Ch.2: Behind the Scope
Small red and black targets shattered at the end of the range. The fox lifted his eye from the LSR2 that rest in his shoulder. He loved the raw power of the sniper rifle. It could easily take down targets from over two kilometers away. He loaded another shell into the chamber. The rifle didn't have a magazine, this proved to be a nuisance in combat. It wasn't meant for that sort of use. Snipers often operated behind enemy lines and were sly and mysterious. If you were hit by this huge shell there was no surviving. The sniper's barrel widened at the end indicating that it was silenced and had a flash suppresser.
It was odd though. The powerful sniper rifles that were issued to the Cornerian Army were still powered by the old unconventional gunpowder shell. All the rest of the military's weapons where powered by a Plasma Core excluding the Rocket launcher and machine gun. Actually the only things that were powered by the Plasma Core were his Class D Blaster, the newer Class C Blaster and the powerful force of the shoulder mounted Plasma Cannon. Though they were not as effective to such a range that a bullet was, it did relinquish the thought of troops having to carry extra ammunition into combat. Leaving free space for other things such as rations and medical packs, it also got ride of the burden of carrying extra weight. But the snipers hadn't quite evolved that far.
The range was fairly small. It had stray burns and huge holes on the backstop originating from the Blasters most of the crew carried around and the LSR2 Sniper Rifle. Music sung from the speakers that had been placed in the hull. It was the sound of the electric guitar, it calmed him. He would never dream of playing music in a firefight, it was much to distracting. When Fox was in the Arwing he often did play music, unbeknownst to most of the other mercenaries.
Fox's Blaster was different from the rest of the teams. It matched the power of the standard Military pistol that had been issued out to the other Mercenaries, but it was larger and more bulky. It lacked the ability to fire fast. Fox only used it because it was the one his father has given him for his thirteenth birthday.
He rolled it out of the holster and bared it in front of his face, quickly sending four rounds down range, turning the target into molten steal. The barrel smoked as Fox remained still, looking down the sights. Fox had been trained in all forms of combat, his melee skills were demonstrated deeply in his last adventure.
A large tube sat on the table near the firing booth, he hated it. It was the Rocket launcher, the extreme recoil made the fox jump every time he fired it. The sheer size of it made it "inconvenient" to carry around, not to mention the ammunition it fired was large and heavy. It slowed him down a lot too. The weapon in the eyes of the vulpine was almost useless. He could find his own way around armored vehicles. Besides it wasn't safe to fire the weapon within the hull of the ship.
Fox remembered back to his days at the "Corneria Army Academy." His friend Bill was beside him the whole time. This is where Fox had become a Sniper, snipers always operated in pairs; one spotter and one shooter. Bill and Fox were the best of the best.
The two of them had only ever seen combat on a few occasions, both of them received an Army Commendation Award for holding the Cornerian front lines of Plant Katina for over three hours by theme selves, awaiting reinforcements. The mental effect that snipers had on their enemy was enormous. He and Bill alone had pinned down a whole platoon of Andross's troops. If one target was dumb enough to move forward or pop his head out of cover for too long, his comrades would soon see him collapse to the ground, dead. Soon after this Fox'sfather James McCloud died. That is when Fox decided to drop out of the Army, and take over Team Starfox.
"Fox you can't go!" A dog in the barracks of the Academy spoke to McCloud.
"I've got to. I have to find out what happened to my father," Fox festooned his rifle to the outside of his rucksack.
"But what about us? I thought we were going to be the best soldiers in the military?"
"Well you have to go on and achieve that for both of us, ok Bill?"
"Hey man I feel for you, but you can't just run off," Bill contacted his arm.
"I'm in charge of Team Starfox now, I'm not running off," Fox left the door with huge backpack that clung to him, "See you Bill."
Fox fired again, shattering another piece of steal. The vulpine hadn't been in a lot of ground combat fights since, but for his age he had seen a lot of horrible things. More then anyone should have seen in a full life time. The worst of witch, holding a body of one of his fallen comrades as his life slipped away, waiting for a medic. Fox despised this, though he has had Special Forces Training, he learned nearly nothing about being a medic. He still had the basic skills though.
His father had put him behind the wings of his Arwing since he was young. Not to mention the flight instructor at his Academy had trained him too. Peppy had said that Fox had learned from the best. But he hadn't been a great pilot until he met the arrogant and cocky falcon and the mechanical genius Slippy. They honed their skills together, and in due time got them selves into the small, agile Arwing fighters. Along with the help of Peppy who now grew too old to be at the seat of an Arwing for more then one or two hours at time.
Fox's Arwing spun, narrowly dodging lazar fire. Pulling the trigger and taking down another enemy fighter just about grazing the other Arwing that was being chased.
"Whew! That was a close one!" Slippy spoke truly through the radio, "Thanks Fox!"
"Come on frog-boy! Pay attention!" Falco's voice blurted through the speakers of the Arwing.
"Oh come one Falco give it a rest! Shut your trap for once!"
"Don't worry about it Slip, it's what I do."
Fox loaded another shell into the rifle, "Hey!" He recognized the voice immediately. Falco stood at the door and cradled a small pistol in his hand, "Where you been?"
"Uh, sleeping," the Fox replied giving the falcon a look of stupidity, "but what are you doing here?"
Falco laughed and shrugged. He wore a black leather jacket and sunglasses on his head. He looked down on his Blaster, "Well, I guess it's been a while since I fired this thing, and was gonna come down here to practice up!"
Fox nodded, "Alright Falco."
"You still have that old piece?" He nodded his head motioning the Blaster that rest on the table beside the Rocket launcher.
"Yeah I do, it's from my father and I don't really want to get ride of it if I don't have too."
"Oh yeah… sorry man, I guess I forgot."
"Its fine, I'm comfortable with it," The vulpine spun around placing his eye to the scope and popped another target at the very end of the range.
"You still got it Fox!"
"Yeah, I get in as much practice as I can, but I hope I'll never have to use it again," Fox meant this. He didn't mind the thought of shooting down enemy space craft. But the thought of sending troops to an unexpected death didn't feel right anymore. Fox knew he needed to practice, just incase he did need to some day.
Falco laughed, "Alright Foxxie!" The bird stepped up to another firing booth, just beside the fox's.
"So what have you been up to?" Fox closed the bolt on the rifle.
"Well, I've kinda been roaming around. You know looking for odd jobs around the place. What ever I can do to get by, gotta look out for number one eh?" The bird flicked the safety switch on the pistol up, "As you can see… it didn't quite work out," the pistol kicked his palm as bolts of plasma exploded from the barrel. The first and second shot missed, but the last one found its target and washed over it, "Huh, guess I'm a lot rustier then I thought. What about you guys Fox? What have you been up to?"
The sniper round snipped through the air, "As you can tell by the ship, we haven't had all that much work either. Good thing we got pay coming, this place needs some upgrades, and repairs. And it's a good thing you came around yesterday or else, I would have toast."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Falco nodded his head, "don't you get al mushy on me now, eh Foxxie?"
"Oh relax. And by the way thanks."
"Don't worry buddy, its part of the job."
Fox nodded his head, closing the bolt. The sound of the action made McCloud feel so strong, and invisible.
"And that Krystal…" Falco said.
Fox jumped. The sniper's shell over shot its target by over a half a meter missing its mark by a long way off. He didn't expect for him to say this, "Oh, uhh… yeah… her."
"You like her?"
"Well uhh, I… I guess, naturally I would."
"Heh!" Falco laughed, "So that means yes?"
Fox was silent. Falco was setting a trap and a good one at that. There was no safe answer. So he remained quite.
"Don't worry about it," the falcon then said moments later.
"Look, I've got bigger fish to fry. Besides I am not ready to settle down. Even I was, we only just met and she's leaving," Fox hesitated to say the last thing but went ahead with it anyway, "It can be tough to get in a tight relationship being a mercenary and all. Besides I don't even know if she likes me."
"Like you Fox?" Falco said smugly trying to mentally corner the vulpine but the tables were switched on him without him even realizing.
"You remember Katt Monroe?" Fox switched the tables.
Falco shuddered, "How could I forget her! God give me some space woman!"
Fox laughed at the avian's expense, "Don't worry Falco, It's under control."
"Maybe for you McCloud! I could careless if Monroe ever finds me again. But you two would make a cute couple," said Falco.
"Dude," Fox was starting to get upset with the falcon, "Give it a rest already. She's leaving when we get to Corneria. It's as simple as that."
"Oh really?" Falco asked.
"Yeah, really," Fox fired the rifle letting the bullet cut through the air and strike the target with the utmost accuracy and power.
"Remember back in grade school? When you and I met? Before you transferred to the Army Academy?" Falco grabbed the same model of the LSR2 sniper rifle that Fox had. And Fox notice him struggle trying to remember to work it.
"Yeah. What about it?" Fox let the spent shell casing fall to the floor.
"Well after that when you came to find me to help take on Andross…" Falco got cutoff.
"That was a little after grade school Falco."
"Well… whatever. You gonna let me finish?"
"And?" Fox said impatiently.
"Look I am going to just get it over with. I'm sorry for running off on team Starfox," Falco said with a hint of embarrassment as his pride was knocked down a notch.
"Are you apologizing Falco?" Fox grinned at him.
"Don't get used to it McCloud. I don't want anymore of these 'Ouch, my pride' sort of moments," Falco was humiliated.
"HaHa!" Fox chuckled, "It's alright Falco. You needed more action then we could produce for ya."
"Oh shut up Fox," Falco said and they both laughed
"It's good to have you back Falco."
"It's good to be back. You are gonna need someone who can cover your tail better then Slippy can in the Arwing. I figure that I would be just the man to do that," Falco undermined the skills of Slippy.
"If it weren't for Slippy we wouldn't have the Arwings in such good condition. If at all," Fox attempted to defend the honor of the toad.
"I don't hate him. He's a cool guy. He just needs to be more careful when his is behind the controls," Falco stated.
"You still have all your weapon's permits Falco?" The vulpine asked.
Falco replied almost insulted, "Course I do! I don't have that fancy Concealed Firearms Permit like you but I still go the other one. I don't like to carry a gun around with me."
"I like to have it so if I need it, it is there."
"Even if I wanted I could never pass that course that you need for it," Falco sneered at the vulpine.
"You could do it if you wanted. It's not that hard," Fox encouraged the avian.
"Yeah right! I don't know how you got through it! All I heard the course was composed of was commanding troopers around ans them some taking orders too. I don't have the skills for that!"
"It is a bit of that but it is a lot of common sense too. You know like don't use your Blaster as a threat. And, the Concealed Weapon is for liberation or defense purposes only," Fox said, "The basics like not showing it in public."
"Now you see, there is where I got the problem," said the avian, "I can't do that. If I have a gun I will use it. It's better if I just leave it behind. For safety of other and self."
"I knew that already bird. I need to get mine renewed anyway. So I'll go do that while the Great Fox is getting repaired and upgraded," Fox wasn't eager to go through the course again but the permit needed renewing every 3 years. The part that ticked off the vulpine mostly was that the course changed every time.
"You have to do it again?" The bird asked
"Yup and I am not looking forward to it. The Special Forces Unit changes the test every time."
"How do they do it?" Falco asked the vulpine.
"They rewrite the tes…"
"Well duhh genius! I wasn't talking about that part. I was talking about what the test was like," Falco restated the question.
"Oh, that. They put you into a virtual reality room and simulate a combat environment," Fox answered.
"Why do you still want one?"
"You know how it is Falco. If I do have the permit, I will never need it. If I don't have the permit I will need it at some point."
"What's the course called again?" Falco asked
"Well the one you need is the LTC one. But I have a few more," Fox answered.
"Well you'll do fine. I know the training you went through…" Falco got cutoff.
"It wasn't that much."
"Are you kidding!?! I know you! You're an army of one! Don't feed me any of that. You could out gun me in a fight no problem!" Falco fired the LSR2 and it overshot the target to the left by half a meter, "Hmp!"
"Come on Falco."
"Taking orders are one thing but giving them is another. That's why I got the Arwing man! That's the only area I can beat you in Fox," It was true. Fox was a seasoned pilot but the avian surpassed him in the flying area slightly. Fox was still good and the two mercenaries could keep up to each other. But in a dog fight Falco would come out on top. Not by much, but he would win.
"Uh huh. Good thing you came back cause we need you Falco."
"Yeah I know you guys do. I hope your not mad that I came back just in time to get the pay. I wouldn't want you guys to think that I was scamming you or anything."
"No Falco," Fox said, "It is a good thing that you came. Cause I wouldn't have made it out if you hadn't came along. You earned it."
"Uhh thanks McCloud."
"Thanking me again falcon?"
"If it weren't for me you wouldn't have got to meet that cute little fox."
Why wouldn't he let things be? Fox grabbed an empty clip for the P32 Machine Gun and threw it hitting the avian on the side of the head. He didn't do it hard, just enough to know that he was joking, "Hey!" Falco shouted and the two mercenaries just laughed.
Krystal awoke on Fox's soft bed. She wasn't used to sleeping in something that was so comfortable. After the last day's trapped in that crystal, she had guessed anything would be better. Last night she had considered joining the Starfox team. But the thought of it now, in the morning seemed silly to her.
She focused on the minds of everyone on the ship. They had been awake for hours. Krystal was not yet used to the schedule on which the team had run by. The day time hours seemed to be simulated by the ship automatically lighting up all the rooms, halls and corridors.
Whenever she felt the urge to rest on her ship, she would just simply go to sleep. But this race was unique, and very organized. Everything had a calendar. Time appeared to be of the essence. She had some much to learn yet.
It would still be another day until the Great Fox could reach the dry docks of Corneria. She must find something to do in the mean time. A small computer sat on the edge of the fox's night stand. It was time to learn a thing or two about these mysterious beings.
She touched and tapped button on the keyboard. And with a bit of time, the view began to lighten and the computer system started up. She smiled, pleased with her progress. All the buttons looked so foreign. It was hard to read the keys. Just when she thought she had it, the computer asked for a password.
She hated to do this, but curiosity had gotten the best of the vixen. She closed her eyes trying to find the brainwaves of Fox. Once done so, she searched through all the files in his mind. It was extremely difficult if not impossible to find something in another's mind, especially if they weren't thinking about it. This and the fact that she hadn't quite mastered the technique before her planet were destroyed. After a few minuets she came up with nothing.
Pressing the same button that she had used to turn it on a knock came to the door and she mashed the keyboard pressing every button she could in an attempt to turn it off. Her heart raced in fear that she would get caught, but the view went black, "Yes?" She tried to make her voice sound innocent.
The doors parted, and Fox stepped into the room, "Hey, you alright?"
She read through the mind of the vulpine, "Yeah, I'm fine. Thank you for asking Captain McCloud."
"Fox," he then said, "Fox is fine."
Krystal laughed. She was pleased with how the vulpine reacted. He was shy, she could sense it. The vulpine was dressed differently then ever before. Instead of the silver vest and red scarf that she had always seen him in, he was dresses in nearly full black. The silver vest was replaced with a deep black, but light in weight looking coat that had silver armor strategically placed on his shoulders, shins and forearms. Instead of the red scarf, a green patched covered his left eye. His pants and jacket had been riddled with straps, gauntlets and buckles.
Small packs hung off the straps, and a long rod was attached to the small backpack that he usually had on. It had reminded her of the Staff that she had, except more bulky and maybe a slight longer this and the fact that it didn't have a steady shape. The rod seamed to widen in some parts, slim down in side in others and random bumps and chunks sticking out of it randomly. The boots he often had on were about the only same thing she had seen him before in. He looked sly, fast and sleek and almost to the point of invisibility. She probed his mind looking for the answers for all this authentic dress, but was only able to find out that he simply referred to this uniform as "combats".
"Making yourself at home I see?" Fox asked.
"Oh… yeah," Krystal replied, "I hope you don't mind that I…"
"No, no, not at all," He could see that the vixen wore some his clothes. I guess it made sense that he was the only one on the ship that had the build that was closest to Krystal's. One of his old sweaters from his days at the Academy covered her shoulders, and another pair of his sweatpants draped over he feet. Fox was flattered.
She could automatically sense this, and grinned. Krystal was still having fun. She loved to experiment with the emotions of the vulpine. She had tried this once before on Falco too, but he didn't think twice and had simple, quick comebacks with nearly no thought. Fox however, was different. He had many emotions, and though had a very quick to react mind he often found himself short of words. It was very pleasing for Krystal.
Fox came up to his night stand and opened a drawer. Krystal's heart leaped in fear that he would some how be able to detect that she had tried to use the machine that was on the stand. But instead he reached his paw into the drawer. Krystal noticed his paw come out with a small chip. With grace the vulpine slid it into an open slot on the green lens that covered his eye, "What's that?" Krystal asked in curiosity.
He pointed a paw to the lens that covered his eye, "Uh, this is called a Heads Up Display. HUD for short. It displays tactical information while you're on the battle field or in combat."
"Combat?" Krystal asked with a tinge of worry.
"Hey, uhh look here's the thing," Fox stalled, "I'm going to be leaving for a while. There is a distress signal originating from Planet K6. So I'm being sent to see what's going down."
It had surprised her, why could she not sense this? Maybe she was concentrating too hard on his emotions, "Oh well," she thought to herself, and then said, "Ok Fox, but be careful."
He nodded, but she could feel that something was not right. His face said that everything was alright, but his mind told different. He was almost nervous, but Krystal thought it only to be pre-mission jitters, "Its ok. You don't have to worry about me. I'll go in, I'll get out and be back before evening," Fox knew this was how distress signal situations worked. But some reason he still wore his combats. It was odd to Krystal but so was everything in this new culture.
Fox jumped into the Arwing. He had just finished making the preflight checks on the fighter. A small screen covered his left eye. It was usually only used for snipers, and it would have been pointless to bring this with him to Dinosaur Planet. The only use it could have would be marking waypoints and keeping an eye on his health.
The sniper that had clung to his back just moments ago was put into is normal resting place under the seat of the Arwing. He wasn't sure why he was bringing it, but it was better to be safe then sorry. His father's blaster found its usual spot in the vulpine's holster.
Fox began to tap at the controls that sat in front of him. He pulled a lever down and the ship took flight. No forces were detected on this planet but the fact that it was almost completely covered in luscious forests made it impossible for radar waves to break through to the very surface of the planet. It made him suspicious so it still was better to be safe then sorry and take some weapons. He thrust the right control forward and the Arwing took off and flew into the darkness of space.
As Fox drew closer to the Planet, he noticed that it was speckled with small clearings. He glanced at the radar, but nothing new came up. He flicked a switch. The wings of the craft began to move and shift as the G-diffuser system took control of entering the atmosphere. The canopy began to get warm but it was nothing the environmental systems couldn't handle. The environmental systems on the Arwing were powerful. In the model he had previously owned had survived the surface of Sol.
The ground was close now as Fox stepped on the breaks to slow the descent. He tapped on the controls. Maybe some music would lighten the mood a bit. The speakers of the craft flared as it had begun right in the middle of the song: DOA. "One way to go, have no fear! No one's getting out of here, alive! This time!"
He quickly shuttered at the mashed to control board, hoping to kill the music. It shut off and Fox had a quickly had a large frown on his muzzle. A total look of discontent covered his face, and his eyes widened, "Just a coincidence," he said allowed in efforts to comfort himself. But deep down he knew he was in for a rough ride.
His mind spoke to the inside of his head, "Ok Fox, what you are going to do is go in, do what you have to do and get out. No problems no shots fired. Just in and out. Can you handle that McCloud?" Fox asked himself and nodded.
"Fox how you doing down there?" Peppy spoke into the microphone. He was the only one on the bridge besides the robot, but he had made peace with that fact years ago. His research was more important to him then ever. Being unfit to fly an Arwing, he felt that it was the only thing that he could do to help his team when they were out in the field. The least he could do was give them intelligence reports.
"It's alright. I haven't seen anything yet. But I'm still just around 3 kilometers above ground level. I'll post you when I learn… Whoa!"
"Fox? Fox, what's wrong? Come in Fox!" Peppy only heard silence, "ROB, what's going on down there?"
The robot answered truthfully and emotionless, "Fox's Arwing has disappeared off the scanners of the Great Fox."