"We're coming up on the planet now."

"Decreasing velocity. G-diffusers powering down now."

"Watch the stabilizers. Make sure they don't malfunction this time."

"Everything looks good, Fox."

"Alright. Let's pull into orbit around the planet."

"Already on it. We'll be in orbit in just two shakes."

"Approximately twenty four minutes and eleven seconds until planetary orbit."

"Thank you, ROB."

Just a short time after General Pepper's briefing, the Star Fox team had traveled across the vast distance of the Lylat System to Sauria. As they carried through with their basic procedures in preparation for planetary orbit, each of them couldn't help but stare at this new, beautiful world.

"Wow." Slippy said as he looked down at the planet through the viewfinder. "It's kinda pretty, isn't it?"

"It is." Peppy agreed. "Looks a lot like Corneria before the war."

"It's got more green than Corneria had." Fox said.

Indeed, the planet of Sauria was a beautiful sight. Except for the splashes of blue ocean stretching around the surface, a few patches of light tan and brown signifying some dry deserts, and the icy white that covered the two poles of the planet, the rest of the planet's land was blanketed in pure and beautiful shades of green, marking the vast jungles and warm forests that blanketed the land. There was no doubt that nature was the dominant force controlling this world, and it was expressing its dominance through a show of insurmountable beauty. The more Fox stared at it, the more he couldn't wait to go down and see this new world with his own eyes.

Even still, he kept his mind on the task at hand, and focused on making sure that he and his team didn't land on the surface prematurely; in a ball of fire.

"Alright, let's keep our eyes on those readings. We can look once we're safely in orbit."

Peppy nodded, and with a "roger," he spun in his chair to face his own terminal.

Slippy however, didn't seem to hear Fox, as his eyes were glued to the planet with an odd look on his face.

"Hey guys," He asked, raising his finger to point at a particular spot. "Does that moon look a bit weird to you?"

Both Fox and Peppy followed Slippy's finger until they saw what he was referring to. Orbiting around the planet on the far side was a huge, moon-sized rock, craggy and asymmetrical unlike a more basic spherical moon.

"Looks like some kind of asteroid." Fox said. "Doesn't seem natural. Slippy, it's not on a collision course, is it?"

Slippy made some quick preliminary scans of the strange body. "No, doesn't look like it. In fact, I think it's caught in a more or less perfect orbit around Sauria. And, hmm…" He increased the scanner's range. "I'm getting life signs from it too! Looks like something is living on it. A lot of something."

Fox crossed his arms. "This doesn't seem right. Sauria didn't have a populated moon, did it?"

"I don't think it did." Peppy responded. "I don't even think it had a moon to begin with." He crossed his hands over his belly. "It could just be an asteroid that fell into orbit. It's not uncommon."

"But one that big?" Slippy asked. "That's really unlikely, especially since it's got life on it."

"Scans complete." ROB cut in suddenly. "The foreign object orbiting the planet Sauria has been identified as the planet Sauria."

"What?" Fox sighed and rolled his eyes. "Slips, I told you not to tinker with ROB when he didn't need it; you probably messed up some…"

"He's right, Fox." Slippy interrupted, a grim look settling on his face. "At least, kinda."

"What are you talking about?"

Peppy stood up and walked over to Slippy's side, looking over his shoulder to the monitor displaying the scans. "That can't be right…" He muttered.

"What is it?" Fox asked, walking up and peering over Slippy's shoulder opposite of Peppy.

"That mass…" Slippy started. "Well, if this is right, is a piece of Sauria."

"What do you mean? A piece of Sauria just broke off?"

"I… I don't know. I think so. But this doesn't make sense… it's too close..."

"What is it?"

"It's… uh…"

"Approximately twenty minutes until we achieve planetary orbit." ROB said suddenly.

"Fox." Peppy said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Let's leave Slippy to figure this out while we pull into orbit. Then we can contact the general and tell him what we found."

The vulpine gave him a quick nod. "Alright, you heard him, Slips. Figure out what happened here. You two," he said, gesturing to ROB and Peppy. "Get back to your stations."

"Roger."

"Affirmative."

The three went back to each of their stations, leaving Slippy behind to examine and figure out this strange new development. As Fox sat down in the command chair with a sigh, he found that he couldn't take his eyes off of the massive and threatening mass floating eerily above the beautiful planet. Now that he knew what to look for, he noticed that a large, brown, ugly scar was growing on the planet's horizon as they slowly moved into its view. That scar alone more or less confirmed that the body was in fact a piece of the planet, in his mind at least.

"What happened here?" He muttered.

It didn't take long for the ship to fall into an orbit around the planet, and the moment it did, its crew followed through with their plan to contact General Pepper. Within minutes, an image of the old dog was standing on the bridge along with Fox and his crew.

"Hello, Fox." He greeted, before clearing his throat. "I trust you had an uneventful trip?"

"Well, yes. More or less. Um, General…"

"Now then, on to business: I trust you know that you're going to have to equip yourself with basic survival gear for your mission. It's not clear where you're going to be traveling down there, so I would prepare for the possibility of extreme cold or hot conditions. Of course, you should take your blaster for self-defense…"

"General!" Fox said loudly, interrupting the old dog. "There's something else you should know."

"Yes? Please explain. Have you found something?"

The vulpine nodded. "Yeah, we have. Sending him the images, Slippy."

The toad nodded, before uploading images taken of the planet to Pepper's base on Corneria. It took a moment until he received them, but as soon as he did, his grizzled face fell into a look of concerned wonder.

"Oh my…" He muttered as he observed the images that were out of sight of the crew of the Great Fox. "That's… this is Sauria?"

Slippy nodded. "Yeah, it is."

"You didn't know about this, general?" Peppy asked.

"No, no I didn't. An away team observed the planet just a few cycles ago, so this must have happened very recently. Do you..." He cleared his throat again. "Do you have any idea what happened?"

Fox shook his head. "No. We don't even have a theory."

"Well!" Slippy spoke up quickly. "I have a few theories, they're just… you know. Not good."

Fox nodded. "We've scanned for any strange geological activity or some kind of collision, but we can't find anything. It's just popped out like a cork in a bottle."

"Hmm." The general murmured. "What about the rest of the planet?"

"Well," Slippy said. "This is where it get's weird. As far as we can tell, the rest of the planet hasn't been affected all that much. I mean, a huge change in mass like that should have the planet spinning out of control, drifting into the Sun and exploding into a giant ball of gas, but…"

"But that hasn't happened." Fox finished. "As far as we can tell, the planet's orbit hasn't been affected at all."

"What about the natives?"

"They're alright. For now at least." Peppy said. "Somehow, the atmosphere down below is sort of bubbling up around where the piece of the planet is, giving them enough air to breathe. But, well… how did you explain it Slippy?"

"See uh…" Slippy began, before sighing. "You know I'm an engineer, not a scientist, right?

"That bubbling," Fox explained. "Is also causing a lot of oxygen to escape out into space. The natives there are trapped above the planet, and they're losing air steadily."

"So we're running out of time." Pepper finished with a frown. "Very well. In that case, I believe your mission is no longer necessary, Fox. You may begin your return journey, and we can discuss your payment as soon as you get back."

"Wait, what?" Fox said, crossing his arms. "We're leaving? Just like that?"

Pepper nodded. "If what you've told me is true, then the natives of Sauria don't have much time left. You've established that the planet is in danger, so I believe it's time for the Cornerian military to intervene. We will begin evacuation of the orbiting planetoid as soon as we are able, as well as the rest of the planet if conditions worsen."

"General, I don't think…"

"With all due respect, general." Peppy intervened. "I think that'd be a bit too hasty. We don't know for sure what's happening here, but I think we can all agree it isn't natural."

"Yeah." Slippy agreed. "Everything about it is just too weird and unlikely. If I were to make an educated guess, I'd say that this was caused somehow by the technology that the Saurians have come into contact with."

"Which means that it might be reversible." Peppy finished.

"Please, general." Fox said. "Give us a chance to figure out what's going on before we evacuate the whole world. There still might be a chance to save Sauria."

Pepper frowned and grumbled in thought for a moment, before sighing and shaking his head. "Very well, I'll give you a chance. But I will still be organizing an evacuation operation and putting them on standby, assuming you don't discover the cause in time."

"That's fair enough." Peppy said.

"Alright," Fox said, crossing his arms. "What's my first move?"

"Hmm, yes well… give me a moment."

The team watched as General Pepper leaned out of their sight, and heard him grumbling and mumbling to himself.

"Ah yes." He said at last, leaning back into view. "It says here that the two most dominant tribes on the planet are known as the Ow… ahem, the Ouh-kcks… um…" He mumbled to himself while scratching his nose, before shaking his head. "Well, whatever it is, it says that they translate roughly into "Earthwalker" and "Cloudrunner," so I would begin by attempting to contact one of them. Logically, their leaders would know what's going on across the planet better than anyone else."

"Are they friendly?"

"Yes. Well, sort of. We made a tentative peace with both tribes, but I doubt any of them have forgotten the incident. They may not be too excited to see another outsider on their world, but if you explain the situation and keep your nose clean, you should be alright."

"But General," Peppy spoke up. "I've been wondering. How do you expect us to communicate with them? I doubt either of us speak the same language."

"Ah yes, I meant to discuss that with you." The general cleared his throat before continuing. "We were able to learn a… fair amount of the Saurians' native language: Enough that we were able to design a two-way translator should we ever need to communicate with the people. Unfortunately, we haven't yet made a functioning prototype."

"You got blueprints for it?" Slippy asked suddenly.

Pepper smiled and chuckled. "Indeed we do, Mr. Toad. I'm glad we seem to be on the same page." He cleared his throat. "I can have my engineers send you the blueprints for the translator, and Mr. Toad can build the device for your use."

"But that'll take a while." Fox said, folding his arms. "What do I do until then?"

"You'll have to make due I'm afraid. I'd say the best thing you can do is contact Peppy and use him and the language logs we send as a temporary translator whenever you need to, while Mr. Toad works on the device."

"That should be fun." Peppy said with a grin. "I haven't learned a new language for almost twenty years."

"Well it's a good thing you're a fast learner." Pepper said with a chuckle.

"Alright, what's my first move?" Fox asked.

"Well, as I said, it's most likely that the leaders of either the Earthwalkers or the Cloudrunners will know what's happening on the planet better than anyone else. Given the Cloudrunners' solitary lifestyle, I would search out the Earthwalkers' leaders first. Unfortunately, we have no way of knowing where they are at the moment."

"How do I find them?"

"I'm afraid you'll have to figure that out on your own. There's so much we don't know about this world that I doubt the military will be able to do anything more than point you in the right direction."

"Alright." Fox said bluntly. "Point me."

"Of course. Well, the grounds on which the native tribes and the CDF held their peace talks are known as… kixs… oh good heavens, kakso…" He shook his head and scoffed. "Well, whatever it's called, it was referred to as a neutral and peaceful land, so I would recommend that as your first destination. You can then investigate and scout the surrounding area for any signs of where you could find the Earthwalkers, as well as signs of how the planet has been affected by the new technology and this catastrophe."

"Got it."

"Good. Now Fox, one more thing." These words came with a gravely serious tone and a stern face. "This mission is about saving Sauria from destruction. But if you are to come to the conclusion that the planet is beyond saving, or if you are to run out of time before you are able to, then you are to leave the planet immediately and return to Corneria."

"But General…" Fox was about to protest, but Pepper stopped him.

"Fox, I'm sorry to say this, but the life of the Hero of the Lylat System is not worth that of a backwater planet that we barely have any connections to. Your life must come before that of Sauria's."

"That's a little callous." Slippy muttered.

"I'm sorry Mr. Toad, but that's how it must be."

"No," Fox said resolutely, crossing his arms with a determined gleam in his eyes. "You don't have to worry, General. I will figure out what's happening, and I will stop it."

Pepper smiled. "I don't doubt you will. Good luck, Fox."

With that, the old dog gave the Star Fox team a respectful salute, before vanishing as their connection was severed.

"Alright." Fox said, turning to Slippy and Peppy. "Any questions?"

"Yeah." Slippy responded. "Can we get lunch first? I'm starved."

Soon after, Fox was in his quarters, gathering, preparing, and packing supplies and basic amenities he would need down on the planet's surface. He knew that Slippy had already loaded his Arwing with food and basic rations, so he instead focused on gear that would help him to survive down on Sauria's generally humid and hot climate. After placing a globe-light, a simple device that would provide both heat and light at night, into his basic duffel bag, he took a deep breath before walking to the stand where his blaster and holster sat.

After grabbing the holster and buckling it to his waist, he picked up the trusty weapon and, giving it a quick but elaborate spin, slipped it into its home.

"Ready for action." He said with a grin.

He couldn't deny he was excited. Not only at the sheer adventure that came with exploring a world he had never before set foot on, but something else, some powerful feeling in the back of his mind, was causing a sweet flow of adrenaline to pump throughout his body. He couldn't quite place his finger on what it was, yet it filled him with an energy he hadn't felt in a while.

His musing was interrupted by a knock on his quarters' door.

"Fox?" Peppy's voice sounded through the door. "You decent?"

Fox rolled his eyes. "Come in, Peppy."

The old rabbit obliged, opening the metal door with a flick of a switch and stepping inside Fox's room.

"Are you packed?" He asked with a smile, glancing at the pack on the bed.

"Yep."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes Peppy, I'm sure."

"So you've got your Pathfinder?"

"Ye… uh…" Fox quickly spun around and began rummaging through the pack, before he heard Peppy chuckle behind him.

"You never change." He said, holding the Pathfinder up in his hands.

"Oh, yeah. Thanks." Fox said, quickly grabbing the map-maker and stuffing it into the bag. "Did Slippy get those blueprints yet?" He asked, not lifting his head from his bag.

"Yes, he received the files just a little bit ago." The old rabbit remained silent for a moment, watching his friend rummage and mentally check items off of a list, before sighing. "Fox, I need to speak with you."

"Yeah?" The vulpine asked, standing up and turning to face the rabbit.

"Well, see…" Peppy sighed, crossing his arms and frowning while casting his eyes to the ground.

"Peppy?" Fox asked. "What is it?"

The old rabbit sighed before finally speaking. "Fox, I'm going to ask you to follow General Pepper's advice."

"What advice? What do you mean?"

"I mean… if you're down there, and something happens to the planet that we aren't expecting, or if you run out of time and…"

"Peppy," Fox said firmly, crossing his arms. "You know I can't do that. I can't just doom a whole planet when there's something I could do about it."

"Fox, you don't have an obligation to this planet. I understand we should do something to try to save it, but Pepper is right. Sauria isn't worth the life of Fox McCloud."

Fox sighed and rubbed his eyes with two fingers. "Peppy, you can't honestly believe that. We're talking about millions of innocent creatures in danger here. If I can't do this, they all die. I can't abandon them."

"Fox…"

They were suddenly interrupted by a furious knocking on the door.

"Fox!" Slippy's voice reverberated through the cold metal. "Fox! You… you really… you really need…"

The poor amphibian sounded panicked, a frantic ribbit sounding up from his throat every other word.

"Slippy?" Fox called with concern in his voice. Both he and Peppy dashed to the door and threw it open, revealing the face of a toad that was just as panicked as he sounded.

"Fox! Peppy!" He yelled, even though he was right in front of them. "You really… th-the… the bridge… Rocks! Lots of rocks! I mean, the-the…"

"Calm down, son." Peppy said, trying to stop Slippy from jumping out of his skin. "What's happened?"

"Th-the planet! It's… come see!"

The toad dashed away back to the bridge, followed closely by the vulpine and the old rabbit.

Just moments later, all three of the Star Fox team were bursting onto the bridge. Before either Fox or Peppy could open their mouths, Slippy was by the main viewfinder, jumping and furiously pointing.

"Look! Look!" He yelled. "It's happening again!"

The vulpine and the rabbit were by his side in an instant, and as their eyes fell down upon the planet below, their hearts sank as they saw what had Slippy so agitated.

The entire planet of Sauria was rumbling, they could see that even from their orbit high above it's atmosphere. And as their eyes traced its shaking horizon, they caught glimpse of the source of the vibrations: A massive chunk of the surface was slowly, slowly tearing away from the planet's crust. As dust, rocks, and debris were being thrown and cast aside by the great mass, it slowly but surely began rising away from the rest of the planet, leaving a trail of dust to cover its path. Flashes of light suddenly exploded into being, and the Star Fox team saw great, yellow flashes of energy, like bolts of lightning arcing up from the underside of the escaping piece to the planet below. The flashes of electricity eventually began to die down, and as they did, the great, broken piece of Sauria floated to an almost gentle stop, joining its massive brother eerily in the skies of the planet.

The Star Fox team was silent. The sheer scale of witnessing this disaster had completely stunned the war-hardened team, and they found that none of them could take their eyes off of Sauria's new and sinister moon, or the scar that it had left down below on the surface.

After what seemed like an eternity of ghostly silence, Fox was the first to speak. "Slippy, is my Arwing ready?"

"Y… yeah. It… it is." The toad stuttered.

"Good." Before either of them could react, Fox had suddenly spun around and began marching away, a fierce fire burning in his eyes. "I'm going down."

"Fox!" Peppy said quickly, stopping him before he could leave the bridge.

The vulpine stopped in his tracks, but didn't turn around to face the rabbit.

"Go save that planet."

Fox smiled, turning his head and giving Peppy a grateful nod, before continuing his march down to the hanger, readier than ever to begin his mission.

Author's note: Yeah, I can list a plethora of excuses, some of them even reasonable. But honestly, I'm just going to say I'm really sorry for how long this chapter took to come out. I shouldn't have made you all wait this long, and I apologize.

But, here it is, some what? Eight months in the making? Hopefully it was worth the wait. Yeah, it probably wasn't, but ah well, at least I'm back. I'm going to be trying to hash out a schedule for my stories that means I'll be able to get out a chapter for each faster than one a year. We'll see if I can do it.

I really don't have that much to say about this chapter. More exposition, I know, but hopefully it's still interesting. I did enjoy writing it.

Anyway, that's all for now. Thank you all for viewing and reviewing, and I'll see you later.

Yours Truly, Ultimate Supreme Executive Chairman.