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Chapter 3: The Arwings
These are the Arwings? They look too fragile and elegant, like some geek wanted to design something that was pretty, not effective. At least there's the hope they'll fly better than they look. - Falco
The elevator opened up, revealing a very large open construction and repair
facility. Multiple computer systems were lined up against one wall, with a stack
of spare parts, armor plating, and assorted electronic gadgets against another.
A half dozen engineers were in various places around the room, each having their
own part to play as they worked on the most important feature of the room –
the Arwings.
Pepper enjoyed the awed look the rest of the group had as they saw their new
fighter craft. "Incase you haven't realized, this is deck 0 –
Arwing construction and repair. This will also be where you launch and dock
in future flights." He paused as he noticed his second in command approach.
Gary walked up to the stunned group, a file folder in his paws. "You like?"
he asked as he gestured behind him. Receiving nothing but smiles and nods from
the group, he continued. "Pepper, I'll take care of them from here.
I'll let you know when we're done." With a nod the General
stood back, letting his partner take command for the moment.
The cheetah popped open the file folder and began reading through it as they
approached the nearest Arwing. "Congratulations on becoming the latest
member of the Cornerian Military. This is our newest and most capable of all
fighter craft in the galaxy, the SFX Arwing. With it…" He stopped
walking and continued to read the front page silently. "Who wrote this
junk?" he asked a few seconds later to nobody in particular. "My
Grandmother could write a better introductory note, and she's been dead
for the last 10 years so bless her soul." The crew laughed behind him.
"Okay, look, this has some nice technical specs inside of it, so I'll
have a copy forwarded to your rooms for your reading later. But this crap just
isn't worth reading through right now. I have better things to discuss."
Gary pointed at the silver craft they were standing next to. "This, unless
you've forgotten, is the SFX Arwing. Just a little over a year and a half
in development and testing, this is designed to combat Andross' forces
no matter what the odds are against you. She's 92ft long from nose to
back of the wings, 46ft wide from wingtip to wingtip, and is 18ft high. Or at
least close enough to that anyway."
He walked over to one of the long wings trailing behind the Arwing. "See,
here is the beauty of this craft – these long thin wings might not seem
much, but they, combined with these additional wings," he pointed to the
smaller blue colored wings coming off the side of the Arwing at a 30 degree
angle, "will keep you aloft in any type of planetary atmosphere. These
blue wings hold the G-Diffuser system, which in a nutshell, generate their own
sort of gravity field around the craft, allowing you to have the precise controls
of a ship in outer space while still inside an atmosphere."
"Correct me if I'm wrong," asked a confused Fox, trying to
make sense over what was just said, "but that means you can ignore gravity
around any planetary body, right?"
Slippy piped in as well, intrigued at what he had heard. "If that's
what he is saying, yes, and it would allow you to use the gravity field you
are generating to help in accelerating, decelerating, and turning."
Gary broke into a huge smile, obviously pleased at what he was hearing. "Yes,
amazing! Someone who actually understands! You have no idea how hard that was
for some pilots to get through their head. It also opens up a huge list of potential
options in combat." He pointed to the G-Diffusers again. "Anyway,
these also hold most of your maneuvering thrusters, as well as the inertia dampeners.
While you do have backups scattered along your hull and wings, these are the
primary ones."
He walked up to the nose of the craft, the team watching as the cheetah continued
to explain. "Up here is your radar system," he said, pointing at
the nosecone. "The targeting and tracking computer is farther back, but
the radar assembly is up here. Try not to lose it in battle. A bit farther down
is the shield assembly. Able to protect you from anything short of a large asteroid
hit, these shields are the pinnacle of defense technology. While some craft
you encounter might be better shielded, keep in mind that you are far more maneuverable."
"This is your primary weapon, the nose blaster," he said, pointing
to a small tube sticking out of the craft near the radar assembly. "This
fires straight and true to whatever you have lined up in your crosshairs, and
for the most part is embedded far enough inside the armor of the Arwing to last
through any firefight. You have roughly a .2 second delay between shots, and
an effective range of about 5000 feet."
He walked back to the last half of the main wings and pointed to a gun port
sticking out. "This is your secondary, or for some, your primary weapon.
Twin mounted blasters, one under each wing, electronically linked to each other
and to your targeting computer to make sure that they strike at the same time
on the same spot of an enemy craft. Effective range on this feature is from
about 300 feet to their maximum range of roughly 4500 feet with a recharge rate
between shots of roughly .35 seconds. Unfortunately they have one disadvantage
– if you lose one gun, you lose them both due to the interlocking feature
of the guns. But they are far more powerful as a result of the interlocking."
Gary touched a spot on the hull just below the front part of the cockpit as
he continued. "This is roughly where the plasma engine starts, and it
works its way all the way out the back, where your main, and only, thruster
is. It's large, it's bulky, and sure, you're basically sitting
on it, but it is the lifeblood of your craft. Just don't let it explode.
In theory, it would take you out with it before the computer could automatically
eject the cockpit. Expect a top speed of roughly 60,000 miles per second, or
1/3 the speed of light, in the vacuum of space. Any faster than that and it
becomes dangerous to travel as your shields won't be able to absorb any
space flotsam that you might run into."
He paused for a breath, giving Falco enough time to whisper, "Doesn't
this guy ever shut up?" Fox had only enough time to shake his head, doing
his best to cover up the smirk on his face, before Gary started up once more.
"The Arwing is also equipped with a limited faster-than-light drive, or
FTL for short, but testing shows that you'll only get about 30 minutes
of use before burning out the drive and the fuel used. Basically it is for emergencies
only, or when you're in a hurry. Maximum range of your Arwing is about
1.4 billion miles, or 5 and a half hours of flight time at maximum speed, with
your FTL drive included, before you run out of fuel, as it's always being used
in protecting your craft at those speeds."
The cheetah pointed to the front part of the main wings. "This is where
your retro rockets and boosters are installed, one set on each wing. These are
mainly used for getting up to, and slowing down from, cruising speed in space,
but they can be used as boosters and/or air brakes in combat. Unlike the wing-mounted
blasters, these rockets are able to compensate for only having one of them.
Just don't expect too much of a benefit in combat with only one though.
There are backups for the retro rockets on the front part of the ship and in
the G-Diffuser system, but these are far more efficient."
Gary walked up to the front half of the craft, pointing to a spot underneath
it. "And finally, another reason why these ships are the most powerful
ones in the galaxy – the Nova Bomb. See, basically by accident, we stumbled
upon a crystal only available on Corneria that responds rather interestingly
to a large amount of power. By dumping the entire power output of the plasma
engine through this crystal, it unleashes a ball of energy that upon detonation
explodes with the power of a small star. Hence the name." He paused for
just a moment, hesitating. "Unfortunately, it, well, isn't quite
finished yet. Nor is it fully tested."
"Wait a second," spoke Falco, interrupting. "You're
sending us out there with an all-powerful weapon that hasn't been tested
yet?"
Fox didn't wait for an answer before asking a question of his own. "Good
point there, Falco. Also, by the way you keep describing things, I have to ask
- have these Arwings even been flown yet? You sound like a manual description
instead of a first party account."
Gary looked downtrodden. "Well, for the most part, no." Realizing
what he just said, he desperately tried to restate what he was going to say.
"Now, wait, this isn't as bad as you think it is."
"It isn't?" shot Falco as he crossed his arms in disgust.
"We are your test dummies. Just what I did not want to hear."
Fearing that the team was threatening to break up, the cheetah threw all his
cards onto the table, letting everyone know what he knew. "Look, let me
be frank. They have been flown before. Just with the G-Diffuser system turned
off. And with little combat testing. Pepper over there wasn't kidding
– there isn't anyone out there who can fly these things. We made
them just a tad too good. Computer simulations…"
Falco looked very pissed off, interrupting what Gary was going to say with a
wave of his paw. "Computer simulations mean nothing. I'm outta here.
I am not going to get myself killed flying some ship that has only been flown
through a computer." He turned to leave.
Fox grabbed Falco's feathered arm and looked him straight in the eye,
trying to think of something to say. He was not going to let him wander off
like that. "You aren't leaving. Where would you go? Besides, where
is your sense of adventure? How many things have you done in your life that
nobody else has?" He smiled. "Just think of how much damage we could
do in these Arwings."
The avian shook off Fox's paw forcibly and replied, "My sense of
adventure is back where I left my common sense. Back on Papetoon."
Peppy spoke up, trying a different approach. "Falco, do you really think
for a moment that you would, or could, leave us? Leave now, and you'll
never know what it is like to fly an Arwing. Never experience the thrill of
taking down an Imperial Cruiser. How it feels to fire off an untested Nova Bomb.
You can't leave and expect us to have all the fun, can you?"
The avian paused, considering his options with his arms crossed, letting everyone
know of his feelings at the moment. "You're all nuts, you know that?"
He paused, going over his options. While it was risky and dangerous, it was
exactly what he had been looking for. It wasn't like he had anything to lose,
short of his life anyway. "But you're right, I can't let frog
face here have all the fun."
"Hey!"
Gary seemed pleased with the resolution of their little talk. "So, on
to the simulators then?"
"No, they can wait," said Falco, trying to remember the last time
he had a good meal. He figured that the base had to have a decent food setup
for as many people as they employed. "Where can I get something to eat
around here?"
Fox grinned. "For once I completely agree with you. Let's eat."
With that they rounded up Pepper and walked off to the mess hall.
"Ah, nothing beats good eating like an old fashioned burger," said
Fox as he finished chewing his latest bite, unable to remember the last time
he'd eaten anything this good. The team of four was now inside the mess hall
of the base. The room itself was a rather large cafeteria style place, with
multiple self-serve bars along one wall, manned by a team of chefs who made
sure that there was food available at all times. The place looked to be large
enough to hold the entire current population of the base with little problem.
Peppy looked up from the salad he had in front of him, glancing around the sparsely
populated room before speaking his mind. "You know, Fox, one of these
days the people are going to revolt against you carnivores. Some people might
think you're eating their friends."
"If that was true," commented Fox as he waved around what was left
of his burger in one paw, "why are there still non-evolved animals out
there? You know, cows, pigs, fish, and the like?"
The hare just shook his head, having no answer to that question. "Only
the Creator himself knows."
Falco looked shocked. "The great Peppy is actually without an explanation?
I need to write that down somewhere." He dug through his pockets, pretending
to search for a writing instrument. Fox tried to stifle a laugh but eventually
failed, Falco joining in shortly thereafter.
At that point Slippy, who had been spending his time looking over the various
foodstuffs available to eat, walked up carrying a plate of noodles and the folder
that Gary was reading from before. He took the last seat at the table and looked
confused at the laughter. "What's so funny?"
"Nothing much, just laughing at Peppy's expense," replied
Fox. "Sorry old friend."
Peppy tried to downplay the whole experience. "Laughter is a good medicine,
and a great stress reducer. One I think that we all could use right about now,
especially after that speech we just heard."
"Anyway, what took you so long, Slippy?" asked Fox. He had just
finished his meal and began to flip through the folder that was now on the table.
"Learn any other interesting aspects of the Arwing?"
The toad finished a mouthful of his meal before replying. "Unfortunately
no, but I did hear one thing from Gary – he said that we looked like the
most qualified people that he's seen for a long time. The only problem
is that the way he put it, it sounded like he has someone else also flying the
Arwings."
Fox looked puzzled, not liking what he was hearing. "Hmmm… But there
are only four Arwings, and the four of us. From how Pepper put his little speech,
we are the only chance that the entire system has."
"That's the understanding I get from everyone so far as well. I
don't get it." He finished another bite of his lunch before stating,
"I just hope we do well in the simulator tests."
Looking over his team, the group he had been together with for many missions
that pushed them to their limits, he knew that there wasn't anything to
worry about. "We will, Slippy, we will. Don't worry about that.
Pepper picked the best, right?" Fox looked up from the manual and saw
the General at the far end of the mess hall. He stood up and waved him over
to their table. "I'll get an answer out of him about this."
The canine walked up, paws clasped behind his back. "Yes Junior?"
Fox grimaced at being called that name again, but countered quickly with what
he had to say. "Quick question for you sir. Are we the only ones testing
the Arwing project?"
Pepper looked shocked and confused at the same time. He took a moment to compose
himself before replying. "Yes, you are the only ones. Like I said before,
we've tried other pilots, but nobody has worked out in the past."
He paused. "Why do you ask this again?"
"No reason, just trying to clear something up. Here's another one
though – why only four Arwings? Why not three or five?"
"Four was the magic number as far as the budget went. No other reason
other than that." Pepper looked down at Fox, as if trying to read the
vulpine's mind. "Is there some reason for asking these questions
even though I've already told you the answers?"
"No, General, just trying to clear up something with the crew."
"Good. Let me know when you are all done here. I'd like to see your
performance in the simulators." With that he swiveled in place and walked
off.
Fox waited until the General was well out of earshot before talking to his group.
"Well, isn't this interesting. He's lying, I'm sure
of it."
Falco agreed, not liking the fact that he was being lied to at all. "I
know he is. I wonder how much of what he says is a lie."
"I do have to say this though, he is a quick thinker and talker,"
commented Peppy.
Slippy finished another mouthful of food before speaking. "But the question
is, why is he being dishonest with us?"
Fox pondered the inquiry. "I have no idea. All I know is this –
there is at least one more person either testing or flying these Arwings. But
what I want to know is are we in contention with them or is there another Arwing
or two hidden out there somewhere?"
"The more the better as far as I'm concerned," said Falco,
thinking that was a strange question to ask.
"Good point. One last problem everyone – ever since we got here
I've had this feeling that I'm being watched. Anyone else?"
Peppy pointed to a security camera across the room, a small black ball embedded
into the ceiling. "Fox, there are cameras like that everywhere in this
base. But now that you mention it, I have to agree with you. It's not
because the cameras are there, but it feels like someone is actively watching
us."
"Great," muttered Falco. "When Peppy gets paranoid, its gotta
be true."
"Well crew, there isn't much we can do about it other than keep
our eyes and ears open for anything that might pass along our way. Let's finish
eating and get back to work. I'm ready to see how these Arwings perform."
Everyone else agreed with Fox and lunch was resumed.
General Pepper and crew walked into the simulator room a half hour later. Inside
the plain white room were the cockpits of four Arwings, attached to the needed
simulation equipment, with a large projection screen and a computer beneath
along one wall.
Pepper turned to the crew, holding his arms out to show off the entire room.
"This is your training room. As good as I think you might be, the higher
ups won't allow you in an Arwing until you pass a few tests on the simulators.
Besides, this is the best, and cheapest way to play with your new toys."
He grinned at his joke and then continued. "Now, if you would climb on
in, you'll find headsets inside to put on. If you would do so, I know that Gary
is waiting to give you another of his long winded descriptions from the command
center upstairs."
Fox laughed. "He may be wordy, but he does his job well."
The four climbed in, closing the cockpit hatch behind them. The inside of the
craft was rather different from its elegant, yet sleek and simple look outside.
Multiple consoles lined the cockpit within easy arm's reach, and a computer
monitor stared at them from just behind the lone control stick.
Fox put the headset on over his helmet, adjusting it to make sure it wouldn't
get in the way. He made himself comfortable, buckling himself in, glad to be
sitting down as he awaited another long speech from Gary.
The cheetah's voice broke through the near silence of being inside the closed
simulator a few seconds later. "Welcome back everyone. I hope your lunch
has settled, as this is going to be one heck of a ride. And while the General
isn't listening for the moment, I do have to say that I am not long-winded,
just rather descriptive. Considering that you will be fighting for your lives
in these craft shortly, I would think it's a good thing to know everything
there is to know."
Fox heard a few laughs from his teammates over the headset. He waited for silence
to resume before talking. "Gary, hold on one second. Before we get into
flight training, I have one request. We need a name for our team here."
"Hmmm… Good point there, Fox. I'm open to suggestions. Something
spacey…" He was met with the sounds of silence. "You know,
for such a talkative group, you people are not much help."
"I'd suggest a few things," said Fox with a grin, "but
I thought of the idea."
Gary laughed. "Yet another good point."
"I know," said Peppy quietly, thinking of a possibility. He wondered
how the rest of the team would take it though. "Starfox."
"One word or two?"
"One. Two makes it sound like I'm trying to inflate Fox's
ego even more than I am now."
"I like. Any complaints?" Surprisingly everyone was quiet, even
Falco. "With a unanimous vote, this has been decided. Congratulations
on your new name team Starfox. Let's get back to business."
"Okay, for the short minded, what you are sitting in is the Arwing. Unlike
my last speech, this is going to be short and to the point as the controls of
the Arwing are rather simple. Right in front of you is your control stick. Behind
that is your main computer, or at least the screen anyway. Everyone touch it
now as that will start up the simulation program." Fox did as he was told
and was impressed as the cockpit windows first faded to black and then were
replaced by the engineering bay.
Gary continued talking. "Welcome back to engineering, or at least a simulation
of it. From here, the computer screen would let you modify the program you are
running, but for now leave it alone while I continue to explain your craft."
He took a deep breath. "Your computer normally would show your radar in
combat, but it can also display shield and weapon status, damage and repair
status, and detailed target analysis. You'll get to play around with it once
I start the simulation."
"On either side of you are duplicate controls. Figure out which paw you
are going to use for the control stick, then get used to using the other for
the rest of your ship's controls. From there, you have access to every system
on your ship - it is a duplicate of the computer screen in front of you, but
it's easier to get to in battle. It's well labeled here, so get used to where
all the buttons are."
Gary paused for a moment to take a breath and then continued. "Two final
things - first, notice the location of the throttle control. You'll be using
that quite a bit. Move it all the way forward or back to activate the boosters
and retros. Second are the foot pedals in front - those will tilt your craft
on its Z-Axis, unlike your more standard craft."
"Okay, enough talking. Time to take the Arwings out for a little spin.
Throttle up and head on out. Make sure that your G-Diffuser system is turned
off for now as well. Get used to the controls without it. You'll be amazed at
the difference when you turn it on."
"You heard the chief, time to go." Fox looked around, checking the
position of the Arwings before continuing. "Whoever's in front, go first.
I'm third in line. And try not to hit anything on the way out, okay?"
Peppy, being the lucky one in the lead, powered up his engine. He was nervous,
but he had flown many different craft in simulations before, during his teaching
of academy students. "This is Peppy, I'm heading out." With that
his Arwing sped down the tunnel leading to the only exit.
The second Arwing fired up, turning to leave. Its occupant was ready for action,
hoping that the craft had more to offer than the simplistic looking design suggested.
"Falco here. Catch you on the flip side."
Fox powered up his craft, smiling as he felt it rumble with the power of the
engine, even though it was only a simulation. Thanks to how fantastic of a pilot
his father was, the vulpine was more than ready to get into the skies. "Fox
reporting, leaving now." With the skill of a trained pilot he flew his
Arwing outside.
Slippy was the last one to leave. He was almost scared, simply hoping that he
wouldn't crash into anything in the first five minutes. Thanks to his days at
the academy, he knew quite a bit about flying, but that knowledge could only
take him so far in a completely new craft. "Slippy here, don't have all
the fun without me."
With that the Starfox team was off.
Time passed quickly by for Fox as he enjoyed testing the power of the Arwing.
Then again he was always happiest in the air, and it was something he had greatly
missed during his time on Papetoon, as the hoverbikes that they had access to
were nothing like this. Thankfully the Academy training they had all received
in general flight dynamics had translated well into flying these craft, allowing
the entire team to adapt quickly.
As he powered his way through another barrel roll, looking at the ground for
just a moment while he was upside down, he heard Gary interrupt his thoughts.
"Glad to see you are all enjoying yourselves. What do you think so far
of the Arwing?"
Fox was the first to respond as he righted himself. "I am amazed. Let
the designers and engineers know that they have built a fantastic craft."
"I agree with you completely, Fox," said Peppy.
"Even under limited power, I am very impressed so far," commented
Slippy, proud of his accomplishments of staying in the skies so far.
"I like what I've seen," cut in Falco, throwing his craft into a
few spiraling loops for fun. "But I have two questions - why couldn't
other people fly this craft and when do we get to blow things up?"
Gary laughed and thought about his answer before responding. "Well, for
your second question, the answer is soon. As for your first though, you'll be
seeing the reason shortly."
"I can't wait."
"Okay, if you would all take up formation and head up to, oh, say 10,000
feet or so, we'll get onto our second part of your test - the G-Diffuser system."
"Why 10,000 feet?" asked a confused Falco, growing weary as to what
might happen.
"Lets just say that from your current height we've had only a 98% mortality
rate in everyone's first G-Diffuser test run. Once you get up higher, the rate
drops to..." He paused, looking up the answer before continuing. "Let
me see... 94%."
"Sounds like my kind of odds."
"Really? For your information, that is one person from the lower height,
and three from the higher."
Fox was shocked, no longer sure if he had made the proper choice in accepting
this job. "You weren't kidding that these were difficult to fly, were
you."
"Let's just say that the G-Diffuser system is a tad sensitive and
rather shocking to most the first time. Also, the lack of proper pilots hasn't
helped in the slightest either. Good Academy graduates are hard to come by nowadays."
"What happened to the people who passed this test anyway?" asked
Peppy, curious to find the answer.
"Well, the two that passed only the test from high up told the General
and the designers that the system had potential, but was way too sensitive for
real combat use. Needless to say that did not please the designers at all."
Gary quieted down suddenly.
The silence was surprising to the hare, considering how much their trainer liked
to talk. "As for the other?"
"I was getting to that." The cheetah didn't like being rushed,
as his response seemed rather terse and direct. "As for the other, we
lost track of that pilot afterward."
Fox didn't like that answer, but he wasn't going to pry. Changing the subject,
he flipped his Arwing over to its side looking at the ground below. It was a
clear day in the simulation, and he could see nothing but trees and grass below
him as he looked around. "Gorgeous view from up here."
If Gary was glad for the change of subject, he didn't show it. "Yes, it
is, isn't it? However, enough sightseeing. I've enabled the G-Diffuser systems
on your craft. You have two ways—"
Fox ignored the rest of the sentence as he saw the Arwing a short distance in
front of him suddenly make a U-turn almost in place and charge back his way.
"Look out!" he yelled into his headset.
The Arwings dove and spun out of the way of the incoming craft, missing it by
mere feet. The vulpine was clearly not pleased by what just happened. "I
want to know who did that and why right now!" he yelled.
The person who Fox expected to answer did so after a few seconds. It was Falco.
"Sorry, Fox. I guess I got a little antsy back there."
Fox was at a loss of words, but only for a few moments. He couldn't believe
what he had just seen. "Your stupid stunt almost got the lot of us killed,
you idiot!"
Peppy's calm soothing voice was heard over the headset. "Fox, look, while
I don't approve of his actions, it does prove two things - the G-Diffuser system
works, and it shows how good our reaction time is."
Slippy spoke up to give Fox more time to cool down. "It also shows not
only how nimble these craft are, but it is an indication of how simple the G-Diffuser
system is - if bird brain over here can use it, we all can."
Fox cut off Falco's forthcoming argument quickly. "Falco, listen and listen
good. Get yourself back into formation right now. If I ever see you pull something
like that again..."
Falco did as he was told without a word. He knew that while Fox was calm and
collective most of the time, he was the type of person that you did not want
to get on the bad side of, as very ugly things tended to happen afterward.
In the meantime, Gary had turned off his headset to the Starfox team and was
talking to Pepper directly, very concerned with what had happened. "General,
I have my doubts about your team. They seem to work together well, but they
seem to be, well, unstable at times. Both Fox and Falco worry me."
"I know, Gary, I know. Junior is a very calm person most of the time.
It takes something like that to get him riled up. Falco on the other hand..."
He quieted as he remembered some of the pranks that the avian pulled in his
Academy years. "He was always a troublemaker. Even back at the Academy
he was a problem. Other than that, they work very well as a team."
"I still think we should have taken the other pilot."
"Alone? The Arwings and that pilot are good, but not that good. Besides,
we still are, remember?"
A third voice, sounding like it was computer-generated, broke into their conversation,
surprising the pair. "I thank you for the vote of confidence you two.
We'll see how well team Starfox does as the simulator tests continue on."
The voice paused for a moment. "Fortunately for you, Gary, I like the
team name."
Pepper groaned, knowing who the voice belonged to, but not happy to hear it
in the slightest. "How many times have I told you not to use the base's
security system to your liking? We are trying to hold a private conversation
here."
"When you upgrade the security system with better defenses, I might not
have as much luck getting in, General. Besides, it's rather fun. I have to entertain
myself somehow seeing as you won't let me meet the team just yet, nor take the
Arwing out for another spin."
"You know that I want to see how well they do together before I bring
you into the picture. They need to get back to their old routine that I remember
in their Academy days, and they're in need of training. Then I'll bring
you in."
"I hope so, General. Talk to you later." With that the voice cut
off.
"Pepper, you know that is rather annoying, don't you?"
The canine sighed, glad to hear the unwanted person go. He couldn't believe
he just had an argument with it, even though he was the boss. "You don't
need to remind me. Anyway, don't you have a training session to get back to?"
Gary changed a setting on his headset, bringing Starfox back into the conversation.
"Okay, everything settled out there again?"
"Yeah, we are," replied Fox, displeased at having that incident
happen at the first place. He pulled a quick vertical loop, preparing himself
for what was next, wondering what had taken so long.
"Good. Now, as Falco has already demonstrated, your next lesson is the
G-Diffuser system. With it on, you have two ways to use it. Either move the
control stick to the extremes, or use the computer assisted settings on your
control panel."
"What, don't trust us with using the system normally without having the
computer take control?" asked Falco.
"Well, actually it was added after we realized that most people ended
up spinning around in the air completely out of control the first time they
used it. So the assistance features were put in. And unless I'm reading this
wrong, you did use that earlier."
Gary paused for a moment, expecting a comment or two from the crew, and was
impressed at the silence. "Anyway, the automated controls will spin your
craft in the direction and degrees indicated and then will fire the boosters
for a moment to gain back whatever speed you lost during the turn."
"Now go experiment. Keep in mind that anything over a 90-degree turn will
cause a severe loss of airspeed for a moment, and you'll more than likely lose
a bit of altitude as well. However, being able to make extremely tight turns
in an atmosphere more than make up for it."
"One last thing before you start. Your shield systems have been activated
as well. A small side effect of turning and ultimately stopping quickly causes
a ton of heat buildup in an atmosphere. Your shields are fully capable of taking
that kind of punishment, but just don't overdo it. If your shields are
down though, your Arwing will start to heat up dramatically. Unlike the shields,
the hull is not designed to take that constantly."
The cheetah sighed, realizing that he had stammered on yet again. "Anyway,
enough talking. Go out there and fly. I'll get back to you in a bit and
work through the weapon systems with you."
With Gary gone, Fox took over the training. "Okay crew, back to work.
Falco, what was your impression on the G-Diffuser system?"
Falco thought for a moment. "Honestly? I was shocked when the Arwing turned
like they said it would. It is an almost instant turn, but very disorienting,
even for myself."
"New plan then - everyone pick a different height to fly at, then experiment.
Just speak up if you need something."
"And make sure you don't crash into someone if you fall out of the sky,"
joked the avian.
"Falco, quiet. Off I go." Taking a deep breath to still his racing
heart, Fox punched the automatic controls, sending his craft into a near instant
u-turn. He felt extremely sick for a moment, because he saw his ship turn, but
the simulator was far from able to keep up with the speed of the maneuver.
Fox closed his eyes for a moment to clear his head. "Wow… Guys,
the simulator can't keep up with this turn, so watch yourselves."
Wasting no further time, they proceeded, with near disastrous results. Peppy
spun his craft around with little more than disorientation for a few moments,
but Slippy completely lost control. He used his flight stick as a prop in a
desperate attempt to steady his spinning head with the expected result of his
Arwing promptly falling out of the sky.
Fox dove after his falling companion, trying constantly to raise him on the
communicator. A thousand feet from the ground the nauseated toad regained his
senses, pulling his craft out of the nosedive.
The team regrouped afterwards as Fox decided to have a small chat with their
trainer, not liking what he'd just seen. "Gary, I got a question
for you. Is there a way to keep the simulator from turning at all during a G-Diffuser
turn? Or possibly improving the turning speed?"
"I'm not quite sure, why?"
"Well, if you just missed that little altercation from before, the simulator
just isn't cutting it on the turns."
Gary sighed. "Yes, I've noticed that. We've been wondering if that was
the problem."
Falco started ranting as usual, but Fox quickly cut him off. "Personally,
I know it is. Can you do it?"
"I think so. But it will be something that will take time to do. Have
to rewrite some of the simulator code and such." Gary paused for a moment
as he thought about what to do next. "Well then, shall we move on then
to weapons testing?"
"Hopefully this is something you have working right," grumbled Falco.
"Falco, quiet," shot Fox, tired of his little interruptions.
"Don't worry, oh trigger happy one," started the cheetah jokingly,
"the weapon systems work rather well. Like flying it is very simple -
the trigger fires your blasters as long as you hold it down, and you have a
switch on the side to change firing modes."
"Keep in mind though that your twin blasters require you to have your
radar and tracking systems working, and you'll basically need a lock on
your target through the computer. It will make a guess on which target you are
firing upon based on what is in front of you, but it is always better to do
it yourself. Now, let me run a combat program for you. Just a sec."
"What, no Nova Bomb testing?" questioned Falco.
"Anxious, aren't you?" joked Gary. "You'll have to wait a
little longer to test that out as the brass wants you to do things in order.
Also, don't try to fire off the Nova Bombs anyway, as the controls for them
have been disabled."
The team watched as the Corneria skies vanished and were replaced by the engineering
bay once more. "Welcome back home everyone. For targeting practice, I've
loaded up different program into the simulator. From here, you are all on your
own - your teammates aren't in the same program."
Fox looked around, having not realized until now that he was alone as his trainer
continued. "You'll find 50 targets indicated on your targeting computer
in somewhat of a straight line once you launch. Your goal is to take them out
in the shortest time possible, using whatever firing mode you want on your blasters.
This is a test of your piloting and shooting skills. However, keep in mind that
this is not Corneria anymore, so expect a few things that aren't quite possible
in the real world. Good luck, and good shooting."
"Noted and understood," said Fox. "Team, let's show
everyone what we can do." With that the Arwings launched.
Gary turned off his communication to the Starfox team and switched back to
only the General. "You watching this I take it, Pepper?"
The General looked over to the four simulators behind him. "This and everything
else so far. Great work so far as always and nice line about the brass."
"Thanks. Well, we are the brass aren't we?" He laughed for a moment.
"And we do want to see how they do in combat maneuvers before we give
them full access to the Arwings, right?"
"Correct. One thing that worries me though… Have the engineers had
any luck on the Nova Bomb problems?"
The cheetah watched Fox through his monitors as he pulled off a rather impressive
vertical loop taking out two targets in the process before replying. "Unfortunately,
no. Now we have two problems - we are still having power problems firing the
weapon and we can't get the Arwing's shields configured properly to resist
the blast."
Pepper sighed, wondering how many more problems he'd have to deal with
in the near future. "Lovely. Any guess on a timeframe for a fix?"
"The engineers hope it will be shortly. Then again they have been saying
that on the power problem for a month now."
He sat back and watched the team continue to perform quite well at their training.
"So, what do you think of my pilots?"
"So they are your pilots now, eh?" laughed Gary. "Well, if
you want my opinion on their combat abilities, I'll give it to you. Just let
everyone finish their current mission first."
"Deal." The two sat back and watched their respective monitors as
the Starfox team continued their training. As expected, Fox and Falco were neck
and neck, with Peppy and then Slippy trailing a tad behind. Their different
fighting styles showed as well - Fox and Peppy believed in single shot accuracy,
Falco used excessive firepower with the twin firing mode, while Slippy was a
careful mix of the two.
After quietly watching everyone for a minute, Gary spoke up. "So General,
care to make a little side bet on who is going to win?"
"You know very well that I'm not a betting dog."
"Fine then. A drink perhaps?"
Pepper thought a moment before responding. "A drink I can do."
"Good. Who wins and by how much time wise? I'll start." Gary looked
through his notes he had made so far and glanced at the monitors. Fox was currently
ahead with a five second lead, with 22 targets to go. But he believed that Falco
would make a very good attempt to catch up. "Fox will win, but by only
by a second, if even by that."
"You believe in Falco that much, don't you?" commented Pepper, surprised
at what he was hearing. He watched as Fox easily shot down another target, swiveling
to one side as he squeezed by a rock outcropping. "He is good, but Junior
is better. You haven't seen his father in action like I have. Junior will
maintain those five seconds easily."
"I've seen enough training videos to judge. Falco is almost Fox's equal
in the skies in my opinion."
"Don't tell him that. Or Falco for that matter."
Gary laughed. "You don't have to worry, my opinions are known by only
a few." He paused for a moment, noticing a light flashing on one of his
control boards. "Unfortunately we have to add in someone else to that
few." His tone switched to an aggravated one, tired of being interrupted.
"Do you mind?"
The same computer-generated voice from before barged into their conversation.
"I'm impressed you actually realized that I've been listening."
"Don't give me that, you let me know. You know our computer systems better
than we do practically."
Pepper sighed, his tone quickly turning hostile. "It seems I can't make
you listen with mere words. Do you want me to throw you in the brig perhaps?"
The light-hearted voice became serious. "You wouldn't dare General."
"You are tempting me. I could you know. How much have you seen so far
today?"
"Everything. I'm quite impressed - the Starfox team are very quick learners."
"Don't change the subject," snapped the General. Realizing his wasn't
going to win this conversation, he decided to try another route. "Look,
I'll let you watch the demonstrations, but get off our line when we are trying
to hold a conversation. And I'll give you a call later tonight about your meeting
with the team, okay?"
"All right."
"Good. Don't interrupt again."
"One final thing though guys – Gary, the simulators really should
be modified as per Fox McCloud's request. That was always my complaint
about them. As I've told you before, the Arwing does not perform like
that. I think you might have scared off a few potential pilots in the last few
months because of it."
The voice became silent, as did the rest of the conversation. A few moments
passed before Gary spoke up. "Sorry about that, General, but I just noticed
the indicator on my end."
"No problem. Any idea how long we haven't had a private conversation?"
"I have no idea, but something tells me it has been some time. I'll keep
an eye out though. And I'll say it again, that is very annoying."
"I know Gary, I know. We need experienced pilots too badly though to pass
up on someone this good. Especially since we've had this one from the
beginning."
"True. The overall scores were quite high. We'll see how well it compares
to the team." He paused, noticing a readout on one of his monitors. "Also,
as for the team, it seems like they'll be finishing shortly."
The two turned their full attention back to the monitors and the race. Fox and
Falco were only a second apart, quickly closing on the last target. Peppy was
about 15 seconds back, with Slippy another half a minute behind that. The final
target was hidden inside of an unlighted narrow cave, forcing pilots to maneuver
via their radar and with a light on the end of the radar assembly.
Fox passed through the constricted cave with little problem, dodging rock outcroppings
and speeding around walls with ease. Falco pushed his Arwing and his reaction
time to the limit, charging through the cave with reckless abandon.
As they closed in on their final target, it actually looked like Falco would
end up the victor. It was not to happen however as he took one of his turns
too close, clipping a wing against the wall, sending his Arwing out of control.
To his credit however, he did recover within moments, but that was all the time
that the vulpine needed to finish the course.
Acting like he has flown an Arwing for years, Fox casually lined up a shot on
the final target, destroying it with little effort. Falco finished less than
a second afterward, his continued fire blasting a hole into part of the wall
behind the target in the process.
Gary seemed pleased with his prediction as the pilots finished up. "Looks
like I was right, General."
Pepper nodded, somewhat upset at losing the bet. "Yes, yes you were. Nice
work."
"Thanks. I have one more thing to say to the team, and then I'm going
to let them off for the day. Meet you and the group for a meal tonight?"
"I'm up for it, assuming the team is. I'll let you know."
"Don't forget the drinks. You know what I like. Talk to you later."
Gary switched his headset back to the Starfox team, taking a glance at the final
scores and times before speaking. "Congratulations on passing your first
combat test. As for who won though..." He trailed off, building the tension
somewhat. "Falco?"
"Yes?" he questioned, eager to hear the next words.
"You would of won if you didn't have that little bump at the end. Fox
ended up being the victor because of it. Congratulations."
Falco cursed as the rest of the team laughed at his expense. "You know
what they say, Falco," commented Peppy. "The slow and steady always
wins the race."
"Nice try though," said Fox. "Better luck next time."
Gary continued with his report. "Overall I am very impressed with your
first flight test. I'll have individual reports written up and sent to the terminal
in your room by morning. Hopefully, some of you will take my suggestions to
thought. Now, if you have any questions, this is the time to ask. If not, you
are dismissed until tomorrow. You've had enough for one day."
Fox stretched as best he could in the confines of the simulator as he waited
to see if anyone had any questions. He was about to turn off the power and exit
the craft when he noticed something on the computer screen in front of him.
It read, 'Impressive flying Fox McCloud'. He paused, staring at
the message, waiting to see if something else would appear, but nothing did.
Concerned, he turned off the power and climbed out.
Taking a quick glance around the room, the vulpine saw the General talking to
the rest of his team, passing out papers as he did so. He noticed Fox and turned
to him. "Nice work so far, Junior." He passed over the paper he
was holding as he continued. "Your performance evaluation from the computer.
Your team scored quite high considering that this is your first test."
Fox glanced at the paper before speaking. It held scores and figures from categories
like accuracy, piloting skill, combat performance, and other interesting tidbits.
One quick look was all it took before he knew that he scored rather well. "Thanks.
I've always been impressed with my team, and it's nice to see that someone else
other than one of us agrees with me." He glanced over his friends as he
continued. "Anyway, let's go crew, we need to talk." He turned to
leave.
"One moment, Junior. I'd like to invite you and your team for dinner tonight
at our lounge area upstairs."
The vulpine looked surprised at being invited to dinner with their boss on their
first day. To say that this seemed strange was an understatement. "Oh?
Who's on the guest list?"
"You four, Gary, and myself."
Fox looked over his team, who gave him looks of approval back. "Making
sure we don't get bored with the mess hall already, eh?" he said with
a grin. "Sure, we'll be there. When and where?"
"18:00 hours up on floor nine. You can't miss it as it's near the western
elevator on that floor."
He nodded. "Sounds good." Fox looked to make
sure that everyone was following him before continuing. "See you then."
He left, his team in tow.
