Star Fox: Before the Dawn Chapter 7: A Spark to Burn a World, a star fox fanfic

Hi. There's a point in this chapter where there is another musical exerpt. This time I included a youtube link that you can just copy/paste into a new tab on any major internet browser to play through and the lyrics are here. I'll be doing that once in a while later on, so keep an eye out.

Not much else to say. Enjoy the writing, be sure to review.

"If the primary aim of a captain were to preserve his ship, he would keep it in port forever."

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Chapter VII: A Spark to Burn a World

Lombardi PMC Headquarters

Lusterstone City, Kew

7:12 AM Lylat Standard Time, 1:50 PM Lusterstone City Time

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Krystal and I got more than a couple of strange looks from Kew orbital security officers when we buzzed in for atmospheric entry approval. How often did one see the iconic Arwing just going for a pleasure cruise in this day and age? They let us through without a hitch so it didn't really bother me. We dipped straight through the acid rain clouds and smog of the industrialized atmosphere straight towards where our navigational computers pinpointed my old teammates' new place.

At first glance, it seemed he was doing well enough for himself, considering the hangar behind the three story headquarters building had an IFF tag recognizing roof doorway. They were quick enough to open that we didn't even have to hover in mid-air to wait for them. I remember before Dad got the Great Fox when the original Starfox were just landing the fighters in the back yard of our farm and covering them with a tarp... What a long way we've come.

Our two Arwings set down in a decently large, well used hangar with about a dozen other fighters scattered around on a tarmac littered with toolboxes, fuel canisters and small piles of spare parts. Amongst the fighters were two other Arwing II's, these ones customized. Katts Cat Claw and Falco's Sky Claw sat side by side. My old friend Falco could be seen with his top half buried in the nose of his craft.

I was the first out of my canopy, climbing down the ladder that popped out of the side of the hull rather than jumping out like I would have twenty years ago. I went straight to Krystal's own fighter and helped her down. When I turned to face Falco again, I was instead met by an approaching Katt. She was the same bright eyed, pink furred bombshell I remembered her as. Krystal was probably mentally kicking me in the ass when she scanned the thought, but it was less an angry kick than a nostalgic flash of similar feelings met so long ago. I was suddenly reminded of the day Katt boarded the Great Fox II and joined the team officially after the fiasco at Macbeth twenty years ago.

"How was the trip?" the feline said with a wide, welcoming smile.

"Like every long jump in a fighter cockpit always is. Times like this I regret selling the old Great Fox II." I said.

She giggled. "Yeah, I hear that. Falco can't even manage trips like that anymore, poor guy's back is giving him trouble. He has to keep the G-Diffuser amped above normal to fly properly."

I sighed. "I guess it was only a matter of time." She gave me a friendly hug when the distance finally closed, then went straight to Krystal to give her one.

"What about you, sugar? Holding up alright?"

"I... still can't believe I'm here." she said breathlessly.

"Aww, I know how you feel, hon. I wasn't very impressed when Falco spread the news to me either, but what needs to be done... right? Everything'll be alright then we can go back to our quiet lives. Well, quiet if not for Falco anyway." She giggled again. "He takes contracts once in a while, still. That's how he messed up his back, made a maneuver he really shouldn't have at his age."

"Hey, we ain't that old!" I heard the avian yell. He was heading in our direction. "My back's fine, Katt." To my amusment, his posture straightened up a bit when he said it.

"Same old Falco." I grinned. "What's this I hear about G-Diffuser amperage?" Krystal and Katt both giggled.

"Hey, you'll get yours. Just you wait." he scowled. To cement the idea I that I was joking, I left my fist hanging in the air for him to punch it. The old handshake from our childhood was still as familiar as the day we started using it in high school, and he met it without hesitation. "So. Let's get down to business." He turned around after letting his fist fall back to his side and started walking towards the double doors at the far end of the hangar that would bring us into the main building of his headquarters. "Let'ts just hope that Bill gets approval for a full oribtal defense ASAP so we can relax."

I nodded. "If he milks the story enough he might have approval within the next couple of days. That means if Vince is going to attack, he's going to do it now. Possibly today."

"Well, let's eat." Falco said. "Then we'll get in the air and on patrol. I might be able to call a few friends for support if they'll believe our story, so we'll have some backup other than the useless orbital security force. They have like, twelve fighters and a little shitty patrol frigate total."

"But how many of them will believe our story?" Krystal sighed.

Falco sighed back. "Probably none of 'em, but it don't hurt to try."

We were intercepted by the young man I knew as Jordan, Falco's blue furred feline son. He came from somewhere between two fighters, gave us a nod, and slipped in beside his dad. "Father, you wanted to see me?" It always felt weird hearing him talk. He was nothing like either of his parents. That would have driven me crazy had it been myself in Falco's position...

"Yeah. I need you to grab a fighter and go straight to Corneria. Like, now. Pack your stuff and head straight for the McCloud place."

"Sir?" he said, cocking an eyebrow.

"Look, just do it, alright? Trust me. Just lay low for a bit, and keep an eye on Amy for me." We passed through a pair of automatic double doors that yielded to us with a hiss. Suddenly, we were in the darker-walled, carpeted main body of the Lombardi PMC headquarters.

Jordan paused, then nodded. "Good luck." He dissapeared down one of the hallways we crossed by, that one in particular with an elevator on the end.

"You're worried about this too, huh?" I said.

"... Never hurts to be sure. If things go bad... I don't want him to be there gettin' blown up with me." he grumbled.

"Yeah." I said, zoning out for a moment as my thoughts fell on Marcus and Marie, and a letter I left in my study for them to find... just in case. "I know the feeling."

Both women said nothing, but exchanged sickly, forboding looks.

At the same time...

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CASOC Headquarters, Corneria City

Cell 26: Current Occupant: Skye Greyson

8:30 AM Lylat Standard Time / Corneria City Time

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Even though most of its capabilities went into keeping itself cloaked, my nanosuit still gave me something to do in my cell with the built in mental-synching HUD. It had a complete operating system whose visual's were sent directly to my own minds eye. Like many of my successes, ironically, I owed that little feature to the research of Andross, who was now burning nicely in hell. It was the feature I was using at that very moment to run a full scan of the base and figure out the layout before my escape attempt.

Which would be very, very soon, if Janice kept up to schedule... which she always did. When my clock hit 8:30 AM It was finally time to act. I got up, walked to the bars of the cell, and looked about for any guards. The only one was that limping brute with the keys sleeping soundly at his desk at the far end of the room. Thanks to my suit, I wouldn't be needing them.

For the sake of maneuverability, I took off all of my clothes I was wearing over the suit. It decloaked, and suddenly I was a silver clad super soldier. Knowing a camera would be picking this all up, I got right to work.

Strength mode, activated.

The "muscle fibers" of the suit glowed an angry red, and I wrapped my paws around two cell bars that were next to each other. With minimal effort, the bars began to give way to my new found super strength. I pulled open a gap large enough for me to squeeze through. Unfortunately the bars made quite a bit of noise, and my chubby playmate was suddenly awake. In shock, he fumbled with his blaster in its holster as I surged towards him across the thirty feet of distance between us.

Defensive mode, activated.

He was able to fire before I reached him, but the suit's shields reflected the red bolt towards the ceiling with nothing more than a brief yellow flash. My shield monitor dropped to 96%. Why they had a CASOC security officer equipped with a weak, cop issued piece of shit is beyond me. I closed the distance between us rapidly, closing a paw around his shooting wrist as soon as I was in range. He fired again at point blank, but again hit raised shields. A quick twist broke his wrist and made him drop the pistol, as my other paw shot around his neck. I lifted the dog off the floor and choked the air out of him. When he finally passed out, I threw him to the side like a rag doll before recovering his pistol off the ground. I would be hopefully be replacing that piece of scrap very shortly.

Right on time, at 8:32 AM, my HUD lit up with two other signatures on the Scarlet Hand secure operations channel: Whisper and Ruby, aka Janice and Fay. I was added to the channel as Atlas. I never did ask Janice what my call sign was in my time with the Hand. I suppose that was it. There were several grayed out names that would have usually been filled in by the other members of the Hand. The other names were Hunter, Index, Stalker, Carson and Onyx, which I knew were Wolf, Drake, Leon, Panther and Vince in that order. Kind of nerve wracking when you realize only two on that list are alive, and only one can still be considered a friend.

"Atlas, this is Whisper. What's your status?"

"I'm clear of the cell. I'm sending you the base schematic data. Go straight for the experimental weapons storage section. I'll go there first and lock it down. There's a very high chance that I won't be alone by the time you get there."

"Security will beat us there."

"I know. We can deal with that when the time comes."

"Hey boss!" it was Fay. "Doing alright down there?"

"I'm fine, Ruby. Stick with Whisper and keep on the move. I'd rather get out of here before we are up to our necks in special forces."

"You got it. Race you there!"

Shaking my head for a moment at the absurdity, I continued out of the cell block through a set of double doors into an all metal hallway brightly lit by a rectangular row of lights running down the center of the ceiling. I was not surprised to hear the pitter patter of security units coming my way. I turned the blaster in my paws to shock setting (that pathetic toy didn't even have stun thanks to its output) and carried on out into the hallway. Four guards came around a corner from my left. My objective was to the right, so I started in a full out run in that direction. Several blaster shots went off and I felt one impact my shields. I spun for a brief moment and let off a few shock rounds in their direction. To intensely satisfying effect, two landed on separate targets and the two unfortunate guards dropped, writhing quite literally in shock. I slipped around the corner.

My HUD map showed me the way to the experimental weapons section. I would go straight there, use my nanosuit's electronics interface to scramble the door codes, lock myself in with some goodies until Janice and Fay arrived, then I would use whatever toys available to smash out of the shitstorm of security that would definitely be there. Then my comrades would suit up, and we would go straight to the roof where our Wolfens' autopilot would take them at persicely 9:00 AM. We had twenty seven minutes.

Only two more small groups of guards got in my way in my dash through the basement level of CASOC. The huge, ominous doors of the experimental weapons storage room and two guards blocked my way, but that would change. As soon as I came flying around the corner, the last two bolts in that guards' pistol knocked the two guards out of commission. I skidded to a halt in front of the access console. There were two locks, a paw touch pad and a retinal scanner.

Perfect.

I put my paw on the scanner, and my HUD detected the pad immediately. "425,122 DNA patterns on file. Select access identity."

"William Grey."

"Confirmed." The suit glove began to expand and take shape appropriately, even changing colour and texture to that of the old dog. The scanner beeped at me. I lowered my face down to the retinal scanner, and waited a few moments. My hud that projected over my eyes started projecting a camouflage to mask my own eyes with those of Bill Grey. The console beeped at me again.

"Identity confirmed. Welcome, General Grey." The huge double doors began to slide open.

"Atlas here. I've gained access to the weapons lab." Out of habit, with a swift pair of kicks to the temples of each of the two guards, I put them out of consciousness. Their grunts of pain were beginning to annoy me.

Janice chimed in. "Roger, Atlas. We'll be there in two minutes tops."

"Good. See you then." I walked into the ominous laboratory, and the doors began to seal shut behind me.

It was as modernized and laced with grandeur as you would expect from a containment chamber for super-advanced weapons. It did feel rather odd knowing I had a hand in creating some of the devices they were keeping in storage here; all this security for things I had prototypes of locked up in my basement. My entry was heralded by row upon row of lights (it wasn't even that large of a chamber, the lights were just stacked together closely) snapping on and brightening the room significantly more than they would have if not for the sterile metal walls reflecting the light like mirrors. As for the actual contents of the room, there was just what you would expect... weapons. Large tubes that I knew were designed to hold the TECANIS-II prototypes lined the far end of the room. Other than that, simply gun racks holding all different manners of interesting toys I both did-and-didn't recognize.

I didn't have a minute to lose. I surged straight to the nearest containment console and got to work depressurizing the contianment tubes for two of the suits. There were six in total, and we certainly couldn't carry the spare ones out as extra baggage. There went our plan of keeping Dagger off of our tails.

Oh well, we could deal with them later. More fun that way.

Speak of the devil... "Greyson, we know you're in there. Come out unarmed and you might get out of this alive." It was Birse. Ahead of schedule, as expected.

"Skye..."

"How many?"

"One infantry squad of twelve plus Birse. We can't KO them with gas canisters until we have our own suits to block out the effects... any ideas?"

"I was trying to avoid killing Cornerians but we might not have a choice now. I obviously underestimated their response time. What do you have for weapons?"

"Silenced SMGs, a couple of flashbangs... not much. We aren't packed for a war. Lupinhold didn't have much spare for us to bring along; Wolf cleaned the place out good before he abandoned it."

"Odd; that's very unlike him. Do you have your kukri knives?"

"Of course I do. I thought we were trying to avoid killing them, though?"

"A few dead grunts we can deal with. Spare Birse."

"What's so important about him, anyway?"

I didn't have a straight answer for her, really. If we succeeded in stopping Vince... what would it matter? We could kill him right here and probably save ourselves a gargantuan headache. One surprise knife from Janice's hiding spot would be all it would take. He wouldn't even have known his life was in danger. Last I checked he never had any children, regardless. Couldn't afford the birth alteration pills needed for his wife to have a stable hybrid pup, if memory serves me correct.

But if we failed...

"Because Lylat is going to need every last hero she can get if we don't succeed." I breathed.

There was a short pause before her reply. "You got it, Boss. We'll tell you when it's clear."

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Outside of the chamber...

CASOC Security Squad 2, under temporary command of Colonel Gage Birse

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General Grey kept coming on the comms for me every five damn seconds for a status report. "Birse, status."

"Greyson has himself locked up in the experimental weapons storage. Still no sign of any possible outside help."

"We're tracking two unknown heat signatures closing in your position quick. That's probably them."

"Wait..." I paused. "How far are they?"

"Close."

I knew there was lag between the infared scanners of the base and the actual feed of about five or six seconds. We were in a straight hallway with T-junctions at our left and right. They could pincer us in and who knows how they could have armed themselves?

"SQUAD!" I yelled. "Eyes to three and nine! We have incoming!" I dropped to the ground. Most hesitated to look.

My timing was, unfortunately, right on. Shadowy figures suddenly burst around the corners at each side, and bullets were raining down on us. My service blaster barked at the one to our right. We were coverless. I could have swore I hit the shillouette, because they seemed to trip and fall beyond the other corner.

I turned around to fire at the other, but dumb luck ran out. Most of the squad covering that side was already dead, and the other bogey, one I recognized as Janice Greyson, plunged at me.

She tackled me, causing me to drop my gun but I took the blow otherwise gracefully and kicked into her stomach, sending her flying back and tumbling to the ground behind me. Once I rolled back into an operable posture, I dove for one of the dead soldier's pistols, but when I landed on my stomach with my paw around the grip, her ice cold voice and the barrell of a gun to the back of my head stopped me.

"Hold it right there, Birse."

I didn't have a choice. I froze. With me still on my stomach, Janice was up on her feet with a silenced Carlson 40H blaster pointed at me. She immediately gave a swift kick to my gun hand, sending the pistol sliding across the floor far out of reach. The double containment doors began to open, and a nanosuit armored Skye emerged along with frosty containment gasses that flowed across the floor.

"Good job, Whisper. Where's Ruby?"

I heard a cough coming from the right. I went to stand up slowly, and didn't get any objections from my captor so I stood completely. I was not surprised to see the white curly furred dog with the big red ribbon tied into the back of her hair that identified her as Fay Spaniel. I was right; I did hit her, but I cursed my dulled aim when I saw I only hit her in the upper left arm. "Right here, boss. Took one in the shoulder, but..." She winced. "I'll be okay for now." Her paw was covering up a messy laser burn. That was going to leave a mark.

I finally spoke. "Just what do you three hope to accomplish? Going to go join up with Vince and blow up a few planets? For what?"

Skye shook his head. "Nothing I told you was a lie, Birse, it's simply that I would rather be out there working to actually do something rather than sit around and wait for politicians to make up their cursed minds. Besides; if my time in here allowed Vince to get away with catastrophe I would probably be executed immediately or sealed up for life in some max security prison, as you imbeciles still seem to believe I gave him the gravity bomb blueprints."

"You're damn right we do." I didn't say out loud.

He walked over to Spaniel and took a look at her shoulder. "Muscle damage. This has to be dealt with but it's not life threatening." then he turned back to Janice. "Knock him out."

"You sure?" she said. "Last chance to kill him." She may be a vicious bitch, but she was right. If they didn't kill me here... I was going to hunt them down. I don't leave debts unpaid.

He hesitated for a moment, looking into my eyes and undoubtedly seeing frustrated fury. His all business expression didn't change; I looked into his. He was the cold blooded killer I knew he was. Cool, calculating and ruthless. He nodded, and I felt the giveaway impact of a pistol butt on the back of my head.

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As Birse dropped to the ground, I passed a TECANIS suit to each of the girls. "Suit up quick, we need to get out of here. What's our escape route?"

Janice just stopped her suit in mid air and let it fall to the ground, and immediately began stripping into her undergarments. "Roof. Our fighters are programmed on auto pilot and will be making a pass over the General's atrium at 9:00 AM."

I checked my eye HUD's chronometer. 8:42 AM; eighteen minutes. Fay caught her suit, but hesitated. I looked over. "You're kidding, right?"

She scowled, and got to stripping down. I gave her the benefit to her modesty by looking away, but she even went as far as to take a quick shot at a camera up in the corner, blowing it down from it's perch.

I turned to Janice. "You checked for AA emplacements before coming up with this, right?"

"There aren't any. On the outside, this is just an over glorified office building."

"And do you have a plan on how to get to the roof?"

She finished suiting up her nanosuit, and I couldn't help but stare for a moment. They fit on women quite tight indeed. "Yup." She pulled her gadgets out of her old clothes, attaching them to different points on her suit. The nanobots reacted to objects she wanted to hold onto, little strings of bots extending from the suit and gripping them. Two of the devices were small pistol-like objects she threw to me and Fay. "Grappel guns. We take the elevator shaft. It'll be brought to the basement level below us automatically when we trigger the fire alarms by burning our old clothes, then we can just use the shaft to get to the top floor."

I grinned. "Brilliant." I looked to Fay, who had just finished changing. "Ready?"

She was still wincing at the pain she was doubtlessly feeling in her shoulder, but she still stood straight. Once the suit was finished syncing with her mind it would automatically inject pain numbing and healing agents into her. She would be fine for now. "Yeah." she said, ruffled.

"Alright, let's move." The last thing Janice pulled out of her old clothes was a simple lighter, which she sparked up and used to light the clothes on fire.

"What about Birse?" she said.

"How long until he wakes up?"

"Uhh, I hit him hard enough to put a normal guy out for an hour but with his conditioning, he should be up in more like fifteen minutes."

"Then he'll either get himself out of the fire or the reinforcements that are undoubtedly coming will pull him out. Let's go." There was about ten feet of distance between the burning clothes and the unconscious Birse, with nothing between them but wet, dead bodies. The alarm went off automatically, and I shot out the fire suppression sprinklers above us as they appeared.

"See you out there, Gage." I whispered before the three of us took off in the direction of the elevator.

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Two hours later

Orbit of Kew

10:58 AM LST

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The space around Kew was calm that night; not much commercial or patrol traffic. My cockpit was silent other than the quiet hum of the Arwing II's engine. Falco, Katt and Krystal were behind me in a diamond formation; our fighters illuminated softly by the light reflected by Kew's twin moons. The fresh silver paint jobs of mine and Krystal's newer fighters contrasted directly against Falco's solid blue and Katt's hot pink. We waited... for what, we didn't even know anymore. Would Vince drop in ships? Just a missile? Fighter escort? For all we knew, Vince had already smuggled the bomb into Kew airspace.

Not many of Falco's friends decided to help, despite the impending threat. Most of the problem is no one really wanted to believe our story. I guess I couldn't blame them... how should I expect someone to react when an old man randomly calls them up and explain how it's quite likely the world is about to end? Listening to some of their scoffs, I was beginning to doubt myself as well. Of course, the only people that came are the young pilots who drool over the sound of my name. The only backup we had were rookie fan boys who talked too much just to get some kind of response out of me. One pilot in particular said he would only go with me if I gave him my autograph... Kids these days.

After about an hour and a half of drifting without so much of a word (except for one or two interview attempts from the idiot fans that came with us) my comm board lit up. Audio only, and it wasn't a anyone in our group.

"Damn, they aren't taking me seriously. Did I expect different, though...? That will change soon, I think. Let round one begin."

I knew that voice. It was him. Twenty years ago, he was quiet and more serious... but this voice, it was like he had gone out of his mind the same way Leon did after the first war.

"You guys get that?" I said.

"Get what?" Falco replied immediately.

"Vince, he just contacted me. He's here."

"You sure? I don't see anything on radar."

I looked back down to my comm board... and it was blank, like nothing happened. I started bringing up my chat log... but then my radar started blinking too.

"Shit, I see it this time! Eyes up, gang, three patrol frigates with mounted anti-fighter cannons closing in mark one-thirty by forty! my zero! Harlock-class!"

He was coming from behind us, from the night-side orbit of the planet. "Alright guys, lock and load! Split to engage, and watch out for ANY kind of missile aimed for the planet and call it out so we can grab it with Katt's tractor beam!"

The mercs all chimed in before splitting out of our formation and flipping their noses towards the attackers.

"Roger, SF-one, Dragon Claws moving in to intercept."

"Winterhawks moving to engage."

"Haymaker six standing by to attack."

The nine fighters and our four Arwings charged with the moonlight to our backs towards the intruding ships. Radar was picking up twelve more fighters that belonged to Falco's hired contractors that were coming up from the surface.

"Star Falco one, standing by. Full squad of twelve coming in strong to assist."

"You're kidding me, right?" I said with a chuckle.

Falco opened up a private line to me for a moment. "Meh, the comparison makes 'em work harder. More bang for my buck, yeah?"

I closed the channel, back into frosty mode. Our attackers were old salvaged Harlock class frigates from the old Area Six (barely flying rust buckets by now) with some mods. I zoomed in a small corner of my HUD and spotted a few extra anti-air guns and updated missile tubes on the stubby wings. If there was anything glaring about these vessels, is that they had a rather strange paint job; just their normal metallic silver with random splashes of red paint made to look like blood splatter. When we got close enough to the three vessels, their IFF tags came up: The SHS Eye, SHS Consume and SHS Babies, in that order from left to right.

What the fuck?

"Damn, what the heck is with those names?" Katt said.

Krystal chimed in. "Some kind of sick joke..."

If anything caught my attention there, it was that the ship present at the space station assault the other day, the Executor, was not part of this group. I put that in the back of my mind to think about later.

Being long range missile frigates, the enemy took the first shots, anti-air cannons launching angry red pulses at us that were a cinch to dodge at that long range. Smooth, relaxed movements with the yoke kept me in a safe path through the fire and in control of my fighter. As we got closer, it became steadily more difficult but not quite into the panic zone. Some of our merc friends noticed this and broke off to all different sides to spread around the AA-fire and give us a clear shot. I winced as one of the mercenary pilots of the Dragon Claws suddenly vanished off of my radar. I turned off their inter-squad chat so I could concentrate before it would predictably erupt with cries of vengeance.

With the quick thinking of the merc distraction our four Arwings were able to get close enough to the first frigate without a hitch. We each strafed a different side of it, tearing apart armor that would have held up to anything short of hell a few decades ago. By the time we passed it, the Eye was spouting flames from many points on every side. It began to veer awkwardly.

"Remember, don't destroy the ships completely, just disable them. We need to capture the red matter bomb, not detonate it. Make sure their missile launch systems are disabled."

"You heard the man, kids! Knock out their active systems, don't hit the missile tubes!" Falco said. The rest of the mercs started to close the distance on the other cruisers, firing at the main bodies instead of the missile-bank filled wings.

I knew by memory the targeting distance of the Harlock's LRM systems, and that was one hundred and fifty kilometers. We were two hundred away from the surface of Kew. "Hurry it up, gentlemen. Hit their engines first, they're only fifty clicks out from optimal firing range."

It was possible. We could do it.

Or, so I thought.

"Fox!" Krystal cried, "We have a missile launch! The middle ship just fired a massive LRM straight at the planet; Thor class!"

Thor class missiles. Optimal distance at two hundred clicks. Designed for the carrying of a wide range of munition and detonator types. Usually not fit for the Harlock class.

Rookie mistake. I assumed these ships were carrying stock systems when they were in the hands of a rogue. I hate to admit it, but... there wasn't much we could do, now.

"Hit it. Detonate it early, at least that way the civilians have a chance to evacuate."

"...Fox?" Falco said. "You sure there's no other way?"

"It's all we can do!" I looped around towards the missile. "I'm going to launch a timed smart bomb at it! Run for it! All fighters, break away! Warp out of system immediately!" I started priming a smart bomb with a timer. The mercenary fighters all scrambled like I said, warping out of system immediately.

Then the unthinkable happened.

It detonated with a bright flash.

... A bright flash?

There was no black hole. Suddenly, all of my electronics were starting to malfunction. My HUD turned red and screamed at me with reports of multiple crucial systems failing. Weapons, engines, G-Diffusion, shields... just comms, cockpit lights and thankfully life support were online. Small, sparkling bits of metal floated outside my cockpit windshield, and then I realized...

"Can anyone hear me?" my dash wasn't picking up video feed anymore.

My teammates sounded off with audio only. "Falco here, most of my systems are out. I'm drifting."

"Katt, same problem."

"Me too."

Those little bits of chaff... they were an extremely old form of EMP explosive. Nothing was ready for them anymore simply because no one used them due to a pathetically short range, and their incapability against battleships. Some backwater planetary militias used them as a secondary weapon on law enforcement fighters, but that was it.

A dark chuckle filled my cockpit, audio only again. "Wrong answer, ladies and gentlemen." It was Vince.

"What the hell is this, Xavier?" I growled. "What are you doing? And more importantly, why?"

"The RIGHT answer would be not to be such a bunch of emotional bastards and to take the Arwing III's from Toad, instead of leaving them behind incase you became failed martyrs. They're immune to this kind of explosive."

I stayed silent, he was obviously ignoring me.

"Luckily for you all, Starfox, this was the warm-up round. Next time, people die... but as for you, that isn't your game. You get to sit in my brig and get front row seats to the show! Aren't you excited?" An evil cackling followed.

"What is this guy's deal?" Katt scoffed.

"Deal? I ain't got a deal, kitty. Just a lot of time, money and resources on my hands... and one very, very difficult to cure case of boredom." Another sick, twisted laugh. "I just want to play a game, don't they see it?"

"This guy's crazy." Falco said. "As soon as the senate gives the LDC the go ahead to mobilize, your game is gonna' be over real fuckin' quick."

"The senate?" He scoffed, and he spat out a long drawn out cackle. "They wouldn't know a threat if it kicked them in the dicks! Nuh uh, you merc types are on your lonesome... let them have Kew. Shitty planet anyway."

Recovery fighters were coming from the Consume.

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Six Hours Later

On Corneria

McCloud Residence

5:39 PM LST

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I was sitting alone in the grass of our backyard, just watching and listening to the waves on the beachfront down the hill from me. A gentle ocean breeze helped relax some of my worry. Something big was going down; both of my parents left that morning. Just a couple of hours ago, I found a sealed envelope on the desk of my dad's study. I hadn't told Marie about it yet... all it said on the envelope was "Open in three days." I was tempted, but I restrained myself. There was probably some good reason they wrote that on it.

I could feel Karen's presence approaching before I could hear her heavy boots in the grass. "Thinkin ' about your folks?"

I bowed my head. "Yeah."

She took a seat beside me, but awkwardly didn't follow through. So I did. "Got bored with the others?"

"Nah, just annoyed. They talk too much. Marie keeps blabbering on when she really doesn't have anything to say, Aryn just stares at her and listens intently when I can tell he doesn't give a damn deep down, and Amy keeps being annoying and glaring at me like I'm going to shoot her randomly. Well, to be honest, the thought crossed my mind a couple of times."

I grinned. As cynical an assessment as I had imagined, considering the aura of annoyance that was floating on her surface thoughts. Out of manners and practiced moral, I didn't dig into her mind any further than that. There were a few moments of silence.

"Man, this is one fuck of a view." she whistled. "All there is on Kew is gray rock. Even living on a cliff side there wasn't really much to see. Here? Ocean air, your own damn beach... I haven't gone swimming in a while, now that I think about it."

"Did you bring a swim suit?" I said.

"What do you think, jackass?" she scowled. I suddenly realized how stupid the question was: we dragged her kicking and screaming out of her mansion, so she didn't have much other than her gun and the clothes she was wearing. "I hope my account access cards all work out here. I'm gonna have to go clothes shopping if I'm stuck here too much longer."

"I guess I can take you out tomorrow. Not like were doing anything..." I found myself looking at the envelope. She noticed.

"What's with the letter?" she said without the slightest hint of care or subtlety.

"Folks left it behind. Saw it on Dad's desk. Not supposed to open it for three days, apparently."

"Heh..." she said. "At least your dad got a chance to say goodbye."

I growled. "What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

"Oh come on," she scoffed. "You're in denial. What the fuck else could it be? It's a final goodbye in case they don't come back. Don't bullshit yourself."

Well, she certainly wasn't pulling any punches but I couldn't deny that she was right. I guess I just didn't want to believe it... none of us really knew what was going on. All I knew was what I pulled out of Captain Ley's mind, the rest has been kept under wraps. All I got as far as orders or briefing was a command to keep O'Donnell in my custody for the time being.

Her aura lightened a bit, and she patted me on the back. "Look, I'm sorry, alright? I didn't mean it that way. I know how it feels to lose parents, trust me. Took a while for me to get over it." she sighed. "I curse death on a lot of people, but shit... nothing sucks quite like having it actually happen to someone you care about."

We sat in silence for a while, the void where our voices were suddenly reoccupied by the ocean. I wondered what she might have been like before her parents died. Was she more positive and... well, girly back then? If Mom and Dad did end up dying... would I turn the same way?

I stopped getting ahead of myself. My parents are legends. They could handle anything.

"You're quiet. You better not be reading my mind, Marcus." she said.

I rolled my eyes. "If I was, you could feel it."

"Oh." she said. "You know, I have Cerinian powers too."

"Oh really?" I said.

"Yeah. Look at my eyes." I turned to look at her, already knowing about her red eyes. I looked deeper in, maybe there was some kind of detail I missed before. Nope, just her vivid, crimson red irises. Nothing else unusual there. She was awkwardly staring back into mine. Maybe she thought she'd see some obvious sign of my own powers.

"Well, they're red. Is it natural?"

"Yup. Mom said it's a sign of telekinesis, although I haven't manifested yet. I can lift like, small objects if I really try, but nothing major, yet..." Suddenly realizing I was still staring at her eyes, I looked away. She fell back into her seated position and went back to gazing at the ocean.

"Cool."

"That's all you gotta say?" she scoffed. "Some day I'm going to be able to, like, throw cars around and shit with my mind. That's more than you can say."

"You know that Cerinian powers tend to manifest by the end of puberty, right?" I said with the most flat, unjoking tone I could muster. I could feel the fury immediately wash over her consciousness.

"Well normal Cerinians don't get my power, so you can shove your statistics up your ass, you blue furred bastard." I grinned at the ocean below us.

Suddenly, I noticed Marie's voice calling me from the patio about a hundred yards behind us. I turned to look, and she was waving us down. "I think she wants something."

"Who gives a shit? I like where I am." she said.

"We should go see what she wants." I pushed myself onto my feet, and offered a paw to help her up. She hesitated for a second, but took it, and I hoisted her onto her feet. We headed back for the patio.

I yelled back to Marie, stuffing the envelope back into the pocket of my jeans. "What do you want?"

"Let's play something!" she yelled. It took me moment to realize she wasn't talking about a game, but a song.

"Fine, I'll be there in a minute!"

Karen raised an eyebrow. "Play what, some stupid game?"

"Nah, me and Marie are musicians. She probably wants to play something for Amy and Aryn."

"Well, count me out. I don't give a damn." I guess she was completely oblivious to how rude turning down that invitation was. I also doubted she cared.

"Oh, come on. We're actually pretty good. You play anything?"

"I screw around with the guitar between jobs sometimes, but I ain't that good."

"Well, can you keep up with easy tab display stuff? We can get Aryn to play kit, you on guitar, and me on keyboard. It fits perfectly." Tab display was basically karaoke for instrument music, invented to help with easier sight reading on the fly and for making practice easier.

"Decently, I guess, but I ain't playing."

"Sure you are."

"No."

"Why not?"

She hesitated for a few seconds, but finally came up dry. "Fine, whatever. But don't say I didn't warn you. I kill people, not play music for them."

I chuckled a little. "It's nice to have a hobby, though, right?"

"Killing people is my hobby!" she whined. My eyes glanced down to her huge pistol, the Demon, and I realized that she actually wasn't joking.

We climbed up onto the wooden platform where the other three were. Amy was lounging around on a bench while Aryn was setting up our drum kit (although we could almost call it his, because he uses it more than either of us) and Marie was plugging in the micand guitar amps into the wall.

"No keyboard, huh?" I said, approaching Marie from behind.

She plugged in the guitar and the microphone and turned around to greet me and Karen. "Nope, you're on mic today. I'm playing guitar."

"Oh, really?" I said.

"Yeah, we're gonna play Remedy."

I sighed, no debate on that one, I guess. Karen stopped, realizing she probably wasn't needed. I turned to face her. "You're off the hook, looks like."

Rather than buggering off like I expected, she just took a seat with Amy. Guess she was more interested than she let on. I was half tempted to read her to make sure, but I let her off with her own opinions and took my place behind the mic stand. Marie skipped over to the electric guitar, and nodded to me with a smile.

"Okay then, this one's called Remedy..." I said into the mic. They obviously didn't need it to hear me, it was more just to see it was working. Hopefully the neighbors weren't on night shift again, because they definitely weren't going to be sleeping through this.

(/watch?v=9mZBCOZ1Qm4)

Throw your dollar bills
and leave your thrills all here with me.
Speak but don't pretend,
I won't defend you any more,you see here...
It aches, in every bone,
I die alone,
But not for you...
My eyes don't need to see
That ugly thing,
I know its me you fear...

If you want me hold me back!

Frail, this skin is dry and pale,
the pain will never heal,
and so it goes..
Back to the Remedy.
Clip, those wings that get you high.
just leave them where they lie,
and tell yourself...
You'll be the death of me...

I don't need a friend,
I need to mend.
so far away...
So come sit by the fire.
and play a while,
but you can't stay too long...
It aches in every bone,
I'll die alone.
But not for pleasure...
I've seen my heart explode.
It's been eroded by the weather here...

If you want me hold me back!

Hold your eyes closed take me in...
Hold your eyes closed take me in!

Marie took over with a guitar solo that pierced the heavens and definitely disturbed the neighbhors. It wasn't impressive technically, per se, but with Aryn smashing out the drum line and the feel of the song taking root... For that moment, all my worries about my parents were thrown aside. This is what music was all about... freedom from the shit of the galaxy. Right then and there, we flew on our own wings.

Frail, this skin is dry and pale,
The pain will never heal,
and so it goes..Back to the Remedy.
Clip, those wings that get you high.
just leave them where they lie,
and tell yourself...
You'll be the death of me...

When we stopped, we were met with the thin applause of our two person. I took a grateful bow, as did Marie. Aryn just lay back and grinned to the sky on a hard-rock high.

Suddenly, I noticed that our phone was ringing. I looked over to Marie, pointing to the house. "You wanna get that?"

"Sure." She put her guitar down and ran into the house. I walked over and took a seat on the bench with the other ladies.

"That was awesome, Marcus! I knew Marie could sing but I didn't know you could, too!"

"Thanks, Amy." I smiled. "It all comes with practice."

Even Karen seemed pleased. "That actually was good, I was expecting some sappy, acoustic crap. That was-"

Her voice was interupted with my mind sinking into alarm. I felt something coming from the house.

A black, heart wrenching aura was pouring from Marie like a shattered dam. The worry filled my own mind when I realized what it was.

Terror. The sheer magnitude of it made me feel oddly numb.

What...? You can't... You can't mean...

Marie, I'm sorry, but we don't know much more than that at this point. There's still a chance that they're alive and unharmed. There is no sign of their fighters, or the Lombardi's either. No wreckage, so we know they're alive... somewhere.

But... what could have happened? They didn't even... they didn't even tell me where they were going-

Look, the defense council is pulling on my chains right now so I have to go. I'm going to do everything in my power to bring them back, alright? Just sit tight. Don't do anything crazy. We'll have Fox and Krystal home. I promise. We've got the best of the best on their case.

Click.

"Marcus?"

I snapped out of my trance. Amy was holding my shoulders, and I was lying on the ground, facing up. "Marcus! Are you okay!" The light of the afternoon flowed back into my eyes but a cloud of fear shut out my awareness of it.

"Mom... dad..." I breathed. I couldn't keep talking. Tears were rapidly welling up in my eyes out of pure, horrific worry. I could barely keep my mind in the real world. A sense of duty to warn Amy snapped me more into the daylight. "And... your parents, too..."

She saw it in my eyes. "What happened to them?" She tried to help me up, my arms had trouble supporting me. The aura was still there... emanating even from Amy, now. It was pinning me down.

Marie ran out onto the porch and answered her question, tears streaming down her face. "They've been captured...! All four of them... Mom, Dad, Falco, Katt..."

I finally found the strength to sit up, and I pulled the letter out of my pocket. Marie fell to her knees beside me, crying into her hands until she noticed what I was holding.

"Marcus? What's that?"

"Dad left it behind..." I broke the seal. Piss on the three days. In side was a single, neatly folded sheet of paper, one side with a series of numbers, the other with a note.

I read the note aloud.

Marcus and Marie:

Me and your mother have already taken out the Arwing II's and are at Kew. As you already know, things are starting to stir up. Doomsday weapons are going missing, strange pirate attacks are hitting, and everyone is in a state of paranoia. When it came to our attention that a huge attack on Kew was likely, me and your mother agreed to link up with the Lombardis to hold down the fort until the Cornerian Senate could send reinforcements.

Although, if you're reading this... we didn't come back. There's hundreds of things that could have happened. If the terrible is true, and the planet was obliterated, then... I guess this is goodbye. I wanted to let you both know how god damn proud we are of you. Ever since me and your mother settled down when she first became pregnant with you guys, we vowed to raise you guys innocently and have you lead normal lives unlike the life of death that I was forced into. Although, it looks like it was fate after all, because here you are... My own son being trained for special ops at my best friend's academy, and my daughter taking up flying and becoming a pilot with skill to rival my own. If you guys are bound to my fate like that, then I can also be sure you two are going to grow up to be heroes.

On the reverse side of this letter is a series of important phone numbers and lock codes. The locks are for the storage room and vaults in the hangar. There you'll find the trust fund we saved from the pay off of the Venomian Conflict, there should be upwards of thirty million credits and change in there as well as a nice collection of weapons. Make sure to take a look, there is some unique stuff in there that I was going to give you both some day. They'll serve you well. The first phone number is for Slippy Toad, president of Toad Enterprises and Aerospace Dynamics. He's also an old team mate of mine, and can supply you with pretty much everything you'll ever need if you two decide to take up the Starfox flag. The Arwing III's were finished recently, as well as the TECANIS-II nanosuits which I know were sent for special forces use so, army or not, Marcus, you should be getting your hands on a set.

While I might be getting ahead of myself... I doubt it. I know you two too well. You're going to want revenge, just like I did when Andross murdered my own parents. Just... please, be careful, and use your sense. Surround yourself with people you can trust... and if you decide to forsake the war path and live out your lives, don't worry about our memory; we just want you to be happy. Revenge isn't healthy, as satisfying as it can be.

Marcus, a life in the military can be hard, but it'll make you strong and solidify your sense of duty. Trust your teammates and always over analyze. Corruption is just as real in the military as it is in the private sector, and looks can always be decieving. You've probably gone through all of the awareness excercises now so you don't need to hear any of this but... never hurts to be sure. It's a hard path you walk, but if anyone can survive, and ultimately win, it's you and your team. Always remember that. Your team is more important than anything else. Bond with them, learn their strengths, weaknesses and personalities. No one ever won a war on his own, as much as the records like to say I did.

Marie, don't be discouraged or think you aren't ready for a life of flying. You are an incredible pilot, and another year would have seen you flying circles around me. There will be no better pilot in the galaxy if you continue to dedicate yourself to the trade. Learn the Arwing III, make it an extension of yourself, and remember everything I taught you. Stay cool, keep a firm – but – relaxed grip on the yoke and watch your surroundings. Don't fall into tunnell vision... bah, you've heard all of this before. Don't get cocky out there, because when you finally tap into your real potential, you're going to feel like a god... but that's when you start to make mistakes. No matter what you do... don't die before your time. Failure is better than death, and don't be afraid to take a loss if you know success will mean your death. Live to fight another day. Record book heroes gave their lives. Real heroes won the war because they knew their limits so they would be there when the galaxy needed them most. Never forget that.

I'm so sorry it had to end this way. We wanted to live to see you two become heroes, but, we lived good lives and did our duty. I know you two will leave a legacy behind even greater than ours some day. We love you, and are damn proud of you both.

Whatever path you choose, we'll be watching.

We love you~

Fox and Krystal McCloud

We sat in silence for a bit. Stunned.

Karen finally broke the silence. "Meh, could be worse."

Marie, still sobbing, snapped at her. "What do you mean, worse? How could it possibly get worse than this?"

"They could be dead, that's how. But there's still a chance to save them, if you get off your asses now and get out there."

"And do what, exactly? We don't have any leads. We don't even have fighters right now."

"That's what he left the numbers for, you dolt-"

"ENOUGH!" I barked. We were in silence again as the girls obeyed.

"We can't do anything if we just sit here and bicker about it. We follow dad's instructions. We're going to call Mr. Toad and see what we can do, then we're going to talk to General Grey and see what intel we can get. If he orders me to stay put, I'll resign on the spot and join up with the rest of you." I looked to Amy. "What are your plans?"

"Well, now that I've resigned, there isn't much I can do. I can't pilot a fighter, so... I'm more or less useless outside of a bridge. I donno. You guys'll be getting transport ship or something, right? I want in on this."

"Come back with us to CASOC tomorrow regardless. Maybe the General will throw you another bone and have to ship myself and the rest of Sierra out to look for them." I looked to Karen. "And you?"

A fire lit up in her eyes, more out of anticipation than anger. "Are you kidding? I ain't turning down a lead on Xavier. I've been looking to gut that pig for six years, and this might be my chance. Wherever you guys go, I'm there."

Aryn had an arm around a tear-soaked Marie. I turned to them both. "And you both know what you need to do."

Marie finally snapped to her senses, sliding Aryn's arm off her shoulder and sitting up. "Y-Yeah. Gotta call Slippy and get the new Arwing III's, then we start gathering info on where Vince could be holding our parents."

"So, we have a plan. Let's put it into gear." I finally stood with my own strength, the dark aura having been replaced by a brighter one of resolve and a burn for vengeance. "Before we do anything, we check out that secure storage room in the hangar." I looked to the building in question, off to the side in our back yard about a fifty yard distance from the deck.

We're coming, guys. Just stay put... we're not counting you out yet.

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The children of Starfox didn't detect me leaning against a tree outside of their own backyard. I watched them with an amused interest. Good musicians, those McCloud kids... If they win the game, they'll go far.

"Natural leader indeed, that boy..." I snickered to myself. "I'm going to have a blast with you, kid. Just you wait. Oh, the good times we'll have..."

To spark the festivities, I left my own little present in their little store room for them to find. The first cookie crumb on the trail to the big event, if you will.

"Warm up is over. Let round two begin."