Ever have one of those weeks where you just don't feel like writing at all?
That's what my mood as been as of late. While this is a short chapter, don't
worry - things are going to pick back up very soon.
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Chapter 28: Another Mission, Another Meeting
By the Creator, how did the Starfox team pull this one off? Unfortunately, it's
only gone from bad to worse based on these reports. What am I going to do now?
– Pepper
As expected, Pepper was stunned as he looked over the data that the Arwings
had gathered. Gary peered over his shoulder, the two of them trying to comprehend
what exactly had happened. Amazingly, the two probes that had been tracking
the hostiles as they originally approached many an hour ago had survived the
conflict, their continuous data being used as a supplement to what they already
knew.
Which ultimately wasn't much.
They, along with the Starfox team, were currently assembled in the General's
meeting room. The pilots had the honor of sitting there quietly while Pepper
tried to figure out where to start this mission debriefing.
He finally looked up from his monitor, moving it to one side so his second-in-command
could continue to look at the readouts. "How exactly did this happen again,
Junior?"
Fox groaned, upset at having to explain himself even though all the data they
had was freely available for them to look at. "That's what happened
after the Negator was destroyed, General."
"And incase you missed that little part," interrupted Falco, "that
damned thing almost took the four of us out with it."
Pepper nodded, not in the mood to argue with the avian's tone of voice.
"Yes, I've gone through the Arwing's logs already. They do
agree with what you've said."
"But how do we stop that thing?" asked Fara. "That's
not exactly the best thing to have floating around the system."
"A good question," said Gary as he looked up from the monitor. "And
a question we simply don't have an answer for right now. That's
for the scientific community to figure out, not us. At least it's nowhere
near any orbital paths of any planet in the system."
"Lucky us for once," muttered Falco.
Fox shook his head at his teammate's remark as he asked, "Is there
anything else you need from us, sirs? My crew and I are in need of some R and
R after today's little excursion."
"You're done for now," said Pepper. "Go take the rest
of the day off." He stood up, the team wasting no time in doing the same.
"I have two things to say before you leave though. You've done a
wondrous job today. This single mission has wiped out what looks to be a huge
portion of Andross' fleet, and will hopefully be the point that which
he cannot recover from. It has also shown that when you put your minds to it,
you can simply accomplish anything you want to."
Smiles and grins passed from teammate to teammate, everyone extremely proud
to hear such kind words. "I think my whole team will wholeheartedly agree
when I simply say thank you for saying that to us. We do what we can, and we'll
do our best to continue onward to victory in the coming days."
The General simply nodded at that statement. "The only other thing to
say is far smaller – I'll need you later, Junior, for yet another
media conference. I'll call you later. Other than that, you're free
to go."
"Will do. Crew, I think a celebration is in order. Let's go."
With a nod or a wave to their boss, the pilots left, thoughts of a party running
happily through their minds.
The Starfox team arrived in the mess hall not too long after that, looking
for an entertaining afternoon either by the others on base or via a drink or
two. Fortunately for them, Pepper had secretly let a few talkative members of
the base know of their accomplishments, and in return had gathered quite a crowd
for the pilots by the time they arrived. Many cheers were given for their victory
against overwhelming odds, and the team was forced to boast about their accomplishments
many times over a meal and a few drinks.
While the average person would just smile and nod while the pilots talked about
their war stories, the people assembled around them were genuinely interested,
as most of them were directly associated with the Arwing project in one way
or another. Any glory and successes the team had were also in part to the skill
of the ones who had designed and built the craft in the first place. It also
inspired the people who flew the standard patrol craft, as they thought that
with enough time and training, they too might be the next McCloud in the skies.
The best part though, was that it showed that the team were all real people,
people who had concerns about who they were protecting, people who had problems
and feelings as well, instead of acting how the average fighter jock was portrayed
in your mindless action flick.
The four spent far longer than they should have in the mess hall, but with the
staff constantly coming and going, as they came in and left to do their duties,
it never took too long to have a fresh set of people to talk to. They didn't
have any other plans for that day, as the General had clearly decided to let
the team have the rest of the day off, so they lavished in the praise of the
personnel.
In the end though, it was Pepper himself oddly enough that ended their enjoyment,
as Fox was called to the media room upstairs to do another interview with the
media. Pausing only long enough to suggest to his team to spend some time checking
up on Slippy and to watch over the avian, as once again Falco had digested too
much alcohol in a matter of hours, he was off. He made a mental note to visit
his sick teammate afterwards as well.
As he worked his way upstairs, Fox had a few minutes to himself. Thinking back
to the mission, he realized that in all the excitement, he hadn't asked
who had saved his hide earlier in the day. He grinned as he guessed that odds
were that it was Falco who had done the deed. Knowing him, he would be gloating
that he had helped their fearless leader, as the avian would put it, live through
another day.
While Pepper and Fox had an entertaining conversation with the media upstairs,
the rest of the team was in Slippy's room, checking up on their sick teammate
while watching the interview on TV. The toad was doing far better than yesterday,
as he was up and around instead of buried under the covers like before. The
medics still wanted him out of action for at least another day though, so there
was no chance of seeing him flying the next day. Instead, the team kept him
occupied by describing the day's events.
At the same time, Fox was once again in the media spotlight. While the interviewers
seemed interested and impressed by the amazing victory the Starfox team had
today, they spent most of their time talking about their concerns over the sudden
appearance of a new star inside the system. While Pepper promised that there
was nothing to worry about, and that they were doing everything in their power
to get rid of it, it didn't seem to relieve their concerns much. In the
end, the General made sure that the interview ended with a high note, letting
everyone know that Andross had been dealt a severe blow by this victory.
Walking out of the media room, pleased with the resolution of the meeting, Fox
began to run down his mental list of things that he needed to do. As the list
was rather small, he decided to start with the first one on the list.
A short elevator ride later, he found himself back on the 6th floor, footsteps
muffled by the carpeting beneath him. He walked up to Slippy's door, pushing
the call button as he said, "Hey, Slippy, it's Fox. You got a moment?"
"Door's open," was the toad's response from inside.
The door slid open quietly, allowing Fox to see inside. A quick check revealed
that the rest of the team had left, leaving Slippy alone for the time being.
As it was, the room's occupant was currently ignoring the newcomer, as
he had his face buried in the computer at the far end of the room. "Glad
to see you're up, Slip," said Fox as he walked inside, wondering
if his teammate was feeling better, or if he was just hiding it make him not
worry as much. "What's going on?"
Slippy spun around in his chair, blinking his eyes to refocus his vision. "Nothing
too exciting. Pepper's put out a general request to the scientific community
to see if they can figure out what exactly needs to be done to get rid of that
celestial body that appeared in the aftermath of your battle. I figured that
since I had some free time, I might as well take a look."
"Nice to hear that the best that we have are looking in on things."
"Thanks." The toad stood up and stretched, breaking out into a yawn
as he did so. "I'm just glad to see that you're still here
after that battle. I was looking over your flight data as well, Fox. You know
you barely made it out alive today."
Fox nodded. "Tell me about it. We've been through worse though."
Remembering that this was related to another one of his things to do, he figured
he might as well ask. "Since you're been checking up on my fight
earlier, do you know who saved my hide at the end there?"
Slippy thought for a moment before shaking his head. "Sorry, no. I've
only had the chance to look through the data provided by your Arwing and the
probes nearby. I haven't looked at the others yet."
"No problem. I'll just check with the crew." He took a good
look at his fellow pilot and tried to gauge his health. "How you feeling?"
"Pretty good for the most part. I still have the occasional cough, but
the medics don't want me to be in the skies until I'm fully cured."
"Good to hear. Don't worry, we'll leave a few planets for
you to help us conquer." The two pilots laughed for a moment at the joke.
"Well, I might as well let you get back to work. Catch up with you later."
Slippy nodded, sitting back down in the nearby chair. "You four be careful
out there in the meantime, okay? We've had nothing but very close battles
so far, and sooner or later our luck is going to run out."
"I know." Fox stood there quietly, knowing that while he agreed
what his friend just said, he knew that many of the battles so far have had
their share of close calls. Far too many to be attributed to the skill of the
pilots under his command. He knew that he would be completely devastated if
something happened to any of his friends, no matter the conditions around him
at that moment. "Don't worry, Slip, we'll be careful. You
just concentrate on getting better."
"Will do. See you around." With a wave, Fox turned and left, one
thing knocked off his mental to-do list.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the system, things were anything but peaceful.
Once Andross learned that his invincible armada had been anything but, he had
gone into a furious rage, lashing out at anybody and anything he could get his
paws on. But as everything inside his control room was rather valuable, and
that killing another of his advisors was inadvisable from a tactical standpoint,
there was very little he could bring his anger down on.
Short of the new conference table that one of his guards had brought in earlier
in the day.
The dull gray plastic table lay in tiny pieces at Andross' boots, looking
nothing like its original form. No piece larger than his fist was visible on
the floor, anything bigger destroyed by either his physical or mental prowess.
No plan of his had worked so far. Every attempt to destroy the Starfox team
had ended in dismal failure. Even when he was assured of victory, it was snatched
away from him like a child's toy. He was beginning to run out of ships
to simply throw at the pilots, in the off chance that they might succeed.
But their luck couldn't hold out forever.
One of these days, Andross' own good fortune would return. One ship had
already been shot down on the first day of the counterattack. One more could
easily be the event that tipped the scales back to his side.
He just had to figure out how to do it.
Sitting down upon his usual seat by his many monitors that watched over his
empire, he began to plan. He was always planning.
He also needed a new desk.
