I have your attention, will you follow me? General Pepper wanted to see you."
Falco took a quick assessment of everything that this could mean, and nodded. "Sure."
The mouse led Falco away after the check was left. She walked around back and introduced the pilot to her car. It was an old piece of crap, but it'd get them to the HQ quick enough, being only a few blocks away. Conversation in the car was as dead as the quietest night.
They pulled into the parking lot of the military headquarters. Falco grimaced. Not but a couple weeks ago the HQ was bombed, resulting in thirteen deaths, thirty injuries. Falco's team managed to chase them off before things got really ugly, but the ability to operate was seriously compromised.
"He'll be on B1," the mouse explained. Falco barely heard, lost in retrospect.
The mouse stayed in the lobby while Falco went into the military elevator, which went to the classified floors. Pepper was in the briefing room, looking like he hadn't slept in days. The room was standard mess-hall layout.
"Falco," he said, looking solomn.
"This better be good, General. I was enjoying downtime."
The fact that the General didn't even bother to reprimand him was cause enough to prepare for the worst. "Have a seat, Falco."
Now Falco was worried. Pepper wasn't even on first-name terms with Fox, whom he called upon regularly. He didn't let it show, though. He kicked up his feet on the chair in front of him as he listened to what the general had to say.
"We picked up this footage live-download from the Great Fox' video cameras." Pepper flipped a switch on the podium.
An ArWing and the Great Fox were fighting amidst a rust-red background. The picture quality was extremely grainy and liked to quiver. The camera appeared to be mounted in between the right wings; judging from the viewpoint, it appeared to be viewing from the crevice in between the wings. Two ships were assailing a single ArWing. One was brightly colored with a myriad of patterns; the other was nearly black. However, it looked as if the ArWing had the upper hand. It moved with liquid grace, returning shot for shot against the assailants. However, numerous laser flashes kept flashing from the left side of the camera angle, as if the Great Fox was engaged with something.
"So?" Falco scoffed. He began to feel like it was a false alarm; another false positive given by a jumpy general in times of paranoia. "This just looks like a routine battle. You dragged me away from the bar for this? You're getting old, Pepper."
Pepper looked deeply saddened, but said nothing as he motioned for Falco to keep watching.
Suddenly, a blast out of nowhere struck the rear of the ArWing. Heavy amounts of thick, black smoke started billowing out at a startling rate. Falco muttered various curses under his breath as the video feed was cut.
"Well, ain't that the shits," Falco cursed. "This is the last contact with Fox and the others?"
"Yes," Pepper said solemnly. "As fate would have it, another of our top computer operatives, Fara Pheonix, was on board when this event occurred."
Falco groaned. If anyone could have single-handedly pulled Lylat out of such a huge danger, it was Fox. And now it looked like not even he was still standing. "Was the Great Fox recovered?" Falco asked.
"No," Pepper said glumly. "Hope is quickly fading for Lylat. If we don't repel these invaders soon…" He let it hang.
"I know," Falco said. He slowly walked from the room, downcast. His friends were almost certainly dead and Lylat was poised for defeat.
Falco passed through the doorway. He didn't hear it, but Pepper started muttering to himself. "If only she didn't fail."
