Disclaimer: I do not own Star Fox. Additionally, this story is written under the impression that Star Fox Command is considered non-canon and did not happen.
Chapter Five: Settling In
Date/Time : August 25, 2893 / 0600
Location : Delta 19-A3 system, Open space, on course for system's inner asteroid belt
The blink drive of the Raider Thunderhead was vastly different than the FTL drive that landed Samantha in Sirian space. For one thing it didn't launch them an ungodly distance beyond their target destination into unknown space and leave them stranded there. Aside from the obvious benefit of actually working, blink drives also allowed for FTL maneuvering.
There were two problems with the drives. First, they were a good deal slower than rift drives – the light 70 light-year (ly) jump they made from Moray to D19-A3 took several hours as opposed the instantaneous jump of rift drives. And second, Sam quickly learned the drives caused what Nick assured her would be "only slight" queasiness.
That being said Nick had made a point of locking himself in the cockpit before blinking out of the Moray system as Samantha's stomach began protesting the sudden change in velocities almost immediately. This was putting the situation politely. In truth she nearly threw up all over Allen and Drew, leaving all of them gunning for Nick. Luckily for him the others had plenty of time to cool down.
"We just reached our target." Nick said shouted from behind the cockpit door when they finally exited the blink. "Did you have an enjoyable jump ladies and gentlemen?" He continued as he finally felt safe enough to open the cockpit door.
"Nick, just shut up before we have to kill you." Allen said. "The last thing I want to do is tell Mom that her youngest son dead."
Before Nick could say another word, Sam appeared from the lower areas of the Thunderhead. "Did you enjoy you first jump, Sexy?" Nick asked, receiving a fist across his jaw and a shut-the-fuck-up glare. "Right. I'll take that as a no."
"I told you to keep quite Nick." Allen said.
"Where are we?" Samantha asked as she leaned over Nick to look at the navigation readout in front of him, roughly putting a hand on his shoulder daring him to say something.
"The Delta nineteen-dash-Ay-three System," Nick explained, keeping his mouth in check, "Contains about thirteen planets – none habitable – and three asteroid rings."
"So… why are we here?"
"It's our home away from home." Allen explained. "The system was used for mining up until a few years ago. The company who used this system was running into trouble with some pirates, so we decided to lend them a hand. Long story short, the company was grateful for our services and left us a hollowed out asteroid they had been using as a headquarters when they pulled out of the system."
"Sounds like a great place to hide." Sam said.
""Yeah, it's almost perfect." Nick said. "Only problem is it gets kinda lonely. Maybe it'll be less lonely with you there, if you get my drift." It took a few seconds, but Sam understood what Nick was saying – which rewarded him with a second fist across the jaw from Samantha. She quickly left the cockpit, huffing about killing an "annoying little fucker."
As soon as she was gone Allen smacked him in the back of the head. "What the fuck was that?" he demanded.
"Can't blame a guy for trying." Nick said with a shrug. "Especially with a fine piece of ass like that."
"You're a fucking animal, you know that." Allen said. "Plus, I warned you not to even try pulling you 'moves' on her. She isn't you're type."
"A bitch?" He asked while rubbing his sore jaw.
"Smart." Allen replied. "She isn't the usual floozy you pick up on a regular basis. Anyway, how long until we reach the base."
"About ten more minutes." Nick answered confidently.
Fifteen minutes later Nick was using the Thunderhead's several hull-mounted docking thrusters to slide the massive fighter through into its place in the hanger. As the four disembarked Drew tossed Nick a small duffle bag, saying, "Here you go playboy, the data crystals from the base. You know what to do, have fun."
"Wait, how many crystals did you grab?"
"All of 'em."
"Are they at least in some kind of order?"
"What do you think player?" Drew said with a smirk, "Of course not. Have fun, and see you next week."
Nick sulked off mumbling to himself. Drew waited for Nick to disappear before saying, "With Nick searching through all those crystals by hand, we'll at least have a little piece and quite . It's going to take some time for him to go through all those, and we can't do a damn thing until we know where that plane is. Like fucking always we're fucking stuck." Allen coiled in apprehension, and Sam started to feel anger boil up from deep inside of the older vulpine. "FUCK!"
"Are you alright?" Sam asked slowly, voicing her concern.
Drew gave her a look of disbelief - Sam could feel waves of anger rolling off the older vulpine. "Am I alright? What. The. FUCK! Do you think? We were already behind then you show up and now-."
"ANDREW!" Allen barked, cutting him off before he could build into a rant. "You need to calm down. You know where to find your next target, take a few days and handle it."
Drew blinked several times like he hadn't realized what he was doing. "I think…" he said slowly, "I think I should."
Drew walked off in a daze, ignored the shocked expression on Sam's face. When he was out of earshot Sam rounded on Allen and demanded, "What the hell was that all about! I thought he was about to tear my throat out!"
"He has some anger issues." Allen said.
"You could say that again." Sam said, "You mind giving me a reason why he got so angry?"
"It's a private matter between him and whoever he decides to tell." Allen answered.
"That isn't much of answer."
"Sorry, but it's the best one I can give you." Allen offered her a weak smile before continuing, "If it makes you feel any better, Drew hasn't even told Nick yet. And I only learned about it after Dad died. He usually does a better job controlling himself, but he been a bit… restless lately."
"I don't like secrets Ryan." She said flatly. "And if I wanted to, I could just pull the information from your head."
"Well, you can certainly try." Allen laughed. "But you won't get very far. You don't live with a telepath your entire life without figuring out how to block them."
"You can do that?" Sam asked, "My mother never told me you could."
"There's a good reason for that; she's your mother. Last thing she wants is you to learn how to block her out." Allen said. "Anyway. Despite what Drew said before, there are still a few things we can and need to do. See the last thing we want is for you to get any unwanted attention over something stupid like not having proper ID's. That alone will keep us busy for the next couple days at least."
"This is going to mean more blink jumps, isn't it." Sam groaned.
Date/Time : August 30, 2893 / 0930
Location : Delta 19-A3 system, Raider hideout
"Hey Allen!" Nick shouted as he walked towards his blood brothers room in the asteroid base. "Allen, I've got something you need to see." He said, as he opened the door and barged on in. The first thing he noticed was that a lot of the usual clutter was missing from the room. Then he realized that the person in the bed wasn't Allen, and more importantly they weren't wearing anything but their underwear.
"Get out!" Samantha yelled as she through anything within arm's reach at Nick. It took a pair of boots and a rather large book to the head for him out of his stupor and get out of the room.
"Damn!" Nick said with a smile as he rubbed his head. "Completely worth it. Now where is Allen?"
"Right here dipshit." Nick looked behind him and saw Allen walking towards him. "I told you I gave her my room since we didn't have any extra beds. Of course you're head was so deep in the gutter you didn't hear a word I said. Just like you are right now."
"Damn, she has a great body. Seriously they aren't made that way back home." Nick said under his breath. "I would-."
"NICK!" Allen shouted while smacking the little pervert upside the head.
"What!"
"You came looking for me, what is it? Did you find something in the data crystals?"
"Unfortunately no. But we did get a message from Masseria (Mass – er – ie – a) Shipping. They need an escort for a weapon shipment and we're the ones they called. They said they've got to go through the Harlan Expanse and that they'll pay any expense."
"Fuck me." Allen groaned. "Why do they always want to use the Expanse? Don't they realize it's a death trap? Pirates love that area for ambushes."
"It's faster than all the safe routs. Plus they pay us well, and between the three of us the pirates don't stand a chance. So why are you bitching?"
"Drew's gone, you're busy, and I don't feel like taking on an ambush by myself."
"I can take a day off and help." Nick said, looking almost hopeful.
"No, what you're doing is more important." That caused the little guy's face to fall. Allen thought for a few more seconds before saying, "Actually, this could be a good chance to let the Captain practice with the Thunderhead. Tell them we accept."
"Alright. Um, I'll warn her real quick and go do that." Nick said, hoping for another look. He rushed over to the door to Sam's room before Allen could stop him.
As soon as the door was open Nick realized his mistake as McCloud was standing in front of him, fully clothed with an evil grin on her face and heavy combat boots on her feet. "Hi." She said a split second before kicking him in the crotch. "For the record, learn to knock or you're going to learn to hate me."
"Already do." He gasped as she stepped over him.
"I overhead you from my room. When do we leave?" She asked Allen.
"Soon. Nick, pick your lazy ass up off the ground and get me the details for the mission. Send them to my communicator." Allen said, receiving the finger from his groaning little brother. "Sam, we need to prep a couple Thunderheads for battle. Follow me."
Date/Time : August 30, 2893 / 1730
Location : Deep Space - Harlan Expanse, shipping formation.
Sam felt like she was about to die of boredom. Three hours of sitting in a cockpit with nothing to do gave her plenty of time to acquaint herself with all the Thunderhead's controls, but by now she had nothing to do but fiddle with the helmet and the G-suit Allen had provided her with. She decided to run yet another systems check just to have something to look at.
Twin 30mm rotary cannons – online, good
66mm missile pods – online, good
Twin Gurthern-Mitchell 30,000 pound plasma drive engines – online, good
Gurthern-Mitchell Active Obstacle Avoidance System – online, good
All green, just like every other time.
"Hmm," Allen mumbled over the comm channel. "Guess I was wrong about the ambush."
"Looks like it." Sam agreed and like clockwork a red warning light appeared on her helmet's HUD.
BLINK DRIVE MALFUNCTION DETECTED, ABORTING JUMP
"Um, I think I have a problem Allen."
"No you don't." Allen said. "Lock and load Sam! This is an ambush, the pirates are pulling us out of our jump."
Sure enough both Thunderheads and the freighter they were escorting appeared as one in the middle of eight small fighters and a larger corvette. "Great." Allen said. "I'll take the one on the left, you get the ones on the right."
"There's eight on the right!"
"And a corvette on the left, we're even." Allen pointed out. "Besides those are just old BuzzSaw fighters. They're slow and weak, plus their 15mm cannons will barely scratch your paint."
"Whatever Jackass." She grumbled as she chose her first victim and hit the throttle. The Thunderhead quickly accelerated despite its large mass and was within firing range in seconds. As soon as she had a lock she fired a pair of missiles. The first guy tried to avoid the missiles but failed, becoming little pieces of interstellar debris in an instant. The second guy was in her sights almost instantly, so she fired a split second burst, shredding him with 30mm rounds. "Well that was easy enough."
"You've got one on your six." Allen informed her lazily. She checked her scanner and saw that one actually meant the remaining six.
"Oh shit." She cursed while rolling down and to the left with a quick jerk, hoping to throw off at least one. It didn't work, as she learned when she felt her bird shook from several small impacts. "Allen I can use a hand here!"
"You've got it." He assured her as her craft rattled a second time. She turned towards Allen and saw him flying circle around a smoking, dead corvette with a large hole in its side.
"What the fuck are you doing?" She screamed, her voice getting higher with a third shot.
"Use your AOAS. Activate your lower-bow and upper-stern thrusters at the same time while cutting your engines for two seconds, then activate your reverse trusters." Allen instructed.
"What?"
"Lower-bow and upper-stern thrusters, cut engines, reverse." Allen repeated. "Trust me."
Doubtful, she did as he said with a series of quick commands. Next thing she knew, she was crushed into her seat by powerful G-forces as her bird flipped on its axis while keeping all its forward momentum. After a few seconds her bird was flying backwards, facing the six fighters on her six. She wasted no time firing a volley of missiles at them followed by a long burst of cannon fire. It was over before it started as her followers disappeared in a series of explosions.
"Holy shit," Sam yelled as she righted her craft. "That fucking worked!"
"The Raider Roll." Allen bragged. "Invented by yours truly. I think we'll be clear from here to our destination. Nice job by the way McCloud. I hope you forgive me for not helping like that."
"You're just lucky it worked you ass." She growled, making him think she was angry with him. After a few second of letting him squirm she laughed and said, "Though I will admit it was worth it. I would have never thought to try that in an Arwing."
Allen fell silent for a few minutes before finally speaking again, "I just got a message from Nick. He's managed to get something out of the data crystals. Let's finish this up and get back ASAP."
Author's Notes :: Sorry about the stupidly long wait. Like last time, I blame work, school, and laziness. Please review and tell me if there's anything you think I could improve.
