Chapter 9- Meeting the Generals

: 2 Days after the Events of Operation Rabbit Hole:

(Cornerian Fleet Command Head Quarters)

The building that represented the Cornerian Fleet Commands Head Quarters was located just outside of the main capital city. Built during the Lylat Wars, the building was actually functioned as a fortress and was made of concrete and painted green that made it resemble a large bunker that had some modern influences like glass windows. With seven stories along with who knows how many underground floors and spanning 500 yards in width and length the building was a formidable sight to behold.

Inside the structure however one might think they were in a modern office building with a strict dress code. Uniformed personnel walked briskly from desk to desk with paper work and were typing away on old punchers *1 or a computer. Despite there being a large number of people in the building at any given time there was usually a sense of order and calmness to the environment… today however seemed to be an exception.

The usual calm and collected personnel where franticly jogging and running around all the while shouting orders or questions to each other. Paper littered the ground and desks as officers made calls, furiously typed away at whatever device they had in front of them, and rifled through filing cabinets. Seeing the interior of the building now the word hectic would be a large understatement.

It was this scene that Reaper arrived to witness. Striding throw the sea of panic and uncertainty while not running into anyone or slowing anyone down was a feat in and of itself. Without breaking stride Reaper made his way to an elevator with two guards standing on either side. As he approached the soldiers standing guard noticed him and after giving him a nod allowed him access to the elevator.

"Thank god that here at least people don't hate me for being human." Reaper thought as he pressed the button for sub level four. As the elevator descended into the underground floors of the facility Reaper listened as the elevator music played the Cornerian Military Anthem which was in his opinion better than most elevator music in human space. Thankfully the Lylat system never got the seemingly mandatory, terrible elevator music memo.

As the elevator arrived at sub level 4 the doors opened to reveal a grey room that was barren of any furniture and only sported a metal grey reinforced door on the far wall with a guard standing next to it. Unlike the guards up at the elevator entrance who were wearing the standard military green uniforms this guard was wearing different attire.

The soldier was a male hyena with the customary brown fur with black spots that was typical of his species. He had piercing gold eyes that where only highlighted by his all black attire of T-shirt, cargo pants, and combat boots. The soldier Reaper stood at an impressive 6'7 and was heavily built and carried himself with an air of confidence that one could only find with an elite soldier. Reaper would have expected no less from General Hare's personal bodyguard though.

As Reaper approached the soldier he gave a nod "Jacco."

"Reaper" Jacco responded in a rough voice that had a friendly air to it despite its harshness.

"Not to late am I?"

"No your right on time, everyone else is inside trying to get their heads out of their ass." Jacco answered with a humorous and condescending tone at the thought of the higher-ups usual mucking about. Reaper stepped up to the left side of the door and inserted a card into a small slot in the wall while at the same time pressing his right thumb on a certain tile above the slot, Jacco mimicked his actions on the right side of the door. After a few seconds a chime was heard and the door swished open. Reaper and Jacco took their card and quickly walked through the door.

The pair now made their way down a hallway with glass walls that led to rooms filled with Lylat's most hi tech computers and information gathering systems. Each one of these was manned by a worker who was hunched over and reading quickly. In stark contrast to the chaos above the individuals here where working just as quickly but where still calm and orderly. This floor, unlike the floor above which was just for administrative and public relations purposes, this floor was the Cornerian Militaries code breaking and information gathering area known as CICC or Communication Intelligence and Command Center.

"So how's the misses?" Reaper asked as the two made their way to pair of doors at the end of the hallway guarded by two armed black uniformed soldiers with an emblem of a sword on their right shoulder showing them to be Special Operations Units (SOU).

"She's doing well where expecting actually."

"Congratulations. How far along is she?"

"2 months and some of the behaviors are starting to show up."

"Ah, my sympathies but if you bear with it and you'll have a little cub as a reward."

"Yea I know this will be our 3rd, I will have to try and come up with something to tell my 2nd eldest he's only 8 and won't know why his mother is acting different."

"Least you'll have the your eldest to help out."

"Yea I already told him and he's ecstatic about getting another sibling. He is going to be helping look out for Vena when I'm not around the house."

"Good. I wish you luck, tell me when the date gets close I come to the cub wash*2." Reaper finished as they walked through the doors while returning a salute to the two spec ops guards.

The two entered a large room with a holo-projector in the form of a long table in the center. Various computers littered the walls with analysts poring over their data. This was the Crisis and Control Center. One could communicate and command the entirety of the Cornerian Military from this room. Around the table stood five individuals that Reaper recognized as General Hare along with Admirals Hood, Terrance, Stratford, and Halsey the admirals of each of the Cornerian militaries four space fleets.

General Hare looked up at the pair's arrival "Ah Commander Reaper, Captain Jacco. Come join us we were just about to begin." Reaper and Jacco joined the admirals and general around the table at which point General Hare began.

"As you all now know exactly two days ago Operation Rabbit Hole commenced and bore overwhelming success with the discovery of Cerinia and its surviving inhabitants along with James McCloud. Since then we have successfully extracted the survivors from the frozen planet and have them currently aboard three colonization vessels, Second Chance, Renewed Hope, and New Horizons. Our current objective is to transfer them to one of Papetoon's moons Dubilous until such a time as we are able to extract Cerinia and terraforming it to an inhabitable climate. As you also know I announced yesterday to the public that we had found the Cerinian people and where relocating them."

"Excuse me General but we already know this why where we called here?" asked Admiral Stratford a male bloodhound, with an agitated voice. He stood at 5'8 and had been behind a desk for too long as was made apparent by his potbelly. Stratford commanded the 3rd fleet and was overall the newest Admiral of the group. His 3rd fleet usually patrolled the area around Cornerian Military Base on Katina.

"Now Stratford let the general finish." said the silky feminine voice of Admiral Halsey. Rachel Halsey was the youngest Admiral ever, the female artic wolf was considered one of the most sought after individuals in Lylat, right up there with Ashley Vulama. She had an amazing figure that was still accented by her uniform showing off her large assets and shapely rear. Her amber eyes held a mischievous glint that hide a frighteningly sharp intellect that served her well on the fringes of Lylat space. She was considered a genius and may have even given Rook a run for his money. She commanded the 4th fleet and had her ships spread out patrolling the fringes of Lylat space and constantly confronted pirates and slavers.

General Hare gave her an appreciative nod before his face grew serious "We were planning to move the Cerinian's in tomorrow afternoon however our recent intercepts of known pirate and slaver channels has indicated that they know about the operation and are planning to attack. As some of you can imagine a Cerinian will likely fetch a high price in the slave industry. However what really has us concerned is that how the ancestors the pirates found out details of a top secret operation like this. We have concluded that the most likely solution is that we have a leak somewhere high up in our command chain."

Silence descended on the room as those present digested this. Until Admiral Terrance of the 2nd fleet spoke up. "That is a grave accusation sir. If we go on a witch hunt for this turncoat and the accusations turn out to be false there'll be a mutiny."

"Not to mention the field day the press will have if this got out." Admiral Hood of the 1st Fleet an old Scottish terrier and veteran of the Lylat Wars spoke up.

"Yes I know that is why you must conduct your investigations as quietly as possible admirals. For the mean time however we must consider what to do about protecting the Cerinians. I don't need to remind you all that Cerinia was a major military power before Andross imprisoned them. They are also technically rather advanced despite their tribal traditions and culture. They wished to be left alone before the Lylat Wars and now they are likely even more opposed to outside contact. We were frankly lucky that they had no option but to accept out help in relocating them. It is imperative that we protect them and demonstrate that we mean only the best for them. Krystal and Fox McCloud have already left to reunite with their families but we need to put a strong foot forward in protecting them." General Hare explained.

Reaper smirked at the memory of breaking the news to the two a few days ago.

: Flashback:

(1 hour and 30 minutes after operation Rabbit Hole)

Krystal and Fox had no idea what was going on and that was what made them as anxious as they now where. The blue vixen and male fox had been in their rooms on the Great Fox in orbit over Corneria when both herself and Fox where called into the hanger by an urgent message from ROB of a shuttle coming to pick them up. Once it arrived they quickly boarded and discovered that the craft was piloted by none other than Reaper. After boarding the shuttle they had quickly left the Great Fox and traveled down to the main Cornerian air force base in Corneria City and then ushered into a room.

As Krystal and Fox sat there in the old interrogation room they quickly wondered what was going on and what they did wrong. As the two sat there the door to the room opened and General Peppy Hare walked thru the door.

As the two Star Fox members jumped to stand at attention their old mentor raised a hand.

"Please at ease this is not official business."

As the two relaxed and returned to sitting down Fox spoke up.

"Um... General?! Why where we brought here?"

The general smiled and responded in a happy tone.

"You were brought here Fox because of operation Rabbit Hole, a joint recon mission by the Cornerian Army and the Venom Defense Force."

Krystal tilted her head to the side slightly.

"Operation Rabbit Hoe?" the vixen asked.

General Hare nodded "Yes operation Rabbit Hole was, until about an hour ago, going to be a black op done by Shadow Team and the Cornerian Military as well as the Venom Defense Force with the intent to investigate one of Andross's old experiments."

Fox shot up from his seat.

"WHAT! Why didn't you destroy whatever abysmal work that lunatic was working on? Furthermore why send Reaper's Team and not Star Fox?" the team leader asked/shouted.

"Because the possible findings of this mission would have been too much for you to handle with a cool head." The General responded in a calm voice. "The mission was to attempt to enter the black hole Andross created, and I'm happy to report that thanks to some intensive planning and technical support from the humans and Venom Defense Force the operation was more successful then we dreamed."

"How was it successful? What did you find?" Krystal asked.

Peppy smiled "What we found was your home world Cerinia, Krystal."

Both of the members of Star Fox sat there shocked before Krystal spoke up in a shaky voice "B-But I t-though Cerinia was d-de…"

"Destroyed? So did we at first, but we had our suspicions about its fate for a while now and our suspicions where confirmed by operation Rabbit Hole. It seemed Andross had decided to experiment on Cerinia and its people and flung it into the same black hole he threw James McCloud into. Eventually sometime after the war we picked up a distress signal coming from the black hole, something that should have been impossible." The old Hare explained. "Shadow team member Wraith deduced that it was possible that the black hole was actually a sort of prison that had a hollow center and when receiving a certain signal a wormhole would appear on the surface and allow objects to pass through. We then deduced that the distress signal was able to partially recreate that signal and thus reached us on the far side. Having deduced this, the Cornerian Argo class Heavy Cruiser "Vigilant" entered the black hole with Shadow team members Preacher and Rook on board. They found Cerinia frozen over and, upon further investigation, found there objective."

"What did they find?" Fox asked in anticipation.

The General looked at them and with a contented sigh answered "One James McCloud and 380,000 Cerinians including Krystal's parents King and Queen Cerinia."

Fox and Krystal's jaws collectively hit the floor. A few minutes passed before Krystal spoke up.

"M-my parents…My people are alive?" the blue vixen asked disbelievingly.

"My father was there as well?" Fox added.

Peppy nodded "We are bringing in a shuttle that will take you to where the rescue mission is wrapping up to meet them in person." Their old teammate finished as he gestured to the door beckoning them to leave. "Now get out of here…unless you want to wait around-" he was interrupted by the sounds of two individuals running out the room. "Humph kids these days."

As the two exited the room they came face to face with Reaper. The human looked at them for a half second then stated in a calm tone "I expect not to see you in class for the next week but you better keep you skills up and work out while you're gone, is that understood?" the human stated with a slight smile.

The two foxes nodded as they practically ran down the corridor. They didn't see or hear Peppy emerge from the room and start a discussion with Reaper.

: End Flashback:

"What do you have in mind Sir?" Admiral Terrance asked and also managing to bring back Reaper from his memories.

"The Cerinians military force has not seen action in a long time but they still have a few pilots with decent abilities that we have given Arwings to. My plan is for a contingent of the 3rd fleet to accompany them to Paptoon along with the Cerinia fighters. Admiral you can do this?" General Hare looked to Stratford who mulled it over before giving a nod. "Very well then Commander Reaper will your Shadow Team be able to assist?"

All present turned to Reaper who looked down in thought before giving a hesitant nod. "As I also have a duty to the school I cannot bring the full squadron but I can guarantee myself and two other Shadow team members will be there to cover them. With your permission though Admiral I would like to bring some of my students that I believe are ready to the operation as well."

General Hare raised a grey haired eyebrow in question "Why so eager to get them out in the field?"

"Sir right now my students are getting better but they need to see the results of their training with their own eyes. We also need to get the new prototypes developed by Phoenix Arms tested in actual combat situations. We also have the benefit of demonstrating the new generation of fighter pilots to the public."

"What if one of the gets killed however! The press would destroy us if we get an academy student killed in a live battle when they weren't ready!" Admiral Terrance interjected.

"That is why myself and my two squadron mates will be there to keep them safe." Reaper replied calmly.

"If you believe them to be ready, than by all means bring them as well commander." answered General Hare. "Now if that is all than all forces that will be covering the colony ships are to join up at the Beltino Orbital Gate at 0930 tomorrow, dismiss." General Hare finished with a salute that was returned by all before everyone started to leave the room.

"Now who am I going to bring?" Tyler thought as he made his way out of the room and on his way to the academy.

: Lylat Flight Academy, just after classes:

Reaper sat looking at the students before him and his team. The rest of the students had left the school by now and where likely thinking that Reaper had called the group that was before him back for some kind of disciplinary action, the truth was far more terrifying however. Before him and the rest of Shadow team stood nine students composed of Wolf, Isme, Falco, Katt, Jasmine, Fang, Nick, Miyu, and Ilia.

Wolf overall had been making remarkable progress in the class likely due to his natural piloting ability and aggressive nature made for a talented fighter pilot and helped him quickly adapt to the new tactics and physical demands of the Advanced Arial Combat Class. In all honesty Reaper believed that Wolf had progressed enough to be able to graduate the class if barely but Reaper decided to keep him in order for two important factors to be met. One was that Reaper believed that by keeping Wolf in the class he would get even better and eventually graduate as an elite pilot whose skills could challenge anyone in Lylat or Human space, he had that much potential. The second reason Reaper kept him in the school was to make friends. Wolf had still not made any attempt to socialize with his classmates but then again no one attempted to talk with him likely due to his reputation, although Reaper had noticed that Isme kept giving the notorious pilot odd looks.

Speaking of Isme the shy girl was a rather surprising in terms of her piloting ability. She had a knack for team work and seemed to find a way to support her comrades in the perfect way regardless of the situations and often despite the pilot's mistakes. Reaper believed that it was likely under Isme's protection that Edmond had earned his fame. Despite this the female cobra's determination to help others had driven her to be one of the better pilots in the class despite going largely unnoticed because of her support role.

Falco had more or less shaped up his behavior toward Reaper since their initial meeting though it could be that he was just hiding it better. The avian was making decent progress in adapting to the demand of the class but had trouble with turning while at hi speed. That said the avian seemed to relish speed and going as fast as possible, more so than any other individual in the class. Reaper believed that the avian was better suited to fly interceptors than air supremacy craft*3. Falco though had another issue that he was not aware of but was painfully obvious to Reaper and a few others, that being his relationship with Katt.

Katt was above average in the class having a more well-rounded aptitude for all types of flying. She had been rather nice to Reaper and Shadow team as well as everyone else in the class. Her upbeat personality made her rather easy for anyone to befriend the pink furred feline. However Katt had one issue and that was with her supposed boyfriend Falco. Reaper had noticed that whenever Katt had tried to spend time with Falco he either ignored her or said he had something important to do. Reaper believed that Falco was attempting to better his piloting skills by training on his own but he was so focused on this task that he was ignoring Katt. Though she did a good job at hiding it Reaper knew that each time Falco ignored her advances she was deeply hurt. Sooner or later Reaper knew that something in their relationship would have to give and this worried him.

Speaking of relationship issues, standing next to the feline was a certain female robin named Jasmine. Death had mentioned to Reaper that he had noticed that Jasmine had no real boyfriend or potential boyfriend based on some conversations Death had overheard between her and her friend Stella. Normally this wouldn't be a cause for concern however Jasmine had expressed a desire for romance as she apparently was starting to believe herself undesirable and was starting to affect her flying. The robin had shown an aptitude for flying a support role however now she was beginning to doubt herself which was tantamount to suicide for a combat pilot. Reaper thankfully had a plan to counter this involving a bet Preacher lost and certain glances he had been sending the troubled robin.

One of the other students standing before Reaper was Lucas. In truth the veteran Cornerian Military pilot was somewhat a mystery to Reaper. He was an expert combat pilot with no foreseeable flaws however he always seemed to keep at arm's length with his peers. His responses though not rude where polite and lacked emotion. Reaper suspected that Lucas had bought into the whole don't make friends and you won't be hurt when they die policy that many in the military believed in. Though Reaper liked to have helped he knew that Lucas would have to shed that mentality on his own.

Nickolas or Nick in comparison was well liked by everyone in the class. His somewhat childish demeanor and bright personality along with his drive to become a combat pilot made him everyone's friend. Reaper knew however that he was actually one of the better pilots in the class and had a natural fighting instinct that contradicted his childish behavior. In this regard Nick could almost be described as a special type of pilot known as a Berserker. A Berserker was derived from the old term that applied to warriors that lost themselves in the field of battle and flew into a blood rage, the newer term however referred to individuals whose abilities and personality changed in combat allowing their focus to sharpen their instincts take over and their personality to change to that more of a machine able to process and analyze the movements of their enemies almost instantaneously. Reaper was honestly surprised to find this type of individual in Lylat but was looking forward to see how Nick would be in battle.

The last two students that where standing in front of him where Ilia and Miyu. Ilia had been steadily improving in her flying ability and had sometimes managed to pull turns that her craft shouldn't have been able to take. Reaper had noticed though that despite her superiority in one on one engagement Ilia had trouble dealing with tunnel vision or focusing only on the enemy in front of her and not anything around her. Reaper needed to give her a good wing man until she could overcome this obstacle but for now it wasn't too much a concern after all he and the rest of shadow flight would make up the difference. Ilia had also remained aloof from her fellow students although not to the degree that Wolf did as she would engage in some small talk but nothing in depth. Miyu was a lot friendlier already having friends in the form of the Star Fox group. Miyu was a solid pilot that didn't have any outstanding skills or weaknesses and was also more suited to a support role than charging headfirst into an enemy formation.

These nine students stood before Reaper and the rest of Shadow team with no idea of why they had been called or what they were about to take part in. Reaper looked at them for a minute before speaking up in an authoritative and serious voice "Ladies and Gentlemen you have been called he because I have noticed you rising performance in the simulators and have determined that you are ready for your next great hurdle."

The students looked confused at this and where sharing glances with each other before Isme spoke up "Umm what exactly is this hurdle you mentioned, a test of some kind?"

Reaper gave a thoughtful look before nodding slowly "Yes…I guess in a way it will be a test. This is the live fire mission test. You will be a part of a critical real life mission against very real enemies shooting very real lasers. You pass if you manage to survive." The nervous and confused glances from before had now turned to alarmed and shocked ones.

"Umm, when exactly is this mission?" asked Nick timidly.

Reaper again smiled "Right the Fuck now, pilots report to hanger 9 and man you craft we will brief you in transit dismissed!" Reaper shouted to which the students quickly shot out the door. Reapers than turned to his team "Death, hold down the fort with Rook and Wraith for me will you." Reaper asked to which Death gave a nod from his position of leaning against the wall. "Preacher, Nightmare lets go we have a battle to get to."

"Aww about damn time my aircrafts been collecting dust in that wee hanger. The lass be a fighter craft not a museum display captain." Nightmare stated as he finished off what was left of a scotch and made his way to with Preacher and Reaper toward the door.

"Not too sure what's collected more dust the aircraft or you Nightmare. How long has it been since you've been in a fighter craft sober?" Preacher asked jokingly.

"And when was the last time you got the stick outta your ass Preacher?!" Nightmare retorted before Reaper interrupted them.

"Would you two save talking about your two's bedtime activities for when your alone after the mission. Now come on we got greenhorn pilots to blood." Reaper stated, ignoring the indignant retorts of his two teammates as he walked out the door.

"I KNEW IT!" a loud familiar voice shouted from next to him.

"…Shit." Reaper thought with a grimace as he turned to see an irate Ashley came stalking toward him.

And that is chapter nine! I'm Happy that I was able to get this out in time before New Year's but I still have to update my two other stories still so no rest for me. Anyway below is an explanation of everything that I put an * next to. The number following it corresponds to the explanations below. Thank you all for reading and till next time stay frosty and don't forget to review!

Lylat version of a type writer

Lylat version of a baby shower

Interceptors are designed to fly at extremely high speed in order to intercept high speed bombers or fighters. In WW2 Interceptors where actually used to intercept and destroy Germany's V-2 rockets that where launched against British cities. An example of an interceptor would be the Dassault Mirage 4000.