One of my rare short chapters this time around. Don't worry, it'll be far longer
from here on out.
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Chapter 18: Home At Last
Damn, I really wrecked this Arwing. I'm normally better with craft than
this. – Fox
And another vehicle broken by Fox's paws. Clumsy oaf. – Falco
I can't believe we survived that mission. Protecting Fox like that was
so exhilarating! I want to do that again! – Slippy
Fox's bravado is going to get him killed one of these days. I can't
believe he used us as shields back there. I'm still stunned that we got
out alive after that. - Peppy
"This is Fox. We're on final approach."
The Arwings had reached home after an uneventful flight back. The engineering
staff awaited their return, eager to get to work. Fara was with them as well,
curious as to the damage Fox had incurred to his craft. "We read you loud
and clear, Fox. The bay is cleared for your landing."
If the vulpine was pleased to hear her voice once more, he didn't indicate
it. "Roger. We'll be there shortly."
Fara glanced around at the engineering staff assembled around her, tail swishing
with anticipation to see the team back home again. The base employed 14 personnel
of various races, each fully capable of rebuilding an Arwing given enough time
and parts. She had dealt with them for some time now, getting to know them well
due to her test pilot status. Looking over to the team's leader, a dark
brown furred badger, she asked, "So, Cyrus, you ready for some serious
work for once?"
The badger laughed for a moment before responding, looking down at the shorter
pilot. "Aye, lass, 'tis been quiet here since your testing days
in these Arwings."
Her gaze wandered as she thought back to earlier times. "Ah, the memories."
"True. 'Tis amazing that you're still here if you ask me."
Fara gave the badger an angry stare. "I'm not a bad pilot and you
know it!"
Cyrus grinned. "You know what I mean, lass. The Arwing be a complicated
piece of machinery, and one that has its issues from time to time." He
looked over to a panel in front of him, noticing a reading upon the display.
"The Arwings are back crew," he said, turning around to face his
team. "Time to see what kind of damage these pilots caused to our beauties."
The personnel laughed as they gathered around the protective window in the side
room they were in. Each wanted to have a clear view of the Arwings as they landed.
The engineers gasped as Fox's craft arrived first, the missing wing and
multiple scorch marks along the hull obvious to everyone in the room.
"Wow," said Fara quietly.
"Wow indeed." Cyrus quickly took command of the group as the other
Arwings landed. "Beta team, 'tis your job to make the modifications
to the back three Arwings. I see that the last one in the group has some external
damage as well, so 'tis up to you to fix it. Alpha team, you're
with me. We have a ton of work ahead of us on Fox's craft, so let's
get to work."
Fara watched as the team quickly collected their tools and marched off, leaving
her alone in the room after a few moments. She watched the pilots disembark
their craft, grumbling to herself about not being able to join them in flight.
Wanting to make sure that they were okay, she left the room without another
thought.
Fox jumped off the final step of the fold out ladder on the side of his craft,
dropping to the metal floor with a muted clank. After hitting a hidden button
to retract the ladder, he wandered to the side of it to survey the damage.
It was not a pretty sight.
Looking closely, he could tell exactly what had happened to his Arwing, spotting
all the damage that had become of it as well. When a chunk of the Devastator
crashed into his wing, instead of shearing the wing off instantly, the shields
had held his ship together for an instant, the delay causing the wing, and everything
that was attached to it, to bend and warp before it finally broke off. It was
obvious that the thrusters and the G-Diffuser system were simply scrap on that
side.
Fox was about to check out the other side of his craft when Falco wandered up.
"Looking at all the damage you caused there, Fox?" he asked with
a grin on his face.
"More or less. I'm impressed the Arwing kept going after taking
damage like this."
Cyrus walked up to them, interrupting their conversation. "'Tis
one of the nice features of these Arwings – short of the wing blasters
nothing is linked, so they can take a beating and keep on flying." He
shook his head as he realized that he forgot to introduce himself. "Sorry,
lads, I forgot my manners. My name is Cyrus, head of the engineering staff here
on base." He extended his paw in greeting, both pilots shaking it in response.
"Glad to meet you," said Fox. He introduced Falco, and then added
in his other teammates as they arrived. "Sorry about the condition of
my Arwing, but I ran into a few…difficulties out there."
The badger laughed. "No matter, lads. It keeps us busy down here fixing
the messes you create. Although, 'tis be nice if you brought more of your
craft back home next time. Why, I remember the time when…"
Much to Fox's relief his story was broken up as Fara came up behind him,
jabbing Cyrus in the arm playfully. "Hey, you old coot, you have a job
to do, remember? They don't have time for your stories." She waved
to the pilots. "Hi, guys."
The Starfox team waved back as the badger turned around, playfully messing with
Fara's headfur. "So I'm an old coot now, eh? But you're
right though, I do have work to do. If you'll excuse me." He turned
back around advancing on Fox's Arwing, getting down to the business at
hand.
The five pilots walked off to the nearest elevator, their heads watching the
engineers swarming around their craft. Once they got out of earshot, Fox said
quietly, "Thanks for the save back there."
Fara laughed. "Cyrus is a friendly old guy. He goes off on a tangent a
tad too often, but he does his job quite well. Anyway, nice to see you brought
back the Arwings in one piece." She looked past the team towards Fox's
craft. "Well, more or less anyway."
"Sorry. Let's just say that my wing got into an argument with a
piece of superstructure. You can see who won."
"That much is obvious. You guys okay?" A round of affirmatives reached
her ears. "Good, glad to hear that. Pepper wants to see you all then on
the top floor for a debriefing."
The elevator door opened as they reached it and closed behind the team when
they walked in. Punching the button to take them to the top floor, Fox looked
bored as he debated on what else to say. "Yet another dull debriefing.
Fara, what are you going to do while we try to keep ourselves awake?"
She grinned. "The exciting job of going over the data on that monster
of a craft you blew up. Talk about fun."
Fox rolled his eyes as one of his teammates laughed. "I can imagine."
The elevator reached its destination, dropping off the pilots and allowing them
to continue with the rest of their day.
The remainder of the day went peacefully for the Starfox team, allowing them
to relax and recuperate after their battles. After the uneventful debriefing
the pilots split up, each finding some way of keeping themselves occupied while
the engineering staff repaired and upgraded their Arwings. Despite all this
free time the day passed quickly by, the night going even faster.
Fox slept in the next morning, having accidentally forgotten to set his alarm.
He slowly rolled out of bed, yawning as he stood up. His sleepy eyes looked
at the electronic clock, his mind slow to tell him what he was looking at. With
a shock that jolted him wide-awake, he realized that the clock read 8am, the
time where the General had made his presence known the last few days.
His computer suddenly beeped at him, informing him he had a call. As he wasn't
exactly presentable to anyone else in the base in his current attire, he set
his computer to not display his picture as he accepted the call with a groan.
"Fox here," he said, hoping that he didn't sound too tired.
"Morning, Junior," said Pepper in his usual militaristic tone as
his face appeared on his screen. "Peppy told me that he hasn't seen
you in the mess hall yet, so I decided to try you here. I hope I'm not
interrupting anything."
Fox's mind raced to find a decent response. "No, General, you aren't.
I've just been looking over a few things from yesterday's flight."
He hoped his lie seemed convincing enough, as he wasn't in the mood yet
to explain his oversleeping.
"Glad to hear you're still thinking about your mission, even this
early in the morning." Fox watched as Pepper looked at his screen for
a moment. "Why is your camera off?"
The vulpine laughed weakly as he continued his charade. "Sorry there,
Pepper, must have pushed the wrong button or something."
The General seemed pleased with that answer. "Perfectly understandable.
Anyway, I'm calling to let you know that the engineers are running a bit
behind, so your Arwings aren't quite ready yet."
"Any problems we should know about?"
"No, none at all. They're just behind schedule it seems. Personally,
I'd suggest talking to them yourself if you're concerned. They insist
that they'll be ready around noon however, so it looks like today's
events will be delayed until then."
"What's our goal today? Another asteroid field or two?"
Pepper smiled. "Not quite. With your objectives completed from yesterday,
you now have a clear path towards a goal that will make everyone pleased –
the recovery of one of our planets. Papetoon."
Fox perked up at that word, pleased to hear that his team would be going after
the planet that he'd called home for the last year and a half. "Really?
I know the team will be glad to hear that."
"I thought it would. I'll leave you to inform them then."
Pepper turned away from the screen for a moment before realizing he had something
else to say. "One last thing – nice job on the interview last night."
"Thanks." He thought back to the media interview that he conducted
along with the General the night before. "They didn't seem too enthused
with us once they learned that we didn't take back a planet though."
Pepper nodded. "I wasn't too happy to see that either." He
shrugged. "Oh well. Anyway, I'll more than likely talk to you again
in the mess hall around lunch, so prepare your team."
"I'll do that General. Catch you later." The screen powered
down as Pepper ended the call, leaving Fox alone for the moment. Rubbing his
eyes tiredly, he decided that it was time to get some food into his stomach
and to proceed with his day.
