AN: Thank you for all the feedback, I made the effort to include a little more family time as so many requested. Hope you enjoy the latest chapter as we begin the story arc with Venom!
Fighting Back
1311 Hours, Winter 14th, 1994 (Local Time) Corneria City, Central City Ambulatory Complex, Medical Wing Theta
Cornerian medicine was incredible.
While the UNSC had made breakthroughs in several medical fields, much of their practice still revolved around stabilizing a patient and encouraging the natural healing process. This was often supplemented by procedures such as skin/organ grafts or cloning, and organic-electro impulse induced prosthetics when carbon fiber reinforcement weave was not enough to save a damaged limb.
In the Lylat System, a long technological exploration of precision lasers and tissue-regenerative enzymes was employed by their medical corps to direct the healing process in the body manually, followed by a much shorter recovery time as the patient acclimated.
It was for this reason that Logan left the hospital in no later than two days. Wincing as he felt the sensitive skin on his ribcage flex under his sterile polymer-fiber bandages, the human teenager took a deep breath of the urban afternoon in downtown Corneria City.
Fresh air was always nice after a stint in a medical wing.
"Glad we're outta that friggin' place."
He looked over, finding Wolf O'Donnell itching at the temporary eye patch covering his healing eye socket. Sure enough, getting shot in the head wasn't enough to kill off the delinquent lupine.
"I hear you man, service was good but the food was lousy."
They made a strange pair. A furless alien and an intimidating wolf, both released from blaster injuries in the ICU. The rumors would be flying until the news caught up with the report whenever the police deigned to make a statement.
"You got a ride?" Logan asked.
A more gentle smile on the lupine's muzzle, which you wouldn't notice unless you knew him well.
"Fara's here."
Sure enough, the familiar pretty fennec was parked out in front, waving to them from her black sports hovercar.
"I'll leave you two alone. See you tonight."
"You got it."
The wolf and human fist bumped. Logan watched for a moment as Fara hugged the one-eyed lupine tightly, whispering something in his ear before waving to him. He waved back, and turned away to afford them some privacy and wait for his own ride.
The blue sky overhead held only a few wisps of cloud buffeting through the sub-stratosphere, the light of the system's star illuminating the brilliant white architecture jutting from the busy alien streets. Down the grey concrete steps outside of the main triage ready room, Logan saw a familiar tomboy swishing her tail next to a parked red hovercycle.
"Hey you," He said warmly. They embraced for a tender moment, before the Lynx slugged him lightly on the shoulder with a grin.
"Hey yourself. Ready to come home?" Miyu was dressed in baggy cargo pants with torn knees and a tight black shirt bearing some Lylat band's logo. A plaid long sleeve was tied about her waist.
"You know it," Logan replied with a sigh. The food in any hospital was never very good. "If I ever have another plate of vitamin gruel with carrot chunks it'll be too soon..."
Miyu laughed, slipping on her helmet and tossing him the spare that had more or less become his own.
He climbed on in his familiar spot behind the feline girl, wrapping his arms around her waist as she flash-started the engine and accelerated out of the parking lot.
It was an unfamiliar part of the city, and normally Logan would be taking in the sights, however he stared blankly ahead as the last conversation he had with his brother alone played through his mind.
The Lynx family had spent a few hours chatting with Adrian during his visit. It was a strange duality, seeing the brothers only a few years apart yet one hardened by his short and violent career in the Marines, and the other nine years younger with that war orphan edge softened by his time with the Lynx host family.
Adrian clearly had a more shameless streak, as he'd made Logan facepalm when he jokingly offered to have an affair with Catherine if she got jealous of her daughter. Thankfully the Cornerian family laughed it off and didn't disown him right then and there.
After exchanging a few private whispers, Miyu kissed Logan's cheek and left with her family for the night. Adrian watched them go with a wistful smile, before turning to his younger brother with a much more serious countenance.
"How bad?" Logan asked quietly.
"FUBAR," Adrian replied.
'Effed Up Beyond All Recognition. A classic colloquialism from the dear old Marine Corps.
"Scuttlebutt is ONI was baited into trying a false flag with the destruction of the CCS Vigilant. Fact of the matter is we're tied up back home with reconstructing the fleets and now the biggest shitbird wrangle ever. ONI overstepped for the last time and Lord Hood finally lost his shit. Now it's cutthroat politics between the Intelligence division's influence clashing with the High Brass still by-the-book."
"What do you think will happen?"
Adrian ran a hand over his buzz cut hair.
"Post-war ONI can't last even with all their favors called in, and however long it takes to wrap things up the shipyards are still working in overdrive. Best estimates have adequate numbers for sustaining what's left of the inner colonies by 2565."
"Ten years? ...That's depressing."
"We never recovered from losing the Reach shipyards. Anyway, that alongside cleaning house effectively cuts off any help we can offer our new friends in Lylat. Having friendly relations with an alien race is great, but HIGHCOM prioritized fighting off the re-emerging Innies and ONI subersion."
"So where do we stand?"
Adrian stared at the floor for a moment, and he seemed older than his years.
"That's your call, little bro. The rest of Battlegroup Myrmidon was broken up when the mission was scrubbed. Captain argued like hell with HIGHCOM and whoever volunteered to keep fighting stowed aboard the last frigate we have in the system. There's no cavalry coming to save the day, just us."
A handful of volunteers.
"There's no home for us to come back to. Mom, Dad, everyone we cared about died when Tribute was glassed."
The pair were silent, all that was left of their family.
"The corps is my home now. I don't think I'd be able to ever go back to civvie life, it would be like another world."
Many veterans of the Human/Covenant war found reintegration impossible. They haunted what active duty stations remained, unable or unwilling to leave behind what had become their life in the corps.
Adrian smiled, something far too tired in his eyes.
"Fighting was the only thing I was ever good at, but I'll always fight for what I believe in. Even in a galaxy far, far away."
He looked at his younger brother, marveling at the newfound life in his sibling's eyes since their last meeting.
"You need to make your own choice in life; What to do with it, and where to make your home. Whatever you decide, we'll always be family."
The words echoed long after he had climbed aboard that Pelican back to his duty station.
They pulled into the Lynx family driveway.
It had only been a few days, but Logan had already started to miss the cream colored building in the sedate, cozy neighborhood. The smell of baked goods filled his nose, and the sounds of kits playing down the streets brought comfort to him.
He thought about what his brother had said. What he wanted to do with his life.
Human. Cornerian. UNSC. Lylat. Venom. ODST.
Star Fox.
He couldn't change the past, but there was a future for him here, and he wanted to fight for it. When all the labels were stripped away, he was simply Logan Jones; And he wanted to protect this peaceful world and build a life with the tomboy that had melted his heart.
The pair of teenagers slipped their helmets off in the garage, but Miyu paused as Logan gently took her elbow in the dim lighting as the auto-hatch rolled shut. She turned back, looking at him curiously.
She was beautiful in every way. From the tall black ears peaked with errant tufts of fur, to the sensual pattern of her amber fur cascading along her feminine features and strong, tight arms. The creamy white of her muzzle and neck almost glowed in the subdued light of the garage, her muzzle teased open in an unspoken question.
He kissed her.
His hands palmed the side of her downy cheek and a full hip, pressing her up against the wall as his human jaw met feline muzzle. Their lips matched, tongues exploring each other's wet, warm kiss with a fever different from the time at the houseparty. Miyu moaned softly, the feminine sound unusual coming from the tough girl who so often enjoyed teasing her dweeb. Logan sighed into their kiss when her claws gently raked through his hair, doing things to him he hadn't ever imagined. His chest was flush against hers, and their thighs wedged together with heat in the tight proximity.
He kissed her as hard as he could, and the Lynx returned his ministrations with just as fierce attention.
They pulled apart only when both finally had the need to gasp for air, warm in both the chest and face. Blue eyes met grey, and the teens spoke to each other only by the look they shared in the dark.
Clothes were straightened, and Miyu licked her palm and swept back some fur that was suggestively mussed up.
Looking somewhat respectable again, the pair entered the home.
"There you are kits! You're just in time for a late lunch. Kyle put the casserole to warm in the processor." Catherine peeked over into the entry from the kitchen, her patchwork calico fur bright indoors. There was a drumbeat of little steps, and then Abby came racing around the corner to latch onto Logan's leg.
"Big bro!"
Logan laughed, picking up the little furball and making her shriek with laughter when he tickled her behind the ears.
"Hey there, you didn't eat everything before we got here, right?"
"Nuh uh!"
"That's good, you can tell me what you did at school while I was gone, how about that?"
"Yeah!"
The tiny Lynx girl kicked her legs back and forth as he carried her, explaining how they started a new sports program in school. Miyu walked up alongside and set her chin on Logan's shoulder, watching her little sister chatter brightly. Catherine elbowed her husband, and they murmured together at the sight.
They never could have imagined what the human boy would turn out to be in their household. Even their rough-around-the-edges daughter had mellowed out with him in her life, though Miyu was still a wildcat at heart. Watching him cradle Abby in his arms, they could almost imagine seeing the pair in ten years time holding their own precious bundle of fur.
"Come take a seat kits," Kyle said wiping his glasses, "It's Eladard Casserole tonight, with fresh pochi from the garden."
Logan sat at the kitchen table next to Miyu, with Abby pulled up next to him. Both Kyle and Catherine took their seats opposite, and soon the little family was wrapped up in the comfortable warmth of a meal together that they had all missed for some time.
"...then we saw a vid about human spessships!"
"Oh yeah? What do you think?" He took a bite of casserole. Whatever 'pochi' was, it was similar to a spicy tomato with a delicious flavor, he'd have to remember to ask Kyle how to make it.
"How come human ships are so ugly? You don't color in the lines..." Abby stared up at him with that brutal honesty children have.
The human teen covered his mouth as a laugh made his ribs ache. Miyu snickered next to him.
"I agree," she muttered, "Your ships have all the style of a grey brick in space."
"They're more or less a giant railgun with engines. Cornerian ships look pretty sleek, I'll say that much."
Abby fished out a paper from her school bag.
"I drew you this one to make you get better."
Logan picked up the paper, smiling at the grey and blue scribbles that depicted what might be a destroyer with six engines, no gun emplacements, and a large glass cabin that stick figures vaguely resembling himself and the two Lynx sisters.
Cutting edge avionics, even the Earth shipyards couldn't do better.
"I love it, thanks kitten."
He ruffled her ears and Abby dug into her plate of casserole with a wide smile.
The conversation around the table picked up, and it seemed like the past few days were just a bad dream.
He remembered Adrian's words, and made his choice.
The McCloud's basement had become the official war room for the gang.
Late in the evening, they had all trickled in. Bill and Fay back from dinner at her place. Falco slouching in with his shades pulled up, and Katt swishing her hips behind him with a smile. Slippy back from the public
"Looks like we're all here." Fox nodded, looking about. With Logan and Wolf back in the fold, it seemed like they were whole once more. The vulpine remembered when he used to consider Slippy and Falco his closest friends and the future of the Star Fox team; Now he couldn't imagine fighting without the variety of companions that had crashed into each other's lives.
"Not for Venom's lack of trying," Falco quipped elbowing Wolf, who shrugged it off.
"Too stubborn to die." The lupine's teeth were visible in his devil-may-care grin.
They gathered in a circle, looking to McCloud as he cleared his throat.
"It's been a rough couple days, but we pulled through. What I asked you all to come by tonight to discuss was what we do next."
Sharper gazes, the good natured joking absent.
"Venom is already expanding their territory. Zoness and Macbeth are already under occupation, and it looks like Titania is in their sights next. While Corneria's parliament argues, Andross is solidifying his resources in the system. Even worse is how our newest friends on the block were cleverly taken out of the picture, Logan?"
The human nodded, and laid out his own brief.
"With the baiting of the CCS Vigilant, Andross triggered a civil war in our already over-extended forces. The UNSC is in no position to offer more than a handful of volunteer forces, and even if they could the diplomatic fallout has been severe. Andross played his cards well and cut off any significant interference from us Humans."
Fox resumed, even as an uncomfortable atmosphere developed at the news.
"Strategically, Venom has been free to run their foundries and shipyards for years while Corneria never wavered in our output beyond what the CDF updates in peacetime patrols. Now with both Zoness and Macbeth hosting new factories, they extended their reach beyond what any of the military analysts might have dreamed."
The vulpine frowned, eyes hard.
"Parliament is still dragging their heels and worlds are falling one by one to the Venomian war machine. At the rate they're going, it's likely they'll be able to launch an invasion of Corneria within a year."
Silence.
Logan nodded to himself, having come to the same conclusion Fox did during their chats. For the other animals in the room, it was an unthinkable concept. Growing up in peace time didn't necessarily make them naive, only that it was difficult to put such a threat into context.
"The times come, and we have to act."
Wolf's words rang harshly, emphasized by the well-earned eye patch that he now wore.
"If you want to defend your home, you can't wait for someone to do it for you. You have to get up and fight for it with your own paws."
The Macbeth civil war had left its mark on the young lupine. Logan shared a pointed look with the fellow war orphan.
"He's right."
Katt Monroe, usually full of teasing commentary was as serious as the group had ever seen her, "I say we bring the fight to them. Folks on Zoness and Macbeth are suffering under Andross's heel, and I say the cure is fighting for Lylat's freedom with a dash of thrilling heroics!"
"Yeah," Bill Grey's deep voice chimed in, "If we stand by and do nothing, the whole Lylat system will belong to Venom."
Fay's eyes sparkled next to her boyfriend, "It won't be easy, but with all of us together I know we'll pull through!"
Falco folded his wings behind his head, "Beats waiting for the chumps to come onto our turf, any day!"
Slippy was almost bouncing up and down in excitement, "Yeah, yeah! I've been dying to try out making some of the tech Logan told me about! Those 'nomies won't know what hit 'em!"
Fox looked across the group, with his father's eyes through war stories and the wisdom of the generation that came before.
Pilot. Technician. Infiltrator. Survivalist. Soldier. Wingman. Specialist. Interceptor.
They had a fighting chance, and that's all one could ever hope for against the odds.
"That settles it," McCloud muttered, proud of his friends, "We're going to fight for the freedom of all Lylat, and take the fight to Andross."
Many hearts, united by common purpose and the bonds of friendship.
"Good luck."