Chapter 2:
In the orbit of Corneria, the Cornerian fleet was doing its best to hold out against the Venomian forces assaulting them. Wave after wave of Venomian starfighters and ape-like mech suits armed with blaster pistols repeatedly crashed upon the Cornerian fleet, only to be repulsed by the emerald green laser fire of the Cornerian Cruisers as well as the current Cornerian Flagship. Seven mech warriors led the assault, firing yellow laser blasts at the flagship from their blaster pistols. However, unliked during the Lylat Wars, where the previous Cornerian Flagship fell to such an assault, this one held firm, spraying out a volley of green laser blasts at the approaching mechs, managing to destroy them all within seconds, their shields holding against the assault.
Venomian Space Fighters began making a run on the flagship as well, letting loose with their underslung missiles but the improved shield still held against the assault. The return fire from the laser cannons, as well as the Cornerian Fighters shredded the Venomian assault force. The problem was that it was the eighth assault against the fleet and more and more transports and dropships were using these assaults as cover for entering Corneria's atmosphere. In addition, the constant attack runs on the fleet were beginning to take their toll as well.
One Cornerian Cruiser to the flagship's starboard side broke apart in half as it endured an assault from two Dorisby-class battleships and numerous fighters and mechas. The ship had managed to cripple one of the Dorisbys, destroying its Turbo Laser turrets and the bunkers on the side while also inflicting numerous hull breaches on the ship and taking down several fighters and mechs, but the second battleship and the remaining fighters and mechs had been sufficient to finish off the cruiser.
More fire was exchanged between the two fleets and more ships on each side were shattered, crippled, rendered dead in space, or simply exploded. For every Venomian capital ship that went down, three more seemed to take its place and considering the fact that the Venomian fleet outnumbered the Cornerian fleet by more than three-to-one, it would only be a matter of time before the Cornerian fleet was beaten due to simple attrition.
Even the Umbra-class Defense Platforms, a class of automated space station that had been used by Venomian forces in the Lylat Wars to protect Venom but whose designs had been captured and used to build an automated defense grid over Corneria to bolster Corneria's defenses, were not enough to turn the tide as their weak armor made them vulnerable to starfighter assaults, and incredibly vulnerable to the heavier weapons of the Venomian capital ships. Despite the high volume of laser fire they unleashed upon the Venomian ships and fighters, they were still unable to turn the tide of the conflict and entire sectors worth of platforms had been destroyed, though they did not go down alone and took numerous capital ships, fighter wings, transports, and dropships with them.
Large numbers of starfighters also flit about the space battleground, the darkness of space being punctuated by green and red laser fire, along with numerous explosions as starfighters were destroyed. While the Cornerian Fighters consistently got the better part of the exchange taking down three Venomian Fighters for every one they lost, they were still heavily outnumbered, just as the rest of the fleet was. And all throughout the battle, more transports and dropships managed to piece Corneria's defenses and land on the planet.
Just as another Cornerian Cruiser was felled by a combined assault of a Dorisby-class Battleship and six mechs, the Great Fox II warped in and immediately avenged the ship's loss by unleashing a barrage of missiles on the Dorisby and lasers on the mechs. The laser fire shattered the mechs where they flew and the missiles blew apart the Dorisby, which had turned to face down another Cornerian Cruiser that looked to have suffered severe damage in the fighting.
Meanwhile, onboard the Great Fox II, Fox McCloud sat in the cockpit of his Arwing and waited for the signal to be given. He had watched as the ship had emerged from warp and taken down the Dorisby and the mechs. He was happy that he had upgraded the weaponry onboard this Great Fox and was eager to get back into battle fighting for the right side this time. He was a little surprised at the appearance of older Venomian designs but he would not complain, especially since it would mean that Corneria had a better chance of emerging from this battle with fewer casualties.
While he waited, he opened a channel to ROB and Slippy and asked, "ROB, Slippy, what's the situation out there?"
"The Venomian forces are assaulting the Cornerian Fleet and landing transports and dropships on the surface. There are numerous breaches in the Cornerian defense grid for the ships to fly through. So far, their target seems to be Corneria City," ROB answered.
"What's the composition of the fleet?" Fox asked next. "I saw a Dorisby out there."
"The Venomian fleet consists of numerous Dorisby-class Battleships along with numerous Harlock-class Frigates, Grazan-class Carriers, Zeram-class Cruisers, and Venomian Battlecruisers of identical design to those fielded by Andrew Oikonny's rebel forces," ROB answered.
"Data analysis indicates that these ships are no more advanced than their counterparts in the Lylat Wars and the Oikonny Rebellion. We also detected numerous transports and dropships headed towards the surface," Slippy added. "Many of them seem to be carrying atmospheric fighters as well. They look to be in this to conquer Corneria rather than destroy it."
"How's the fleet holding out?"
"Their line's about to collapse," Slippy answered. "Venom's making its big push."
"You guys get all that?" Fox asked as he opened his channel to the rest of his squadron.
"We got it," Peppy answered.
"Just give the word. I'm ready get back in the action," Falco declared.
"We're all set here," Slippy said over the comm. "Get ready for launch guys."
Fox, Falco, and Peppy then watched as a stack of red lights flickered off before a set of green lights activated, indicating that it was safe to launch. Once the green lights came on, Fox gunned his Arwing's throttle and rocketed out of the Great Fox II, with Falco Lombardi and Peppy Hare following close behind.
As soon as they launched, they gunned their throttles to full and made a beeline straight towards the flank of the Venomian fleet that had part of the Cornerian fleet under their guns. Fox charged his Twin Hyper Laser cannons until a ball of energy formed in front of the nose of his Arwing. Then, targeting a squadron of Venomian Space Fighters that had underslung missiles that they were about to unleash upon the Cornerian fleet, he let loose with his Charged Laser blast. The green ball of plasma locked onto the fighter in the center of the V-shaped formation. The fighter must not have detected the lock or the Homing Laser blast as it did nothing to avoid the emerald ball of plasma as it rocketed towards it. The ball of plasma struck the fighter just as its pilot had pushed the firing stud on the missile launcher and detonated, engulfing the entire squadron, annihilating both the fighters and the missiles they carried. Fox had not waited to see the outcome of the attack, though, as he quickly rocketed towards another flight of Venomian fighters, unleashing a barrage of sapphire blue laser blasts into the fighter squadron, shooting down at least four fighters in the run before the others in the squadron broke off their attack run and either fled the Star Fox team or turned to attack Fox, which only allowed the other members of the Star Fox team to destroy them, in turn. The team soon came across a Dorisby-class Battleship, which prompted Fox and the rest of the team to go on an attack run. The ship's two Turbo Laser turrets swiveled to try to intercept the approaching starfighters, but were too slow as Fox unleashed a barrage of laser fire on the turrets, destroying them both in a single volley. Meanwhile, Falco promptly destroyed the bunkers situated on the sides of the ship.
Once the ship was rendered impotent, the Star Fox Team broke off to chase some fighters making more attack runs on the Cornerian fleet. All three fighters charged their Laser Cannons and soon unleashed glowing green orbs of energy upon the attacking Venomian Space Fighters. With each Homing Laser blast, a squadron of Venomian Space Fighters was destroyed, most before they could launch their missiles on the Cornerian capital ships. Once the fighters were destroyed, they banked to fly towards the fleet to finish off any Venomian stragglers that were attacking the Cornerian ships and it was not long before all of the attacking Venomian fighters were either destroyed or had retreated back to the Venomian lines.
As the Arwings flew past the bridges of the Cornerian ships, cheers went up on the Cornerian ships as the bridge crew and ship commanders waved at the fighters, even though Fox and the others could not see them. Soon, the Cornerian fleet made its appreciation known.
"Thanks for the save Star Fox," the captain of one of the Cornerian ships said over the Arwings' comms. "You couldn't have come at a better time."
"What's the situation?" Fox asked the captain. "What's the condition of the fleet?"
"We're hurting but we're still able to fight," the captain answered. "We've lost about a third of the fleet so far."
"How do things look on the Venomian side? Do you know how many reinforcements they may have in reserve?"
"No," the captain answered. "We don't even know if they have any reinforcements. Though we're still outnumbered more than two-to-one so they won't need any reinforcements."
"Where do you need us the most?"
"Our lines in the middle are taking a bigger beating than the others," the captain answered. "Our flagship has endured numerous assaults and is still fighting but even it can only take so much before going down. Help reinforce our lines in the middle. Any fire you can direct at the Venomian fleet will be greatly beneficial."
"Got it, thanks," Fox answered. He then opened a channel to the Great Fox II and said, "ROB, Slippy, arm the missiles and unleash them at the Venomian ships attacking the center of Corneria's battlelines."
"Understood," ROB answered.
"Hey Fox, what do you want to do about Venom's forces already on Corneria?" Slippy asked. "We can't just leave General Pepper hanging."
"Any ground battle will be worthless if we don't dislodge Venom's orbital foothold," Fox answered. "Let's deal with the ships in orbit. Once we achieve orbital superiority, then we can deal with the Venomian forces that landed on Corneria."
"Got it," Slippy answered. "Unleashing missiles now."
As soon as the channel was closed, the Great Fox II banked to its right and disgorged a volley of powerful cluster missiles that streaked towards the Venomian fleet at blinding speed. The Venomian forces did not expect such an assault to come from the Great Fox II and, as such, were caught completely off guard. The fighters attempted to bank in order to intercept the missiles but were not fast enough as the missiles streaked by, managing to avoid the fighters before reaching their targets. The missiles crashed into the Venomian capital ships and blew the weaker Harlock-class frigates apart with single hits while the Zeram-class cruisers required a couple missiles each before falling while the Dorisby-class Battleships and Grazan-class Carriers required numerous hits to destroy. Only one Venomian Battlecruiser was destroyed in the missile barrage but it had only required a couple missiles hitting it in its weak mid-section to destroy. Once the barrage was complete more than fourteen Venomian capital ships had been destroyed and the assault on the center of Corneria's lines had stalled. In addition, the detonation of the capital ships also destroyed many starfighters that had been flying close to the capital ships, devastating the fighter wings that had already suffered significant casualties since the arrival of the Star Fox team.
"First barrage of missile fire complete," ROB reported. "Fourteen Venomian capital ships have been destroyed. Composition of casualties is as follows: four Harlock-class frigates, three Dorisby-class Battleships, three Grazan-class Carriers, three Zeram-class Cruisers, one Venomian Battlecruiser, and ten squadrons of Venomian Space Fighters."
Excellent, Fox thought. That would thin out the orbital Venomian forces. All that needed to happen now was for him and his team to finish off the orbiting forces or force them to withdraw so they could take down the forces already on Corneria. It was then that Falco came in over the comm.
"So Fox, what's the plan? How do you want us to handle things now?
"We've still got a lot of Venomian ships to deal with," Fox answered. "Peppy, you concentrate on dealing with the capital ships. Falco, you focus on taking down the Venomian starfighters. I'll be swing on this mission, dealing with both fighters and capital ships."
"I copy Fox," Peppy answered.
"Got it, Fox," Falco echoed.
And with that, the Star Fox team split up and surged towards their targets. Fox led the way, firing a Charged Homing Laser blast at an unfortunate group of Venomian Butterfly fighters, shattering all four of them as they were attempting to finish off a damaged Cornerian frigate that was falling back to the Cornerian lines so its repair crews could begin repairs. Fox covered the ship until it was safely back in the Cornerian battlelines, taking down two more squadrons of Butterfly fighters in the process.
Once that was complete, he went towards a line of Venomian Battlecruisers, seeing that with the recent fighter losses, they did not have any fighter escort. Banking his Arwing towards the battlecruisers, and barrel rolling in order to deflect the incoming laser fire from the capital ships, he fired a single Charged Laser shot at the lead Venomian Battlecruiser, following it up with a barrage of Twin Hyper Laser fire. The Charged Laser blast struck the glowing purple weak spot on the ship and inflicted significant damage to it but it was not enough to destroy it. However, the follow up hyper laser fire was sufficient to take it down, the ship splitting in half as Fox headed toward another battlecruiser to repeat the process. Another Charged Laser blast followed by a volley of sapphire blue Twin Hyper Laser blasts was all that was needed to take down the second Venomian Battlecruiser. He then repeated the process with a third battlecruiser, taking it down just as easily as he had the first two.
Before he could focus on the fourth battlecruiser, he caught sight of a wing of Butterfly Fighters and Tripod Fighters headed towards the Cornerian fleet, firing their glowing blue plasma balls at a hapless Cornerian Transport and a small group of Cornerian Fighters, practically vaporizing them. Knowing that the plasma balls they launched could inflict damage to capital ships, to say nothing of smaller starships, Fox veered his Arwing toward the fighters. Charging his Homing Laser, he locked onto he center of the formation and let loose with his Charged Homing Laser once the target lock had been achieved. The Charged Homing Laser rocketed into the center of the formation and detonated upon contact with its target, utterly vaporizing the target Butterfly Fighter while destroying at least half a dozen other fighters in the blast radius of the Homing Shot's detonation. Fox quickly repeated the process with more Butterfly Fighters, this time managing to take out eight Butterfly Fighters. Next, he focused on some Tripod Fighters, which greatly resembled the Butterfly Fighters that he had been shattering previously, to the point where the Tripod Fighters even had the same weapons system as the Butterflys. One Homing Charged blast later, six Tripod Fighters were destroyed.
Seeing their comrades getting slaughtered, the Butterfly and Tripod Fighters scattered, some of them crashing into and destroying each other, with some trying to flee back to the Venomian lines while others went to try to engage Fox, knowing that even a starfighter as advanced and powerful as an Arwing could not take too many hits from their plasma balls. Still, Fox had a means by which to avoid damage from the attack runs by the fighters. As he fired on the onrushing fighters, he performed a barrel roll, causing a shield to flare over his craft. As the Butterflys and Tripods fired on Fox's Arwing, their plasma balls were merely deflected by the barrel roll shield, one of the balls even managing to strike a Tripod and vaporize it. Another volley of laser fire later, Fox had destroyed all but two of the fighters that had attacked him. One of the plasma balls had managed to get through and strike his fighter, but its standard shields had been sufficient to hold against the attack and the fighter had only suffered minor shield damage.
As Fox continued to fight against the Venomian forces, a part of him was surprised at how easy this battle seemed to be for him and his team, despite the massive numerical disparity. The Venomian forces were fighting carelessly, seeming to rely on overwhelming numbers rather than tactics to win the battle. While Cornerian Fighters and their pilots had routinely been superior to their Venomian counterparts during the Lylat Wars, Venomian soldiers were not unskilled or undisciplined. They could fight, and fight effectively. These soldiers, however, seemed to behave more like they were simple mercenaries or thugs rather than experienced soldiers.
As for the other members of the Star Fox Team, the others noticed the same thing that Fox had. Peppy had performed an attack run on several Dorisby-class Battleships and had managed to render them harmless as he destroyed their Turbo Laser turrets and the bunkers on the sides of the ships, barrel rolling to deflect any Turbo Laser fire that would have struck his fighter. The Harlock-class Frigates fared worse as a single volley of laser fire had managed to down the first frigate. Continuing this on three more Harlocks, he managed to take down all four without suffering any damage to his fighter.
He later turned his attention to two Zeram-class Cruisers that were concentrating their fire on a Cornerian Cruiser. The Cruiser's shields and armor were holding up to the assault but it still would have fallen to the fire of the two Zerams had Peppy not intervened. Targeting the weak bridges of the ships, he unleashed a barrage of laser fire on each bridge, the emerald green beams inflicting heavy damage to the bridges of the ships, eventually shattering the bridges and disabling the ships. The Cornerian Cruiser then finished off the ships with a barrage of Turbo Laser fire on the two Zerams.
Falco was having just as much success against the Venomian fighter wings as Fox and Peppy were against their own targets. Falco constantly charged his laser and unleashed Charged Homing Laser blast after Charged Homing Laser blast on the Venomian starfighters. Each bright green detonation consumed at least six Venomian fighters, with some even taking down seven or eight fighters. Not satisfied with just breaking apart the squadrons and wings, Falco charged after the rest of the fighters, unleashing emerald green laser pulses at them and shattering all fighters that he came across. He would perform the occasional loop to shake off any Venomian fighter that managed to fall in behind him, which simply allowed him to pick them off.
As soon as he had taken down a couple wings of Venomian fighters, he noticed a large number of new contacts flying towards the Cornerian battlelines. Banking his Arwing towards the mass of new enemy contacts, he saw that they consisted of what looked to be dozens of mech suits much like the ones that had appeared during the Lylat Wars. Knowing that they were fast, maneuverable, and that their shields could absorb laser fire, he simply fired a Smart Bomb into the center of the mech suit formation. Focusing on the formation, he waited until he believed the bomb to be in the middle of the formation before pressing the firing stud on his Bomb launcher and detonating it long before it reached its maximum range before it would automatically detonate. The bomb detonated and the blast wave consumed most of the mech suit formation. The mechs at the center of the blast were completely vaporized while those on the outer edges were still destroyed or disabled, but took some time before their cores breached entirely and caused the mech to explode. Falco then used a series of Charged Homing shots to finish off the stragglers.
Eventually, the Venomian forces had suffered enough casualties that victory over the Cornerian fleet and the Star Fox team was looking uncertain at best. Ever since Star Fox had arrived, they had lost almost two thirds of their remaining fleet and now, they were outnumbered by the Cornerian forces. As a result, the Venomian fleet fell back and formed ranks out of weapons range of the Cornerian fleet, allowing the Cornerian fleet to catch its breath and begin to make repairs to their ships. However, Venom was not out of the fight yet, as the comms for the Star Fox Team and the Cornerian fleet intercepted a Venomian communique, with the leader of the battle fleet declaring, "It's time! Deploy our new Shogun Commander now! It's time to make our second push!"
Upon overhearing the Venomian communique, the Star Fox team banked their fighters towards the Venomian fleet and saw a large Grazan-class Carrier approach. Soon, a large silver Shogun mech suit rose from the internal cargo bay of the carrier, prompting Fox to grin. This would be just like the finishing stages of the Battle of Sector Y.
"Alright guys, we've got a Shogun and Grazan coming in," Fox alerted his teammates. "Do it just like we did during the Battle of Sector Y."
"Roger," both Peppy and Falco answered simultaneously.
The Arwings then rocketed towards the Shogun Commander that had just launched from to the Grazan, the carrier not launching any other fighters, likely not wanting them to get in the way of the upcoming battle. The Shogun charged towards Fox's Arwing, the pilot knowing that any collision between his mech and an Arwing would hurt the Arwing far more than the mech. Fox fired off a volley of laser fire, which the mech caught on his shield, allowing him to avoid taking damage, before the Arwing was forced to bank to its left to avoid the rush from the mech.
While the mech missed the ramming attack, the ram was not its only attack as it soon readied its blaster and took a few shots at the Arwings, especially since Peppy and Falco were firing volleys of laser blasts of their own. While the shield managed to catch most of the laser blasts, a few managed to get through and inflict some minor shield damage to the mech. The mech gave as good as he got, though, as his blaster pistol was a rapid-fire blaster pistol and managed to score several hits on Falco and Peppy's Arwings. The laser blasts inflicted moderate damage to the Arwings, but more than what they would have wished since the laser blasts were both stronger than those used by the mech in the Lylat Wars and were rapid fire.
Fox soon Immelmann turned back towards the mech, which was focused on shooting at Falco and Peppy, and let loose with a laser barrage of his own, his blue laser blasts managing to find their mark and inflicted noticeable shield damage to the mech, and forcing it to go evasive so Fox would not finish it off with a single attack run. The Shogun then zigzagged towards Fox to attempt to kick the Arwing, but Fox was already going evasive, managing to avoid the melee attack. Fox retaliated with a volley of laser fire, most of which was caught by the mech's shield, but some of which still managed to get through and strike the mech, itself, inflicting more shield damage on the mech.
The mech's focus on Fox opened it up to attack from Falco and Peppy and the two Arwings opened fire on the mech, inflicting noticeable shield damage on the mech, but forcing it to turn to face the two Arwings. However, in doing so, it opened itself up to Fox once more, who took advantage of the opportunity by unleashing more hyper laser fire on the mech, inflicting more damage on the mech.
The mech eventually had enough of having to face down the three Arwings alone, and rocketed towards the Grazan-class Carrier that had launched it. It landed on the ship's dorsal surface and made itself an easier target for Star Fox to deal with, but it no longer fought alone, for while the mech had retreated, the Grazan opened its hangar bays and deployed all of its fighters. However, just as it did so, Peppy let loose with a Smart Bomb of his own into the port side hangar bay of the Grazan. The bomb's shielding protected it from the energy fire of the Butterfly Fighters the Grazan deployed and detonated near the entrance of the hangar bay. The blast wave from the bomb's detonation destroyed most of the Butterfly Fighters that were deployed from that hangar and all but destroyed the hangar, as well as inflicting massive damage to the Grazan's shielding and hull. It also had the unfortunate effect of causing the Shogun mech to lose its footing and step into the hangar and get stuck.
This was fatal for the mech as Fox made an attack run on the mech, firing his Arwing's Twin Hyper Lasers as fast as possible at the mech. The lasers scored numerous direct hits on the mech, managing to shatter its large physical shield and even breach the standard shields of the mech. Another few blasts were all the Shogun mech could take before it fell. The mech began to smoke before light began to glow from the numerous hull breaches, indicating that its core was about to breach. Fox and the other Arwings rocketed away from the doomed mech and Grazan as the core breached and the Shogun Commander detonated, its explosion engulfing the Grazan-class Carrier as well. After a few seconds, the Grazan carrier exploded as well, destroying what looked to be the flagship of the Venomian assault fleet.
With the fall of the Shogun Commander and the Grazan carrier that carried it, the Venomian battlelines fell into complete disarray. Having lost the assault force commander, some of the Venomian ships wanted to avenge his loss by inflicting as much damage on the Cornerian fleet as possible and made attack runs on the Cornerian fleet, only to not receive any support from the others, who decided to cut their losses and escape while they could to fight another day. The Venomian ships that went to fight the Cornerian fleet were quickly destroyed as the Cornerian fleet unleashed volley after volley of Turbo Laser fire on the outnumbered ships. Individually, the Cornerian ships had proven superior to their Venomian counterparts, who were using older model ships, which was why the Cornerian fleet had managed to survive despite being so heavily outnumbered by the Venomian fleet. As such, the Venomian ships that had chosen to engage the Cornerian fleet had no chance whatsoever. The Cornerian fleet made quick work of the Venomian ships that had been foolish enough to attack and had lost no more capital ships in the fight, with only a few suffering significant enough damage that they would have to withdraw due to repairs should the rest of the Venomian fleet decide to engage.
The remaining Venomian ships, however, knew that the battle was lost and that it would only be a matter of time before they, too, fell had they continued the fight. As such, they quickly backed away before turning to jump into warp. The Venomian starfighters that were still in the fight also turned to retreat back to their motherships before the ships would flee. The Cornerian fighters and the Star Fox Team took potshots at the fighters as they flew, but only managed to down a few fighters and the fire was more designed to keep them from regrouping and launching a counterattack. Falco, however, had a installed a tracking device that he could launch from his Arwing's nose laser cannon and decided that this would be the perfect time to use it. Taking some potshots at some retreating Venomian Space Fighters, but making sure to not actually fatally damage any of them, he fired off the tracking device, which magnetically connected itself to one of the retreating fighters. He watched to make sure that none of the other fighters shot it down and was actually glad when it made it back to the fleet intact. Considering how small the device was and how innocuous in appearance, he figured that it would be difficult to spot unless the Venomian techs knew exactly what to look for. After all of the fighters had been taken back onboard their motherships, what was left of the Venomian fleet turned and jumped to warp.
As soon as the fleet jumped to warp, Falco contacted the Great Fox II and called, "ROB, Slippy, activate the ship's tracking detector and report."
He waited a few seconds as ROB and Slippy did as he ordered. During that time, Fox asked, "Falco, what's going on?"
"Hopefully we'll find out in a few seconds," Falco answered, not wanting to give a straight answer over the comm should any Venomian spies still be present.
"It's on and we can see it," Falco soon heard Slippy proclaim.
"Great," Falco answered.
"Falco, what's happening?" he heard Peppy ask.
"We're planning on tracking the Venomian fleet," Falco answered. "There's no way so many ships could be built without Corneria or any of the other worlds in Lylat noticing something. And even if some of those worlds joined Venom, someone or something would raise alarm bells."
"Yeah," he heard Fox agree. Like everyone else, he was shocked at how many ships Venom could deploy with no one having detected anything strange either coming from the planet, itself, or from any other potential suspicious areas. Sector X and Sector Z were all clean and the probes were sending back data at regular intervals, with any change being quite natural. The bases of Katina, Fichina, and even the forward outpost on Fortuna and Sauria had detected nothing out of the ordinary. Solar would be too dangerous to build a fleet near but even then, the probes and listening posts near Solar had detected nothing, either. So the question was where Venom had managed to get such a large fleet from?
"So, should we chase after them?" they then heard Slippy ask.
"Hold on that for a second," Fox answered. He then went to open a channel to the Cornerian fleet and asked, "How are things looking down on Corneria?"
"Venom deployed a lot of transports and dropships, many of which got through the defense grid," the Fleet Commander answered. "The grid over Sector Alpha has completely collapsed. We're repositioning ships there should Venom attack once more but the ground battle may have already been lost by then and if that happens, our fight to take back Corneria City could destroy the whole city, as well as devastate other cities if entrenched Venomian forces decide to fight a guerilla war."
Fox considered his options. With the tracking device, they could track down the Venomian fleet quickly and possibly finish it off while it was still reeling but there was also the issue of Corneria. If Venomian forces managed to entrench themselves, they could set up guerilla cells and operations that could take months, if not years, to dislodge, or worse, could infiltrate as Cornerian citizens and influence elections for council members and political leaders that could weaken Corneria and make it highly vulnerable for a future attack.
"What are the chances that the device would be found by Venomian technicians when the ship undergoes maintenance?" Fox asked Falco.
"Pretty small unless they knew what to look for," Falco answered.
That made Fox's decision easier. He then contacted the rest of the team and told them, "Okay then, we're headed for Corneria. We've gotta stop the Venomian ground assault. We can track down the fleet later. If worse comes to worst, we've given Venom a bloody nose and a black eye with this battle."
"Roger," the rest of the team answered.
With that, Fox banked his Arwing towards Sector Alpha, where all the Cornerian versions of the Umbra-class defense platforms had been destroyed, and accelerated towards the planet. As they neared it, Fox told the team, "Check your G-Diffuser systems and get ready for battle. We don't want any malfunctions to occur during the battle. Slip, you keep an eye on things from up there and alert us if anything changes, both in terms of any potential second wave of attack or the status of that tracker."
"Got it, Fox," Slippy answered.
Once everyone was ready and had received their instructions, Fox and the others gunned their throttles and headed toward Corneria's atmosphere and went to make a beeline towards Corneria City.