Silence filled the hall. At the great conference table in the center, political and military leaders from many systems in the galaxy sat patiently, waiting for the final signatures on the peace treaty to be complete.
At the end of the table sat a crooked, feeble old creature, which had introduced itself as Dictator Vladimir Nerome of the Empire of Karzen. He narrowed his eyes at the only audience of the confidential meeting, standing behind the bar across the table from him. Standing there was Admiral Fox McCloud, his wife, Krystal, his son, Thomas, the Star Fox team, and the Fresh Fox team. Dictator Nerome glared hatefully at them, although powerless to do anything about their presence. All the power he had in the universe was actively being stripped away by the signatures on the cursed document being passed around the table.
The group in the back returned Dictator Nerome's glare, but their look was not entirely without hate, either. Earlier that day, there had been a mass burial all over Lylat. Soldiers and civilians alike were buried on the planets they died near, or on the planets their relatives wished for them to be buried. The group in the back had stood in silence at the foot of a graveyard on Katina spanning hundreds of miles. The eyes Fox now had fixed on Nerome's wrinkled face had earlier been fixed on the gravestone of Peppy Hare, where Fox had stood for a full twenty minutes, paying his respects. Tom, Alyssa, Tiger and Bobo had spent hours walking among the graves, spending a moment hovering over each one that bore the name of one of their friends who had died when Katina was assaulted. An assault approved by the man now sitting at the conference table. The Star Fox team standing in the group in the back had earlier walked the crumbling streets of Corneria, where reconstruction was far from beginning. All efforts on Corneria were going towards saving the wounded and burying the dead.
But the group in the back did not have the same helplessness in their eyes. Revenge could never quite be theirs, but justice could. When all the signatures were written on the peace treaty, Nerome would no longer be dictator, but prime minister, a position that would have virtually no power in the new government being established over the system of Karzen. All that remained of his military would be disbanded, and a "civil protection" force would reside in Karzen for the next twenty years, making the system a military state. But worst of all in Nerome's eyes, the systems he had conquered, his pride and joy from the last ten years of his reign, would be returned to their original owners, who would be fully compensated for their troubles. The "compensation" would take Karzen one hundred and eighty years to pay, according to a Cornerian accountant's calculations.
The signatures were complete. Copies were made and laminated, and those sitting at the table politely shoot hands with each other as they stood up to leave. Chancellor Jerek Bennigen of Corneria later said that Nerome's hand felt like a bundle of twigs when he shook it. Nerome's guards later commented that he had never looked so weak and old as when he left that meeting hall.
On their way out, Fox McCloud hurried to catch up with the last to leave, one President Bernard of Trengast. Bernard looked up at Fox with a look of passive despondency.
"You must be Admiral Fox McCloud," Bernard murmured. "I… I suppose I must thank you for what you did."
Fox smiled. "Eventually, someone would have had to do it," he said softly. "It was our duty as a free system to stop them in their tracks. I only wish it had been done sooner. Many… many people died."
Bernard nodded solemnly.
"But it's over," Fox said, trying to sound cheerful. "It's all over, and we can begin the process of going back to the way things were."
"Things will never go back to the way they were."
Fox recognized the truth in Bernard's words. He looked down at his right hand, which was one finger short. Behind him, he could hear the whirling of gears as Bobo Simon walked down the hall with his robotic leg.
"But one thing will," Fox said. "Freedom. Everyone who had been oppressed by Karzen can now be free again. It will take some time for us to recover, but we are free."
"For how long?" Bernard said, worry in his tired old eyes. "How long before the war-mongers in the Karzen system rise up to oppress the people of the galaxy again?"
Fox was jolted by the sudden recollection of a memory. Now, after years of unbroken peace, the war mongering generals of the army and air force demand that we create a new branch of the military: a navy… Senator Peter Tarian had spoken those words. Oh, how long ago that was.
"Don't worry about that," Fox said at last. "The peace treaty we signed back in that hall assured that a balance of power will exist in the galaxy until all parties can recover. In the meantime, I believe it is necessary for us all to build up a standing military, one that is strong in all areas. Times have changed, and you're right, we cannot go back. Our only hope for continuing peace is to be prepared to protect it. This war was proof of that."
The End