Chapter III - Enter Star Wolf (or what's left of it, lmao)
Four hundred and eighty seven billion miles away, a pair of eyes were stationed in front of a computer screen inside a dimly lit room. The only sounds available for any ears to receive would be a river of faint, mechanical tapping sounds, as well as the occasional light chatter or instruction.
The command room was a fairly sizeable room, housing about twelve people total, eleven of which were in front of workstations lining the walls, the remaining one sitting in a large chair in the center. A giant screen along the front of the room took up most of the wall space, leaving little room for natural light.
Suddenly, the voice of one of the workers broke the relative quiet.
"Sir, we've got a report from one of the stations of a battle cruiser headed this way."
The lead's head turned, brow furrowed.
"Which station?"
"Delta-one. They sent a message along with the report."
"What's it say?"
"Probe of dreadnought GPS shows en route to main hideout. ETA one month," the worker read aloud.
"What kind of dreadnought?" The lead asked, now fully facing the workstation.
"One that looks like... This?"
An image of a battle cruiser displayed itself on the large viewing screen. One with four wings in a flattened X formation, a large head jutting out from the main body for the bridge, two cannons just below it, and giant green letters reading STAR FOX printed on the upper body.
The head of the command room stood up from his chair, eyes still fixed on the screen. After giving a heavy sigh, he held up his communicator and tapped it to a rectangle painted onto the side of the workstation. A small ping escaped from the speaker, indicating the completion of some unknown process.
A leopard in a black parka could be seen sprinting through a metal-lined tunnel, headed straight for a pair of large vertically sliding doors at the end. As soon as he tapped his ID to the scanner next to it, he was met with a blast of warmth from the other side, yet he still shivered. After going up several flights of stairs and flying through a maze of corridors, he found himself in front of a large wooden door with golden trim around it.
After taking several deep breaths, he lightly rapped on the door, opened it, and stepped inside.
A lamp and desk were standing in front of a large backed chair, pointed towards the large windows on the far side of the room.
"Boss?"
As the back of the leather chair slowly turned around, the glow from the lamp revealed the face of a lupine with a scar and patch running over his left eye.
/
Fox leaned back into the chair at his desk and let out a frustrated scowl.
The vulpine sat in his homely, familiar quarters on the Great Fox II, formulating a plan for infiltrating a base that he knew next to nothing about. The sad part was that, despite the nest of pirates going after Corneria and her allies for nearly half a year, the CDF still had a minimal amount of information on the base in question. The even sadder part was that even minimal seemed like an understatement.
'Flying on minimal intel.' Fox thought somberly as he looked up at the picture of his father on the wall.
All he had been given was a rough idea of what the base looked like from the pictures, a few bullet points about the planet, and was basically told "you do the rest." In his eyes, this was basically a giant middle finger to anyone willing to take this job, namely Star Fox. To add insult to injury, despite the Cornerian Defense Force having over a hundred thousand troops trained to use space fighters, they still have to rely on a rag-tag team of mercs with a battle cruiser.
'Did they really need something less conspicuous than a few squadrons? Or are they just trying to offload their own dirty work?'
All Fox could really do was draw out a plan, and hope for the best.
Hope was all he could have that himself, one of his teammates, or God forbid, she, wouldn't go down while fighting. Adding another name to his list of deceased loved ones was the last thing the vulpine wanted to do.
"So, where exactly is this base located?" Slippy asked.
One of the military personnel tapped a button on the data slate he was holding, and a picture of a snowy mountain with a few concrete protrusions displayed on the projector screen.
"This planet is on the outer edge of the Lyra system, the star system closest to Lylat," the hound explained. "It's climate is similar to what you saw on Fichina during the Aparoid threat, only this one doesn't have a climate control center, and it's about twenty degrees colder."
Falco gawked at what he just heard. The avian always hated the cold, but this was just downright torture.
"Oh, and that's without the thirty-five mile per hour winds."
Fox let out a whistle at the officer's explanation.
"Looks like I'm gonna have to bring something more than a flight jacket for once."
A few of the higher-ups in the room chuckled. Next, it was Krystal's turn to speak up.
"How long would it take to reach this place?"
The officer tapped a few more buttons on the data slate, and the picture of the snowy mountain base was replaced by a diagram of the two star systems.
"There's about one tenth of a light year between Lylat and Lyra, and about one twelfth between Corneria and this ice ball. On a time scale, that's roughly one month of travel time at light speed"
"Pretty damn far," Falco said, leaning back in his chair. "Gonna be one hell of a speeding ticket."
A light knock sounded from Fox's door, pulling him out of his deep thought. As he opened the door, he was met with the sight of his loved one, wearing an affectionate gaze and her special necklace from when Fox had rescued her off Sauria.
'Just my luck.' Fox thought as he smiled softly. "Hey, Krystal."
"ROB made dinner, are you coming?" She replied, pointing her thumb down the hallway.
"Food sounds real nice right now," Fox said as he stepped out of his room and slid the door shut behind him.
/
Two vulpines, one avian, and one amphibian were lounging in the common area on the Great Fox II, all clutching bowls of spaghetti and meatballs as they watched the TV screen across the room. A cheesy, comic-book-style action movie was playing, the kind with tons of explosions that take up the entire screen, and villains that spend way too much time monologuing.
Basically the kind of movie that almost every mercenary would share an affinity for.
Krystal had been sitting next to their captain, resting her head on his shoulder, the both of them relishing in the feeling of being close to one another.
"Hey, Fox?" came Slippy's voice from further down the couch. Fox craned his neck back slightly.
"What's up?"
"Do we even know how we're gonna blow up this fort?"
Fox, still annoyed at the lack of intel he'd been given, did his best to sound like he actually had a plan.
"I'm working on it."
"Is that your way of saying there's no plan?" Falco interrupted.
'Shit.'
"It's not like they gave us much information to work with."
"Then why not ask for more? There's gotta be something they're hiding from us."
"Believe me, I tried. All we've got is a few pictures and some encrypted messages the CDF intercepted." Fox replied after swallowing a mouthful of spaghetti.
Hearing the word 'encrypted' got Slippy's attention.
"I could try and unscramble them."
Fox's ears had turned forward.
"How long would that take?"
The toad got up to put his empty bowl in the sink.
"That depends, but I should have them done before we get there."
Fox nodded, and tapped a few buttons on his wrist-comm. A small chime indicated that he'd sent the files to his teammate.
"I'm gonna head to bed, goodnight guys," Slippy said as he left the common area.
The rest of the team called back with their wishes of well rest to the amphibian before returning their attention to the soon-ending movie and the rest of their dinner.
Krystal let out a content sigh as she snuggled up closer to her vulpine. Fox's strong arms gently wrapped around her, intertwining their hands together as he rested his muzzle in her hair, breathing in the wild, flower-y scent he knew all too well.
'I can get used to this,' the vixen mused.
/
"Finally," Fox breathed with a tired voice.
After nearly a week of examining images, data, and other statistics, he'd finally done it.
The plan was simple by design, but it was the floor plan (or lack thereof) that was the complicated part. Based on what he could gather, there weren't any direct paths to the two nuclear reactors housed underneath the base, meaning that he'd have to draw out a map for his teammates to navigate through the maze of corridors and elevators. The pictures he'd been given were extremely helpful, more so the few that had been managed to be taken from the inside by scouters.
The fact that this was eerily similar to the way James had died chilled him to the bone, slowly eating away at his peace of mind. As much as he wanted to drop the mission, the team really needed the money, as repairs and upgrades had gotten much more expensive over the years.
He now lay on his bed, his fuzzy head resting on a pillow, and his rough hands underneath it. This could end up being the way he died, or even worse, the way she died; Something that he would inevitably blame himself for.
A light knock came from his door.
"Come in." Fox called in a tired voice.
The door slid open, revealing the blue vixen Fox was thinking about.
Normally, her presence was enough to lighten his mood, but the situation at hand made it hard to keep his head level.
"Everything alright, Fox?" She asked in a concerned tone.
"No," Fox mumbled, muffled by his pillow.
"Well, then talk to me. I'll listen," Krystal responded as she stepped inside. The door slid shut behind her with a soft hiss.
Fox turned over so that he was lying on his back.
"You ever get the feeling something bad is going to happen?"
"You do realize who you're asking, right?"
"That's not my point. This is how my dad died, taking a mission he desperately needed the money for and going in on minimal information."
"Oh." Krystal's amused expression quickly changed.
She walked over to his bed and sat down next to him, leaning back on her azure arms.
"I'm really worried about everyone's safety," he murmured, his eyes holding a downcast, worried expression.
"Then we'll have to fight as hard as we can. We can't change what's going to happen, but we can prepare for it." She said as she put her hand on top of his, squeezing it slightly.
Fox couldn't help but get a feeling that there was something else she wanted to ask. That, and she seemed to have a little bit of pink just barely peeking through the white fur on her delicate face. He sat up and crossed his legs, turning so that he was facing her directly.
"Alright... So what did you want?"
Krystal raised an eyebrow in confusion before she realized what he'd meant. Her face lowered slightly in bashfulness, like a child that had just been caught eating from the cookie jar.
"Can I... sleep with you tonight?"
Fox was a bit surprised at this, the sudden jump in his tail being a dead giveaway, but he welcomed it. A blush crossed his muzzle as he answered.
"You may, Krystal."
The vixen let out a light giggle at his antics, and left to take a shower and change. Fox let out a happy sigh as he closed the door to his bathroom, readying himself for the night to come.
About fifteen minutes later, Krystal stepped out of her room, and closed the door behind her. She couldn't help but let an excited smile cross her face.
When she got to Fox's door, though, she hesitated.
'He's probably tired of me knocking on his door all the time,' she thought as she remembered all the times she had to ask him for his help on their return trip to Corneria. Coping with the loss of family was one thing, but the destruction of your entire planet was another.
'Then again, Fox had always been happy to help...'
Just as she raised her paw to knock on the door, it opened for her. Fox was inside, wearing a pair of soft camouflage pajama pants and a white t-shirt, as well as his typical goofy smirk.
"You don't really have to knock, you know."
Krystal merely responded by wrapping her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly, the two of them giggling while Fox picked her up and brought her inside.
/
ETA To Star Fox Arrival: 8 Days, 2 Hours, 6 Minutes.
Wolf O'Donnell turned off the computer, and stared at his resentful expression on the now blank monitor. His entire team had been killed by that band of mercenaries, and now it seemed is if they would always find a way to foil his plans, no matter where he went. One thing he wondered was why every time Fox McCloud had come so close to killing him, he never did.
As much as Wolf liked a challenge while fighting their long-lasting rivalry, it was becoming clear that unless he killed the orange mercenary first, Fox would kill him. Their most recent scuffles had gotten deadlier and deadlier each time.
He opened his desk drawer, and disconnected a blaster from its charging cable as he pulled it out. He smiled maliciously at it, and holstered it as he got up from his desk. Walking down to the main area from his office, he saw a bunch of the nut jobs that were crazy enough to work under him bustling about, trying to take care of readying defenses for the coming threat.
He pulled up his communicator, and sent a message to his second-in-command.
Relay this message to everyone. I want all of Star Fox captured, especially the orange one. If any of you kill them I will execute you myself.
He hit send, and started down the hall towards the hangar. When he stepped through the metal door, he was met with a giant white screen, shielding someone from viewing whatever was behind it. When he stepped around it, he saw a large barrel with a coil running around it, mounted atop a circular base. A chair was attached to the contraption holding the barrel up, so that whoever was using the machine could see where it was aiming.
"Come and get me, Star Fox. I'm waiting." Wolf said with a dark smile as he left the hangar. A sign could be seen next to the gigantic screen shielding the contraption from view with big, bold letters on it.
Kinetic Railgun - Prototype #4
No touchy! (Especially you, Brad!)
- There are roughly 588 billion miles between the centers of the Lylat and Lyra star systems, which equates to about 1/10 of a light year. Because the planet is on the edge of the system, the distance they need to travel is only about 1/12 of a light year, or one light month, which is about 487 billion miles. I would have made them fly faster than light, but I feel like the max speed of a dummy thicc dreadnought like the Great Fox II should be a light speed at most. That, and I find doing the math for something like this to be somewhat enjoyable.
- If any of you have seen the movie Hidden Figures, Falco's last remark at the briefing should sound pretty familiar.
- The reason why Brad isn't allowed to touch the railgun is kinda like "The Noodle Incident" from Calvin and Hobbes.