Author's Note: Thank you all for enjoying the storyline thus far. It has been some time, but the war arc is finally here. Above all else, this is a Star Fox fic, and I've been looking forward to writing the Lylat War for some time now. As always, questions, comments, death threats can be directed via PM, and I'm always happy to hear what you think or would like to see in upcoming chapters.

ZERO HOUR

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them… -Lawrence Binyon

1110Z2SPRING1994 (CDF Military Calender) Early Warning Station EWS959, Cornerian Orbit

"Sir, I've got a ping coming through the belt."

The LADAR technician was fresh out of his technical courses, still possessing that bewildered, uncertain air that rookies eventually grew out of as they grew into their niche. The difference between following regs and following regs in the EWS business depended on the command staff. Considering the multitude of false positives that any iron-rich asteroid might give off as they broke away from the belt, some officers would forego procedure to avoid the hassle of going to Yellow Alert.

"What do you have for me, McCafferty?" The weasel wearing Lieutenant's pips and sunken, sleep-deprived eyes leaned over the young man's swivel chair. The heightened readiness across the CDF's home fleet had been a frantic mess of consolidating their aging hardware and fresh troops as the Venomian war machine inched closer. Yet another bullshit asteroid scan was little cause for excitement.

"Contact bearing 21 mark 118, he's alone sir."

The LT sighed, rubbing his eyes.

"Another stray rock. Log it and reset the LADAR antenna array."

A senior tech whirled from his CIC station, having paused in the middle of bringing their UHF antenna up for a satellite link.

"Sir, that vector is angled directly towards us from the asteroid belt. Rouge orbits don't move like that." The grey feline was in his 50's, one of the few veterans still serving since the Macbeth Civil War.

The LT waved him off.

"Collisions throw some our way all the time, we've already gone to alert twelve times this shift, I'm not pushing the crew any harder if I can help it."

The Staff Sergeant clenched his muzzle, and turned back to his console.

The silence was broken when McCafferty started struggling as the same warning tone came alive.

"I told you to reset that LADAR array." The officer's frustration was audible. It always took some time for fresh boots to get a grip on their routine procedures.

"Yes sir! The contact came up again! Sorry sir."

"What's it's heading and relative speed?" The staff sergeant left his chair and glared at the LADAR screen.

"Bearing 21 mark 118 and… accelerating .08ms."

Fur prickled on the backs of necks. A direct vector and even mild acceleration was not coincidence.

"Get TCC on the line, put out a SONAR ping, I want that zone lit up." The Lieutenant's weariness evaporated, white knuckled as he joined the staff sergeant at the boy's console.

The station would hammer the target area with active SONAR, a variant configured for deep space. The LT was taking a desperate chance. If the anomaly was an enemy ship, he just painted a blinding target on the station that the point defense systems may not intercept in time.

"Tac Comm Control, we have an unidentified contact bearing 21 mark 118, stand by."

"Copy EWS959, patrol group Gamma 2 en route to your position. ETA 15 minutes."

The TCC served as a hub for the Early Warning Stations. With a rotating guard of patrol craft, they served to intercept pirates or debris before it came too close to Corneria's own commercial/mil satellites, let alone the planet itself.

"What's the status on that ping?" The LT asked brusquely.

"I don't understand sir, we're getting intermittent readings, I think it's lag."

The screen showed the oncoming contact with fading echoes trailing behind, some flashing on and others winking out.

The staff sergeant's hackles were up, "That's no rock."

The LT clapped him on the back and the graying feline ran for the emergency alarm with a speed that belied his age. Instantly, warning klaxons blared throughout the station and harsh red light switched over the ambient white. The officer grabbed the comm unit from the floundering young tech.

"TCC, we have positive SONAR contact, direct path, range eleven thousand three hundred klicks. Evaluate as probable enemy carrier masking trailing escort."

Warning lights came on. The SONAR ping had cost them dearly.

"Multiple locks!" Shouted the staff sergeant, "PLS online!"

The Point-Defence Laser System was the last-ditch measure a station could employ to defend itself. Already, the muted whine of optical weaponry discharging could be heard echoing through the bulkheads into the silent darkness beyond.

The sensor crew of EWS959 watched in dawning horror as the LADAR screen depicted red dots fanning out from behind their 'anomaly' making a beeline for the planet.

"They punched through the asteroid field…" The LT whispered in despair.

The belt had been considered a natural defense for Corneria, no ship formation could hope to emerge unscathed through the violent orbit and concentration of iron and ice. Somehow, Venom had cut their way through, and emerged on the least defended vector of the Cornerian homeworld.

There was a heartbeat of furious shouting and activity, just before the plasma torpedos smashed into and overwhelmed the station's shielding in a storm of fire and ruin. Oxygen hissed from the broken shell, glittering debris twisting silently away.

Several red Venomian carrier ships burned angrily past the wreckage, angled into the atmosphere for a combat insertion.

11:45 Hours, Spring 2nd, 1994 (Local Time) Corneria City, CDSS

It was Miyu who saw them first, shouting in alarm as the distant shapes began to strafe the air field of the CDF base a few blocks west of the school.

The unfamiliar silhouette of 'M' shaped starfighters swirled above Corneria City, spreading out in formations as the delayed clamor of their explosive ordinance lit up the morning skylines with violent splashes of orange and red. Acrid black smoke swirled, with the shrill blaring of emergency sirens finally triggered by the assault.

"Hit the deck!" Logan barked as he grabbed the back of Miyu's shirt and roughly pulled her to the floor with him. The human kept his mouth open and covered his ears to equalize pressure as the rest of their classmates scrambled to the floor, just as the shockwave blew the poly-glass window panes apart into a thousand shards across the room.

When the shooting finally starts, there's no notice. You suddenly find yourself under fire, and the adrenaline begins to flow. That familiar, detached sensation gripped Logan once more, and he knew that it was do or die time.

He paused a moment, savoring the sight of the Lynx next to him, as if it might fade away forever in the chaos that would come next.

"This is it sweetheart."

Miyu stared back, her own thoughts and worries warring inside her, and then the steel in her eyes flashing as she bared her fangs.

"There's no where else I'd rather be than with you, dork. Let's do this!"

Logan couldn't suppress the grin at her fighting spirit.

The pair bolted to their feet, shouting orders as they hauled their frightened classmates to the door.

"Get to the bomb shelter! First floor through the red armored doors!" Miyu's hackles were raised as she shoved a coyote unceremoniously out of the class, "C'mon! We've all done the drills!"

The halls were quickly congested as the frenzied throng of students filtered down towards the school's Emergency Bomb Shelter (EBS) that was a holdover from the proxy wars. While old, the shelters had been built to last, and anything short of a direct sustained bombardment would not penetrate the heavily reinforced insta-crete chambers below.

Sirens wailed. From outside the broken windows, the growl of starfighter engines echoed through the city, punctuated by the metallic groans and shattering glass of explosions and the staccato report of laser discharges.

"We need to link up with the others," Logan said as they darted past the colorful mass of animals who were rushing by with barely contained panic, "The armory, like we planned!" Miss Cunningham was at the juncture of the first floor hallways, directing students into the blast shelter with another member of staff. When she looked away both Logan and Miyu slipped away from the main crowds.

The gang had discussed where they should rally in an emergency; The school wasn't an ideal spot to be caught during an invasion, but they had agreed that their best bet would be to break open the armory lockers and fight their way out.

Rounding a corner, the human and lynx found Fox and the others already clustered by the green barred door that led to the school's firing range and armory. McCloud was alert, eyes sharp as the others milled about him; The team leader was already racing over escape routes mentally, and how best to get them out alive and into the air. Fara and Wolf were whispering together in their own moment. Falco was swearing profusely as he tried to force the lock, even as Fay jabbed fiercely at the keypad attempting to bypass the encryption. There was no chance they'd force the door, only military grade security provided by the CDF would be trusted for storing firearms at the high school range.

"I've got this," Logan stepped up past Lombardi, tapping the keypad in the sequence his brother had given him.

VZ5WHATEVERITTAKES

The keypad chimed positively, and the green armored door swung open with a hiss of hydraulics. The benefits of OPSEC violations, Jones thought wryly.

The gang poured into the armory, ripping open the storage racks and lockers that housed the CDF and UNSC weapons that were used for training. Among the black aluminum racks were Eladard Exports heavy blaster pistols, the longer Katinan Industries M118 Laser Carbines, L115 Sniper rifles and a smattering of other battered and abused training rifles. A separate series of black lockers held the UNSC small arms, and Logan ripped those open to survey the racks of MA5C rifles front and center.

"Pass me some grenades!"

"On it, Fox!"

"Falco, see if you can jam some power cells into a bag or something!"

"Check your charges, if it's not 100% grab another pack!"

The sound of rustling nylon and clatter of metal on polymer filled the air. Falco was peering through the scuffed scope of the L115 sniper rifle he always grabbed off the rack during live fire practice, satisfied the zero hadn't been screwed with, a blaster strapped to his hip and his switchblade clipped to his belt. Slippy was tightening the straps on a daypack he'd filled with a medkit, grenades and spare power cells for the Lylat-based small arms, an EE Heavy Blaster of which he was currently loading with shaky hands. Katt lingered near Falco, taking deep breaths as she stowed her blaster; No one commented when Falco reached back to hold her hand. Bill had snatched an M188 Laser Carbine, and was strapping on one of the RO's polymer optical-spectrum armored vests while Fay busied herself next to him with an M855 Submachine Gun, a laser weapon by the same manufacturer. Fara likewise was loading a power cell into her own M188 Carbine, spare cells and grenades in a messenger bag slung over her shoulder. Next to her, Wolf had slung an M188 Carbine over his shoulder and was loading 8 gauge magnum shells into an M90 CAWS shotgun from the UNSC locker. Miyu pulled a sling over her head for the SMG she had snatched, and was busy looping grenades through the studded black belt she wore.

Logan yanked an unmarked black duffel from the bottom of the UNSC locker, and pulled the zipper to find a set of M52B Marine Body Armor laying inside.

"Don't mind if I do," He whispered to himself, as he dropped the armor over his head and began strapping on the olive drab plates. The breastplate and pauldrons had been developed in the tail end of the Human/Covenant war, and would stand up fairly to both plasma and optical weaponry. He snatched up an MA5C rifle, sped through a functions test, and satisfied the weapon was mechanically sound, tested the under slung flashlight foregrip. Logan busied himself stuffing 7.62 mags into his armor's mag pouches.

"Alright, listen up team!"

Fox McCloud stood ready in the harsh artificial light of the armory. An armored vest under his jacket, with an M188 Carbine slung over his back and an EE heavy blaster over his hip. It was the pre-battle pep talk, hallmark of a good leader. The others stilled in their preparation, and turned to face him as one. Silence descended with the muted thumps overhead of distant explosions.

"We're fighting to save our home. Look at the person next to you. They are the reason we charge into the fray, for each other and for our families. Venom's advance threatens to engulf all the free peoples of the Lylat System, there's no where else to run. Now we have to fight back and defend what is ours."

Fox paused, looking over the faces of his friends.

They believed in him, he saw it in their eyes. The invasion they hoped would never come was above their heads, and they looked to him as their leader. Had his father ever felt this same anxiety before a battle? James McCloud was missing in action now, as his son he simply had to step up to the plate. His lineage demanded no less.

Katt was fidgeting next to Falco, he could see Fay clenching Bill's paw in a death grip. What chance did they really have against the Venom war machine? Then the vulpine met the human's tired, haunted gaze, and exchanged a subtle nod.

They would make it through this. He swore.

"There's an ancient lyric that I'm reminded of right about now," He said slowly, "Ye though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil…"

He bared his teeth and shouted.

"FOR WE ARE THE BADDEST SONS OF BITCHES IN THE GODDAMN VALLEY!"

The gang roared back, fists raised and howling. The aluminum lockers shook with the clamor, as they cheered on their captain.

"Now here's what we're going to do," McCloud lifted an arm and gestured towards the north end of the building, "There are several Arwing prototypes still docked at Space Dynamics headquarters, Peppy and my Dad were supposed to pick them up but circumstances have changed." No more needed to be said about James disappearing.

"Peppy is still enroute from Papetoon with the Great Fox, should be in our airspace in less than an hour. All of the military airfields are under attack, that's the first priority for any competent enemy commander, so we need to get airborne elsewhere. We will fight our way to Space Dynamics HQ, blast our way out with the Arwing prototypes, and launch a counter attack on the carriers pinning down the CDF."

"How are we going to get inside Space Dynamics HQ?" Fay asked, "There's no chance we'd be able to break in."

"Leave that to me," Fara said with her ears twitching aggressively, "I know that place like the back of my own paw."

Wolf hefted his shotgun, even more menacing with the recent addition of an eyepatch, "I'll make sure she gets there in one piece, count on it." The fennec exchanged a look with the lupine that carried something between them.

"What's the plan once we get the Arwings airborne?" Logan asked, urgency in his tone as the fighting raged louder up above.

"We'll separate into two groups. I'll lead the air superiority battle against whatever carrier the 'Nomies punched through with, the second team will be led by Wolf." Fox replied. O'Donnell felt the group's eyes on him, and nodded.

"Your squad will run close air support once we lift off, and then link up with Peppy in the Great Fox. Run point defense until Peppy can engage the enemy capital ships with the main cannons. With any luck, the CDF will be able to muster alongside with our help and repel the invasion."

One team to address the airborne threat, another to tackle the ground forces fortifying their beachhead. It was a solid plan on short notice.

The vulpine took a breath, weighing his decision.

"Falco, Slippy, Fay and Miyu, with me. Wolf, you're with Logan, Bill, Katt and Fara. While we're on the ground, I want Logan in charge of the second fire team."

Logan squeezed Miyu's paw, exchanging one last heartfelt look. He turned to McCloud, "Sounds fair to me, I trust Wolf to carry us through the CAS."

Fox nodded, "I figured you'd say that." O'Donnell clapped the human on the shoulder, appreciating the vote of confidence.

"Alright team, let's move out!"

They hefted their weapons, and hurried out the door.

In but a handful of minutes, the spectacular Cornerian skyline had been destroyed.

Smoke billowed above blast damage spotting the graceful white buildings. Fires ran unchecked as the greenery surrounding the city was set ablaze by the laser munitions fired indiscriminately, arcs of red and green lighting up the sky as CDF point defense systems layered anti-aircraft fire into the sky. The clatter of small arms weapons fire echoed among the screams and sirens, as CDF troopers were caught in ongoing urban combat against Venomian ground troops that had seemingly sprung up out of nowhere. Next to the school entrance, a police vehicle and several civilian cars were on fire, smoldering after a strafing run by an Invader starfighter.

Logan consciously averted his gaze from the burned black shapes in the driver's sides.

"Second Squad on me!" He barked, MA5C at the ready as he scanned the parking lot. At a hand signal, Wolf, Fara, Katt and Bill joined him in a wedge that was completed by Fox and his team adjacent to form a rough arrowhead. They would concentrate their firepower forward while crossing open ground in the city, while the enemy situation was still uncertain.

"Damn, that was one of my favorite cafes…" Katt Monroe muttered sadly as they passed a series of blown-out glass windows and rubble, black scorch marks denoting some random gun run by an Invader starfighter.

"Maaaan… I hope my pizza joint's still standing…"

"Face it Falco, you're probably out of a part time job man." Bill sported a grin that didn't reach his tense gaze.

"Eyes up! Aircraft fast and low!" McCloud's harsh order prompted the gang to meld into the available cover. Logan found himself pressed up against a collapsed wall with Fara huffing next to him, her ears flat against her skull. Overhead, a trio of Venomian Invader II fighters screamed by in full afterburn, shaking the windows of the skyscrapers above. The group held still a moment longer, before Fox rallied them up and out. Once more Logan cursed the lack of M41 SPNKr Rocket Launchers, even a few 102mm rockets would help.

They were moving at a brisk jog, rifles swiveling as they pounded across the dirty pavement. As they ran down the city sidewalks, encountering fleeing civilians or the occasional hover vehicle bolting down the roads, they crossed wide open intersections by leapfrogging. One section would 'leapfrog' forward while covered by the remainder, and then they would reciprocate. This practice mitigated some of the risk of being caught in the open.

They were just passing past the blown out windows of Louie's, when Logan caught a flash of imperial red.

"Contact right!"

The crosshairs of the MA5C's digital sight centered on a monkey wearing crimson VBUs, and the human weapon from lightyears away clattered as it had on countless worlds against aliens time and time again.

The 7.62x51mm rounds flashed through the muzzle blast and crashed into the chest of the first Venomian soldier rounding the corner. The body collapsed, jerking fitfully as the other members of the Venomian fireteam rounded the corner and immediately returned fire.

Snap. Hiss. The whine of discharging optical weaponry. The crack of supersonic kinetic rounds and gunpowder. Shouting. A scream. Tunnel vision. The sound of your breathing muting out the world.

Logan felt his focus sharpen to nothing more than his sight line and the hostiles in his field of fire. Short controlled bursts, interspersed with double taps of 7.62 FMJ. A bolt snapped into the rim of his cover, and Logan cursed as he felt the heat wash over his face even by a near miss. They weren't amateurs.

However, even a competent fireteam could be killed at the whim of poor circumstance or a squad leader's poor choice. For the Venomians that had come down their street, they hesitated a second too long when confronted by more than double their number in heavily armed teenagers, and the volume of incoming fire cut their number down in short order. The last to fall was a lizard with a black chevron on his arm, smoke drifting from a series of burns that had punched through his breastplate armor. Wolf rose up from cover and jogged over to Fara, who was staring down at the body with wide eyes.

"Babe, it's alright," the lupine whispered to her, shaking her shoulder gently. The fennec blinked, shuddering, and had to be pulled away from the sight of the dead man.

Logan said nothing. There was nothing easy about a first kill.

"We'll split down Centennial Street and make a beeline for Space Dynamics," McCloud said in a hushed tone, "There will be more of them after that commotion."

The group hurried along, Bill and Falco pausing along the rear of their groups to scan their six o' clock. The risk of being flanked in urban combat could spell a death sentence.

Fox led them up to a curb and raised an open palm, lowering it as they hunkered down along the side of the financial building that served as cover. Peering carefully around the corner, he eyed the distant Space Dynamics complex separated by a bombed out parking lot. The problem lay in the figures currently involved in a shootout with the security guards.

Logan dashed up and crouched next to McCloud, "What's the word?"

The vulpine scowled, "Looks like almost a dozen of them, two fire teams spread out converging on the main gate. I'm open to suggestions."

Launching an attack wasn't as simple as stacking up forces and having a shoot out. Commanding a rifle team required the leader to consider suppression, vulnerable flanks, probable movement through the terrain, and both ingress or egress routes if things went sour. A poor judgment could mean the difference between light casualties or ending up like the Venomian squad they left dead in the street.

Logan dropped to prone, peering around the corner just below McCloud. His eyes raked the lot before them, thoughts racing.

"I'd recommend Bill and myself as the base-of-fire element, suppressing from opposite corners of that overturned hover-truck. Falco on overwatch up left in that toll booth, scratch their grenadiers first. Assault team flanks, buddy up on the approach."

The vulpine nodded.

"Falco."

The avian bounded up, leaning over as his childhood friend as McCloud directed him. Logan inched back and relayed the plan to his second team.

The gang tensed up, and all eyes went to McCloud's paw raised up about to signal their assault.

The first hint the Venomian fireteams had that something was wrong was when the gecko captain directing the squad leaders hit the pavement with his VBU helmet smoking.

The next crimson sniper bolt struck one of the machine gunners, the heavyset gorilla corporal twisting in his death throes and jinking his GPMG out of its firing arc. A flurry of incoming fire had the Venomian troops scrambling, as every infantryman's fear was realized for them.

They were flanked.

Immediately, one of the chimp sergeants still alive shouted to reorient their riflemen. Well trained, two lizards and two apes pivoted from their firing arcs on the security guards and took cover among the wreckage of several vehicles they torched on the way in. A diamond formation was hastily taken, and the whine of Venomian laser carbines cut through the air, even as the unfamiliar report of incoming fire addressed them.

Sparks flew as some things with very high velocity snapped near the chimp sergeant's head.

Projectile weapons. Those goddamn slugthrowers we were briefed on, gotta be some humans here. The simian cursed, waving down the surviving machine gunner.

"Suppressive on our left flank, forget about the guards!"

It was essential to stack machine gun fire with riflemen to keep the enemy's heads down. Giving the other side breathing room to focus and aim had to be avoided, so a smart leader employed their GPMGs and grenadiers to assist their own fireteams while keeping the enemy pinned. Regrettably, this was the situation they currently found themselves in.

A yellow sphere bounced off an insta-crete barrier, with an olive drab sphere clattering not too far from it across the pavement.

"GRENA-"

A tremendous crash of masonry and metal. Heat blistering his face from behind the helmet's visor, and the sensation of being tossed by some giant hand before landing bodily some distance away.

The chimp sergeant rolled, still disoriented, but instinctively trying to get out of the field of fire. He pulled himself up, back braced against a burned up cyan hovercar. Drawing his sidearm, the simian shook his head and peeked around the chassis to survey the damage.

The remaining troops were being torn apart. The red lines of laser contrails punctured cover through the contested parking lot, punctuated by that strange clatter of kinetic weaponry. The sergeant tried to heave himself out to grasp at a nearby private's arm, but pulled back with a blood specked curse as the body jerked when a carbine stitched it.

Black spots started to appear in his vision. The chimp fumbled for his hemostatic patches, furtively staring out past the hovercar. Bloodloss, won't be conscious much longer. He thought with frustration.

Then he saw them.

A vulpine, weaving in between the hovercars, hand signals directed at the others behind him. A blue avian, with a long-barreled marksman rifle. A bulldog, border collie, frog, two felines and another longer-eared vulpine armed with carbines and SMGs.

Kits. We got slaughtered by a bunch of wet-nosed pups.

A thuggish looking lupine with an unfamiliar weapon rounded a corner, and some hairless thing that looked vaguely simian did likewise with a grey rifle he'd never seen before. A memory of an old briefing was called to mind.

Huh. So that's a human. They don't look that different after all.

The chimp sergeant took a deep breath, and began the laborious process of crawling out of sight to find a place to pass out. His last remaining duty was to return to friendly forces, and failing that…

Well, they did train us for sabotage, didn't they?

"Holy crap."

"I know, dog!" Falco elbowed Bill as the gang raced down the pristine hallways of the Space Dynamics industrial R&D complex.

"I think I got gashed coming in there, ear hurts…"

"Wow Bill! You've got a bit missing!"

"Stow the chatter! We're almost at the R&D hangar!" Fara barked.

The gang charged through the corridor descending towards the heavy industries testing center. One or two employees taking refuge stepped quickly out of their way as the teenagers ran by bristling with firearms. Fara fished around inside one of her jacket pockets, withdrawing a keycard that she waved in the air as they approached a nervous security guard by an armored and scanner-equipped door. The schnauzer guard's eyes lit up when he recognized the Phoenix heiress and her security clearance, and he toggled the electronic locks for the hangar.

"Miss Phoenix! Your father's been calling for you non stop!"

"Tell him I'm busy fighting back, Daniels!" The young fennec called without a pause in her step.

The doors opened, and for a moment Logan felt his breath leave him.

It was a wide machining assembly line, separated by painted zones on the floor and many technicians running about in protective suits. On a mechanized track, a number of barebones chassis filtered by, robotic arms dipping inwards with programmed precision to bolt, weld, and fine-tune components as they were installed on the aircraft. The human teen could see several unfamiliar variants of the Cornerian Air Force's C-16 'Skyhopper' craft being fitted with ESM kit on the workway. On the far side, a number of completed fighters stood surrounded by testing equipment and fuel lines. Fara ran up to talk with one of the technicians who jogged out to meet them.

There, illuminated in the harsh fluorescent of the bay, were four SFX-01 Arwings with an additional BLOCK01 experimental model in black with orange G-diffusers, and two strange variants that looked like the central fuselage had been split.

Miyu stepped up beside him, eyes wide and ears swept back in awe.

"The X-02 Interceptors…" She whispered, "I didn't think they were even in development yet…"

The 'X' designation stood for experimental aircraft. In this case, the X-02 Interceptor was a prototype variable-wing design similar to the arwing, but configured for specialized long-range targeting sensors, speed and extended use of the afterburners. They were intended to supplement carrier defense, to intercept threats long before conventional fighters could hope to close.

"I guess I know what I'm getting you for your birthday," Logan joked softly next to her. The tomboy lynx brushed his cheek with her tail. Some distance away, Fara was running her paw along the fuselage of the BLOCK01 black craft. Logan distantly remembered the fennec mentioning she had flown some test flights for her father under supervision while growing up.

"There's no time to waste," McCloud caught the group's attention, "Falco, Slippy, and Wolf grab an Arwing! Fara, take your prototype! Fay and Miyu, get those interceptors online! Logan, Katt, and Bill, grab a Skyhopper and start your pre-flight checks!"

The gang scrambled into action, time was running out, judging by the distant thump of bombings drawing closer.

Logan leaned over to share one last kiss with Miyu, the lynx seizing his head in her paws and leaving him bereft of whatever speech he'd had in mind.

"You come back to me, got that dork?" She said staring him down with her full blue eyes.

He smiled, "Always."

As they separated to their respective craft, Logan examined the C-16 Skyhopper he was climbing into.

Simplified for mass production, the C-16 had a central pointed body with the engines angled up behind the raised cockpit. An angled wing design swept out from the ship's hull, no unit paint denoting it's ownership as of yet. This model and those parked alongside had a number of polymer storage crates arrayed behind them, likely test components meant for the Arwing trials that would have been evaluated first on these craft.

Logan swung his legs over the lip of the cockpit, hitting the toggle for the ladder and reaching up to pull down the hydraulic-assisted canopy. He forced himself not to think about how desperate the situation was, climbing into experimental and test craft to fight an invasion, and focused on the pre-flight sequence the gang had taught him. Humanity was very used to desperate situations after all.

He flipped the switch for on board electrical, hearing the reactor chime as it spun up. He turned the engine, drawing power from the reactor. It was slower than the simulation, likely put through it's paces as a testbed. He stumbled for a moment, then found the connection for the primary fuel cells and the secondary battery. On his display, he recognized the fuel cycle blinking green, and spun up the engine as the main and auxiliary cells blinked online.

The engine thrummed behind his seat, filling him with confidence. Remember your training; follow your orders; focus. Don't leave room to panic, that's where the mistakes crop up. Logan clenched his fingers, stretching them out as he waited for the COMM screen to come alive. He didn't wait long.

McCloud's face blinked onto the visual feed, "Team One, all aircraft report."

"Falco here, I'm fine." He couldn't wait to get airborne for some payback.

"Slippy here, I'm ok!" The toad was in his element, hopefully he wouldn't choke.

"This is Fay, all systems online." Cheerful, despite it all.

"Miyu here, this baby's purring!"

Logan grinned in his cockpit, drawing the five-point crash harness securely with a click. He could hear the excitement in his girlfriend's voice.

"Team Two," McCloud's transmission continued, "Report."

"Wolf, ready." The no-nonsense lupine had a dangerous inflection in his tone, the predator in his blood simmering underneath the training.

"This is Bill, all systems online." What a textbook boy scout, they'd miss him when he'd join up with the CDF.

"Katt here, shame this baby doesn't come in pink." Always saucy, whatever the situation.

"Fara here, it's good to be back." There was an affectionate tone in her voice. Some girls got attached to their pets, seems Fara loved her starfighters.

Klaxons went off, a senior technician waving marking lights as a hatch opened on the far side of the bay angling upwards. SCRAMBLE, a digitized voice droned in warning over the intercom, SCRAMBLE. Direction LEDs blinked in sequence, directing the craft to fly straight in.

The heavy vibration of the roaring engines shook the hangar. One by one, the Arwings, Interceptors, and Skyhoppers began to lift off. Mechanized landing gear withdrew with hydraulic hissing, and thrusters spat fire in the low red color range, adjusted for atmospheric flight. G-diffusers hummed, keeping the craft elevated as they taxied in order towards the launch tunnel.

Logan breathed in and out deeply, keenly aware of the slightest twitch his hand had on the joystick. He was just behind Fara in her BLOCK01 arwing, with Katt and Bill trailing him in their own C-16's. Wolf was angling his arwing into the tunnel, the group using their guidance systems to help direct each other in close formation. Digital lines arrayed across the canopy, and Logan eased his Skyhopper in to follow them.

There was a hurricane of noise as the aircraft all began to accelerate in the tunnel. The bulkheads were awfully close, zipping by in a blur of lights and metal. The aircraft shook around him, and Logan felt his blood rise up as they climbed faster and faster towards the brilliant white light at the end of the launch tunnel.

"Ok gang," Fox transmitted as they gunned their accelerators, "Let's rock and roll!"

Logan grit his teeth as the walls of the tunnel flashed by at breakneck speeds, the whole craft shaking with the deep thrum of afterburners rocketing them up and out. The white light of the open launch way filled his vision, and the ten starfighters pierced the shining light of the outside sky.

Good Luck