Lylat System, Great Fox
7 ALW
Fox McCloud woke up to the sound of blasting music pouring though the walls. Not just any music, though; Falco's awful mixtape. Fox groaned; he had gone over this with this friend before. Fox didn't care for the bird's music, he had never kept up any music himself; he didn't know who was signing, probably some low-tier local artist though. Fortuna had a ton of those, probably too many.
Dammnit Falco…
Fox sat up in his bed, the foam mattress conforming to his new posture. He reached over with his paw and grabbed the black smartphone off his bedside table, yanking the charger out with a swift tug, white power cable flopping to the carpet. Fox tapped the screen, the phone waking up from its slumber and turning on, displaying local Cornerian time that him and his team had been adjusted to before they left.
7:04 AM
Waking up like this better not become a theme here…
Fox pulled off his bedsheets and swung his legs over the bedframe. He was wearing nothing but a pair of his boxers; his usual attire for sleeping. Standing up, immediately finding it difficult to keep his balance with his tired haze of being half-awake. He tripped over a pair of his durasteel-reinforced combat boots sitting next to his bed and toppling to the carpeted floor with a thunk.
Dammnit Falco…
Fox slowly picked himself off the carpet and stood up, his bushy tail thrashing in anger. He hobbled over to his walk-in closet, sliding open the glass door. Fox grabbed a charcoal-gray sleeveless shirt and sweatshirt, unfolding both and throwing them on, wincing as he pulled his tail through his shorts. He glanced around his closet again, noticing a wooden-framed photo resting on the top shelf; It was of Fox and Fara from years ago when the two were still teenagers. Fox grabbed the framed picture from the top shelf with his paw, taking a closer look. It showed the two on some beach on Aquas, the white sand and ocean contrasting in the background, with the two in the foreground. Fox with a stupid grin across his face with Fara wrapping her arms around him in a hug with an equally stupid smile across her muzzle. Fox's lips turned upwards into a small grin. The entire picture was slightly misaligned, Slippy had probably taken the photo.
Simpler times…
Fara had disappeared from his life long ago, Fox had been trying to contact her for years now in any way he could think of to no avail. Even her own parents or old friends had no idea where she had gone.
Both of them had become fast friends in the Cornerian Flight Academy years ago where they had attended. He still remembered that day in his first class, Fara had been the only one to smile back when he walked in class on his first day.
Fox looked back to the spot on the top shelf where the picture had been sitting, he probably wouldn't have noticed it at all had one corner not been over the edge.
Damn, it's almost like I was trying to forget about her. It's been almost three months since I've looked though here. Ever since we put the Great Fox in storage anyways.
Fox gave the picture one last look before leaving his closet. He placed the picture upright on his bedside table and made for the door, it sliding open with a quiet swish. Fox walked out into the hallway, the dim white lights mounted on the ceiling barely illuminating the durasteel deck plating and walls. Falco's room was just down the hall, his presence being obvious from the music still blasting through the walls and the yellow light emitting from under the door to Falco's room. Fox walked down the hall to the bird's door. Swish. Further down the hall on the opposite side, another door slid open, revealing Peppy Hare in a white bathrobe. Peppy stepped out into the hallway, a steaming cup of coffee in his left hand, towel in his right.
"Heya' Fox, I'm guessin' Falco woke you up too?" Peppy said weakly, bags under his eyes.
"Yeah… We gotta' do something about him, he can't keep doing this…"
Peppy simply nodded as Fox went up to Falco's door, awful mixtape still blaring. Fox pounded his balled fist on the door. No response. Fox pounded his fist again, same result.
"Looks like we gotta do this the hard way…" Fox said with a sigh, wrapping his fingers around a small metal panel on the door and prying it back, the red lever behind it to disengage the magnetic lock holding the door closed in case of an emergency. Fox grabbed the handle and pushed it down with the door immediately breaking its lock with the frame, allowing it to slide freely open. The harsh yellow light inside forced Fox and Peppy to cover their eyes as they walked in. Falco could be seen on the ground slumped up against his bedframe on the floor, completely dozed off despite the music, which Peppy quickly switched off. The silence was metaphorical music to Fox's ears.
"How does he keep managin' to do this?" Peppy groaned, "I swear, one of these days he's gonna drink himself ta' death." He continued, shaking his head and gesturing to the empty beer cans forming a small mountain in the corner of this room. "Dunno how his poor liver hasn't given up yet."
Peppy crouched down to Falco, snapping his fingers in his face in an attempt to wake him up. The bird didn't budge. Peppy placed his hand to Falco's neck, feeling for a pulse. "Well, he ain't dead." The hare grabbed Falco and shook him, "U-uh, huh…" Falco mumbled, "Uh-uh, o-oh…" his eyes slowly opened, allowing him to see Peppy right in his face with Fox standing behind him, arms crossed. A strong sent of alcohol poured out of the bird's mouth as he began to speak.
"Aww fark, did I doze off ta' my music? Again?"
Peppy put his hand on Falco's shoulder, "I'm afraid so. Listen, you can't keep doin' this, Falco; especially when we got a mission comin' up. Come on, ya' knew we had this all planned out."
"Ohhhhh, uh, yeah, yeah, I rememba' something about a data recorder?"
"Well, at least you remember some of it. Can you walk?"
"Uh, y-yeah, I think so." Falco slowly picked himself off the floor, using his bed frame and Peppy for leverage.
"Guess there's no point in trying to sleep anymore…" Fox mumbled, "Guess I'll go up to the bridge then, better check with ROB with where we're at."
Peppy nodded in response, letting a barely awake Falco lean on him. Fox walked out of Falco's room and into the hallway. Dunno how Slippy sleeps though all this… A small elevator shaft sat at the end of the hall; There were stairs for whenever the lift decided to stop working, Fox didn't feel like walking though, pressing the small touchpad next to the elevator doors. The two doors parted open, revealing the dimly lit shaft, the elevator itself being little more than a platform with railings patiently waited. Fox stepped on, pressing the small touchpad panel. The lift began to crawl up the shaft, it was slow, too slow.
Fox took the time to think back to the nightmare he had with fighting Wolf just two days ago. It unnerved him to no end, the thought of his own death at the paws of Wolf O'Donnell wasn't a topic he wanted to bring up with himself.
I still don't understand anything; it just doesn't make any sense. We phased out kinetic weapons for ships even before the war after shields got more widespread use. Ballistics just don't have the punch to get through them usually, Wolf's cannon didn't seem to care about—no, it's just a dream, I'm overthinking this.
The elevator stopped at its floor at the top of the shaft, doors sliding open. Fox walked out into another hallway that connected the bridge to the rest of the Great Fox. Fox reached the pair of heavyset blast doors separating the bridge from the rest of the ship. Doors like these were present on almost every naval vessel in Lylat, with the bridge being an obvious command center of any ship it was usually a target for boarders. Those doors sometimes being the only thing keeping the bridge crew safe.
Fox used the wall-mounted pawprint scanner, the screen turning green in acceptance of his paw. The doors parted open, sliding smoothly into the walls on their rails. The bridge itself was dark; there was no need to keep the light on with no crew. Only the array of lit computer screens lining the bridge pierced the darkness, glowing a dim blue. The instant Fox walked into the room the lights snapped on, causing him to bring up a paw and shield his eyes from the harsh bridge lights.
"Greetings, Commander McCloud."
ROB's yellow robotic frame could be seen near the front of the bridge against the main window, just ahead of Fox's captain's chair. His purple bar of light for an eye stared back at Fox.
"Oh, hey ROB." Fox said back, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. "How are things up here?"
"All ship systems remain nominal, there is nothing to report." ROB droned.
"Good. Pull up a map of Lylat, I wanna see where we are in terms of the mission." Fox commanded. ROB instantly responded, a holographic map of Lylat materializing above a center console. A green delta appeared on the map, showing the Great Fox's position and orientation, indicating the ship in the far reaches of Lylat. Another icon, a blue dot, showing the coordinates that General Pepper had sent them lay ahead of the green delta.
"Our ETA to Pepper's coordinates is approximately four hours and thirty-two minutes, provided we maintain current heading and velocity." ROB commented.
"Well, looks like this won't take too long after all. Sensors pick up anything?" Fox asked the robot again.
"Negative, we currently appear to be, alone. No heat signatures or lidar returns."
Good, hopefully we'll be left alone for this.
"Thanks ROB, keep me informed, I'll wake up Slippy." Fox said back, walking back towards the elevator.
The Star Fox team had assembled in the bridge, vast amounts of coffee being the only thing keeping Falco alert.
"I've already gone over this before, but it seems like our feathered friend needs a reminder." Fox said to his team, Falco averting his gaze from Fox to the floor.
"Like I said, this mission's fairly simple." The holograph reassembled itself from the Lyalt map to a 3D image of the Pathfinder with a storm of floating blue pixels. "This is a model of the CNV Pathfinder; a Cornerian exploration ship that went missing out here a few days ago." Fox continued.
"Oh great, another derelict. It's not like nine times outta' ten those things are traps. Nooooo, I'm sure we'll be just fine!" Falco mocked, throwing his hands in the air.
Fox gave the bird a stern look, "I don't like it either, but we're under orders here." Fox kept talking before Falco could complain again, "Anyways, all we need to do is find the ship's data recorder, located somewhere in the bridge." A small green dot appeared in the model of the ship, at the very front of the crew compartment.
"W-why couldn't Pepper just send his own people?" Slippy piped up, the first time he had spoken since they had taken off.
"I asked him exactly that, actually. It seems like he doesn't trust his own men enough to get that recorder. He wasn't too helpful with details, but he kept telling me it was pretty critical that it gets returned." Fox said, answering the toad's question best he could.
"But-but what about the crew? He say anything about them?" Slippy asked again.
"No, nothing…" Fox sighed, "I don't like this, but whatever's on that recorder seems more important to the General then the crew. I'm sorry. If we find any, we'll be sure as hell to bring them back, otherwise, the data's our priority."
Dammit Pepper, I hope this is all worth as much as you say it is.
"Alert: multiple heat signatures are present nearby. Range to targets is approximately 34,000 kilometers. Lidar readings and IFF tags read signatures as a Thrustodyne model C light corvette. Smaller signatures are most likely fighters." ROB's voice blared across the bridge.
"They see us yet ROB?" Fox yelled across the room to the robot.
"Negative. They have not reacted to our presence. The Great Fox's military-grade emission control systems most likely prevented our early detection."
"Good, looks like we have some time then. ROB, kill our engines, we'll coast at them."
"How do we know they're even hostile, Fox? Anyone could be out here." Peppy asked.
Falco chimed in this time, "Simple; nobody with a hint a' self-respect uses that piece-of-shit Thrustodyne crap. They're pirates, old man." He said with a smirk. "Those old junkas' fell outta' style years ago anyways, itsa' pretty safe bet."
"Falco's right; Thrustodyne ships are pretty crap, being relatively dirt cheap seems to be the only thing goin' for them." Fox added, crossing him arms.
"Well, that settles it. I'll go warm up the Arwings—after Slippy runs some pre flight checks, of course."
Fox climbed into his Arwing's cockpit using the retractable ladder built into the hull. Slipping the headset on, he keyed his microphone, opening up a channel to his entire team.
"All craft, report. I don't want one of us running outta' fuel halfway through this."
"Slippy's wing is a no-go, looks like it's OS didn't update while we were away. And you know how long those goddamn updates take." Peppy said though Fox's headset. "I swear, one of these days those things are gonna get someone killed!"
"Right… Thanks Peppy. How we lookin' Falco?"
"Everythin' seems fine here. I gotta say tho', feels damn good ta' be back in this thing." Falco answered back.
"Agreed…" Fox narrowed his eyes, looking down the launch tunnel, "Alright, let's get this done, team. Get the launch sequence ready ROB." Fox asked the robot.
"Launch sequence initialized, electromagnetic rail catapult charging." The long launch rail on the bottom of the tunnel began to glow, arcs of white electricity jumping down the length of the track. Fox grabbed his Arwing's throttle, putting in a neutral position. A healthy blue glow emitted from his fighter's main engine as the overhead crane maneuvered the three fighters on top of the launch rail, Peppy and Falco doing the same with their own thrusters.
"Hey Foxie." Falco called over the comms, Fox flattening his ears against his skull in response. "I dunno, but somethin' tells me Pepper's gonna do whatever he wants to get that recorda' back. If he's gonna put getting that black box back over his own men; then there's gotta be something juicy in that little box a' his. I say we take a peek in that thing before we decide ta' hand it over."
He's got a good point, can't say I'm not curious myself.
"You got a good point, but let's get the thing back before we decide what to do with it. What do you think, Peppy?"
"I'm gonna have to agree with Falco on this one, Fox." Hare responded. "I'd like to know what's in it too."
Fox narrowed his eyes; did he disobey Pepper's direct order for the sake of him and his team's curiosity? He made his decision.
"Sorry guys, we got direct orders straight from Pepper. We're short on creds and the last thing we want right now is to get on the good General's bad side. I'd like to take a look too, but I'm not gonna disobey him just for a look." Fox said to his team.
"Awww, you're no fun Foxie." Falco groaned back, "Man, peppa's really got you unda' his thumb these days."
"Falco, you know it's not like that!" Fox shot back. "Dammnit Falco, we just don't have time for arguing right now!"
"Eh, whatevea'." Falco rolled his eyes. The electric whine of the catapult rail filled the hangar; it was ready to launch.
Falco's Arwing was first in line, he punched the throttle forwards as far as it would go. The launch rail's powerful linear induction motors kicked in, the trolley clamped onto the hull of his Arwing, rocketing down the tunnel and flinging the fightercraft into the void.
"Ohhhhhh man! I missed that shit!" Faclo yelled over the comms, with a big grin across his beak. Fox's wing was next in line, the trolley rolling back into position and under his ship. The rail's motors propelling his Arwing up to speed and down the tunnel. His Arwing's G-diffusers prevented him from feeling over six g's of acceleration as Fox's fighter shot out into space after Falco. The bird was flying in a lazy circle around the Great Fox, waiting for the other two pilots to catch up. Fox flew into position adjacent to Falco, having no trouble matching his circular flight pattern. Peppy's Arwing flew out of the launch tunnel moments later, him flying behind the other two pilots in a backwards delta formation. Fox keyed his microphone once his team was in position.
"Alright team, here's the plan; Falco, I want you to hit that corvette hard as soon as we're in range. I'm betting it's got at least one point defense gun so we need it out of the picture." Fox spoke into his headset's microphone.
"Gotcha Foxie. Heh, won't see what hit em'." The avian said back, a rather cruel smile forming on his beak again. He thumbed a small button on his flight stick, transferring a smart bomb from his Arwing's internal magazine into its launcher.
"Peppy, I want you to stick with me. We'll deal with the fighters and back Falco up if he needs—"
"Ha, as if!" Falco cut him off, "I'll be fine Foxie, you just worry about the old man here!"
"Damnit Falco, I'm not that old and you know it!" Peppy shot back through the comm, "Save it for when we're back on the ship!"
"Yeah yeah, fiiiiiiiine. Comeon' Pep; can't ya' take a joke?"
"That's enough, bird!" Peppy yelled back again, the comm line struggling to keep up with his yelling.
"Cut the chatter team!" Fox tried cutting in. Falco's laughter could be heard in response, "Okay, fine, fine… Sorry Pep."
Back to the mission, again…
"ROB, what can you tell us about this corvette we're heading towards?" Fox asked the robot, "The Thrustodyne model C light corvette is not registered to any known database. The condition of its hull indicates neglect for basic maintenance and repair. Crew is most likely hostile, proceed with caution, Commander McCloud."
"This thin' gotta name?" Falco cut in again, "Just so I know what ta' paint on the wing." Falco's Arwing was decorated with a custom "paint job" of black text, greatly conflicting with his Arwing's original white and blue. Each black delta painted on the sides of his main fuselage indicated smaller fighters, while full names of larger capital ships that had fallen prey to Falco's liberal use of smart bombs decorated the wings. Fox hated the bird's defacing of his own teams iconic symbol, but could ultimately do nothing about it. He let it slide anyways; fighting a ship that visibly had hundreds of kills was slightly intimidating, Fox thought.
"The Corvette's IFF tag is registered as the 'Unbroken'."
"Hahaha! That's gonna be pretty ironic real soon I'd say! Let's go get that box a' Peppers back!" Falco said, punching his throttle lever as far as it would go. His Arwing shot forwards, leaving Peppy and Fox behind. Fox followed him as close as he could, hitting his fighter's afterburner to keep up with the bird, Peppy doing the same behind him. The corvette in the distance seemingly noticed, it's cheap bare-bones sensors finally picking up the Star Fox team from the extra heat their Arwing's afterburners emitted. It's four fighters responded too, leisurely forming up into a vaguely square formation.
Lylat system, marauder corvette Unbroken
7 ALW
"Captain! Captain! It-it-it's farkin' Star Fox, man!" Someone was yelling through the door, pounding their fist on it as fast and hard as they could. "Shit man! T-they're coming!" More frantic knocking, "P-please man! Wake the hell up!"
Captain Cequil finally woke up, his vulpine ears twitching at the noise. "Aw fark! There're shootin' at us man!" The voice behind his door continued yelling. Cequil picked himself off his stomach, turning
around and sitting up in bed. "Yeah yeah, come in…" He slowly mumbled. The door slid open, a rat running into the room, his shabby repainted Cornerian surplus combat armor having not been washed in months.
"What the hell is the matter with you?" said the Captain firmly, a hint of anger in his voice, "You better have a damn good excuse to wake me up!"
"Boss, I-it's Star Fox! They found us!" The rat yelled, trembling at the thought of being sucked out into space, like the crew of the last ship he had served on.
"So, just by chance, goddamn Star Fox is out here too?"
The entire ship shook, a loud BANG reverberated through the hull. Harsh red emergency lighting flicked on, entirly replacing the usual fluorescent lights of the ship interior. A loud droning klaxon sounded shortly afterwards.
"That can only mean one thing…" Cequil quietly said, genuine fear in his unsteady voice.
Seconds later, another BANG sounded through the walls, a hole in the cheap plassteel wall of the Captain's cabin had formed leading directly into vacuum. Everything not tied down in the room was rapidly sucked to the jagged hole, a mixture of furniture, carpet and clothing piling up and creating a partial airtight seal. The Captain grabbed onto whatever was within reach, his paw finding a pipe along the wall. Almost as quickly as it had
Cequil knew the ragtag 'patchjob' wouldn't hold for long; carpet wasn't known for being ship building material. He backed a far away from the breach as he could, hugging the wall behind where his bed was. The rat that had woken him up beforehand was slumped on the floor, face down. The rat had been hit in the head by something hard; the culprit—a length of pipe was lying next to his body, torn off from the ceiling by the loss of pressure. One end of the pipe was bent, it's jagged edge stained red.
The Captain didn't know who the rat was, or even his name; he always kept and oath to himself to never become attached to any of his crew, seeing them almost as resources rather than actual people. The death of the unknown crewmember didn't bother him.
The mass of debris plugging the hole shifted slightly; it wouldn't hold for much longer. The door that led to the hallway was still closed.
Damnit, that's the only chance I got at getting outta' here…
Cequil slowly and quietly crept for the door, almost as if making too much noise would disturb the breach and suck him out into space. His cabin had been on the more lavish side before the ship was hit, his collection of paintings that had previously adorned the walls were now thrown everywhere. Cequil crept by one of the more expensive ones facing up. It was a painting of some famous Venomian solider, its background depicted the brown and black wasteland of Venom behind him, with the Gorilla up front in the foreground wearing a battle-scared set of Venomain combat armor, blank expression across his dirty face.
Fark, that one was pretty expensive…
Cequil made it to the door. Pulling a keycard out of the pocket on his leather jacket and swiping in front of the reader.
Nothing.
He tried again, the small LED on the reader turning red again. Cequil frowned, trying his card a third time.
Work! You cheap piece of shi-
The door slid open, revealing nothing behind it. Instead of the hallway, the door led directly into space. Everything left in his room, along with the Captain, was drawn out into space within seconds by the pressure loss. Cequil tried to scream but found himself unable too as he drifted away from the ship, the whole thing having been split in half. Everything happened fast, almost too fast for the Captain to register. The last thing he saw before the void claimed him, was the nearby white hull of the Great Fox, small engine trails from fighters dancing around it in a dogfight.
Falco turned his Arwing around and accelerated towards the Unbroken, the ship still mostly intact. A rusty debris field floating around it, a mess of scrap metal, hull plating and equipment that had been blown out into space. Falco prepped another smart bomb, the Arwing's bomb magazine feeding the ammo-thirsty launcher mounted to the bottom of the fighter's fuselage. Falco thumbed a button on his flight stick, letting loose a fresh bomb. The munition sailed through space with its red blinking strobe light, its fuse set for a timed delay to go off a second before impact. The smart bomb detonated in a brilliant flash of light, its small nuclear charge having no issue blasting away the cheap hull of the corvette. Falco was too far away to feel the shockwave from the Unbroken's fusion reactor discharge, splitting the entire ship in two with flash of light, the cockpit canopy tinted itself to prevent the pilot from being blinded by the intense light. The two halves of the ruined ship drifted away, trailing more debris behind them. The edges on each half from where the smart bomb had gone off still glowing a soft orange, contrasting heavily from the darkness of space.
"Heh, neva' get tired of blowin' things up."
Fox, meanwhile, threw his Arwing into a tight loop, his previously tailing opponent shooting under him as the vulpine's fighter peaked at the height of the tight maneuver. His pursuer—now the pursued, pulled into a hard-banked left turn in an attempt to shake Fox. The vulpine had expected exactly this maneuver from his opponent, using his Arwing's superior agility to aim his twin-linked blaster cannons well ahead of his target. His burst of blaster cannon fire connected, slamming into the top of the pirate's fuselage, punching holes in the hull and cockpit canopy and slagging delicate electronics. The fighter's fuel cells burst open from the lack of a fuel pump, violently detonating in a flash of blue light.
"Scratch one fighter." Fox called over his headset.
A faint pop of more fuel cells exploding could be heard, the sound only able to reach Fox by traveling along the tiny particles of ice floating in this area of space. "Make that two!" Peppy said back, excitement in is voice.
"Falco, how's that corvette lookin'?" Fox said again. A bright flash erupted from the general area where the corvette was parked; Falco's first smart bomb had made contact with its hull.
"Thing spilt in two! What I say about old Thrustodyne shit?" Falco said, his shit-eating grin could be seen on the small comm panel on Fox's heads-up display.
"I see you haven't changed a bit." Fox said back as the bird fired off another smart bomb into the corvette's split front half, stripping hull plating and interior systems with a brilliant orange fireball. The shockwave pushing the remains of the small capital ship on a new vector.
"Heh, anotha' one bites the—Oh shit!"
Blaster fire pelted Falco's shields, their capacitors draining down to 50 percent, Falco's aggressor flew over his Arwing, the enemy fighter's yellow engine trails following close behind.
"How the hell we miss this guy?" Falco squawked, not having expected an attack.
"He must have been hiding around the Pathfinder's wreckage, go help him out Peppy!" Fox called out, Falco punching his throttle forward to catch up with the stray fighter. The small starfighter was cobbled together from parts from other ships as far as Fox could tell; it's paintjob being caked in rust and a patchwork of metal decorated its small hull. Its cockpit canopy was completely opaque, none of the team could see who was flying it.
The scrappy fighter pulled into a tight banked turn after it's hit on Falco for another attack run, Falco used his Arwing's afterburner to catch up as fast as he could, G-diffusers working overtime to compensate for the ship's acceleration from a relative standstill.
"You're gonna pay for that cheap shot you jerkwad!" Falco yelled over a public channel, hoping whoever was flying the junker would respond.
"Cheap shot? Ha! You were a sitting duck, you moron!" A gruff voice said back, Falco glared.
A third icon popped on Fox's HUD; the pirate fighter. A scarred Snow Monkey's face appeared on it, a wide grin stretched across his mouth, his scars stretching.
"Andrew?"
"Hehheh, do I really look like that sucka'? Guess it's the fur then… No, I'm not Andrew." The monkey said, pulling further into his banked turn, Falco and Peppy chasing behind him.
"Well then who the hell are you? Can't paint you on muh' wing if I don't know who I'm killing!"
"Lrin, Lrin Oikonny. Don't think ahead too much bird; you'll hurt your little brain a' yours!" Lrin chuckled, diving downwards instead of completing his turn, throwing off Falco's first shots.
"I'm gonna mount ya' head in my room!" Falco shot back, doing his best to follow Lrin though his dive.
"OH! Looks I've struck a nerve! Catch me if ya' can ya' blue moron!"
Lrin pulled up sharply, Falco's Arwing going too fast to follow him through his accent. Peppy had anticipated this, slowing down beforehand and allowing him to maintain a lock for a charged shot with his Arwing's low-speed maneuverability. Peppy knew slowing down would leave him vulnerable if Lrin decided to take a quick shot at him, but he seemed to be occupied from toying with Falco. Peppy released his charged blaster cannon shot, the ball of ionized gas steering towards Lrin's fighter to intercept him at the high of his climb. The monkey had known about the shot, punching a small button in his cockpit. With a faint puff puff puff, a small barrage of cylindrical infrared flares shot out from the very tip of his fighter's wings, each spreading out in different directions in order to fool Peppy's targeting computer.
Peppy frowned at the sight of his charged cannon shot turning off-course and homing onto a flare. The shot missed completely, it shooting off into the void after the false heat source.
"-This thing aint' an invader 2 old man! That shot a' yours don't work on me!-"
"No, but it looks just as cheap as that Venomain deathtrap!" Peppy shot back, preparing another charged shot in the hope his computer would do its job this time. "You got a half and half chance of that thin' fallin' apart as us killing ya'!"
Lrin reached the top of his climb, Falco had managed to recover and keep following him but remained further behind, with Peppy still charging a second shot.
"-Hey! I'll have you know I built this ship myself! Took me years and thousands of creds just ta' find the custom parts!-" The monkey roared back, leveling his ship out and then corkscrewing into another dive to line up a shot on Peppy. The hare's eyes went wide as the ship barreled towards him; he yanked the flight stick left in a desperate barrel roll. His Arwing complied, rolling sharply left and out of the line of fire. Blaster cannon fire shot past in Peppy's previous flightpath, followed by Lrin's ship seconds later. Falco flew close behind in hot pursuit, firing wildly at the junky fighter; occasionally skimming Lrin's shield system.
"-You good Peppy?-" Fox asked, genuine worry in his voice. "Yeah, all good here! Let's splash this bastard!" Peppy said, spinning his fighter around and throttling up to follow Falco. Fox took a different angle, hoping to catch Lrin with another attack vector.
Despite being outnumbered three-to-one, Lrin had proven himself a stubborn target. He had only taken glancing hits from the Star Fox's teams blasters; his shields had been able to shrug off the hits with relative ease. He banked left and fired off more flares to disrupt a charged shot from Fox, his flare magazine could only hold so many of the life-saving countermeasures; he was running out of time. His
normal engagements never lasted this long, here though he was dealing with multiple fighters to mental keep track of, them all capable of wildly different attack angles.
One of the first solid hits came from Falco; he shields taking the majority of the impact and draining their capacitors down to 73 percent from just a single shot.
"HA! You're gonna be flying in a' handcrafted scrapball soon!" The bird taunted.
More fire from McCloud blazed towards him, Lrin pulling a right barrel-roll as the emergency high-power shield the maneuver produced stopping an otherwise crippling shot from making its way down his engine exhaust. He was running out of options and time.
Another shot blazed by his cockpit, the canopy tinting itself in response to the brilliant green light as the shot flew overhead. Lrin dived into another downwards spiral; not knowing where the other three fighters were exactly, so the unpredictable dive down was his best bet he figured. The distant stars danced around his vision as he pushed his ship to its operational limit, threating to kill him through sheer motion sickness alone. He pulled out of his dive, his head spinning from pulling to many gee's. While his custom ship had a pair of g-diffusers salvaged from an old wartime Cornerian Navy fighter, the system had been designed to be mass-produced; resulting in a cheap design that was known to fail after extended use without maintenance.
This fight had easily qualified as heavy use.
Another barrage of blaster fire poured down on him, this time being from all three Arwings; the team had decided to sit back and fire at range. Lrin did his best to evade the stream of blaster fire; the sheer volume of fire making it near-impossible. Lrin's shields slowly were chipped away as he pushed his little fighter to its limits again, darting his ship every way his brain could think of in a desperate attempt to buy himself time.
Another solid shot landed, it finally popping his shield. Lrin gritted his teeth, he had one more idea.
"-Wait, I-I surrender!-"
The cannon fire stopped immediately. Fox's voice filled the monkey's cockpit.
"You pirate types don't usually give up like this. Hell, even Andrew didn't surrender when we gave him the chance last time we saw him on Venom." Fox stated, a hint of suspicion in his voice
Lrin hated being compared to his cousin, he was in no position to argue, however.
"-I'm not like him, you already know that. Andrew can't fly worth a damn!-"
"You have a point, but who's saying you aren't gonna run off? You might have another ship nearby that could give us trouble, after all." Fox asked, very matter-of-factly.
"-You're right, I could run. Won't get too far with you three lighting up my ass though…-"
Fox opened a private channel with Peppy and Falco for their input. "What should we do with this guy?"
"Ask im' what he knows, then blast em'simple." Falco said, Fox not being surprised at his answer. He rolled his eyes at the bird's urge to kill, "Peppy?"
"Well, the Great Fox's got a brig afta' all —we might as well use it I'd say. Pepper might pay us extra anyways if we bring im' in alive too; chances are he's got a bounty, being as skilled as he is."
Ah Peppy; always the voice of reason, compared to Falco.
Fox switched his headset to an open comm channel, "Alright, this is how this is gonna work; you're going to tell us what you guys were doing here, then we'll bring you in"
"-Guess I don't have much of a choice, do I-?" Lrin sighed, he hadn't expected any of this. Could he run? No; even if he could outmaneuver Star Fox, they would still whittle him down eventually. Fighting wasn't an option either; yes, he could do some damage, but actually taking down one Arwing, let alone three just wasn't going to happen. Lrin flicked a toggle in his switch in his cockpit to power down his and then shields, the electric hmmmmm of his fighter's power distributor brought a small sense of relief to the monkey; nothing critical in his ship had been overloaded; he might actually have something to go back too if he got out of whatever Conerian prison he was going too.
Lrin keyed his headset's mic, "Alright, whaddya wanna know?" He had reached the point of no return; his fate of being jailed was practically sealed.
"First things first; what were you guys doing out here? Not many people hang out around in the outer regions, you guys had've to have had a good reason." The vulpine asked firmly, subtlety adjusting his flight stick to get an attack angle on the monkey.
"-I'll be honest with ya'; I dunno too much. All I can say is that we got tipped off by someone bout' the Pathfinder's flight route outta' Lylat.-"
"Wait? Tipped off? By who? Someone in the Cornerian Navy?" Fox yipped, a hint of panic in his voice. "Shit; if the Navy's got moles, what else could've been leaked? Our mission from Pepper? What the Pathfinder was doing out here? What?" The vulpine screamed internally to himself, folding his ears back again.
Lrin chucked, "-You're surprised? Heh, you know that the Navy's not perfect, you had ta' carry them through the war after all.-"
Fox balled his fist, "No, we didn't carry the whole Navy, they're better than that!" He silently told himself, denying Lrin's statement best he could.
"Moles or not; what were you guys planning with the Pathfinder?" Fox asked, narrowing his eyes at Lrin's fighter in the distance through his canopy, its plain metal fuselage contrasting with the black background of space.
"-All I know is somethin' about cargo or whatever. Dunno what it was exactly, all the Captain said was that we needed to recover somethin' valuable from the hold.-" Lrin said back, going over the details in his head. He hadn't bothered to remember much; being interrogated by Fox McCloud himself on the subject was one of the last things he had expected.
"That doesn't make any sense, why would a ship like the Pathfinder be hauling anything valuable? As you put it." Fox asked, inquisitively. A growing feeling of doubt growing inside him; not much of Lrin was saying made much sense.
"-Sorry, McCloud; That's all I know, I just follow—well, followed orders from the late Captain…-" The monkey answered back, truthfully. "-Don't know what they wanted us to snag, or what we were gonna do with it afta'.-"
Fox sighed; Lrin didn't know too much it seemed. He could easily be lying; it wouldn't be the first time someone like him had spouted bullshit to Fox and his team. Trusting people like him got you killed. "Alright, well, thanks, I guess…" Fox trailed off, not being all that grateful towards the pirate. "Sit tight for a bit."
Fox never heard the monkey's response, nor did he want to. He closed off the open comm channel, then opening a private one with his team. Falco cut in before Fox had time to say anything. "Alright, now that this moron's done talkin', I say we just blast em'. He aint' useful ta' us anymore—well, he wasn't really in the first place, but, uh, you get the point…" Falco squawked.
"Really Falco? You wanna kill someone who's surrendered? Willingly?" Fox gripped his flight stick in frustration, the rubber grip padding deforming under his paws. "You realize wanting to do that makes you no better than Wolf when it comes to getting intel?"
"What's the big deal? You really think that lil' brig of ours is gonna hold him? If he built his own ship, who else knows what he'll do? Hell, he's probably got a grenade or a pistol shoved up his—"
"No! Don't tell me that, Falco!" Fox cut him off just in time. "I don't want that image stuck in my head whenever I look at him… No, Peppy's right; I don't know how much Pepper's paying us, but some extra creds wouldn't hurt. Besides, I'm not gonna execute someone who's willingly surrendered, even this guy."
"Sometimes I think you're getting' too soft, Foxie. But whatevea', your call I guess…" Falco trailed off, disappointment in his voice at Fox's mercy. "I'm telling ya', one day that little sense of mercy is gonna get ya' killed."
Fox rolled his eyes, "Whatever Falco…" He sighed, deciding to change the subject. "Alright, Lrin, power down your weapon hardpoints and shields; Peppy's gonna escort you to the Great Fox. You're going to follow behind him, slowly. You try anything, and I'll let Falco loose on you."
"-Uh, right, understood.-"
Fox closed the open comm channel, then opened the private one with his team again, Lrin's portrait on his HUD winking away. "Peppy? Think you can handle him?"
"Ohhhhh yeah, I got that ol' scattergun in my room that's itchin' for some use. He aint' gonna try anything smart with that shotty pointed at im'!"
The vulpine let out a small chuckle, Peppy had bought that antique ballistic shotgun at a gun show on Fortuna years back. Even the guns owner didn't know where he had gotten it from.
Fox saw the small, idle glow of the twin engines from Lrin's ship increase in intensity as the monkey's small fighter accelerated, banked around lazily and headed of the Great Fox. Peppy flew ahead as Fox had ordered, Lrin following him close behind.
"So far so good Fox. I gotta say this guy's been a pretty cooperative so far, it's kinda odd how we're not shootin' at im' anymore." Peppy said as his Arwing disappeared down the launch tunnel, followed behind by Lrin's custom-built fighter.
Keep an eye on him Peppy, we don't know what he's gonna do…
"Alright Falco, on me. We're gonna go see what's up with the Pathfinder."
"Yeah, gotcha."
The remaining two Arwings turned away, both preforming a lazy, banked turn to point their noses at the wreckage of the Pathfinder in the distance.
"What you think we're gonna find in there?" Falco asked, his sharp eyes trying to make out details in the ruined Cornerian ship still in the distance.
"I'm not sure, can't be too bad though; it's just an exploration ship, really."
"Right…"
AN: Sorry for the long wait, this took too long to write and edit. I know this could be a bit better, but I really wanted to get something out before the end of the month. Updates won't be too frequent; i'm still learning things as I go as you could probably tell.