Nothing like being stuck deep within the core of a giant battleship as it's exploding around you. Will Fox make it out alive? Read on to see.
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Chapter 27: Fate; The Final Frontier
What a way to go out – I've destroyed the biggest craft ever seen in Lylat's history, and I'm going to die just a few feet from freedom. It's been a good life at least. – Fox
I wonder how Fox is doing. I hope he's all right. – Fara


Meanwhile, while Fox had been assaulting the interior of the Negator, the other three Arwings had been valiantly fighting the craft above. Once again Andross' forces were using the simple theory that overwhelming numbers would lead to victory, but thanks to the near city-like design of the turrets and defensive systems on the capitol ship, which offered quite a bit of cover for the more nimble craft, they had a far easier time than they expected.
Falco, as usual, had gotten over his head as he continued his assault. A half dozen fighters trailed his Arwing, constantly taking potshots whenever they saw an opening. But as the avian refused to call for help, combined with the fact that the other two pilots were too occupied themselves to notice his condition, he knew that he would have to deal with his pursuers on his own. Coming across one of the larger turrets that was meant to shoot down battleships instead of his craft, a plan formed in his head as he decided to use the Arwing's impressive maneuverability to its fullest.
He charged towards the side of the turret and kicked in his G-Diffuser system as he neared. His craft spun rapidly in space, changing its heading so it was perfectly following the exterior of the turret. Only feet away from the metal surface, he continued to speed off, ignoring the weapon blasts that were striking all around him.
As he passed by the edge of the turret, he used the G-Diffuser system once more, continuing to follow the turret closely. The fighters following him however were completely unable to match his turn, all six of them slowly banking around to continue the chase. Suddenly, Falco had gained quite a bit of distance from his pursuers.
He continued along this side of the turret, pleased to see just how long it look his opponents to open fire at him again. Reaching the corner once more, he quickly banked around it, boosting off to gain even more distance from his targets. He smiled, knowing it was time to put the other portion of his plan into action.
Coming to a relative stop, he spun back around and winced for a moment as the straps that held him to his seat dug into his feathers. He pointed his Arwing where he hoped his pursuers would be rounding the corner, his paw poised over the trigger for his blasters. His wait wasn't long as they flew around the corner, right into Falco's sights.
After how long he'd been running, the carnage was rather brief. The avian's accurate shots pounded into the surprised hostiles, the ships exploding one after another as soon as they were spotted. The last two in the group noticed their companions turning into scrap metal and promptly tried to scatter to save their own lives. But now with no other hostiles chasing his own craft, Falco quickly shot down the remainder of the group.
Fara and Peppy on the other hand, had decided to work as a team in annihilating their opposition. Keeping in near constant communication with each other, they simply told the other to swoop on by and fire upon any trailing hostiles.
As Peppy watched as his latest victim exploded in a shower of sparks and metal, he found himself momentarily distracted by something his computer was trying to tell him. Looking down at it, trying to decipher exactly what it was saying, he completely let his guard down to the happenings around him. Andross' forces made him regret that move quickly.
His Arwing shuddered as laser fire struck his ship, bluntly reminding him there was still a battle to be fought. Banking hard to the left and lighting up his boosters, the hare made a quick assessment of what was attacking him. "I could use some help here, Fara," he said, noticing a formation of six fighters turning to follow.
"On my way," replied the vixen, as she fired one last salvo at the lone hostile currently in her sights. One of its wings exploded, sending the craft spinning out of control. It crashed into the Negator seconds afterward. "Go hide behind a turret or something."
"You make it sound so simple," said Peppy as he swerved to dodge a barrage of firepower headed his way. "Which turret?"
Fara made a quick check of the sensor data coming in from both Arwings. "That one," she said as she highlighted the one she was indicating with a touch of the screen.
As designed, the data passed over to the other craft, Peppy seeing her selection almost instantly. "Roger. Be there in a few seconds." He turned, speeding towards the turret in question. As expected, the fighters gave chase, constantly firing upon his rear. He hated being in this position, but it was something he had to live with as currently it was the best way to deal with them.
In a matter of seconds, he reached the turret in question, using the G-Diffuser system to get out of the line of fire quickly. It took only a few moments for the fighters to round the corner themselves, but by that time Fara was already in position.
Charging down from above the turret, her blasters streaked out like lightning, her shots striking with deadly accuracy. Now no longer a target in the confusion, Peppy spun around, adding his own firepower to the mix. Within moments, there was nothing left short of debris.
"Thank you," said Peppy, pleased not to be a moving target.
"Anytime. I'm here to help." She made a slow loop of the area, seeing if what her radar was telling her was the truth. "What gives? There's nobody left."
Peppy looked around himself, finding the sudden silence hard to believe. "It looks like it. Watch yourself, incase this is a trap."
"Duh." She realized that something else was missing. "Where did Falco get off to?"
"No idea. Considering that he hasn't called for help—"
"Like he would even if he needed it," she interrupted.
Peppy laughed. "Good point. You're learning our ways well." Having a free minute with the sudden lack of targets, he took a good look at what his computer was trying to tell him earlier. What it was saying didn't please him in the slightest. Touching a few buttons on the screen, he transmitted some data Fara's direction. "Fara, would you go take a scan where I've indicated? It's where I located the core earlier."
The vixen sped off, complying without a second thought. "What's wrong?" she asked as her curiosity got the better of her.
Peppy choose his words carefully, not wanting to worry her too much. "Nothing, really. It looks like Fox has brought down the core of this thing, and I'd like to make sure."
"Okay. I'll be there shortly."
"Thanks." Trying to find out what happened to their resident avian, he boosted his com signal and attempted to raise him. "Falco, this is Peppy. Please report your status."
Falco's signal was weak, but it quickly cleared as he pulled above the many turrets scattered amongst the Negator. He found it odd that they'd stopped tracking his craft. "I'm here, old hare, don't let any more of that fur of yours turn gray in worry. Where the hell did all the baddies go?"
Peppy continued to peck away at his screen as he looked through the data. This is what Slippy excelled at, but since he wasn't here, it was up to the hare to figure everything out. "I'm not quite sure, which is why I need you to check up on something for me."
"Shoot."
"Go visit the all three launch bays of this ship. I'm sending you the data now."
"Alright, I'm gone. Get back to you in a minute."
In the meantime, Fara had arrived at the coordinates specified earlier, which were more or less at the center of the massive ship. Unsure of what Peppy was looking for exactly, she began scanning the interior of the craft. It didn't take long before her computer began to complain at her, stating that it was unable to penetrate the surface of the hull.
Shaking her head as she remembered that the hare had the same exact problems earlier, she made one last check for hostiles in her area before dropping to only a few feet above the capitol ship with her sensors concentrated downwards. She slowed down, giving the computer an easier time as well. To her surprise, she got an answer rather quickly.
Just not the answer she was expecting.
With no warning at all, a portion of the hull about 300 feet in front of her exploded, shooting shrapnel into space. The superheated metal and shards of debris narrowly missed her Arwing.
"By the Creator!" she cursed as she went nearly vertical, her boosters lighting up behind her as she quickly decided that she wanted to be anywhere but there at that moment. "Peppy, we have—"
Fara's statement was suddenly cut off as another part of the Negator's hull detonated right below where she was. Debris dissolved as it collided with her shields, causing her communications to break up for a moment as the system compensated. She remained quiet, trying to calm herself down after coming rather close to being killed.
"Fara?" asked a now worried Peppy. "Fara, please respond."
"I'm okay," she said to the hare after a few seconds. "The Negator isn't though. I just had two pieces of the hull above the power core explode practically in my face."
Peppy looked over his readings once more as he responded. "That explains why it seems that primary power is offline."
Falco interrupted the pair as he scouted over his destination. "Fox has really done a number on this thing. I just passed one of the secondary launch bays. It's totaled."
"What about the main entrance?"
"I'm still flying there you…" He paused for a moment, sounding much more worried when he came back on. "Shit. Just saw an explosion on the hull. One of the larger turrets just blew."
Peppy grew slightly irritated with Falco running off on a tangent once more, worried that they had far less time than he thought. "What about the main entrance?"
"Shut your trap, I'll be there in a minute." The avian watched as another turret spontaneously detonated. "This ship is gonna blow soon. You both know that, right?"
"I figured," said Fara, now very fearful for Fox's safety. She looked over the capitol ship from some distance away, the occasional explosion clearly visible from her position. "How long does Fox have to get out of there?"
"I really don't know, Fara," replied Peppy quietly. "Minutes, if I had—"
Falco interrupted once more. "We have a problem. Or more like our fearless leader has a problem. The main doors are shut tight."
"Then blow them open!" ordered Fara in a near panic, her worries beginning to come true.
"Two steps ahead of you. Firing now." The avian unleashed a barrage of blaster fire at the sealed doors, expecting them to be blown open in a matter of shots. Failing that, he figured it wouldn't take too long to punch through the metal, allowing an easy escape route for their leader.
In the end though, he got neither.
Instead, his shots were harmlessly absorbed by a shield that seemed to cover this section of the ship.
"This damn craft is still shielded!" said Falco, stunned at what he was seeing. "I thought you said that main power was offline!"
"It is," replied Peppy, his voice still calm despite what was happening around him. "It looks like the shields are part of the secondary systems."
"Isn't that just special. What the hell is the point of shielding this part of the ship instead of having the turrets online?
"They must think that it's a weak point or something. It doesn't make much sense either."
"I'm out of ideas, so—" As the ship's condition rapidly deteriorated, the exposed turrets continued to detonate. One exploded near Falco, forcing him to hastily get out of the way before his ship became the latest chunk of space debris. As he moved back into position, he silently cursed before saying, "Damn it! This whole damn ship is gonna explode any second and I can't get inside! Does anybody have any other ideas short of additional firepower?"
Peppy swung his Arwing around to meet up with Falco, as did Fara after a second's thought. "I have no good ideas," said the hare. "All we have is our blasters as we've depleted our Nova Bombs."
"Try a Nova Bomb anyway!" ordered Fara once more as she dodged past some debris. "You might get a fourth shot! If we don't get that entrance open, Fox is not going to get out of there alive!"
"Yes, boss," replied Falco sarcastically. Realizing that it was the only other option though, he did as he was told. He stopped shooting for just a moment, launching off a Nova Bomb towards the still shielded entrance.
Or at least he tried to. The crystals shattered from the attempted fourth use, jarring his Arwing slightly as an alarm blared. "Damned thing didn't like it at all," he said as he resumed weapons fire. "Something just exploded in the system."
"I'll be there in twenty," said Peppy quietly. He was trying to remain calm, but it wasn't easy with everything that was happening around him.
"I'm another thirty behind that," added Fara, having composed herself once more. Another part of the hull detonated beneath her, taking out part of a turret in the process. "Assuming I get there in one piece anyway."
"Just be careful, Fara," said Peppy. "We're the only hope that Fox has right now it seems."
"I know. That's what worries me."
The two Arwings sped along as Falco continued to fire, his shots having little to no effect on the shielding. It was clear to the avian that whoever designed the defenses for this area had done so to keep any intruders from getting inside the more vulnerable areas. Or for making sure that everybody went down with the ship.
Peppy swung into position a few seconds later, firing a Nova Bomb as soon as he was ready. Unfortunately, he was just as successful as Falco as the crystals shattered in its holder. "No success on my part."
"The ball's in your court now, Fara," said the avian, making light of the severity of the situation.
"That isn't funny in the slightest," said Fara, stunned at what she was hearing. "Fox's life is at stake here!"
"That it is."
Growing furious over Falco's apparent lack of concern for a fellow teammate, Fara charged onward, simply hoping that she would arrive in time to save Fox's life. Taking a glance at her sensors, trying to make a guess as to how much time she had left, she flew between a pair of turrets near the launch bay, not even thinking twice about how many of them she'd seen explode so far. Had she been looking, she probably would have swerved to avoid them based on the fact that they seemed to be falling apart left and right.
That mistake almost cost her life.
Just as she passed between them, barely reaching open space in the process, the turrets detonated, throwing their deadly shrapnel and debris towards her Arwing. Desperately she pushed her craft into a dive and cleared the front of the Negator by only a few feet, sending the other pilots scattering as they got out of her way. Luck still on her side, she somehow avoided taking much in the way of damage.
"Are you okay, Fara?" asked Peppy as he moved back into position, watching as one of the turret barrels slowly tumbled by overhead.
Fara groaned as she shifted back into a more comfortable position, trying to relieve the strain the seat straps had put on her as she made the violent turn moments ago. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm firing as soon as I get lined up, so get out of the way."
"Noted."
Hoping against hope that she would get another shot out of the crystals that were the lifeblood of the Nova Bomb system, she flipped off the safety and made sure she was lined up. "Please work," she said quietly to herself. She pressed the fire button, listening to the muted hum as the system charged up.
With a flash, a Nova Bomb launched from her Arwing, far brighter than the occasional explosion seen erupting from the Negator. It streaked unerringly towards its target as the three pilots cheered quietly in their cockpits and hoped for the best, not realizing just how close things had come to being a total disaster.


At that exact moment, Fox was charging down the main launch tunnel with flames nipping at his engine exhaust, only seconds from colliding with the still sealed doors. His blasters continued to fire out of desperation, but he had already resigned himself to his fate.
Fate however, had other plans.
Seconds before impact, the doors suddenly exploded inward, breaking off their hinges and crumbling into large chunks from the force of the blast. Jarred back to life from this drastic change in events, Fox deftly maneuvered his way between what was left of the gateway, yanking hard on his flight stick to get out of the way of the oncoming fireball as soon as he got clear.
The Arwing shot out into space, the fireball shooting out behind him, passing just underneath the craft for a short distance before running out of oxygen to fuel its rage. Stunned to find himself back in open space once more, he simply stared out amongst the stars, ignoring everything else for just a moment.
The rest of the team hadn't missed the dramatic escape though, and were ecstatic at seeing their leader alive and kicking. "Fox!" yelled Fara with glee. "You're alive!"
The vulpine just sat quietly in his seat as he slowed his craft down, turning back towards his team. One part of him was beaming at how pleased Fara sounded over the com, while the rest of him was simply too floored to believe that he was still in one piece. Obviously, somebody was keeping an eye out for him somewhere. "Thanks, Dad," he said quietly, before flipping on his headset once more. "Glad to be back, everybody. What did I miss?"
"Our deaths if we don't get the hell out of here right now," said Falco seriously. After watching the sudden exit of their leader, the avian had looked back at the Negator as something had caught his eye. And what he saw was the beginning of the end for the capitol ship.
The explosion shooting through what was the center of the ship was the absolute last straw for the crippled vessel. The backup power systems detonated one after another from the strain of trying to keep the ship together, causing minor explosions all along its hull. While it would have been rather impressive to watch at a distance, it was quite a dangerous place to be considering how close the four pilots were.
On top of that though, there was another issue. Starting at only a single spot, and rapidly multiplying as the seconds ticked by, a bright white light could be seen emitting from the cracks and holes along the hull. The team turned and stared at the effect, none of them quite sure what exactly they were looking at.
At least until Peppy figured it out anyway.
The hare suddenly turned tail and ignited his boosters, the rest of the team not waiting for an explanation before following. He gave his findings as he rocketed off. "This ship is going supernova!"
"That's bad," said Fox as the team formed up.
"That's very bad," said Fara not a second after.
In an unusual move for the usual blackness of space, the area behind the pilots was turning a bright white color. While this was probably a once in a lifetime experience to watch, none of them wanted to turn around to see the effect, as they all preferred to stay alive. "We're not going fast enough!" hollered Falco. "We need lightspeed now!"
Fara was concentrating on her computer display, punching in the needed information to get the FTL drives powered up for the team, bypassing the usual safety protocols that would be followed when the computer did all the work. "I'm working on it," she said, hoping that she would get the sequence activated before they all became space dust.
"You didn't hear me properly. Right now!"
"It doesn't work that way you fool!" she yelled back, fingers flying while she explained the system to what she considered the brainless avian. "At that speed, a single speck of space dust will obliterate your craft without proper protection! And that's not active without killing the weapon systems! It takes time!"
The Negator was an oddity among Andross' fleet. Powered by what was best described as a fully contained neutron star, it was the finest and most powerful craft ever seen in the galaxy. It only had one small side effect – once the containment and protection systems failed around the core, it was only a matter of time before the power source was released into the galaxy.
In essence, creating a new star wherever the ship currently was.
While any life forms nearby wouldn't survive the formation of the celestial body, prior tests showed that the star itself wouldn't last long before it simply collapsed, its fuel rapidly burning out in an uncontrolled reaction.
The trick was making sure that you weren't anywhere nearby when that happened.
The four Arwings began to rumble slightly from the strain of being too close to the forming star, the G-Diffuser systems fighting to keep the craft in one piece, while the shields flared up in an attempt to protect them. In addition, the star's gravity well was grabbing the craft, slowing down their acceleration. It was a battle that the ships simply couldn't survive for long.
It was now almost impossibly bright behind the pilots. The only thing that one could see no matter where they looked was the blinding light. Their craft was the only source of darkness, the Arwings giving off a diffused shadow in the sea of light.
"I've got it!" yelled Fara suddenly. "Hold on guys, this is going to hurt as we're not going anywhere near as fast as we should be right now!" Without waiting for another word, she activated the program, not daring to delay any longer.
The Starfox team was shoved back into their padded seats as their craft rapidly accelerated to just under the speed of light, the G-Diffuser systems unable to compensate for such a drastic change of speed. It took only a few seconds for their ships to reach maximum velocity, but for those who had to experience it first hand, it felt like minutes.
With a slight rumble, the Arwings reached traveling speed, the engines cutting back to minimal thrust as they now only had to maintain speed and the defensive systems. They didn't stay at that speed long however before the retro-rockets fired, gently bringing them to a halt compared to the rough time they went through accelerating.
"What did you do that for?" complained Falco as they slowed.
"I thought you might want to see what we escaped from," replied Fara as she swung her Arwing around, looking at the sight before her. "That and I wanted to double-check my calculations, as to say that they were done in a hurry is an understatement."
The four sat in the silence of space, watching the newly formed star slowly pulsate in the distance. Its white glow bathed everything in the area with its gentle aura, trying to hide the fact that it was a rather dangerous celestial object to anything nearby. One could see tiny explosions in the distance as what was left of the Negator and its guards burned up as they were grabbed by the star's gravity well. Overall, it was a beautiful sight, as none of the crew had ever seen a star this close before.
"Are we done here yet?" protested Falco, breaking the silence. "You've seen one star, you've seen them all."
"Pipe down," responded Fox. Personally, he was more than willing to sit the rest of the day and watch this, especially after what he had gone through just a few minutes earlier. Thanks to being the team's leader, he had other things to think about. "Peppy, any idea what the effects of this in the local system will be?"
"Nothing good," said the hare, looking out with awe at the view. He wished he had some sort of camera or something to record the proceedings. "It's much smaller than your average star should be though, so your guess is as good as mine."
"Hopefully this thing will just go away," said Falco, not thinking through what he was saying as usual. "I just know that this definitely doesn't belong here."
The entire team groaned at that statement, Fara being the lucky one who berated him first. "That's about all you know – stars simply don't go away as you put it."
Peppy chimed in before the avian could reply to the insult. "I have to say this much though – for all of Andross' misgivings, he sure knows how to make a power source. Being able to harness a star like this, even a small one, is amazing."
Fox couldn't believe what he was hearing. After all the conflict that the maniacal ape had caused, all the ruined lives around him, all the deaths, the hare was complimenting the one who had killed his father, and probably his mother as well. He had a point though, just not much of one. "And what kind of damage would that ship have caused had we waited until it hit Corneria's orbit to blow it up?"
Unable to think of an exact answer, Peppy simply made the assumptions that he could guess at. "Catastrophic damage at least, total destruction of the planet at worst. Best guess anyway."
"And this is why we need to take down that jackass," said Falco, saying the right thing for once.
"Now that I can agree with," said Fara with a smile from within her cockpit.
"Agreed," commented Fox. He continued to stare at the lightshow, amazed at what he was looking at. "Have you finished with your tests over there Fara? While I'd love to sit and watch this all day, we do have a galaxy to save."
The vixen laughed as the results she was looking for appeared on screen. "Yeah, I'm done. You'll be pleased to know that the computer believed that my hurried computations would have gotten us safely home. Let's head out of here, as the galaxy waits for nobody."
"Good job. I can't wait to see the expression on Pepper's face when he sees this mess. I'll do the honors with the autopilot."
The team laughed at that point, knowing that out of all the possibilities for their mission, this outcome was not one of them. As usual, they had even greater things to worry about instead. Taking one last long look at the newborn star, the team got their travel orders from Fox's computer, everyone speeding off towards home not too long after that.