And here's chapter 30. As I write this, a year has almost passed since I started writing and uploading this story. And thanks to all readers and reviewers of my fic, I've been able to keep moving forward.

Enjoy another chapter. Things are picking up.

Oh, and a big thank you to this site in changing around the html rules I've been using for the last year. There goes any hope of seeing my fic looking like it used to in previous chapters. Sorry.


Chapter 30: Secrets, Concerns, and Missions

Poor Fox. He's gone through one hardship after another during his life, with no reprieve in sight. I really shouldn't have pushed him like that though. He deserves better... Especially from someone like myself... – Fara

I hate my childhood. All I remember are the bad things. – Fox

The rest of the day and night progressed quickly, the pilots keeping to themselves as time passed. After the incident in Fara's room earlier, nobody wanted to push their luck further, so they stayed away from each other. Falco on the other hand was kept completely out of the loop, wondering why nobody was in the mood to say or do anything.

The next morning found only four pilots, Slippy still under doctor's orders to stay out of the cockpit, once again having their daily early meeting in Pepper's office. Continuing the pattern, the General was once again late to his own briefing, pissing off the pilots to no end.

Well, Falco at least anyway. As usual, he was ranting and raving over the complete lack of anything to do while they waited. "Is Pepper ever going to be on time to any of his so called meetings?"

"Oh pipe down," snapped Peppy as he put down his typical cup of coffee, having not gotten much sleep from how worried he was over yesterday's events.

The avian looked over, surprised to hear such hostile words from the normally peaceful hare. "Geez, what got up your tailpipe this morning?"

"Keep it civil, you two," interrupted Fox.

"What did I say?" complained Falco as he looked over the team. Fara simply shook her head as everyone else kept quiet, prompting him to continue. "Keeping me out of the loop again? What the heck is up with you guys?"

Fortunately, Pepper decided at that moment to walk in, silencing everyone with his presence. "A General's life is never idle," he muttered as he sat down in his usual chair. He looked at the assembled pilots and put down his steaming drink nearby. "Time to get down to business."

One button-press on his remote later, the screen nearby came to life, displaying the whitish star through one of the nearby probes. "And here is yesterday's problem once again." He pushed a second button, the image changing to the same thing from a different angle. "No, that's not it." A third press found the one he was looking for. "There it is."

On the screen was what looked to be the first shot, overlaid with diagrams that made little sense to the pilots. "Now, I've been told that this jumbled mess actually means something to the scientific community, but to make things simple, it's stating that this newly formed star has shrunk since yesterday."

The Starfox team looked at each other, concerned with what that meant. As expected, Peppy was the first to understand the jumbled mess. "That means this star is burning through its fuel at an exponential rate, correct?"

Pepper nodded. "Correct. At least that's what they tell me anyway."

"This doesn't bode well for us," commented Fara.

"But what do you want us to do about it?" asked Fox as he tried to figure out today's mission.

All eyes looked up front, waiting for the answer. "Today's mission is a simple one," said Pepper. "We need more data on that star. The probes that are currently there are not designed for continuous use. Nor are they set up to gather the data properly needed. As it is, their batteries are expected to fail within an hour or two, so they need to be replaced."

Falco grumbled from his seat. "Let me take a guess – we're gonna be the delivery service for these things, right?"

The General sighed as he looked angrily at the avian. He wondered why nobody could ever simply follow his orders without complaint. "Yes. Do you have a problem with it?"

"No shooting?"

"No."

"No killing?"

"Damn it."

"Can it, Falco," said Fox, quieting the avian. After a sigh he continued. "Sorry. All the data will be in the flight computer, correct? Nothing more other than travel and drop?"

Pepper nodded. "Correct. You'll have to stay around for a short while to make sure that the probes are working correctly, but other than that your assumptions are accurate."

"I have a question, General," said Fara, as she wanted to get in on some action herself. "Are there other plans to continue the recovery efforts of the system after refueling and such?"

"As far as today goes, not likely." He held up a paw, silencing the next question for a moment. "I do have a reason, and it's for your safety." He typed a few keys on the keyboard attached to his private screen, causing the monitor the pilots saw to change to the security camera footage of the engineering bay. It showed the staff hard at work on the Arwings, tools scattered everywhere as they concentrated on three of the craft. "You're no longer fully armed."

While the other pilots wondered what exactly that meant, Fara simply said, "The Nova Bomb launchers, right?"

Pepper nodded once more as he took a slow sip of his drink, savoring the flavor. "You are correct," he said after a moment. "As the engineers tell me, while the Nova Bomb system can be repaired and replaced if the crystals shatter from overuse, it's a time-consuming job. Fara, your Arwing is currently the only one that is fully operational."

"Which is why we're staying away from the front lines today," said Fox. He quieted, wondering just how much more it was going to cost in time and equipment to make sure that everyone would get through this war alive.

"Exactly," replied the General, interrupting his thoughts. "The engineers and I would rather keep the Arwings here until they are fully repaired, but I do not want to risk any scientific craft in the middle of a war. Especially when we have others fully capable of doing the same job. And we need that data."

The team sat there in silence for a moment and debated on any other questions worth asking. Fox was the first to speak up. "Anything else, sir? We're ready unless you have something more to say."

Pepper shook his head. "Nothing more, Starfox team. I'll let engineering know that you're coming, so you shouldn't have long to wait while they clean up. Be careful out there if you encounter any hostiles on the way."

The vulpine stood up, the rest of his team following. "Noted and understood. Let's go, crew. A nice, easy day in the war for a change."

If only Fox knew what lie ahead of him, his thoughts might have been far different.


The blackness of space enveloped the Arwings as they left Corneria's atmosphere about fifteen minutes later. The engineers had loaded a probe into the small spare cargo compartment of the craft, ready to open and deploy at the touch of a button. Their mission was a simple one, and while some of them wanted a bit more action, they were at least pleased to get back into the cockpit once more.

The four kept relatively quiet the entire trip, continuing to infuriate Falco to no end, as this confirmed his thoughts that something happened behind his back. He sat there and tried to figure out how to convince the others to explain yesterday's events. But as creative speaking was not one of his strong points, it came out rather poorly. "So, guys, what the heck happened last night that has all of you so uptight? I thought I had my bad days, but you three take the cake."

Everyone stayed quiet, nobody wanting to say anything without Fox giving his permission to proceed beforehand.

"Fine, be that way," grumbled Falco. "See if I give a damn."

The four continued their trip in silence after that, their usual cheerful banter silenced. Fox knew that he had to say something, as the avian had a right to know, but this was neither the time nor place. Instead, he just closed his eyes and tried to block yesterday's events out of his mind as best he could. He ended up doing too good of a job though, falling asleep in his seat a few minutes after.

A loud and off-tone alarm brought him out of his nap with a start some time later. Staring down at the controls in front of him, he groggily found the device in question that was yelling at him, which was the autopilot system, and touched the screen to silence the noise. While the system was designed to have pilots sleep during travel, it had been prompting Fox the last few minutes, letting him know that his journey was almost complete. When he didn't respond in time, the alarm kicked in.

Stretching best he could, shaking his right paw to restore blood flow to it, as he had fallen asleep on it earlier, he looked over what his computer was trying to tell him. Glancing out his cockpit window, he realized that the answer was rather obvious – they were about a minute or two out from reaching their destination.

Even at this distance, the newly formed star was almost blinding, even through the darkened plastics that made up the cockpit windows. The star had an unusual luminescence to it, tinting the space around him a whitish-blue color, instead of throwing out its light like Lylat's sun did. He sat there, wondering what strange phenomenon caused that glow. It was almost beautiful in its oddity.

Fox's computer beeped at him again, telling him that everyone was 30 seconds out from reaching their destination. Wanting to make sure that nobody else had fallen asleep like he did, he decided to get everyone's attention. "Starfox team, this is Fox. Everyone awake in there? We're got about 25 seconds until the autopilot shuts down, so if you're not with us, now's the time to get going."

"Funny," said Fara. She sounded fully awake to his ears.

"I only wish I could sleep in an Arwing," said Peppy quietly. He on other hand sounded like he had just woken up. He kept his comments to himself though, as he didn't want to push the issue.

"We've got such an exciting mission ahead of us," muttered Falco. "How could we possibly sleep at a time like this?"

"At least you're still flying," said Fox. "If Pepper had his way, you'd be grounded from those outbursts of yours earlier.

"We should be fighting, not running around delivering cargo. The hell with what Pepper thinks."

The vulpine sat quietly and listened to his friend's complaints. While he'd rather be in combat as well, some things took priority. "There are still plenty of things to shoot down out there. Just not today. Deal with it."

With a slight rumble, the autopilot finished its trip, the retro-rockets firing to slow the Arwings to a halt. "Okay, team," said Fox, "while it might be nice to sit and watch this star for a while, we do have a mission to do. Let's get to it so we can get back home and have these Arwings repaired for our next encounter."

The pilots said their affirmatives as their mission plan appeared on their computers. Each of the four probes had a specific spot they needed to be deployed at, allowing maximum coverage of the celestial body. They slowly moved towards their goal, flying carefully as it was very difficult to see where they were going owing to the close proximity of the star.

"Which one of us forgot the shades?" joked Falco as he tried to block out as much light as possible with a feathered wing.

"No kidding," commented Fara as she tried to do the same with an arm, with much less success.

Fox continued to advance, amazed that this star could put out so much light. "Chalk it up as something else Pepper forgot."

"Forgetful fool," chided Fara. "If he blinds his star pilots, then what?"

Fortunately for them an easy solution presented itself. It was an unusual idea though. "Just turn around and approach the star backwards," said Peppy as he spun his Arwing around, navigating entirely by his computer.

Fox laughed. "It seems so simple when you put it that way." He did as was suggested though, cutting his engine and spinning around, finding it easier than he thought. Then again, he didn't have to worry about hitting anything in the depths of space either. It was still a strange feeling though, as he was used to flying by sight and in the forward direction, instead of going by his instruments.

By nothing more than pure luck of the draw, Falco's goal was the closest of the four. After making sure he was in the right spot, he pressed the button to open the cargo area, the probe floating out and moving to its exact position automatically. His computer reported on his success a few seconds later. "Probe launched. I'm done here."

"Nice work," said Fox. "I'll be in position shortly."

This gave the avian a few seconds to think to himself as he stared out into space. He figured he might as well see if he could get a few answers out of his leader about the night before. Making sure he was on a private channel, he asked, "Fox, you have a sec?"

Fox was in a bit better of a mood thanks to his nap on the way out. "Yeah. What's up?"

"What happened yesterday?"

His mood quickly soured. "Nothing."

"Don't give me that crap. Something major went down yesterday and nobody's telling me anything."

"Falco, nothing—"

The avian grew tired of being lied to. "Don't you dare lie to me again, Fox. I've known you far too long to be treated like this. It's the least you can do."

Fox sat there quietly, going through the final steps to launch the probe he had with him. With a single button push, the cargo area opened to the vacuum of space. The probe drifted out, its thrusters firing as it slowly moved away. He only wished he could do the same right now. "Fine. I really hate having to tell everybody about my personal life though."

"That's what happens when you're the boss. And when you're forced to live so close together for so long in that damn cave."

He let out a laugh, a good sign that he had accepted what he had to do. "We can all blame that cave for so many of our problems." Fox reminisced over the time spent there for just a moment. "Anyway, remember that mission about six months back? The one that almost got the lot of us killed?"

"Unless you've forgotten, half of our missions fell into that category. But, yeah, I know what one you mean."

"Remember what happened afterward?"

Falco thought back to the day in question. "After we got back home, we all crashed into the nearest seat, and you... Well, you just freaked out for no reason."

Fox rolled his eyes, wondering why he left his teammate out of these kinds of discussions. "Yes, I just freaked out, as you put it."

"So what's the problem then?"

He debated on keeping quiet, but since he had gone this far, Fox figured he might as well finish his story. "It happened again last night."

"That explains everyone's mood then."

"Yeah."

Their discussion was interrupted by Fara's voice coming over the general communication frequencies. "Guys, it's Fara. Mission accomplished."

"Nice work, Fara," said Fox. "Peppy, you almost done? I'm finished as well."

"I'm about 30 seconds from completion," replied the hare.

"Good to hear. Keep me informed."

The com lines went silent again, a silence that Falco quickly filled. "So, Fox, are you gonna be okay?"

The answer was long in coming. "I'll be fine." He grew quiet again for a few seconds before continuing. "Thanks for the concern."

"Yeah, yeah."

As they ended the chat, Peppy came through to tell about his accomplishment. "Peppy here. Probe is in position."

"Good job. I'm contacting Pepper to let him know to turn these things on." He switched frequencies and set up his computer to transmit back home. "General Pepper, this is Fox. Come in please."

He was about to repeat himself, waiting too long even with the usual delay thanks to the distance covered, when he heard a response. "Pepper here. What's your status, Starfox team?"

"Mission accomplished, General. The probes are awaiting your command."

"Roger. I'm transmitting the activation sequence to you right now."

"Understood." Fox watched as the necessary information was sent to his Arwing. He forwarded the codes to his teammates, asking them afterwards, "Everyone got the data?"

"Roger," came their reply.

"Let's do this then." The pilots did as was instructed on their screens, inputting the sequence of codes to fully activate the probes. One by one, they powered up, the devices slowly rotating into position while a multitude of sensing and communication attachments unfolded from what was an almost perfectly smooth sphere. Tidbits of data passed by the Arwing's computers, showing that their programs were running as planned. "Everything looks good from here," said Fox. "How is it on your end?"

"Looks like this thing is working," said Falco. "Don't ask me what this crap is on my screen though."

"Mass, gravity, and chemical computations if I had to make a guess," said Peppy as he looked over the information. "The probe is working fine on my end."

"Everything's okay here," said Fara, only looking at the data for a moment before continuing her look into the stars around her, her view hampered by the white haze that emanated into the area. She thought she saw something a bit ago and was trying to find it again.

"Good to hear, crew. Yet another mission accomplished."

"One without a single shot fired," complained Falco. "How boring."

Fox laughed. "We know your need for wanton destruction. Let's get home so you can take your aggressions out on the simulator. I'll tell Pepper we're—"

Fara interrupted him as she spotted what she saw earlier. "Guys, there's something out here. Something that looks pretty big."

That statement sent a shock through the pilots as they checked their sensor readings, looking towards the nearby stars and trying to find what she saw. Fox was the first to report his findings. "I don't see anything on sensors, Fara." The other pilots were quick to agree with him.

She giggled. "Well for starters, silly, you're on the wrong side of this star. Also, this thing is messing with the sensor's range, among other things."

"Could it just be debris?" asked Peppy as he peered out into space.

"No. It's simply too big to be a chunk of the Negator, or anything else we blew up yesterday." Fara paused, reaching for her throttle control. "I'm going to check it out."

"Request denied," said Fox with an authoritative tone, guessing that she would look on her own given half a chance.

"But—"

"No, Fara. I'm going to tell the General that our mission is done here, and then the four of us are going to look in on this."

"Safety in numbers," said Peppy, searching for another proverb, but for once not finding one suitable to the situation.

Falco was the only one pleased to hear this, ready for some action. "Good, something to blow up."

Fox shook his head. "I hope not. Remember that we have only one Nova Bomb capable Arwing if things turn sour."

"Always looking for the bad side of things. We're more than capable pilots."

Fox sighed as he wondered if he could ever make the avian understand his concern he had over his pilots and his friends. Or would it take the death of someone on the team to make him see his way? "We'll see." He changed settings once more. "Pepper, this is Fox again. The probes seem to be operational, and they should be transmitting."

There was another long delay thanks to the distance between the two of them, especially since he had to make sure that the probes were working as planned. "You are correct. The probes are sending their data as designed. Nice work, Starfox team. I'll expect you back here shortly then."

"Actually, General, Fara's spotted some kind of ship in the area. We're going to investigate before we return home."

"Understood. Be careful. You're not fully armed right now."

He was almost shocked to hear his concern, especially after the mission they went through yesterday. "Don't worry, sir, we know. We'll be fine."

"We'll await your arrival then when you get done. Pepper out."

Fox took one last look around before moving away from the nearby probe, making sure he was clear before kicking in his boosters. "Okay, crew, assemble over by Fara. Time to go find out what's out there."

A minute later, they were off, heading out to see what lie before them.


Early in the war, Andross had need of an ever-increasing supply of power and supplies. Since Venom wasn't capable of either at the time, he had to look at external sources for those goods.

It was simply named the Gatherer.

It was a rather large, fully automated design of his, a mishmash of some of his battleship designs, made to gather resources and little else. Its goal was simple – using the oversized drill bit and multiple mining lasers on the front, in conjunction with the tractor beam installed, it was designed to gather minerals at the asteroid belts scattered in the system. It also had three movable devices attached to its hull designed to gather energy from any source to recharge its own batteries and to deliver the excess power back to Andross.

It was never designed for combat, however. Instead, it had arrived at this newly formed star to gather what power and materials it could before it headed home again.

The Arwings would do just fine in a pinch, though.