Author's Notes: Sorry for the delay between this and the previous chapter. I haven't had the chance lately to sit down and pound out the HTML code to make this look good on Fanfiction.net.

Please read and review. All reviews will be looked at and considered. Enjoy!
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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.