Chapter 2: Aquas Assault

Samus Aran

The conference room of the Grand Fox was a lot smaller and more comfortable than that of the Rendezvous', holding only all seven members of Star Fox, their android and myself. It was rather comfortable here. I stood between Falco and Krystal as we observed a hologram of the water world, Aquas and listened to our orders from the General and Admiral.

"It is imperative that we destroy this base on Aquas, we don't want our enemies gathering on our doorstep," The elderly bloodhound general explained, a red icon appearing where their base was. "However, we believe that there are vital war plans stored on that base's systems. If we were to secure them, We would understand more of their campaign!"

"I'd try and hack into their systems from up here," the green toad, Slippy stepped forward and explained, everyone including myself turning to stare at him. He cleared his throat nervously and continued his point. "However they'd likely either shut the communications off or start deleting things...the only way I can think we'd get those files is to infiltrate the base on-foot. But that presents numerous-"

"I can escort you in," I turned to the much shorter amphibian, who stared at me with large eyes, his jaw slightly open. "I have done operations like this multiple times in my career."

"This could also provide us a shot at capturing or eliminating key officers of their war effort," Admiral Cooke added. "If this mission is successful, this could give us quite the upper hand."

"A-are you up for this, 'Slip?" Fox gulped and place a hand on his friend's shoulder, concern bright in his green eyes.

Slippy was quiet, his eyes examining the hologram, me and the floor, as if he were calculating his options. With a subtle nod he fixed his attention on me.

"I-I think so," he gave Fox a brave nod. "As long as I have Samus covering me, I'll be fine."

"I'll cover you too, Slippy," Falco took a step forward and stood next to me, coming up only to my shoulder. "Between the two of us, you're practically invisible!"

As much as he joked, he wasn't that wrong.

"Falco…Samus..." Slippy smiled at the falcon. "Thanks, guys…"

For once, as Slippy said that, I felt my heart warm.

"What about us?" the blue fox rubbed her chin and stared at the command console for instructions. "What should we do?"

"Cause a distraction and panic, attack suddenly and cause as much chaos as you can," the admiral suggested. "Just something to buy enough time for Samus and her team to get in and get those files. We'll also send fighters in to support you."

"Alright, guys," Fox nodded and looked at his team. "Let's get this over and done with…" His face softened when he looked at the spaniel, who looked visibly nervous. "You'll be fine, Fay. Just stick close to us."

"T-thanks, Fox…" She gulped and headed to the hanger, her lynx friend behind her.

"I'll cover ya, Fay." Miyu smiled as they left the room.

I'd question the logistics of bringing such a soft-hearted character to a battle, but now was not the time for any of that. Instead I turned to Falco and Slippy, who were discussing the plan. They turned to me to speak.

"You two ready?" I simply asked, checking my HUD to see if everything was in order with my suit. The blue avian nodded in response, a smirk on his face. The toad nodded meekly.

"Alright," Slippy began as we made our way to the hangar, which was thankfully close to the briefing room. I internally thanked Star Fox for a well designed ship layout. "No doubt once they realise we're in their main data room, they'll send everything they can to stop us…" He explained as we went down a short elevator to the main hangar floor, where everyone was entering their fighters. We briskly approached my gunship, which was landed in a quiet corner of the large room. "You two think you can hold them off as I hack?"

"Definitely, Slip," the falcon nodded confidently and stepped onto my ship's elevator first, followed next by Slippy, then myself. As we ascended, Falco criticized. "Geez, do you need such big shoulders? I can't see!"

"Yes." I simply responded.

"I think they're kinda cool…" Slippy complimented. "What are they for?"

"Power cells. They're where my shields are produced," I explained as we entered the cockpit of my ship. "Without them I'm much more susceptible to incoming fire."

"That's ingenious!" The amphibian cooed as he sat down in the seat left of the command chair and put his seatbelt on. "What's the make of the suit and who made it?"

"Chozo Varia Suit, model SA1-4468-VM6-P," I recited by heart while starting up the ship. "Made by my caretakers, specifically for me and my training."

"If the humans made it," Falco questioned and sat down to my right, not bothering to fasten his seatbelt. "Why are you the only one that wears a 'Varia Suit…?"

"It wasn't made by humans. It was made by an avian species called the Chozo. Put your seatbelt on."

"Avian…?" Falco grumbled as he put his seatbelt on.

"Story for another time." I avoided the subject as the ship took off, following the Arwings out of the hangar and into space. The blue planet of aquas could be seen in the far distance. "We can speak more about my suit when the mission is over, Slippy."

"Fine by me!"

"Falco," I turned to the second tallest member in the ship, his blue eyes widening slightly as I stared at him. "How is your arm, is it any better? Can you fight with it if need be?"

"Uhh…" he removed his arm from his jacket and unzipped his flight suit down, enough to free his damaged arm. He flexed with it slightly, the medical brace chafing only slightly. He scrunched his fingers open and closed several times. Everything appeared to be in order. I felt a bit of sympathy as most of his right shoulder and his right breast were shaved down to treat his phazon burns. My dark nemesis would pay for her sins. "I think everything is good."

"Excellent," I nodded in satisfaction and turned around to face the window.

Our flight into the planet was tense and quiet. I braced myself for the inevitable upcoming firefights by cracking my neck and double checking my HUD. I tightly clutched the flight sick as we began to enter the atmosphere of the planet, my ship surrounded by flame. My ship broke through the cloud layer, already coming across our fighters engaged with the enemies that scrambled above the stormy sea. Clearly, we got them by surprise. Thankfully, much of the fire was directed away from us.

"Are we close to the base?" I turned the autopilot systems on and spun my chair around to face Slippy, who's eyes skimmed over a datapad that he was holding.

"Yep! About a klick west!"

"Then let's go, I have an idea! Follow me!" I barked and stood up, heading to the elevator and cocking my arm cannon. Slippy and Falco looked at each other for a moment before standing up and following me. "Stay close."

"I don't like where this is going…" the bird sighed as the elevator turned to face the back of my ship and lowered. The loud sounds of wind assaulted our ears and violent rain pelted us, soaking us immediately. Good, this was acceptable cover.

"N-now approaching the base!" Slippy yelled.

Wrapping my arms around them both and pulling them close to my body, I jumped, my ship immediately flying away as we fell. Slippy screamed and clung to me while Falco was stunned and motionless. I located the surface base and activated my jetpack to slow our fall. I landed on the wet metal dome with a thud, my boots magnetising so I wouldn't slip or fall. I let Falco and Slippy down, the toad wobbled and still clung to my abdomen for balance. While Falco rubbed his face and sighed.

"You're insane, you know that?!" the ace pilot accused, pointing a finger in my face.

"We're here aren't we?" was all I responded with as I scanned the area for any entrances. "This should give us a slight head start, they don't know we're here yet."

"S-she's right, Falco…" Slippy shuddered at looked around at the aerial battle above.

I rolled my eyes and activativated my scan X ray visor, scanning the room below for any lifesigns. Thankfully, things seemed empty, as it simply appeared to be a storage room. I configured my plasma beam into a slicer and started cutting a portal for us to enter. I peered at the bird and toad, who appeared as skeletons as I forgot to turn my visor off. Morbid. Once things were successfully cut, I switched to my combat visor and pulled the circle of metal with my magnetised arm cannon and gently placed it down. I peered into the storage area for a moment, thankfully, it was rather dark. I flicked my head, ushering the two to follow. Jumping down, we landed atop a cargo container with a slight thud. I aimed around the room, just to make sure it was absolutely empty. The coast was clear. I looked at the two hominid animals and placed a finger over where my mouth was, signalling them to be quiet. Slippy nodded while Falco smirked and gave me a thumbs up. I spotted the door and jumped down to the side of the container that faced away from it, just in case.

My companions followed suit as we snuck behind containers to make our way to the door. Could never be too careful. Just as we snuck close to the door, it opened! Falco, Slippy and I pressed ourselves into the container. I made sure to turn off my bright green suit lights just to hide myself even further. My heart sank into my stomach at what I saw. A Space Pirate. The reptile was conversing with one of the ape soldiers of the Venom Remnant. An alliance. So they teamed up against us. Was definitely going to have to report this to the admiral. They lingered in the room for a moment, checking the contents of one of the containers. Likely ammunition. Squinting at them, I watched their every move as they made their rounds. Things were tense as the two remained in the room for upwards of five to ten minutes. Falco and Slippy remained silent the toad frozen stiff at my side as the avian stared at the top of his wrist as if he were wearing a watch. He stared at me and smirked cockily. This bird was something else entirely…

Before we fainted from holding our breaths for too long, the sound of the door opening and closing eased our rigid bodies. Activating my X-ray visor was enough to confirm that we were alone again. Slippy immediately spotted a small control console by the door and started hacking into the system, likely for the map.

"Guys! Cover me while I snoop around!" The toad meekly said as his fingers typed on the keys as fast as humanly...toadly? Toadly possible. It was actually quite impressive.

"Always needing cover, eh, 'Slip?" Falco snarked, eliciting a light chuckle from the toad. The Star Fox team had a certain...enjoyable chemistry. I supposed Falco calling them "family" earlier was well deserved. The blue falcon stared at where my eyes were, causing a slight shudder. He knew exactly where to look...others simply vaguely stared into my visor. Falco though… He gave me a sarcastic smirk. "don't tell me you'll need covering too, Sam."

"I...I can handle myself quite fine," I responded sternly, caught somewhat off guard by the brazen bird's jokes. Did this one even feel nervousness or have second thoughts…? Whatever the case, we still had a mission. "And I hope you can handle yourself on foot."

"Personally, I prefer the air," he upholstered his laser pistol and spun it around by the trigger guard, muzzling himself multiple times. I could only hope that he had his safety on… "but don't worry about me, Sammy, I can handle myself down here."

First 'Sam,' then 'Sammy,' he knew how to press my buttons despite knowing me for only a day.

"Looks like the main database is on sub level 4 of this base," Slippy turned to us, still typing away on the terminal. "Which also happens to be submerged under water, we'll need to access the base via this main freight elevator," He pointed to an elevator that was a few hallways away from this storage room. "Once there, we'll have to either sneak or fight our way to the data room...though I'm not sure the specifics of how many troops are garrisoned here…"

"The presence of the Space Pirates certainly makes that uncertainty worse…" I sighed and shook my head. I readied my arm cannon and approached the door. "C'mon, there's no time to waste."

"Right behind you, Sam," Falco smirked and joined my side, cocking his pistol and nodding at me. I gave him a nod in return as Slippy took cover behind us. "Three of us against an entire facility of them huh? How unfair...for them."

The mechanical door opened, revealing a tight hallway. An ape soldier immediately noticed us, but could not aim is rifle at us as I backhanded him with my arm cannon, immediately knocking him out. My shorter allies were silent for a moment, before continuing to follow me. Any ape or pirate that turned the corner was swiftly met with a swift end from mine or Falco's guns. Thankfully we were too fast for them to pull any alarms. Though when bodies were found, they'd likely sound. Whatever the case, we arrived at the main freight elevator.

"We shouldn't wait for this," I hissed and turned on my X-Ray visor again, counting at least twenty enemies on the elevator. All armed. I scoped out a nearby air vent near the door and shot the grate open. "In here, this will give us cover."

"uh...no offence Samus, but," Falco began cynically, raising his eyebrows at me. Specifically looking at my shoulders. I could guess what was coming next. "Slippy and I can fit in there, but I think you're too—WHAT?!"

Both he and slippy audibly gasped as I rolled down into my suit's alternative form; the Morph Ball. I came only up to their knees now. Not even I understood the specifics of this design, but I was thankful I had this. Through the polar equator between the two halves of the ball, I could see my stunned allies.

"Let's go, we don't have much time," I ordered and rolled into the vent. I saw my animal allies look at each other in confusion before crawling in. First Slippy, then Falco next. We silently moved through the air vent until we reached an area that was just tall enough to stand up in. Uncurling myself, I knelt to assess the situation.

"What. The. Actual—" Falco hissed quietly. He stared at me, his beak naturally unhinging. A typical reaction to the morph ball. "What other tricks does that suit of yours have?"

"Too many to name at the moment—" I was cut off by distant alarms sounding. The bodies have been found. We had to keep moving. We remained silent and still as we peered at the slow moving elevator through a vent grate. The troopers seemed hyper alert because of the blaring alarms. Once they all departed in search for us, I blew open the vent with a single shot and hopped down onto the freight elevator with my allies following suit. Quickly pressing the sublevel 4 button, I kept my eyes and gun fixated on the door, even as it shut. The elevator shook as it started, slowly descending down the large rectangular shaft at a surprising speed. I swallowed and braced myself as the sounds of the alarms assaulted our ears.

"Warning, Code Red: intruder alert," an automated announcement AI warned across the facility in a deep tone, causing us to flinch slightly. Without breaking my alert state, I continued aiming at the door, waiting for a likely ambush. "Lifesigns detected in Cargo Elevator Four-A, all available personnel, pursue, capture and interrogate. This is not a drill. Repeat; this is not a drill."

"Whatever stealth we once had is gone, that's for sure, Falco huffed and took cover behind some crates and pointed his heavy laser pistol towards the exit with me. Why he or his crew never wore proper armour was beyond me. "Brace yourselves, this might get messy."

"I hope not, I just had my jacket sewn up and dry-cleaned!" The light-voiced toad gulped and hid behind a cargo container, timidly pointing his blaster, his hands quivering slightly. "We'll need to be fast, the Central Database isn't too far away, but be ready for a lot of resistance, you should take cover, Samus, they'll likely surprise attack us as soon as the door opens…"

"No..." Cracking my neck and cocking my gun, I looked back over my shoulder at him. His eyes widened as he stared at me nervously "I am the surprise attack."

The elevator conveniently stopped as I finished my sentence, good. Without hesitation, I charged a beam up, and transferred the buildup of power into my missile launcher, unleashing a Super Missile straight at the opening door. The projectile hit the door at a frightening speed, causing a massive explosion that shook the foundations of the area. Before even the smoke could clear slightly, I rushed into the fray and activated my thermal visor, counting about ten enemies waiting for us. I quickly seized a space pirate's neck with my left hand and shot several blasts into his abdomen, killing him instantly. I felt the sting of lasers hitting my side and saw my energy count drop somewhat. I threw the pirate's body at one of the ape soldiers, knocking him down while shooting a missile at the feet of three of the tangos. I switched back to my normal visor as the smoke cleared, hissing as my suit took a few more blasts of laserfire. One of Andrew's grunts fell to the floor dead as Falco rushed in and shot him down, bum rushing one of our enemies in the chaos, shooting the knocked down ape. The remaining apes threw their hands up in fear, but the last Space Pirate withdrew his forearm blade and kicked down my avian ally, sending his gun flying out of his hand. Falco's eyes widened as the burning sword almost touched him. In a moment of near panic, I threw myself between Falco and the pirate shielding us both by raising my left arm to counter the sword. My arm felt like it caught fire and started burning severely upon contact, though I used this opportunity to headbut the reptilian scum and shoot him point blank in the stomach, causing him to collapse and perish.

"Ngh…" My balance faltered slightly as my suit administered a coolant to the burned area. Hissing slightly, I reached out to Falco; who took my hand and let me pull him up to his feet. (Though I kept my arm cannon pointed at the surrendering apes). His blue eyes were full of gratitude and relief. Even with my glove on, I could feel the all too familiar texture of his feathers...if only I hadn't been wearing this… "Are you alright, Falco?"

"Y-yeah, thanks a bunch," He shakily smiled, reassuring me somewhat. "Don't usually get my tailfeathers saved like that...heh…"

"Wow, that was just…" Slippy gasped, before quickly aiming at the petrified grunts. "Stick em up! W-well, you're already...uh...Keep em that way!"

"What should we do with these two idiots…?" The blue falcon raised an eyebrow and let go of my hand.

I silently approached them and quickly snatched a security key from one of the two, not breaking my line of sight with them. They shuddered at me, likely staring at their own reflection in my visor.

"If you know what's best for yourselves," I quietly stated, scowling at them. "You will run."

Without hesitation, they simply fled down a hallway from us, leaving us alone with eight bodies and blaring alarms. That was the best decision of their lives. I turned to Slippy, who was fiddling with a datapad that displayed a map of the area. He silently pointed down the hallway. With a nod, I proceeded down the hall, gun at the ready. Slippy followed closely behind us me as Falco retrieved his blaster and covered our rears. I took a brief moment to appreciate the underwater views of ocean we got from the multitude of windows. If only I had my Gravity Suit in case any floods happened…

We passed through labs with all sorts of experimental equipment Andrew was developing for his army. Blueprints and plans were laid out across several different holographic screens. What I was told was true. Andrew was a brilliant inventor. Pity, he could've been useful. But in the corner of one of the labs was something that made my heart skip a beat. Vats of phazon. Of course they'd have this. The three of us stood frozen, observing the viscous blue substance that writhed in its container like a living being, seemingly wanting to break out of its confinement. After a brief moment of silence, I spoke up.

"We need to destroy this facility," I grunted in a low tone, glaring at the radioactive substance that almost destroyed my very physical being all those years ago. Would I ever escape this nightmarish chemical…? "We need to take out whatever experimental phazon weaponry they have here. And whatever plans they have."

"No objections from me…" Falco grunted and held his arm that sustained phazon damage tightly. "The less of this hell stuff, the better."

"Taking their data and blowing up their base…" Slippy commented. "...that'll teach em a lesson."

We turned to leave, but Falco stopped us, his eyes tightening skeptically and scanning the environment.

"Something is seriously off…" he whispered and poked his head through the door into the empty halls. "It's quiet...too quiet."

"You're sounding like Peppy, but…" Slippy gulped and looked around nervously as well. "You're right, this is suspicious...I'd expect way more resistance than this…"

"Let's just use this to get further in for now," I scowled and made sure the area was clear, grasping my arm cannon tightly. "The data room probably isn't far now."

After a few more minutes of minimal resistance, we made it to a large circular metal door that lead into a glass tube through the water. It was rather beautiful. We stopped for but a brief moment to admire the sea floor and all its local fauna. It reminded me of...Zebes, specifically Maridia. It's been too long...focus, Samus...you had a mission to complete. Exiting the tube was a dark room with a raised platform in front of a screen. Behind the screen was a giant mainframe. Bingo. The database. Slippy took no time to run up the stairs onto the platform and started hacking. Falco and I immediately took our places watching the door.

"You guys cover me, downloading everything might take some time!" Slippy shouted down while typing.

"Way ahead of you, 'Slip," Falco smirked and looked over to me. Knowing it was only him that was watching, I lowered my visor to look at him with slightly softer eyes. His resemblance to a Chozo was...uncanny. His smirk widened as he stared at me, shuffling slightly closer. "Hey, forgot to say how good you were back there, really saved my skin…"

He shot a glance over his shoulder to Slippy and whispered.

"Genuine sappy moments in front of others is something I can't do much."

I felt my lips contort into a slight smile. Not often I let myself show much physical emotion...how was he so able to get through my exterior so effortlessly…? Was he just naturally attuned to this? I let myself study the avian for just long enough to realise my visor was not opaque and he raised an eyebrow. I averted my gaze back to the door and stammered a response.

"I understand where you come from…in this line of—"

I was cut off by a distortion in the air in front of me. Immediately I turned on my thermal visor and caught a glimpse of an invisible Shadow Pirate Elite. In a moment of panic, I yelled out a warning and raised my cannon to shoot and shoved Falco out of the way of an incoming strike. He stumbled away as one of the elites forcefully grabbed my arm cannon and shoved it out of the way of him. I quickly jabbed him in the head with the side of my free hand, knocking the pirate back and decloaking him. I quickly spun around and backhanded the other with my canon, revealing him too. With their covers blown, they extended their wrist blades and attempted to rush Slippy's position. One somersaulted over my head but was quickly countered by a swift kick from Falco, who shot the elite a few times, but the pirate's armour was too thick. Falco immediately started getting pushed back by the enemy's swift strikes and slashes. I tried to help, but got kicked down by the other. I quickly rolled out of the way, its sword colliding with the ground where my neck should have been. Adrenaline started pumping through my veins as I struggled to even lift myself off the ground as these particular elites seemed to be experts in CQC. Damnit. Even as I kicked myself up to my feet, I could barely aim at this bastard because he was far to nimble and avoidant. I growled lowly and grit my teeth.

"Get off me, you bastard!" hissed Falco as he barely pushed the Shadow Elite off him and into a series of exposed pipes. In a quick moment of panic, I shot the pipe nearest to it, causing a rupture of coolant to spray all over the pirate. It screamed as alarms blared and its body began freezing slowly and painfully. As it froze, I shot a single, fatal missile at it, causing him to shatter. I could not celebrate this moment of victory for long, as I was tackled by the remaining elite. He pinned me down by the neck and held my cannon down with his foot. As much as I struggled, I couldn't escape his grip. Damnit, these pirates earned their names. It lifted its arm high to execute me with his sword, but was fatally shot by an injured Falco, who had placed his gun point blank on the neck joint of the pirate's armour. The elite choked and clutched its neck, falling off of be, dead.

"You ok, Sam?" Falco asked, eyes full of worry, his hand outstretched for me. Gladly, I let him lift me to my feet. (even if he did struggle because of how much larger I was than him.) We both walked over to Slippy, who was pale and shuddering, but unharmed thankfully. "Where the heck did those assholes come from…?"

"B-best not to stick around at wait..." Slippy stuttered and pulled a data storage device out of the mainframe console and placing it into his datapad. "Got their plans and deleted any backups on this system...now all that's left to do is-"

"Destroy this godforsaken base," I finished with a scowl and accessed the mainframe; whose passwords and firewalls were already breached by the toad. I cracked my neck and braced myself as I hovered my hand over the self destruct command. I looked at the other two and nodded. "Ready?"

They both silently nodded. With their confirmation, I activated the Self Destruct sequence.

"Warning: Self Destruct Sequence Initiated. Repeat, Self Destruct Sequence Initiated, Five minutes until detonation." The AI's voie blared over the speakers as red alarms began flashing wildly. I shot a super missile at the mainframe just to make sure this wasn't aborted. Without hesitation or even words, we started running to the exit. As soon as the door opened, I gunned down several Space Pirates and apes who were caught off guard by the doors opening. Once they were out of the way, we began rushing down the winding halls to the freight elevator. "Four Minutes until detonation. Please Evacuate the Facility immediately."

"A-according to the map," Slippy stammered, mostly exhausted by the running. "There should be an escape pod bay nearby, We'll have more than enough time to reach it at this rate!"

I nodded as he uploaded the map to my HUD's minimap.

"Three Minutes until detonation," warned the AI as we entered the escape pod bay; met with immediate resistance by Space Pirate and Ape forces alike. A pirate lunged to us with both blades extended, but was immediately shot in the chest and knocked aside by Slippy, who firmly, yet shakily held his gun. A few of the pods launched as I shot a few apes down. A pirate almost grabbed the amphibian, but was torn down by a very defensive Falco. "Two Minutes until detonation. Please vacate the area as soon as possible."

We all rushed into one of the few remaining escape pods; First Slippy, Falco, then finally myself. Though the life vessel launching knocked me down on top of the bird, who made very prolonged and awkward eye contact with me. Was my visor still down…? My face burned as it quickly came on. After a brief, and very awkward ride on the pod, it surfaced...and was subsequently launched into the air by the subsequent explosion that followed. We were in the air for an upwards of seconds harshly landing on the ocean. We were dazed, disoriented...but very much alive. Thankfully. Despite the launched water falling down like rain, the skies were blue and clear. The GF and Cornerian fleets hovered victoriously above Aquas' ocean. Mission Complete! I called my ship for a pickup as I busted open the hatch and stood atop the pod triumphantly with my peers, shooting single flare out of my arm cannon.

"Slippy, Falco, Samus?!" Fox called over the radio, panic and relief obvious in his voice. "Are you guys alright?! We got really worried when your signals died in there…"

"We're as good as ever, Flyboy," Falco chuckled into his comms. "Like I said, I'm not dying until you by me that beer!"

"We got the data and destroyed whatever they had down there, too!" Slippy exclaimed happily. "It's some real juicy stuff too!"

"Good job, guys!" A light female voice called. Fay; the spaniel, I believe it was. "I knew you could do it!"

"That'll throw a spanner into their plans, heh." Krystal breathed a sigh of relief. "Good work, you three."

"Darn it! If I knew there was going to be explosions involved, I should've joined you guys!" The tomboy Lynx jokingly complained. "I'm coming next time!"

"Whatever the case," Fox began. "The General and Admiral will definitely be happy with the results."

As my gunship closed in on us, our celebrations were cut short by a distress signal.

"Distress call from Katina! We are under attack! Massive invading force has hit the planet lightning fast! Casualties are high! We need backup!"

End of Chapter...