Bill sat back in his chair as he watched the video clips of the battle at Sector X. Fox, Falco, and Slippy were all standing behind Bill's desk in the back of his office. Krystal wasn't there because she was still in a coma thanks to her unknown assailant. Once Star Fox had landed on Corneria with the remnants of the forces from Sector X, she was immediately rushed to Corneria's finest hospital. It was killing Fox to know that one of his team members was in a hospital in serious condition and he couldn't do a damn thing about it.
The video clips now showed the laser attack from the Triumvirate cruisers' "wall" formation. Fox, Falco, and Slippy all stood there in silence as they watched those lasers once again streak through space to wipe out half the Cornerian forces and collide into the space station. They all lowered their heads in sorrow when they saw the lasers hit the space station and all the Cornerian soldiers started spilling out. It wasn't until they reached Corneria that they learned that Commander Joshua had been vaporized in the attack and General Matthews was one of the bodies that floated out into space.
The video ended with Fox's voice calling for an immediate retreat and all Cornerian ships fleeing the battle. The screen went blank and the lights in the office, which were off for the video, were turned on. Even though the video was over, Bill still sat in his chair with his back facing Star Fox. They didn't know what kind of reaction was on Bill's face, but they could hear heavy breathing coming from him.
After a minute of complete silence, Bill gave a huge sigh and turned around. The look on his face was the most serious Fox had ever seen. Fox knew that it was a bad sign because Bill was always a cheerful and humorous guy, even in the most extreme of circumstances. Even though Bill had turned around, he still wasn't looking at them. He just sat there looking down at his folded hands. At long last Bill looked up and addressed them.
"I can't believe this." he said. "I just can't believe this. It's barely two months after the greatest catastrophe to hit the Lylat System since Andross, and we've been invaded. I've been in command for only a week and already I've lost half the system to this Triumvirate. Maybe General Pepper should have chosen someone else to replace him."
"Don't talk like that Bill." stated Fox. "I can't think of anyone better to replace Pepper then you. You're an exceptional pilot, one hell of a soldier, and a brilliant commander. Don't you remember when Andross' army attacked Katina? You were right there commanding the defense of the outpost against overwhelming odds."
"Yeah, but if memory serves you guys came and saved our butts. If you guys didn't show up Katina would have been reduced to a smoking crater and I wouldn't be here right now."
"Hey, don't sell yourself short!" exclaimed Falco. "You had things well under control by the time we arrived. There's no doubt in my mind that you would've won even if we didn't show up. Now I'm the one saying this, so you know it has to be true. So get out of this self-brooding state you're in and tell us how we're going to kick some Triumvirate ass."
"You're right Falco. We've got a lot of work to do and not much time to do it in."
"What are your orders General?" asked Slippy.
"Please don't call me general." said Bill as he turned around to face a monitor displaying the Lylat System. "I'm still not used to that fact, so just keep calling me Bill."
"As you wish sir."
"Hmm. Now with our bases in both Macbeth and Sector X completely destroyed we've lost control of every planet from Solar on. That means Venom, Titania, Macbeth, Sector Z, Zoness, and Sector X are all under Triumvirate control. From Zoness they can launch an attack against the floating cities of Aquas. Attacking a planet with no enemy military installations on it would be cowardice on their part, but from a tactical standpoint they'd have a clear road to both Sector Y and Katina. On the other hand, if they launch from Sector X they'll have a clear road to Fortuna."
"But Bill," interrupted Fox, "don't we still have control of Sector Z though. Isn't that where the secret R&D lab is?"
"That installation was destroyed by the Aparoids. As of yet we haven't had the time to rebuild it since there were more important things to be concerned with."
"So we truly have lost half the system." stated Falco. "Boy is this going to be fun. If we're going to have any chance of winning this war we need to make sure that this half of the system stays under our control."
"Exactly! That's why I'm going to reinforce our bases on both Katina and Fortuna, and I'm going to send the 2nd and 3rd Fleets to Sector Y. The 1st Fleet and the remains of the 4th Fleet will stay here at Corneria. The Meteo asteroid belt could pose a problem, so I'll have our troops place sensors within the belt. With any luck we'll be able to spot even the smallest ship flying through Meteo. Your report stated that the Triumvirate Fleet is 5 times as large as Andross's, correct?"
"Unfortunately that's true." said Slippy.
"Yeah, but their pilots aren't that skilled." said Falco. The pilot's for Andross's fleet were a hell of a lot tougher than these guys, but hey, maybe we've just gotten better."
"They could also be sending out their weakest pilots and saving their best for last." said Fox.
"Well lets hope not." said Bill as he rubbed his chin. "We've already lost too many men. What's worse is that our finest soldiers and pilots were either killed during the Aparoid Invasion or have since retired. Three-fourths of the Cornerian Army is currently made up of raw recruits."
"You have to hand it to these guys." said Falco. "They picked the best time to invade the system, and they knew exactly where to hit us."
"Yes, but what do they want? That is the million dollar question."
"I think the answer is right under our noses." said Fox a little hesitantly. "We just need to look in the right place."
"What are you talking about?"
"This may just be a guess, but I think the Triumvirate attacked the Lylat System once before."
"What gives you that idea?"
"When their leader, Admiral Seth, was talking to us, he mentioned my father's name and how he expected him to lead the Cornerian forces into battle. He talked like he had met and fought my father once before. It could've just been a ruse to throw us off our game, but it's at least something we should look into."
"If that is so, then General Pepper and Peppy should know these guys."
"That's it!" shouted Slippy. "Just tell us where General Pepper and Peppy went to and we can go ask them."
"Normally I'd want you to stay here, but this is something that needs to be investigated. Both General Pepper and Peppy are on Sauria investigating the ruins that were destroyed by the Aparoids. I want you to go there and ask them if they know anything at all about the Triumvirate. I'll meanwhile search through the history books for any mention of the Triumvirate. You have your orders. Dismissed."
All three members of Star Fox stood at attention and saluted. Bill saluted back and then they started leaving the room. As they were walking out, Bill called out to Fox and asked him to wait a minute.
"Yeah Bill, what is it?" Fox asked.
"I just want you to know that I have Corneria's finest doctors working on Krystal." he replied very sympathetically. "I've also got her under 24 hour surveillance to insure that nothing else happens to her."
"Thank you Bill. You're the best friend a guy could ever have."
Fox shook Bill's hand and then hurried out of the room after Falco and Slippy. They both asked him what Bill had wanted when he caught up to them, but Fox just said that it wasn't important. By the time they reached the Great Fox, all repairs to it and the Arwings had been completed and Rob already had the ship ready for takeoff.
As they left Corneria behind and entered space, they could see commotion all around them. By now it was well known throughout the entire system that they had been invaded by people calling themselves the Triumvirate. Hundreds of ships were leaving Corneria to destinations unknown in anticipation of an attack on the planet and thousands more were arriving with refugees escaping from the Triumvirate controlled half of the system.
Cornerian Capital Ship's were already in orbit around Corneria keeping the peace while Cornerian Starfighters escorted the ships both leaving and coming in as well as flying patrol. All of this was being directed from the Cornerian Space Station. The space station was also allowing some of the larger vessels and those traveling in large groups going to the same destinations to use the Warp Gate. Just as the Great Fox prepared to activate their warp engines, they saw ships from the 2nd and 3rd Fleets heading toward Sector Y and several large supply ships heading to both Katina and Fortuna.
It would take them about an hour to reach Sauria, so everybody went off to do their own thing. Rob stayed on the bridge while Slippy headed down to the hanger bay to check on the repairs that had been made to the Arwings. Falco headed down to the War Room to study both the offensive and defensive tactics of the Triumvirate. They had faced the Triumvirate twice already, but still Falco had not recognized any of their tactics.
Fox, meanwhile, was just wandering the ship. He didn't know why, but his thoughts just kept drifting back to Krystal. Despite all that was going on, this new enemy, the invasion, all the death so far, she was the only thing in his head. He kept thinking that if he had just done something, then maybe things would've turned out different.
"Damn it man," he cursed to himself, "there was nothing you could do. It was beyond your control. Stop beating yourself up over it."
Fox continued to wander the ship, cursing himself, silently this time, as he did so. Finally, without even realizing it, he entered the dormitory section of the ship. He found himself walking down the hallway and before he knew it he was standing in front of Krystal's room. He extended his arm out but stopped right in front of the doorknob. His hand was extended over it, but he couldn't bring himself to open the door.
"Attention." came Rob's voice suddenly over the ship's comm system. "We are approaching Sauria. All members of Star Fox are to report to their designated areas."
"Great timing Rob." said Fox with a smile as he ran toward the hanger bay.
When he got there he found Falco and Slippy already strapped into their Arwings. Fox quickly jumped into his and strapped himself in tight. As they all awaited Rob's signal for them to launch Fox looked over and saw Krystal's empty Arwing. Fox's heart began to sink once again, but luckily Rob gave them the signal at that moment and all three of them launched from the Great Fox before Fox could get into a depressed mood.
Before them the beautiful sphere which was Sauria loomed closer and closer as they got nearer to the planet. They adjusted their Arwings to prepare for entering the atmosphere and blasted through. As they descended, Slippy started scanning the planet for either Peppy's or Pepper's transponder signals. Slippy doubted that either of them would have their transponder signals on them since there was no need for them to have it, but he hoped for the best anyway.
They flew through the sky for about five minutes before Slippy's scanners started picking up Peppy's signal. They all gave a resounding cheer and immediately headed in the direction of Peppy's signal. The scanner showed that they were deep within some ruins that were surrounded by trees, so they were going to have to land their Arwings pretty far away. They quickly found the closest clearing possible and landed their Arwings.
Once they landed their Arwings, all three of them jumped out and ran as fast as they could toward Peppy and Pepper. They quickly ran past the trees and entered the ruins where Peppy and Pepper were located. They didn't know the exact location, so they just walked through the ruins searching every nook and cranny for any sign of them. After searching for a minute or so, they could hear voices nearby. Knowing that the voices could only belong to two people, they darted off in the direction of the voices. They were running so fast that they almost collided with Peppy and Pepper as they rounded a corner.
"Huh, what are you guys doing here?" asked Peppy when he realized who it was that had almost run into him.
"Yes, can't you leave two old, retired men alone for more than a couple of weeks before you guys start bothering us?" said Pepper laughingly. "Well I know that it's not that funny of a joke, but you don't have to look so glum about it."
"Wait, something's wrong isn't it? Where's Krystal?"
"She's in a hospital on Corneria in a coma." said Fox woefully.
"What happened?"
"The system has been invaded; that's what happened." Falco said bluntly.
"Invaded?" shouted Pepper. "But that's impossible. There's no one left to attack the system. All traces of Andross and his army are gone forever and the Aparoids were completely obliterated. How long have we been at war?"
"Well the war officially started yesterday at the battle of Sector X, but we have a feeling that they've been here for a while now." said Slippy. "They're using Venom as their base of operations and by the time we stumbled upon them they had already amassed a huge army there which means that they've been coming into our system for several days now."
"So there's already been a major engagement. How did we fare?"
"Poorly." stated Falco. "They're forces just ran right through us. There was also another engagement at Macbeth which we lost. They now control half the system. Everything from Solar to Venom is now there's."
"But I don't get something." said Peppy. "Why did you guys come all the way here to tell us this? Shouldn't you guys be on the front lines defending the system?"
"Well," said Fox, "the reason we came to you guys is because we think you guys know who these invaders are. They call themselves the Triumvirate."
"No . . . no . . . no . . . it can't be." said Peppy wide-eyed, pale faced, and with a fear in his expression that Fox had never seen before.
"I take it you two do know them then." said Falco.
"Unfortunately yes." said Pepper. "I always knew that this day would come, but I had hoped that it would be a long time from now after we've already bitten the dust."
"What has you guys so afraid of these turkeys? It's not like they have exceptional pilots flying for them. If the Cornerian Army hadn't been decimated by the Aparoids, we'd be slapping these guys from one side of the galaxy to the other."
"No Falco, you don't seem to understand." said Peppy. "You guys have been flying and fighting for god knows how long now. You're probably the best pilots in the entire universe, and that is why their flying skills don't seem to match up to yours. The Triumvirate trains their military forces, both ground and air forces, exceptionally well. These guys are trained so well that they could've given Andross's army a run for its money."
"But who exactly is the Triumvirate?" asked Fox.
"They're from the star system next to ours. It is a unique system in the fact that it has two stars, one on each side of the system. Half the planets orbit one star, and the other half orbit the other. They call themselves the Triumvirate because they are from three planets within that system, the only three capable of supporting life."
"Why did they invade the Lylat System then?" asked Slippy. "It sounds like they were fine right where they were."
"They invaded because one of their two suns died out." said Peppy. "It didn't go supernova or anything; it just died. Unfortunately for the Triumvirate, it was the sun that their three planets orbited. Without the sun temperatures quickly dropped and their planets experienced harsh environment changes. Somehow they quickly adapted to these harsh conditions. Now adapting didn't make life any easier; it just allowed them to survive. Since no other planets were habitable in their system, they had to look elsewhere for a new home. They eventually located the Lylat System and launched their invasion with the intention of conquering it for themselves."
"I remember the day they first invaded like it was yesterday." said Pepper. "I was a sergeant in the Cornerian Police Forces. There was no Cornerian Army back then. We had felt that there would never be any need so we just had a simple police force to keep order within the system. The Cornerian Army came about because of this invasion. Anyway though, that day I was to be promoted to lieutenant. As I awaited my promotion, the Triumvirate sent a decent sized attack force to Corneria. We eventually defeated the troops they sent, but in the end it was us who truly lost that battle. We were caught unprepared and as such half the police force was decimated. Not only that, but all the higher-ups were killed as well. Since I was the highest ranking official left at the time, it was now my responsibility to lead our decimated police forces against an army of professionally trained soldiers."
"Yeah, and since those were the days of mercenary groups Pepper quickly called upon any and all mercenary groups to come to the defense of the system. They were the closest thing we had to trained soldiers in those days. Of course since James and I were such good friends with Pepper back then, we immediately responded. That was the very first mission of Star Fox; to defend the Lylat System from the Triumvirate. I can still remember the battles back then. They were spectacular, and so were we. James, Pigma, me, and Luther sure were a force to be reckoned with."
"Wow, I always wondered what the very first mission of Star Fox had been." said Fox. "Wait a minute! Who the hell is Luther?"
"Oh shit, I let it slip. Well, since you already know about everything else, I don't see any harm in telling you guys. His full name is Luther Panda. He was the fourth member of the original Star Fox team. He was the best pilot of us all. His skills remind me of yours Falco. Anyway, after the war with the Triumvirate he quit the team and went into hiding."
"Where did he go?" asked Slippy.
"He went to Kirtar VII."
"Wait," said Falco, "the moons of Kirtar only go up to six. There is no Kirtar VII."
"Yes there is. It's a very weird phenomena actually. For some reason the moon has a fixed orbit and doesn't resolve around the gas giant. Our best scientists are still stumped as to why that is. Because of this, the planet Kirtar hides the moon at all times, making it a perfect place to hide. In addition to Luther you'll find many other retired veterans from that war as well as more recent ones such as the wars with Andross and quite possibly even with the Aparoids."
"We can catch up on this Luther guy some other time." said Fox. "Right now we need to know how you guys defeated the Triumvirate the first time."
"Oh, I don't think you need to be knowing that." said a voice from behind them. "After all, you've already said what we wanted to hear so now your little conversation is over."
Fox, Falco, Slippy, Peppy, and Pepper all turned to find that they were completely surrounded by wolverines in black military uniforms with a wide array of weapons being aimed at them. Behind them stood a penguin in the same type of uniform, only his had a medal on it which signaled that he was the leader of this party. He was the one who had spoke and he also had a pistol in his hand aimed straight at Pepper.