While heading to Corneria, Jack took some time to acquaint himself with the Great Fox's interior, he had a feeling he'd be here a bit, seeing as his ship took a beating during the hold out against what he learned was Venomian starfighters, which confused him as to why they didn't respond, but he put the thoughts aside for now, for he was fixing his jet, The Hunter. He had kept the schematics of this particular model with him, the Su-95s was one of the better starfighters humanity had made, alongside the F-60s, so mid-repair, he started to wonder how well it'd do against what he now knew was an Arwing, but he dismissed that thought too, as these were his allies while humanity was scattered and few and far between, and if what he heard about Corneria was right, it could possibly a new home.

He stopped at that thought. Home. The only thing close to that was his ship, and to be honest, he had grown attached to it like it was. 'Home is where the heart is, I suppose.'

'That it is'

He swung around, keeping his current tool close in case someone was near, no, somebody HAD to be near, but where, and how did they read his thoughts? He clambered up to look in the cockpit, nothing except his flight helmet, at least he wasn't getting jetjacked, he looked at the Arwings, nobody "What the fuck?" He was properly freaked out now, so he closed the cockpit, and put the tools away before making for the door, checking everywhere as he went, still nobody 'I need... something, this is crazy.' He looked around and waited. No response, so he made his way to the rec room, sat on the couch to take a break, trying to think of other things. It took almost 5 minutes to calm down, and looked around, and he started humming a tune, trying to keep him from panicking again, eventually tapping his foot. He got so into the song he didn't realize Fara had walked in and stood there listening to it until his humming ended "What was that song?"

He jumped a little, before relaxing "It was Oak & Ash & Thorn, me and some friends used to sing it occasionally, especially after a good drink" he chuckled a little at the memories.

"Where are they now? Aboard your ship?"

"No, they travel around like me, except for one, he got killed while exploring with me, but he knew the risks, and he didn't care, so at least he went out doing his favorite thing." He went to pull something out of his pocket, only to realize he was still in his flight gear "I'd show you a picture, but I left it with my jacket."

"I'm guessing it's on the other one?"

"Yea, but it's no big deal." A strangely uncomfortable silence hung in the air before Fox walked in "Jack, General wants to see you" They immediately went to the bridge, as both knew it wasn't wise to keep him waiting "So what are you guys exactly?"

"We're mostly Cornerians, as is the General."

"What's Corneria like? Sorry, just spent so long looking for other life, I'm curious about y'all" Fox chuckled a little "Don't worry, I can see why, I imagine they'll all be just as curious about you, as for Corneria, well, you'll see." For some reason, that response didn't sit well with Jack, but he dismissed it as paranoia, after all, their welcome was laser fire, then these guys and gals saved him. He didn't want to think about it, but this could be an interstellar conquest for the Venomians, but there's no time for that, time to meet the general "You requested me sir?"

"Indeed I did, when Fox told me about what he found, I couldn't wait any longer to see for myself, someone who can use a single ship and fighter and hold their own against Venom is a rare find."

"Well, to be honest, I don't think I would've lasted much longer, your forces saved my ass back there, so when I heard you wanted to meet, I had no qualms, except for one." The general looked at him confused "My ship suffered combat damage, we managed to fix the thrusters, but I do not know what else is damaged, so I need to tend to that after we are in orbit, or if you have a space dock of sorts, I can land there to do so."

"Well of course, but I wish to meet in person afterwards, I'll have a space cleared for you."

"Thank you sir." Jack saluted him as the connection cut, before turning to Fox "Well, while here, I noticed you're one sta- sorry, Arwing short, what happened?"

"Ion missile shot Fara down, I managed to save her though." He brought up a projection of the missile, which Jack observed thoroughly, taking notes, before responding "Well, I have a spare fighter, after we drop out of space, I can bring you over to see it, see how the crew might like it." Fox seemed to think on that before nodding, and after a few minutes of idle chat, the bot announced "30 seconds until exit from subspace" and while Fox sat down, Jack simply held onto the projection table he was at.

Once they arrived, he went to the window to view the planet, and it looked really nice, even from thousands of miles away. "Welcome to Corneria." He looked to the left, his ship, despite the damage and armor, held up and kept up, to which he was thankful for, before making his way to the hangar with Fox "You get the front, usually, it control the weapons, but I'm assuming you won't fuck me over by blowing it out of the sky." Both laughed before climbing in, with Jack putting his helmet on "Why do you wear that?"

"What?"

"I said, why do you wear that?"

"It provides protection from head injury, as well as protection from ultraviolet rays." Fox looked back "That's quite useful, but our cockpits do that for us" There was no response as they exited the hangar and flew to The Enduring. "Is it a material that does it? Or can it be applied to other cockpits like this one?"

"I don't know honestly, that'd be something to ask Slip." They landed aboard Enduring and hopped out, which Silas noticed "Welcome back Jack, it was dangerous to jump in our condition, but we did it without major issue, who's the new friend?" Fox looked around for whoever was talking "This is Fox, leader of the group that saved us." Fox looked to Jack "Who is that?"

"I am Silas."

"Can I see you? I prefer greetings in person" there was a soft chuckle from both Jack and Silas before a projection panel lit up, and Silas appeared "Here I am."

"I'm sorry?" Jack couldn't help but laugh, which got Fox slightly irritated, but before he could speak, Jack cleared the misunderstanding "He's an AI, he doesn't have a physical body like us."

"Oh, well, I am Fox, leader of Star Fox."

"Well met" Jack looked at Silas "I need access to the backup fighter."

"On it." On cue, the floor next to The Hunter opened, and up rose his backup, an F-60s, which was based off the F-35 with differences making it suitable for space flight and combat. "Why do you need it, might I ask?"

"I wanted Fox to examine it, one of his pilots is without their wings." Fox looked at him "Never heard it like that before." He went to examine it as Jack stuck with Silas "Why do you want to give up that one? it's your only reserve."

"I need to repay them somehow, I know pilots are responsible for their planes, but that doesn't exempt them from help."

"But sir, what if you get shot down?" Jack stayed silent, before looking back at him "I think we both know what'll happen." His voice had an emptiness Silas had never heard before, but knew exactly what it meant. If Jack was shot down, he was to leave him behind, and the silence between them confirmed that, before Jack spoke again "Anyways, onto less morbid topics, can we get that over to their ship?"

"I'll get the remote transport craft ready."

"Alright, Fox! We're reboarding the Great Fox!"

They went back to the hangar, before a transport that looked like a V-22 with jets pulled up to the hangar, which Jack boarded, and personally transferred the F-60s, not before changing aboard his ship though, as the flight suit was starting to get uncomfortable. Fox called Fara to the hangar, and upon her entry, Jack flagged her down. "What's going on?" She sounded a little worried

"Well, I heard you were shot down before we met, so-"

She looked at Fox "Seriously!? Why did you tell him!?"

Jack snapped his fingers a couple times "Fara, calm down, I don't really care that you got shot down, and since you guys saved me, to repay Fox here, I'm offering my spare starfighter to you, absolutely free, fully fueled." That got her attention, and she looked to the jet he gestured to, a sleek grey and red starfighter.

"Does it have G-Diffusers?" Jack looked at her

"What are those?" Both Fox and Fara looked at him before responding

"They make G forces almost non-existent" Jack looked impressed

"How much and where? 9G turns are nothing to those enemies from earlier" They all chuckled, and were about to talk more when Peppy interrupted "We're ready to land"

Jack looked to the group "I'm gonna land my ship for repairs" he went to his ship and took to the helm "Silas, see if you can get us a parking spot, can't afford a ticket right now."

Silas chuckled "I assume you want to land it too?"

"Not this time, I don't trust myself enough."

"Fair enough." After getting clearance, they descended into the atmosphere at an angle to the space port, on the way, Jack couldn't help but look at the city that spanned all the way to the horizon, literally, which was quite a feat considering they were just below the clouds. The landing was a little rough, but ultimately did no damage to either the ship or the ground. Once Jack exited, the guards were surprised to see what looked to be an ape, but different, really different, and he watched as the Great Fox land before making his way there, only to be stopped "Sir, this is a private landing pad."

"Well, I can wait." It wasn't long before the guard had to ask "What are you?"

"I'm a human, you?"

"Cornerian, this is the first time I've heard about your kind."

"Likewise, I suppose it's because our home systems are so far apart."

"What do you mean?"

"Hang on." He went back to his ship and grabbed his star chart, marking down his current system, and his home system with a circle, but before he left, he grabs his Tac Gauntlet "Silas, wanna join me this time?"

"I don't see why not." He puts his gauntlet near a panel, with a chime confirming Silas was with him, and he goes back out, showing the guard the chart "Look how far it is."

"That, is quite far, yea, no wonder." It was then that Fox came up "He causing you trouble?"

"No, he was just curious."

"Well, Ok, you ready to meet General Pepper?"

"You know it." With no more conversation, they went to the base, though Jack was a little unnerved by all the stares, even when he expected it. He was thankful when they escaped the public eye, and went straight to the general's office. "Welcome, I don't believe we properly got acquainted, I am General Pepper, leader of the CDF." He said as he extended a hand, to which Jack shook with a firm grasp "Name's Jack, I'm no leader, I just explore the endless expanse, though I'm assuming you remember what happened."

"Indeed, but onto more important matters."

"Straight to the point, I respect that, I'm listening." he sat in front of the desk, opposite of Pepper

"You're the first of your kind we've met, as such, the public's going to be paranoid about you, especially after you landed your own ship, which is gonna make people worry a lot more."

"I understand why, people fear the unknown, so when I just appeared from nowhere, they thought something bad was happening."

"That is actually a good way to describe it, and so I hate to ask you this, but I need you to appear in the public, do a TV segment on the news or something so they can see you're not a threat."

"Public speaking never was a strong-suit of mine, but I can certainly try, anything else we need to address?"

"Other than a detail of what your race is so we can document it, there's your ship."

"What of my ship?"

"We need to poke around it, check for any contraband, weapons, chemical agents, anything that's harmful."

"I obviously have weapons, and while I will allow you to look them over, I will be keeping them, as for chemicals, I don't believe I have any, but you're free to check around, I just want to request that I'm present during the inspection, there's some things that may be misidentified, then there's my fighters, one of which I gave to Star Fox to pay for saving my life, but I will not allow anyone near the one on my ship, I will allow it once I trust you guys enough, no offence."

"We need to look it over too, you could be hiding anything in there."

"I've been open with you already, and I'm allowing you to trash my home to look for whatever there is, but that plane is my most prized possession, I'm sorry, but I simply won't allow anyone else to touch it until they prove they can be trusted."

General Pepper sighed, clearly not getting to that jet, but most was enough for him. "Alright, I'll respect your choice, it's already quite a bit letting aliens pick your ship apart."

"Thank you sir, I promise I won't cause problems." They stood and shook hands again before Jack left to go back to his ship. Once there, he boarded his ship and put Silas back into the systems 'Now we wait.' Thankfully, they didn't have to wait long before the inspection team arrived, and before going to greet them, he looked at the systems functions, all the crucial parts were in the green, so he didn't have to worry about being labelled a terrorist because his reactor accidentally melts down "Silas, make sure they don't touch my fighter."

"I won't" With that, Jack went to greet them "Inspection?"

"Yep, all your weapons on that thing are off, right?"

"Made sure as soon as we arrived in the airspace. Now, I understand you're looking for weapons that I can carry, plus chemicals from what the General told me, if you have any questions about what you find, I'll gladly answer them, but stay away from my jet, I take great care to keep that thing ready to go at all times." They simply nodded and headed in, and Jack pulled out a picture of him and his friends when they were younger. 'I wonder where they are now, and I hope they're safe.'

'Who exactly?' He looked around again 'Seriously, what the hell? Who the fuck are you to intrude on my privacy?' No response, again 'Fucking typical cryptic shit.' He looked back upon his vessel. He was proud of how far it'd gotten him, and it's his first ship too, and when he got Silas, he started to feel at home whenever on-board, every time he blasted an asteroid or took off in his jet to destroy pirates, it was all to defend his home. It was then someone came out carrying 2 of his guns. "What are these?"

"Those are the weapons I have, both are safe right now, so hand me one and I'll explain it." Reluctantly, he was handed the pistol "This little gun is a H&K VP9, a relic of a gun, but it still does the job, I use it whenever I'm exploring a planet with wildlife. The bigger one you currently have is a newer one, the MP81, small enough to not be a nuisance, big enough for others to know I don't play around, mostly used this against pirates when I was on my feet rather than in the air."

"Well, make sure this doesn't get used, Ok?"

"I'll use it as a last resort, only then." He seemed to accept the answer and went back to inspecting the ship. It was a dull hour or two, occasionally explain something, like the ammo in the hangar, the flight suit, all that, but eventually it was done, and they left. Jack went into the living quarters, and despite it being day, decided to sleep for a while, as he hadn't slept in what felt like days. "Silas, can you lock the ship up? I'm hitting the sack."

"With pleasure, have a good rest."

End of Ch. 2


A/N

I got the review from Hawki (again, thanks so much for the detailed review, it'll definitely help in the long run) as I was typing this, so I had to make some modifications to it as I went. If you find any inconsistencies, I do apologize, and I will admit something here, I started this as a joke, never actually expecting anything from it, but then the review came in, and during the same period of making this chapter, I got my first follow and favs, so to you, thanks for taking time to read this, because of y'all, I will start putting serious effort and thought into each chapter. I hope you're right about this having potential, and I'm open to suggestion of improvement. I will also ask a question since you're here. Should I make the chapters longer? It'd take more time to produce them, but it'll help in progressing the story faster. I care about your opinions and I genuinely want to make this enjoyable.

With sincerity
ColdofWinter1