AN:
Chapter 1: Meteo Advancement
Fox McCloud
"Alright, gentlemen," the human admiral began, stroking his graying beard as he observed a holographic display of the Lylat System, the Meteo asteroid field displayed in red as opposed to the blue of the rest of the system. "it appears our 'friends' have retreated into this asteroid belt."
"Both the Space Pirates and the Venom Remnant have pulled back into here. The Remnant is likely pulling back to their staging area; the planet we've determined to be Aquas." General Pepper continued, pointing out the aquatic planet. "That's our destination. However, eliminating or capturing any retreating forces could make this war that bit easier. Admiral Cooke and I have decided that deploying a squadron of fighters would be the most effective way to take them out." The bloodhound turned to my crew and me.
"Up for navigating Meteo again, Star Fox?"
"Always, General!" I nodded with a smile, casually reclining in the briefing room chair.
"Great, fun in the asteroid belt, " Falco scoffed from the chair beside mine, proudly wearing his new orange flight suit with one leg tucked over the other. His once broken arm had a strange brace around it that appeared to be pumping some kind of medical gel into his damaged arm. Must be highly advanced federation technology, because Falco could move his arm like it wasn't broken two days ago. "What's not to love? Not like I've almost died once recently."
"Quit complainin', Falco," Miyu whispered from between our shoulders. "I saw how you flew through the simulations. You're just complaining for the sake of complaining at this point!" The lynx's comment garnered a chuckle from the spaniel sitting next to her. I liked her attitude, we need someone to outweigh Falco's cockiness. Falco simply scoffed and looked forward, resting both hands behind his head, purposely blocking the lynx's view with his hotshot behavior.
"Alright, I suggest we put the fighters up front and clear the way, our frigates and battleships can't worry about the asteroids and the enemy at the same time." I stood up and walked over to the hologram table, arranging the displays of our fighters in front of larger vessels in an upside-down V formation. "If we stay in formation like this, we should be able to clear a path for the fleet. Any objections?"
Everyone in the briefing room chattered amongst themselves for a short moment before looking forward at the Admiral, General and me.
"I should lead the formation. My gunship has more than enough firepower to clear out any larger asteroids or enemy ships that get in our way." Samus, who stood at the back with her arms folded and stayed rigid and quiet throughout the whole briefing finally spoke up. Talk about a woman of few words...
"More firepower than a Smart Bomb?" Falco smirked at Samus as she walked past. She slowed down and looked at him, staring at him from behind her always permanently opaque green visor.
"Yes." She bluntly stated and began walking out of the room, likely for the hangars. Was there not a shred of emotion or humour in her…?"
"Alright, everyone. We have a plan," The admiral spoke up. "Get to your fighters and clear the way!"
"Sir yes Sir!" The federation pilots all responded in unison, jumping out of their chairs and making their way to the hanger, leaving just the rest of Star Fox and what few Cornerian pilots we had. Cooke and Pepper just stared at the hologram and spoke amongst themselves about tactics. I joined the rest of my team, who were just standing up and stretching.
"That's the first time in a while someone hasn't responded to my trademark wit," Falco audibly complained to Krystal, who seemed more interested in playing with her hair. He folded his arms and closed his eyes, tapping his foot on the steel ground below. "I've seen stoic, but Samus is a whole different creature…"
"An unstoppable force vs an immovable object, everything has its counterbalance," The team engineer pondered, placing his cap upon his head. "I suppose it's up to interpretation who's unstoppable or immovable in this scenario at least." Wow.
"Since when did you become so philosophical, 'Slip?" I chuckled and joined my friends, holding my hips. Krystal not-so-subtly gravitated towards me, a teasing smirk on her muzzle. Typical Krystal. All of us started following the rest of the humans to the hangars.
"Look, spend enough time reading engineering books makes you want to broaden your horizons a bit." the toad shrugged casually as we made our way down the sterile hallways of the Rendezvous.
"Hey, boss, " Miyu suddenly joined my side, sounding eager to speak about something. "Fara sent just three replacement Arwings fresh off the presses for you, Slippy and Falco. Let's just say she was not happy she had to start said presses for you three. Even gave us a little letter with 'em."
"Try not to crash these ones,' Fay finished Miyu's point with a giggle. "She probably won't be so charitable next time!"
"I'm surprised she didn't charge us a fortune in the first place," I grinned as we all entered an elevator, staring at our distant blue homeworld through a window. A few asteroid drifted passed the Rendezvous' windows, signalling that we were entering the Meteo asteroid belt. Was probably best to make it out to our ships quickly before things got messy. "I'll make sure not to crash this time."
"Mainly because you can't breath in space?" Krystal shot a smirk at me and walked ahead at a brisk pace. "Who am I supposed to tease if you die?"
"I'm sure Falco will appreciate your teasing!" I shouted after her, eliciting a chuckle from the rest of my teammates...apart from Peppy, who just groaned. Never was one for excessive snark...Don't blame him, putting up and managing us must be pretty stressful, heh.
"Nah, I've got to many girls squabbling over me," Falco shrugged nonchalantly with a grunt. "Don't want any girls killin' each other over me...my poor feathery heart couldn't take it!"
"Probablyjustpityteasing!" I coughed.
"What?" The bird glared at me.
"What?" I gave him a look of innocence. "I just coughed!"
"I'm watching you, Foxboy." Falco hissed while pointing to his eyes with two fingers then one at me as he walked by, squinting at me all the while. Hopefully he crashes into an asteroid while he's 'watching' me, that'll show him...then again...Fara would not be happy if we destroyed another Arwing, so I guess I should look after Birdbrain...ugh…
After a brief and silent walk through the Rendezvous, we eventually reached the primary hangar bay where fighters were just beginning to take off. Landed in their own section of the hanger were our Arwings, three notably more pristine and shiny than the other four. I let out a pleased whistle as I inspected one. Not everyday you saw an Arwing with her bright blue and white paint job. I opened my cockpit as Falco, Slippy and Krystal's ships flew out the main entrance of the hangar bay. As I climbed in, Peppy stood to the side of my ship and smiled.
"Looks like we're doin' this old dance again, eh Fox?" the hare chuckled and shook his head. "When's the last time this darn system was safe? Looks like you're always hoppin' in one of those bucket-of-bolts and shooting off!"
"Hey, it's what Dad would've wanted," I said with a smirk. "Can't argue with him on that."
"Heh, every day you're becoming more and more like James!" Peppy chortled happily. "I swear you're gonna start wearing sunglasses one of these days."
"Only when I become a dad, 'Pep!"
"Hah! Just make sure I'm their godfather," my close friend chuckled and adjusted his glasses with a big smile. "You get those bastards good, Fox!"
"I will, Peppy, you save me a cold drink or two!" I gave him a thumbs up as my cockpit lowered. "And don't worry, I'll make sure!"
And with that, I took off, as did Miyu and Fay. We left the hangars into the cold vacuum of space.
I saw all of Star Fox's and the Galactic Federation fighters getting into formation at blasting away any asteroids that got close. Better not keep them waiting for long. I increased my forward throttle and approached them. Wow, upon closer examination, it was Samus' gunship that was clearing most of the way, that thing was armed to the goddamn teeth with weaponry. Talk about a one ship fleet, it's like she didn't specifically need us...then again, I doubt it had the starship fighting capabilities of these fighters, so I made sure to cover her if fighters engage us. As if on cue, I got an incoming transmission from the human huntress of few words.
"Fox. " Her voice was as striking as every other time I've heard it. "I want you on my left wing. Your team, mainly your girlfriend and engineer friend said you were best, behind the falcon."
I blushed as she uttered the word 'Girlfriend."
"I have a name you know, just remove the 'n' from the end of 'Falcon,' simple, Sam." Falco remarked...well, butted in as he usually would ad nauseum.
"I take it that hypocrisy was intentional." Samus bluntly spoke. "How do you put up with this one?"
"I don't, I just cry myself to sleep because of him." I 'weepily' responded, surprisingly, I heard the bounty huntress let out a subtle chuckle.
"You have my sympathy, Fox."
After a brief moment of silence, I formed up on the left of Samus' gunship, watching intently as it annihilated every asteroid that got in its way with volleys of rockets and lasers. The firepower of that thing was just...wow…almost makes a fox drool!
"Why are these asteroids so densely packed together?" Samus asked, a mixture of annoyance and bewilderment in her voice. "I can only assume that a planet was destroyed here at some point."
"You're in a star system with fifteen habitable planets and two stars, one of which orbits the other like a planet, this ain't a normal star system, I'll tell you that." Falco chuckled in a usual Falco tone.
"I remember I saw this star system as a strange one when Fox introduced me~" Krystal giggled and joined my wing. I looked over to her. She saw me and waved from her cockpit and winked. I waved back in response and gave her a thumbs up. She giggled again and continued speaking. "The strangeness of this system will grow on you, I promise."
"..." Samus was quiet for a moment. "Point taken. But we can sightsee later, now, we need to push through this cluster." she was right. No time to waste. We had to carry on.
"Guys, am I in formation right?" Fay meekly asked, a hint of bashfulness in our spaniel recruit's voice. This was the poor girl's first proper mission…
"Lookin' good to me, Fay," Miyu responded before I could.
"Enough chatter, everyone, we've got incoming bogies, 5 o'clock high!" Samus hissed loudly. I braced myself.
Appearing from behind a dense field of asteroids to our rear was a few large squadrons of drones and fighters, damnit! Ambush! We all broke formation to engage the incoming hostiles. As soon as I properly turned around, we were greeted to barrages of incoming plasma fire. I made a sharp maneuver behind an asteroid to avoid them. I scowled as I tracked the enemies on my radar, my thumb hovering over my flightstick trigger.
"For a retreating force, this is a pretty ballsy maneuver on their part!" Falco scoffed, his mark on the radar flying directly into a cluster of enemies, which was subsequently followed by a majority of the cluster disappearing. Mad bastard, he's gonna get himself killed one of these days. "Andrew is really learning big boy guerrilla tactics, huh? It only took like, two proper invasions!"
"Let's not give him too much credit here," I barked as I started pursuing an enemy fighter. "Attacking from behind is a basic maneuver, let's see if his forces know how to win an ambush!"
With a quick few bursts of my primary cannons, I downed the fighter rather easily, its remains spiralling into a nearby asteroid. Gotcha! I assessed the battle closely. We already lost a few fighters, damnit! I also noticed Samus' gunship flying around, avoiding the fire of three fighters that were on her tail. She needed help! As I flew, I couldn't help but listen in on the comms.
"I-I need backup!"
"Don't worry Fay, I gotcha!"
"T-Thanks, Miyu," The spaniel sighed, fear and stress obvious in her voice. "That was a close one…"
"They're everywhere!" Slippy cried, following Krystal's lead closely. "Using drones is just plain dirty if ya ask me!"
"I knew I shouldn't have left Cerinia," Krystal sighed. "If I get shot down, I'm blaming you, Fox."
If I weren't in such a stressful situation, I might have responded. I quickly closed the distance between Samus and myself, quickly offing the first enemy on her tail with a fully charged shot. As If the other bogies knew who I was, they quickly flew away from us. Good riddance. I quickly joined Samus's wing and opened up comms with her.
"You doin' OK samus?"
"Thanks, Fox, I appreciate it," Her usual stoic voice had actual emotion in it for once, gratitude. "I forgot how much I hate dogfighting."
"Well, I'll cover you for now, those fighters could tear through your shields in numbers."
"Fox," Slippy quickly spoke up, catching my attention almost immediately. "I've analysed their attack patterns, and I think they've parked a carrier or base somewhere in the asteroid field, just to push the frontline forward! If we don't deal with that now-"
"They'll come from the rear and bite us in the ass." My falcon friend finished Slippy's conclusion.
"Exactly, Falco, I've pinpointed the rough area of where the base is. We should strike fast and hard, before they have enough time to react!" The toad engineer exclaimed with a subtle confidence. "Transmitting coordinates now!"
My ship's HUD pointed about seven o'clock low. Bingo.
"Alright, cover me. My gunship can destroy the base with a series of bombing runs, but once they realise what I'm doing, practically every gun in the belt will be on me."
"You heard her, guys," I smiled as we all started flying to Slippy's coordinates, "Cover her!" After a brief push through the asteroids with minimal casualties, we saw a small fleet of frigates all guarding a battle carrier. Bingo, base confirmed. "Ambush fleet confirmed! Concentrate all fire on the fighters and stay out of range of the point defense weapons!"
Not soon after I issued the order, a wave of several squadrons flew to intercept us. Cracking my neck, I unleashed a few shots into the enemy formations, taking a few of the outdated fighters out. Our squadrons, while smaller, had better tech. That was our main advantage! Our airforces met, engaging in a chaotic dogfight. I stayed close on Samus' wing to protect her from any interceptors, as did Falco.
"Darn, they're everywhere!" Slippy complained, narrowly avoiding enemy fire. "Where are they building all of these?!"
"Where they always do, Slippy, " Falco scoffed. "Macbeth. That's always their first target."
"I-It was rhetorical, Falco…"
"Sounds like a perfect target to me." Miyu chuckled.
Once we cut a considerable hole through their defences, we got a clear-ish shot of their carrier.
"Starting my bombing run," Samus told us as she started flying towards the carrier, the forward pointing wings of her ship opening to reveal the primary cannons. "Draw the fire of their point defence weapons for me, take them out if possible."
I flew close to the portside surface of the carrier, opening fire upon any turrets or cannons I saw while narrowly avoiding incoming shots. The red carrier shook and thrashed violently as a volley of bombs exploded on its right broadside, taking out a hangar or two in the process. I needed me one of those ships in the Grand Fox! Certainly would make life a lot easier! I flew away from the colossal ship as its entire right half started ejecting escape pods and crumbling. I smirked and started hunting the fighters on Samus' tail. However, the damaged ship deployed the remainder of its fighter wings in one last desperate attempt to destroy us. Including a much larger mining ship from its bottom. I cracked my neck and scowled. Here we go again.
"Ah...Fox James McCloud, again we meet in Meteo, in such familiar circumstances~" The Meteo Crusher Officer scoffed, his effeminate voice oozing with a familiar pomposity. Wonderful.
"How did you survive our last encounter?" I smirked and flew to his armed mining drill, whose rear rotor started spinning and shooting greed waves of 'v' shaped plasma at me. I barrel rolled out of the way of the shots and returned a few volleys at him.
"Ahaha~ Silly fox, ever heard of an 'escape pod?' Quite marvelous inventions if you ask me...aha~" the ape officer spat back as I chased him through the asteroid field, Firing into missing segment of the rear rotor. Still kept that ol' design flaw, I see. "Ah ah ah, you sly mutt, I knew you would do that! I have made some...much needed upgrades to this!"
With a snooty laugh, the missing rotor segment suddenly filled itself, shielding the emergency exhaust ports. Guess you could teach old monkeys new tricks eh?
"Behold! The Meteo Crusher Mark Two!" The officer chortled cruelly as he landed a decent shot on me, weakening my shields significantly. Damn it! "Specifically designed by moi to counter your little insect of a starship! Ahaha!"
Cocky asshole, we'd find a way to break this tin can! Falco, Krystal and Slippy joined my wing and started firing at the Meteo Crusher MKII, though seemingly to no avail. Hopefully 'Slip would find some weakness soon.
I hastily avoided the turret fire of the 'mining' device.
Even though it was practically invincible, I still let off a few volleys of lasers, to seemingly no avail.
"Samus?! Could you provide some heavy artillery here?!" I called out, yearning for the huntress' assistance.
"Can't, bogies on my tail." Samus growled as her ship flew by, a few ships behind her. Damnit!
"Falco, Krystal, you two help her out!" I barked. "Slip, Miyu, Fay, On my wing! Analyse it while you're at it, Slippy!"
"Aye aye, Fox, analysing now!" Slippy responded chipperly as my ship rocked from a grazing, burning the lovely white paint...oh for fu- "Analysis complete! Go for the thrusters! A well placed shot could rupture the fuel tanks and obliterate the drill and turrets! Now THAT'S what I call a design flaw!"
"You heard the man!" Miyu laughed and open fired at the thrusters, zooming past the mining device in her attack run. "Let's turn this idiot to space dust!"
"Gah! Insolent rodents! You'll pay for that one!"
"H-here I go!" With a well placed shot, Fay actually destroyed one of the left thrusters, causing a large explosion which knocked the large weapon aside and destroyed a few turrets.. "Hey! I-I got it!"
"Good job, Fay!" I encouraged the timid recruit, if only to raise her confidence. Being grazed by blaster fire, I shot into one of the thrusters, causing another large explosion that broke the drill completely off the ship, leaving it just drifting. Slowly.
"Again, I have underestimated you…" The officer pitifully lied, likely ready to pull some new trick out of his sleeve. I braced myself as I prepared for the worst, his ship spinning around. But before any of us could react, a huge barrage of missiles and lasers flew directly into the underside of the Meteo Crusher, tearing the thing in half, leaving the cockpit drifting away. From the direction of the assault, Samus' ship flew up. On her wing was Krystal and Falco. I smirked. "WHAT?! WHY YOU INSOLENT SLIME! YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS!"
Searching the area, I could only see our ships clearing out stragglers as the carrier and Meteo Crusher just drifted as space debris now. We did it!
"Thanks, Samus, that was getting a bit tight there!" I sighed happily and turned my ship to the fleet to fly back. "Status report!"
"No feathers off my back, Fox." Falco boasted.
"A few dings here and there, but I'm alright!" Slippy assured.
"Never been better, Foxy~" Krystal cooed in her smooth voice, causing me to blush slightly.
"My heart is pounding hard...that was intense!" Fay shuddered, poor girl…
"That was awesome! I knew joining Star Fox was a good idea!" Miyu laughed, her ship twirling by mine. Cocky, maybe she could give Falco a run for his money!
"I'm fine, Fox." Samus responded last with her usual stoicism.
"Alright, guys, great work! Let's go, we need a break! Even if it's a short one!" I chuckled as we all flew back to the fleet...
Falco Lombardi
I jumped out of my cockpit and stretched. As much as I loved to fly, these cockpits were always a tad cramped for a tall bird like myself. Meh, whatever. Glad to be back on the Grand Fox. As I began taking these cramped metal boots off, I noticed something rather peculiar in our hanger, Samus' orange gunship parked in amongst our fighters...interesting...kicking my remaining boot off, I stood up and placed them where the other boots go, making sure mine were at the end because of my large shoe size. Got mixed up with Slippy once, worst mission ever.
Walking across the hangar, to the gunship, I noticed everyone else walking by and discarding their tight boots in a similar manner. I approached the gunship and peered into the opaque green window for a moment, gently waving.
"You uh...gonna come out of there at all?" I asked. "I wanna know why you're in this ship and not the 'Fed's!"
Instead of any response, however, an elevator on the bottom of the large ship came down and lit up with lights that just beckoned me to climb on. I wasn't one to keep people waiting, so I climbed on the elevator, which immediately retracted back into the ship. Inside the ship was dim and slightly cold, but it was strangely...homely in here, from the fridge and the couches built into the wall. I looked straight ahead and saw the main window that was surrounded by control panels and the back of the captain's chair. Samus' large shoulders jutted out from the sides of the chair, so she was home. The chair slowly turned around and revealed the huntress, the green lights of her armour illuminating the dark room. I peered into her visor for a brief, awkward moment before she greeted me.
"What do you need, Falco, is it?" She coldly asked, scanning me up and down. I smirked and nodded, taking a seat on one of the rotating chairs by the main command chair and placing one leg on the other. Her body seemed stiff and rigid as she watched me.
"Just wondering why we have the honor of your company on our ship, " I casually explained and leaned back. "Thought you'd be back with your species."
"I'm not a people person." She sighed and prepared to turn around to stare at her screens. "Your ship has fewer crewmembers that know me."
"Take it that's why you wear your visor all opaque like that?" I genuinely asked, not breaking line of sight where her eyes would be. She seemed to be a bit stunned by my question, breaking her line of sight with me for a sec, choosing instead to stare at her knees.
"I-I…" She sighed in defeat. "Yes…"
"I take it no one has asked you that before," I smirked, which caused her to flinch. She must've been really antisocial. Easing up a bit, I lowered my tone. "Don't blame you, honestly. This galaxy is full of crooks and assholes, not worth your attention, eh? Least you got that scary armour to do the talking for you."
"..." she was completely silent for a moment before staring at me, her visor turning from opaque to translucent, giving me a good look at her face. her skin was pale. Her eyes looked tired and heavy and her cheeks were dotted with the occasional small scar. She was definitely a fighter. "I'm surprised, Falco."
"About what?"
"How brazen you are," her eyes scanned me up and down. "Few have dared approaching me, much less wanting to meet me in my own ship."
"What can I say? I'm a risk taker, why do you think my team can't stand me?" I shrugged and stood up, stretching out a bit. "Speaking of, I should introduce you to the family, we enjoy the company of other people when we rarely get it, besides, dinner's cooking and I don't wanna miss that."
"...I suppose I should take your offer and accept your hospitality," she spoke to herself and stood up, easily towering above me. "Old Bird would have told…"
As we stepped on the lift, I stopped to question her.
"Old Bird?"
"O-oh…" She stuttered as her visor came on. "Just an old friend…"
"I see."
"You guys better have made extra! We've got company!" I shouted as Samus and I entered the mess hall, virtually all eyes landing on the behemoth of a woman beside me. We walked over to one of the tables and sat by Fox, Krystal and Slippy, while Miyu and Fay sat opposite us.
Fox looked at Samus in a mixture of awe and happiness before he smiled at her.
"Samus! It's an honour to have you on our ship!" He cheerily said. "Nice flying!"
"Yeah! You tore through that carrier as if it were nothing!" Slippy happily added with a big smile. "You think I could take that thing out for a spin?"
"Gotta agree with Fox on that one," Krystal chuckled. "You saved us a lot of trouble by taking out that carrier."
"I-I…" Samus stuttered quietly, looking down at the table, struggling to look at all the admiring eyes on her. I never thought I'd see this from her, heh. She straightened her back and stared at Fox, nodding slightly. "Thank you. Your support was much appreciated."
"Will you be joining us?" Fay tilted her head, her big spaniel ears drooping.
"Yeah! Extra company is always awesome!" The Lynx smiled widely and playfully punched Samus' arm from across the table. "Especially company like you!"
"..." Samus was silent for a moment, choosing to stare at me. I gave her a smirk and nodded, which she took as reassurance or something. "I don't see why not…"
"Now approaching Aquas' Sphere of influence! ETA approximately three hours!" ROB-64 spoke over the Intercoms
At this rate, this war should be over in no time!
We all began chatting and bantering as we got closer to our next mission...
Wolf O'Donnell
"Fifteen minutes from deployment to getting shot down, Wolf!" Andrew spat at me with his nasally voice, his red face somehow reddening even further. I grimaced and leaned away from the tall snow monkey, who sneered at me. "Just how did you and Panther mess up that badly?! I gave you one simple task, to get rid of Star Fox!"
I snorted.
"Two against four is hardly fair, Oikonny," I grumbled and glared at him. Who did this skinny little man think he was?! If he wasn't paying so much, I'd knock this asshole's teeth out. "Star Wolf ain't been the same since you left, Pigma died and Leon exiled himself due to his...excessive...war crimes."
"Mainly the cannibalism, " Panther rolled his eyes and tapped his foot, twirling a rose between his fingers. "That's the main reason."
"C-cannibalism…?" Andrew gulped before shaking his head, walking up the steps to his holo-computer, dramatically swishing his general cape aside and staring at his displays. "Whatever the case, I'm still highly disappointed in your performance—Grr, What now?!"
An incoming transmission interrupted his needless rambling.
"Lord Andrew!" a monkey officer cried, his voice filled with panic. "We've just got word that our Meteo blockade has been broken! Star Fox and their new ally are pushing towards Aquas! They're coming for you, Sir!"
"Fantastic…" Andrew grumbled and punched his control console. "maximize our defences! I'll be falling back to Zoness—" falling back, I'd expect nothing less from Andrew.
Again, he was interrupted.
"We also have some army, the others who attacked Corneria wanting to negotiate with you, my lord."
"And you let them in?" the snow monkey rubbed his temples and sighed. "Fine, send them to me…"
Panther and I looked at each other.
"Not every day we make friends, huh, Wolf?" the dark feline smirked and crossed his arms. I merely grunted and rolled my eye and adjusted my eye patch.
We all turned to the door as it opened, revealing the glass tube hallways of our underwater Aquas base. Coming through the doors was a gang of tall and spindly reptiles, purple scales and beady eyes. Leading them was a monstrously tall purple cyborg dragon. I felt a chill go down my spine as it stood at full height in the room. What was that thing?! Panther seemed just as nervous as I. The draconian snorted and peered down at Andrew, who pushed a button and raised his platform.
"So...you were the other invaders?" Andrew asked, squinting at the dragon, who sneered back. There was a palpable silence in the room as the two traded glances. "I am the great Andrew Oikonny, leader of the Venom Remnant, the true heir to Andross and future ruler of Lylat! Who might you be?"
God... I hated his self bolstering…
"..." the dragon snorted and gazed at Andrew closely, cracking his joints audibly. "Ridleyyyy...Space Pirate General...we come...seeking an audience with you…"
"Hmm…" Andrew stroked his chin and stared at the beast before nodding. "You've my attention, Ridley."
"My...grr...master...believes that an alliance between us would be...beneficial…"
"An alliance, eh…?" Andrew got an 'Andrew' look in his eyes. Never a good look if ya ask me. "for what reason?"
"Our numbers dwindle...our home taken from us. We are on our last legs and our enemies are gathering and making alliances. This is a matter of survival."
"..." Andrew went silent, if only for a moment. "We are in a similar situation...how many soldiers do your pirates have?"
"Two hundred thousand at most…"
Andrew grinned from cheek to cheek, his eyes lighting up like a thousand stars.
"Excellent!" the monkey happily exclaimed and held offered a hand to the larger being. Ridley just stared at him with a confused look. "Psst, you're supposed to shake my hand!"
"..." Ridley made a low guttural noise and hesitantly took Andrew's hand in his claw, shaking it ever so slightly, which Andrew seemed to take much pleasure in.
"This'll be a wonderful alliance!" the snow monkey smiled widely and clapped his hands, turning around and pushing buttons on his command console, bringing up a red holographic display of Lylat. He cracked his fingers and started changing his tactical notes and fleet positions. "Star Wolf, leave us! We've much discussing to attend to, private leader discussions! I think we should start deploying our forces..."
He dismissed us with a wave. Taking his orders, I quickly left the room with panther to escape his incessant ramblings. We left into a glass tube tunnel that overlooked the vast, dark ocean floor of Aquas. I stopped and admired the view for a moment, crossing my arms and sighing gently. Guess we weren't getting fired today. Panther joined my side and gazed out to the dark waters too, tapping his foot. We remained quiet for a brief moment.
"Well, at least we have a better footing in this war," the cat casually commented, twirling his rose around as per usual. "So I guess we're getting paid for slightly longer."
"Not if we're shot down again, I'll say that for 'nothin," I grumbled and crossed my arms. "Hate to admit it, Star Wolf is fucking weak right now. We're good, but Star Fox is just absorbing every upstart pilot that exists."
"Pessimistic."
I smirked.
"Nah, just gotta state the facts so we don't die instantly next time."
"So, what are our plans, then?"
"We should start willing merc we can. Star Fox is six active pilots strong," I rubbed my chin and thought for a moment, peering out into the endless ocean. "We need to even those odds a little, we've been humiliated too much! C'mon, we're going to Sargasso, hopefully there's some idiots there who know how to fly."
Panther simply nodded as we began to head for the hangars. Star Wolf has been pushed around for too long! Watch out, Star Fox, we'll bet the apex predators soon! Just they wait!
End of Chapter