To Cpt. Fox McCloud STARFOX

From Cpt. William Grey CDFsfc

Subject I'm in, and I brought company

Good to hear you'll be expanding the team Fox, I just handed in my resignation papers. As soon as that get's sorted out I'll make my way down to that shipyard that your friend Moore owns. One of my wingmen, Nadia Herz, also wants to join. I can vouch for her right now, she's a brilliant pilot and has a reputation for leaving nobody behind. She's already on her way down, I think those new Arwings of yours are drawing her in like a moth to a candle.

I'll see you sometime tomorrow buddy,

Bill.

To Cpt. Fox McCloud STARFOX

From Katt Monroe

Subject On my way

How can I not resist when you've got those shiny toys of yours all over the news? I'd have to be insane to pass an opportunity to fly one of those up. I'm currently doing a small escort job on McBeth but I'll get back to Cornaria as soon as I'm done here. It'll be nice to fly alongside Pretty Bird again, just to give him a hard time of course.

Katt

Conference Room

Moore Industries Shipyard and Assembly Pant

Cornaria / Lylat System

1403 Hours

"Security teams were finally able to neutralize the saboteurs responsible for hacking the automated fighter defence drones that attacked you this morning," General Pepper explained over the communication unit. "Unfortunately, our firewalls failed to prevent the Saboteurs from hacking into our intelligence mainframe. Diagnostics are still in progress, but it seems as if several data files have been tampered with, copied, and deleted. Due to the apparel and equipment of the saboteurs, we have reason to believe that this attack came from the remnants of the late Andross Empire."

"I thought they disbanded after Oikonny bit the dust during the battle of Fortuna." Falco commented, "His hired guns keep working after the paycheck stops? Something's not right."

"If I may General," Kyle suggested, "If the team didn't set off the drones, would anyone have even noticed the sabotage? Like they were perfectly quiet until they decided to sic the UAVs on us?"

The general's eyebrow rose in interest as he checked the documents in front of him. "Uh, No," The general admitted, "They slipped in undetected, hacked out data and could have slipped right back out without raising any sort of alarm. Instead they decided to set off several alarms and hack into the drones. What are you getting at?"

"Someone gave them a change of orders, instead of slipping out all nice and quiet like they had planned, they were told to hack the drones and send them to kill Starfox. Knowing full well it was a one way trip." Kyle pointed out, "Who has access to that kind of military personnel and resources, but childish enough to throw them away in an attempt to off Starfox?"

"Only name I can think of is Oikonny, but he's dead." Krystal admitted, "We destroyed his flagship right before the Aperoid showed up."

"Did anyone ever actually confirm his body though?" Kyle pressed, "What's to prove that the ape didn't just slip out during the confusion with the Aperoid? Or that he was even on the ship at all?"

"Our intelligence file documenting the aftermath of that battle. . ." The general began to answer until he took a closer look, ". . . That has just been tampered with. I think we have our answer on who was behind this attack. Good work."

The conversation ended as the device powered down, leaving just the team in the room as the window blinds rose to let in natural light.

"Well, if Oikonny's back I believe we'll get a job really soon." Falco sarcastically groaned as he put his feet up on the table and leaned back.

"Don't count on it Falco, we still need a carrier. Otherwise we're stuck on Cornaria." Fox reminded as he looked out the window, he hated moments like this where he could do nothing but sit and watch as the rest of the system was at some warlord's mercy.

Krystal could only watch Fox as he looked out at the shipyard below, she was all too familiar with that feeling of helplessness. Somehow she knew they were going to win, she just knew. Maybe it was because Kyle was part of the team and all the new technology he brought with him made the team stronger than ever. Maybe it was just her warrior pride getting the best of her, or maybe it was just sympathy.

"Yeah?" Kyle abruptly asked, pressing a finger on his earpiece earning everyone's attention. "SCN-1 Is finished? Good now would be the perfect time. I'm on my way down." Kyle finished with his grin that meant he was getting ready to show a suprise. It was finally time to reveal his truly greatest creation. . .

Construction Bay Alpha

Moore Industries Shipyard and Assembly Pant

Cornaria / Lylat System

1428 Hours

"Remember when Slippy said that we finally got those heat tiles?" Kyle asked the team as they stood on a catwalk overlooking a pitch black bay. "They were for this."

With the press of a button, the massive doors that made the roof began to part, letting the sun illuminate the vessel below. The ship was almost twice as long as the Great Fox excluding the neck. Four massive thrusters protruded from the stern of the ship, powerful enough to shove it's way through any resistance. The hanger was protected by two sets of blast doors on the bow and on the stern above the engines. On the lowest part of the ship, a vehicle bay could be seen with it's cargo hatch open. But most stunning of all, was the massive winged fox painted in red on the side of the hull, proud and unmistakeable.

"Meet the McCloud class Strike Carrier, the most advanced and cutting edge warship in the galaxy. Hanger capacity up to thirty fighters and able to carry a mechanized strike force twelve vehicles strong. Her ship to ship armament consists of three Cruiser tier Laser projectors and one central MAC gun for forward fire as well as six missile side for closer engagements. She is also equipped with a more than ample point defence grid of Blaster Cannons and LAWs for fending off hostile fighters and missiles. Her Energy shields can take prolonged punishment from Basters and Lasers due to being able to recycle incoming energy and her Kinetic Barriers will easy repel physical projectiles and asteroids alike." Kyle revealed with a gesture to the ship.

"This one is for the team."

Bridge

Grand Fox

Cornaria / Lylat System

1720 Hours

"I still can't get over how huge this thing is!" Falco commented as he turned around on the bridge with his arms open. It's a good thing we're expanding the team Foxy, there's no way we'd be able to crew this ourselves."

"Skeleton crew is twelve people, less if we get someone that can do multiple rolls. Not including fighters and the automated crew like ROB64," Kyle explained, "One of the guys who helped build her has asked me to join as a mechanic and engineer, so already that's one down eleven to go."

"I'll probably take up one of the jobs here on the Bridge, but I'll also do my part working with the Arwings too of course." Slippy commented.

"Ten then," Fox sighed, "That's a lot smaller number than what I was expecting to hire for a crew, but we'll still have to make the offer public. Not looking forward to that mail."

The whole team let out a collective grown, none of them were looking forward to this. . .

Service Station H9

Classified

Classified / Titania / Lylat System

0030 Hours

Blaster fire streaked all around the small maintenance terminal and the canine standing in it. Next to him, a portable drive was at work downloading everything it could out of the base's mainframe. You could call the canine a traitor, a rogue, but in the end he was a hunter, he lived for those heart pumping pursuits, for those moments of battle and conflict, that chase for a worthy challenge was what drove him.

There was no challenge here, there was no chase, no battle. Even with a rap sheet as long as his there were some things that even he thought were wrong. What was happening here was one of them.

A laser bolt missed the canine, but managed to hit the computer ending it's work with a shower of sparks. Cursing the canine grabbed the drive and yanked it out, whatever was on would have to be enough. Picking up his own blaster, the canine sprinted to his fighter, firing blindly in the enemy's direction. His teammate's fighter hovered just outside the hangar doors providing covering fire with his blasters as the canine lept into his own cockpit. Even when still under fire the canine managed to get his ship airborne and escape with his team mate, disappearing into another horrid sandstorm. . .