How bad can things get for the Starfox team? Pretty lousy as far as I'm concerned. This fic is far from over though, so expect the unexpected as time moves on.

Janus - I'll keep an eye out as to your comment as I continue writing. Or as I edit some of the things that I've posted already.
----------


Chapter 26: The Negator
What's up with Falco? Doesn't he realize that any second all four of us could be horribly killed? Thankfully the others know this, but I think that Fox ignores the fact sometimes. Does it make him better in the pilot seat though? I honestly don't know. – Fara


"Do we have any kind of plan?" asked Falco a minute later as the four advanced on the capital ship.
Fox thought through what he knew before answering. "Our goal is to get close enough to that thing so we can verify that our original plan is the correct one. If it is, one, or all of us, work our way inside that thing to take down the core."
"A simple plan," said Fara.
"A plan that can have so many things go wrong with it," complained the avian.
"Hush," said Fox, quieting down his teammate. "It's not like we can attack something of that size directly."
The pilots became quiet once more as they readied themselves for the battle ahead. The silence was broken as the capital ship decided to taunt them as they approached. "Attention, Arwings, this is the Great Commander Negator. By Emperor Andross' decree, you will be terminated for crimes against his empire. Prepare to die."
If the team was at all impressed or worried at the communication, they kept their thoughts to themselves. For the most part anyway. "Kinda blunt, wasn't he?" asked Fara.
"Not really," said Peppy. "Although our objective the other day did ask for our surrender before attacking."
"True," said Fox. He sat there, looking at their target, wondering just what secrets it held as to its armaments and defenses. Knowing that they would find out shortly one way or another, he just continued on with his advance. "There hasn't been a warship built by Andross so far that we haven't been able to dismantle, no matter what fancy name it had attached to it."
The pilots agreed with their leader with a few laughs as Falco decided to take it one step further. "Such a threatening name there, asshole," he taunted over a global frequency. "Take your threats, and your so called Emperor, and go shove it up a tailpipe."
The Negator didn't take to the insults kindly. Instead of saying something in response, however, it replied with what it knew best – all the firepower at its command.
The blackness of space turned almost to day from the impressive amount of firepower the craft had at its disposal. Dozens of turrets, in all shapes, sizes, and configurations, fired upon the four Arwings, caring little about hitting any of their own fighters that might still be in the area. It just wanted the pilots destroyed.
Any craft larger than a fighter would have been vaporized in seconds from the barrage. Most fighters would have been shot down from a random shot in just as short of a time. But not the Starfox team. Drawing upon any mental and physical reserves they had, the four pushed their craft to the limits, weaving and dodging, twisting and turning, attempting to not only stay alive, but to reach their objective as well.
To say that it was a difficult job was an understatement. Despite their best efforts, lucky shots from the Negator continued to strike home, threatening all four of them. Feeling his Arwing shake slightly from yet another hit, Fox grumbled and said, "Damn, that thing is well armed."
"That's an understatement, my friend," commented Peppy as his latest attempt to dodge failed. He was doing the worst of the four as far as his shields went, but he refused to give up.
"Not having any fun?" asked Falco jokingly as he swooped out of the way of the capital ship's firepower. "I could keep this up all day."
Fara dove past two sets of turret fire, twisting her ship around in an attempt to get closer to her target. "I can't believe I'm hearing this. You think this is all a game to you?"
"Life itself is nothing but a game. You just need to play your cards right."
Fox was impressed at what he had just heard from his fellow teammate. "Falco, I do think that's the most philosophical thing I've ever heard come out of that mouth of yours."
"That's his best?" asked Fara as she found what looked to be a hole in the turret defense. "What's his worst dare I ask?"
"They aren't repeatable," replied Peppy honestly as he tried his best to keep dodging. "At least not without insulting most the female population in the system anyway."
Fara's so-called gap in the defense was nothing but as the turrets that had purposely halted fired upon her position. Cursing to herself at her simple mistake, she desperately rolled out of the way of the oncoming fire, her vocal tone reflecting her mood. "You disgusting little pig!"
"Hey!" exclaimed Falco. "I resent that remark!"
With one last dodge and a short boost of his engines, Fox found himself flying above the surface of the Negator. Going as low as he dared, the turrets' fire for the most part stopped, as the crews manning them had no intention of hitting their own ship. Glad to be out of relative danger, he began scanning the craft itself to find its hopeful weakness. Trying to lighten the mood a tad, he said, "Yup, that's Falco, our resident flying pig. At least he can fly well though."
The entire team had to laugh at that, even the insulted avian. "I'll get the lot of you for that," he jokingly said. A few seconds later he joined Fox, pleased that he wasn't being used as target practice any longer.
Fara joined the pair shortly thereafter, with Peppy arriving not too long after that. The hare's approach brought some good news as he began scanning. "Fox, I think I've located the core."
"Nice work. Follow it on out while we provide the cover."
"Provide cover from what?" complained Falco as he fired upon a stationary turret to make his point. "These things aren't exactly shooting back at us anymore if you haven't noticed."
Fara was the first one to say it as her threat indicators suddenly blared. "Incoming fighters!"
"Me and my big mouth."
Peppy ignored the battle as it began to rage around him, trusting in his teammates to keep him from any harm. Passing over part of the Negator's hull once more, he stared at the sensor readings, looking for a continuation of the tunnel that connected the main launch bays with the power plant buried deep inside. The work was slow and difficult, even at this range, as the Arwing's sensors had difficulty penetrating the interior of the capitol ship.
Meanwhile, the other three pilots concentrated on not only defending themselves, but they had to constantly watch over Peppy as well. They could tell by the slow sweeps he made over the hull that he was ignoring the fight completely, so any ship that got through their defenses could do serious harm to the hare before he responded to the attack.
The battle continued onwards, the minutes slowly ticking by. The Negator avoided opening the main launch bay for some reason, which would have likely helped Peppy out quite a bit in his search. Instead, reinforcements continued to pour out from a pair of secondary launch bays, harassing the pilots to no end. Despite their efforts, they were beginning to become overwhelmed simply by the sheer number of fighters that were now swarming around them.
Suddenly, Peppy boosted away from the group, heading directly towards the main launch bay. Pleased with what he saw on his sensors, he banked his Arwing back towards the others and began attacking the fighters. "Mission accomplished. I'm transmitting the data to everyone, as it's anything but a straight path."
"Nice work, Peppy," complimented Fox. "Now we wait for the main doors to open. All Arwings, move into position nearby."
"Can't we just blast our way in?" asked Falco as he shot down a careless fighter that got too close to him. "Better doing that than just sitting out here and waiting."
Fara laughed. "Do you have any idea what this hull is composed of? You'd have better luck digging through concrete with a spoon."
"Oh shut up," retorted the avian. "Who asked you?"
"Falco," warned Fox angrily, pulling a quick loop to shake loose a pair of fighters on his tail. "You know the rules. Fara, you too – no insulting of teammates on a mission."
"Sorry," said Fara. Falco grumbled something incoherent afterward, so Fox took that as his apology.
The team sped past one of the defensive towers, the size of the weapon comparative to a multi-story building. Fox was about to comment about this when Peppy interrupted his thoughts. "The main launch bay is opening."
The vulpine looked down at his sensors, the system telling him the exact same thing. "Good. Peppy, could all four of us fit down there?"
"Not easily, no. Not only would we be just following each other, but it's a rather tight fit as it is."
Looking at the latest batch of fighters to head their way as his threat indicators blared again, Fox boosted ahead of the group, telling everyone his next move. "If that's true then, I'll just go on in myself. You three keep the fighter cover busy."
"And once again our leader takes all the glory," grumbled Falco.
"He's just watching out for the rest of us," said Fara as she readied herself for continued battle. "Be careful in there."
"I will. Keep safe yourself." Passing around the front of the ship, Fox opened fire on a few fighters that were in the process of launching before diving towards the now closing doors. Boosters glowing behind him, his Arwing hurtled between the rapidly closing gap, clearing the doors with only feet to spare.
With a single warning tone his computer advised him that it had lost contact with the other Arwings, leaving Fox completely alone inside the capital ship. Ignoring the sudden quiet, he brought up the map that Peppy had transmitted earlier, giving him a clear route towards the core.
In the beginning, the vulpine passed by dozens and dozens of docked fighter craft. Some of them had already been launched against the team earlier, but quite a few of the craft were still awaiting a pilot. He fired at a few of the stationary fighters, pleased to watch them explode before they could do any kind of damage to his teammates.
While he was enjoying the easy life flying through the fighter bays, he knew it wouldn't last. As expected, his computer pointed out a course change not too long afterward. It didn't make much sense though – the plotted course was trying to tell him to go straight through a solid wall. Groaning at his luck, he began searching for a path in, as well as trying to figure out why Peppy's travel plans seemed incorrect.
Flipping through the multiple scanner modes on his Arwing, Fox tried to determine the weak point of the obstacle ahead of him. Not having any luck at all on the more obvious selections, he debated on what the hare would have used to track the path to the core. On a hunch, he picked the option to scan radiation levels, and if by magic, his way was revealed.
While the radiation itself wasn't harmful in its current concentration thanks to his shields, he had one other problem – the metal grating he found blocking the way to the next chamber was only half the size of his Arwing.
Grumbling about the miscalculation, Fox backed his craft away from the wall and opened fire with his blasters. The rust-colored metal resisted his attacks at first, but his continued assault began to show results after a few seconds. The metal began to warp under the intense heat he was generating, and finally it turned to slag and melted away, little chunks of superheated metal separating and floating around in the vacuum of space.
It took a few minutes, but finally Fox had a hole large enough for his Arwing to fit comfortably through. Switching off the maneuvering thrusters that he had used to keep his ship still as the much larger craft moved around him, he powered up his main engine and moved down the tunnel.
Much to his dismay, his computer started to complain at him once more. For starters, it warned him about the increasing radiation levels. While they were anything but harmful right now, Fox suspected that it would become far more dangerous the further he went in. He just hoped that his shields were able to withstand the strain. The other problem was that the tunnel he was moving down now was hardly bigger than his Arwing. It was clear that it was not designed for a craft of his size. As long as it didn't get any smaller however, he knew that he would be fine. He just had to be careful.
Increasing his speed slightly, Fox concentrated on his piloting, ignoring the rust covered walls as they passed closely by on either side of him. His computer alerted him time and time again as the radiation continued to increase, the levels now at a point where it would be detrimental to his health to be in the area in an unshielded craft. A quick look at his computer indicated that he was about halfway there based on Peppy's calculations.
It was at this point that his threat indicator lit up as it detected a hostile coming up behind him.
Fox moved as fast as he dared, trying to keep ahead of the incoming craft, knowing that he would be unable to engage in combat, much less dodge at all, in the confines of this ship. His shield system yelled at him as he took a corner too closely, his Arwing scraping against one of the walls before he could recover. Knowing that keeping his shields up were a priority in this radiation filled area, he forced himself to cut back his speed.
Unfortunately, this allowed a pair of small fighters, specifically designed to move through some of the lesser traveled areas of the ship, to catch up to him. As expected, they opened fire as soon as they got within range.
Fox's ship shuttered as he was hit, the vulpine unable to do anything to dodge or counter the incoming attacks. Out of desperation, he accelerated once more, hoping that he would have better luck keeping his Arwing off the walls this time around.
The extra speed helped somewhat, allowing him to dodge around corners faster than his pursuers. He was still taking way too many hits however. Even though his attackers were armed with only low powered weapons, as they didn't expect somebody to bring such a powerful ship into the Negator like this, they were causing more than enough damage to kick in a warning tone as his shields dropped below 50%.
Completely out of options, Fox just sped on, hoping that he could reach the core before his shields failed. A quick glance at Peppy's guide stated that he was three-quarters of the way there. He just didn't know if he would make it or not.
Shields now at 40% and falling rapidly from the increased radiation and the continued beating from behind, Fox's luck suddenly changed sides. The confining tunnel that he had been in suddenly opened up to a straight path more than triple his size in all directions, giving him ample room to move around. It wasn't without its own set of dangers though – power cables encased inside a thick steel shell covered with some kind of unknown substance ran haphazardly throughout the passageway, not only designed to impede travel, but to provide life-giving power to the entire ship.
Now it became a chase in a more true sense of the word. Fox had plenty of space and objects to dodge and hide behind as the two fighters tried their best to hit his ship. Their laser bolts impacted harmlessly against the walls or the steel columns, throwing sparks everywhere with each miss.
As much fun as it was dodging around however, he knew that he needed to get those fighters off his tail. Finding a spot up ahead where he could keep a straight, level path for a bit, he decided to pull the same stunt that Fara did to him a few days prior. Lining himself up, he cut power to his engine, quickly spinning his Arwing around to face his pursuers. He opened fire on the surprised hostiles, one of the craft exploding in a matter of moments from the blaster fire, while the other swerved hard to avoid the vulpine's shots, its short-lived freedom ending abruptly as it crashed into a column.
Pleased with the results of the battle, Fox swung his Arwing back around and continued his approach towards the core.


After half a minute of relatively peaceful travel, Fox found his attention being drawn towards his computer once more. Once again, it was about the increasing radiation levels, but this time it was far more severe than it had been previously. What worried him was what it was saying – his shields would only hold for another six minutes this close to the core, assuming that he didn't take any further damage. After that, he would be defenseless and taking exposure to a near lethal dose of radiation.
That didn't improve his spirits in the slightest.
Wondering why Andross, a known technological genius despite his shortcomings, would design such a dirty power source, he continued forward, hoping that his goal was nearby. Thankfully his destination was, as when he rounded one final corner, he happened upon the core itself.
The chamber containing the core was absolutely gigantic. It was a completely circular room, about a quarter of a mile in diameter, and it was empty of anything short of one giant object – the core. The core itself was attached to the top and bottom of the room via huge columns, covered with the same unknown substance that Fox saw earlier. In fact, the entire exterior of the chamber was coated with the same stuff. His computer didn't have any ideas what it was, and the vulpine simply didn't have the technological knowledge to hazard a guess either.
Knowing that his time was very limited, Fox began scanning the core for weak points. Before he could find one though, the answer presented itself, but not in the fashion that he wanted to see – the core attacked him, exposing itself in the process.
A pair of huge protective plates moved away from the core, revealing some kind of electrical reaction arcing through an unidentified object in the center. With the covering out of the way, the electricity arced from the core to dozens of points all over the room. As his radiation alarm went haywire from the proximity to the now exposed core, Fox had to quickly dodge out of the way of an arc that was threatening to pass right through him.
Having no better plans, he desperately fired upon the core. He tried to stay out of the line of fire in the process, knowing that a single hit might be enough to do him in thanks to his weakened state. As his shots struck home, the core seemed to react by somehow firing off even more of the blue-tinted arcs. Unable to maintain a line of fire without being hit, he spun away, concentrating on staying undamaged for the moment.
At that point, the electricity suddenly stopped as the core closed back up. Curious, but not wanting to miss this advantage, Fox fired as quickly as he could. This time around however, he didn't have the same luck as the protective covering simply shrugged off his blasters, dealing no damage at all.
Searching for another option, his computer chimed in to remind him that he had another four minutes before his shields failed. "Oh shut up," he grumbled to the inanimate object as he decided on his next move. Only one idea presented itself – chance his luck on getting another Nova Bomb out of the overused crystal.
Pausing only a moment to take aim, as the target was quite difficult to miss thanks to its size, Fox punched the button to release another Nova Bomb. As usual, the device took only a half second to charge before releasing its deadly payload. This time around, things were different. Much to his dismay, his Arwing shuddered slightly as the launcher system failed, luck not on his side as the crystals simply shattered from being used a fourth time. While it caused no other damage to his craft, it still upset him as much as losing a wing.
He had no time to complain though as the core's protective barrier opened once more, electricity arcing everywhere in the chamber. Dodging what looked to be nothing more than a natural reaction of the core, and not a focused attack, Fox resumed his assault. His wing mounted blasters continued to strike home as he fired, the core continuing to react with each hit. Not only was each hit creating more of the electrical bolts somehow, but the main core itself seemed to be slowly changing colors, as if he was trying to penetrate a shield of sorts.
Thirty seconds passed before the core decided to close as quickly as it opened. Fox had no idea why the core was opening and closing like this, and the data his computer was submitting made little sense to him. All he knew was that he had very little time left. As if the computer knew of this somehow, it spouted off that he now had only three minutes of protection remaining.
Calming his now racing heart, Fox pulled away from the core, getting as much distance as he could for one final attack. He knew that this was quite possibly the final attempt he could make before his defenses failed, exposing his body to lethal doses of radiation. Resolved to destroy this ship one way or another, even if it cost him his life, he sat at the edge of the chamber, waiting for the core to open again.
His wait wasn't long as once again, the core exposed itself to Fox's blaster fire. A look of determination on his face, the vulpine charged towards the core, his paw holding down the trigger to his weapons the entire time.
The core began to spark and flash with each accurate hit, the defenses having failed in Fox's last barrage. Electricity began to arc everywhere in the room, only pure luck now keeping the vulpine from being hit. Yet he continued to advance, the distance closing rapidly to his target. Suddenly, just when he would have pulled away to attempt another pass, all electricity emitting from the core simply stopped.
Fox had a very good guess at what that meant.
Quickly he pointed his Arwing towards the entrance, his craft hurtling forward as he kicked in the boosters. Just as he reached his escape route, his computer went haywire on him again, warning him about something. As Fox's attention was directed elsewhere at the moment, he simply didn't care what it was trying to tell him. Little did he know it was a warning that he was at ground zero of the biggest explosion the system had ever detected.
Desperately, Fox barreled down the passageway, his Arwing twisting and turning as he kept away from the steel girders lining the corridor. He pushed his craft and his reaction time to their limits, knowing that it was only a matter of time before the Negator exploded. While its destruction was a good thing, it was something he did not want to experience while he was still inside of it.
All too quickly the easier part of the trip ended, the tunnel once more closing up into a space not much larger that his Arwing. But now was not the time to slow down. Boosters glowing on the straighter paths, and the retro-rockets flaring as he hit the corners, he attempted to keep his speed as high as possible. It was a difficult task, but one that he had to accomplish as he had no other choice if he wanted to live.
As he made the final turn in the confining tunnels, Fox breathed a sigh of relief as he saw his way out, his harried trip quickly coming to an end. All he had to do now was to escape through the fighter's main launch tunnel, and another mission would be accomplished.
Just as Fox pulled out into the launch tunnel itself, and slammed his boosters into action once more, the tunnel he had vacated exploded into flame, coming dangerously close to roasting his Arwing. Glad that he didn't end up a cooked portion of his former self, he pushed onward, knowing that he didn't have any time to spare, and hoping that his good fortune would last.
Unfortunately, it seemed like his luck wasn't going to hold out quite long enough.
Things began to go downhill rapidly from there on out. The Negator was moments from going supernova, and it was starting to show on the inside. As he rocketed past, support columns began to spark and explode, the fuel lines traversing through them detonating from the sudden change in the ship's status. Thankfully there wasn't any gravity in the main tunnel, or else Fox's job in escaping would be much more difficult as he would have to dodge around falling debris, instead of just explosions and the occasional piece of charred metal floating around.
However, other things could go wrong to make his escape more entertaining. With a blinding flash, every light in the tunnel suddenly detonated, sending the once bright area into total darkness. In the few seconds that it took him to locate the switch to activate his light up front, Fox was amazed that he didn't hit anything.
He slowed down slightly, his view distance hampered by the lack of light in the passageway. Columns around him continued to explode, sending the fighters still attached tumbling around him. He smiled, pleased that he wasn't forced to engage the full force of this ship, as he knew that he and his three companions would have been completely overwhelmed, even with their prowess in battle.
With main power obviously offline, and the lights that normally would be still working in pieces, the backup systems finally decided to kick in. Their dull red glow illuminated the area around Fox and towards the exit, allowing him to pick up the speed once more.
Glancing ahead, he looked pleased as the last of the still docked fighters passed by. Finally able to see his escape route, his smile suddenly vanished as quickly as it had appeared.
A ring of emergency lights highlighted the only exit so one could find it easily without main power operating. They revealed something that shattered Fox's hopes.
The launch bay doors were shut tight.
A feeling of dread passed through the vulpine, as without an escape route, he knew his life was going to come to a very quick end in a matter of seconds.
Fox brought his Arwing to a halt as he looked through what schematics his computer had automatically recorded, trying to find another way out. After a few seconds, the computer turned up the expected result – short of the two smaller launch bays that weren't connected anywhere near where he was, there was no other way out from inside this capitol ship. With main power destroyed, there was no chance of the launch bay doors opening. Without them opening, the vulpine knew that it was only a matter of time before the ship exploded around him.
And that time looked to be now.
Another alarm blared inside his craft, telling Fox that it had detected a nearby explosion, sending a wall of fire down the passageway directly towards him. Unbeknownst to him, one of the adjacent decks filled with life-giving oxygen had been blown open, sending the air into the vacuum of the tunnel. That, combined with the thousands of gallons of highly concentrated jet fuel that were kept in the area for the fighters, had detonated, sending a fiery blaze of destruction towards him.
All Fox knew was that his Arwing simply wouldn't survive something like that, especially with his shields at their weakened state.
Out of options, the vulpine charged towards the sealed off exit, firing his blasters constantly in an attempt to blow open a hole in the reinforced hull and allow his escape. As the flames closed from behind and the doors neared from in front, Fox could just tell that his end was near, as much as he didn't want to admit it.
"Father," he said quietly, "I'm sorry… I'm sorry that I couldn't get revenge on Andross like I promised. Pass your hopes on to the rest of the team, as I know they'll do a fine job instead." He sighed. "And please watch over Fara for me." With a muted click, he reached up and turned off his headset, this time for good.
Having said his final words, he calmly sat back in his seat, watching as the still sealed doors loomed ever closer. His blasters continued to fire, but it was clear that they simply wouldn't be able to create an escape route in time. Ignoring the multiple alarms from his computer, one set telling him about the fireball he was just barely staying ahead of, the other a simple collision warning, he continued onward, his fate now outside his hands.