StarFox: Chosen SEED

Chapter 3

Arrival Has Come

The call was answered immediately, both moving in on his position to discover the urgency of the call which had been sent. It was just as he had informed, looking into the cockpit of the floating space craft to find a motionless figure lying in place.

"I caught sight of them when I was running a scoop of the area." Falco said after the two came to a stop a few feet away from him.

"Are they alive?" Slippy radioed.

"Using the scanner of the arwing I was able to check the temperature of heat being released from the unidentified body."

"And?"

"Just slightly below the average." Falco replied.

"Which means they're still alive," Fox said coming to a conclusion. "Slippy you and I will spread out and look for anymore possible survivors."

"Loud and clear." Slippy said in response.

"Falco you go ahead and stick to watching this ship," Fox instructed. "Once we've completed the search we'll regroup with you back here."

A response did not need to be given; all parties involved knowing exactly how things would go with the situation going forward.

"Alright Slippy," Fox radioed. "I'll take everything heading east, the west is all yours."

"Either way works."

"We'll circle our way around," Fox said further analyzing the situation. "And if all goes accordingly we should meet back here."

"What are we waiting for, let's do this." Slippy said ready to kick start things.

With that the two soared off into their respected directions, hoping they'd find some form of life still sitting in the clear. All eyes were on deck now, staying sharp as he passed the many darkened ships. Without really realizing the thought crawled into the back of his mind, the mystery of what could have happened to all who went missing in this field of lifeless space crafts.

He shrugged this off with the shake of his head, knowing he needed to remain focused. His eyes narrowed as he continued to circle around, slightly slowing up in speed to make sure there was nothing he missed. And with a flash of time he found himself back where he had started, pulling in to find Slippy had returned to the spot.

"Find anything?" Falco radioed.

"They were all empty," Fox replied. "Not another shred of life to be found."

"Same on my end." Slippy reported.

"What now Fox," Falco questioned. "There's obviously nothing else to find, think we should head back to the Cornerian base?"

"We can't just leave now," Slippy protested. "We still haven't determined the source of the problem."

"Falco's right," Fox said. "There doesn't appear to be anything else for us to find."

"So that's it," Slippy said surprised in his decision. "We're just going to hightail it and call it a day without returning with some kind of evidence to what happened."

"Of course not," Fox replied. "I want you and Falco to wire your connection hook lines to the space ship Falco discovered with the body."

"Sounds good to me," Falco agreed. "Once this person awakens maybe they'll be able to give us some insight on exactly what happened here."

"While you two carefully bring that ship along I'm going to go ahead and connect one of the empty crafts to my own," Fox said. "It could prove vital down the line."

"Can't disagree with the call."

"Alright then," Fox said. "We've spent enough time here, it's time to get back and deliver a report."

There was no further time wasted, quickly going through with the plan that had been set in place. Both Falco and Slippy hooked their cables lines to the ship in question, carrying it along as they began to travel back. Fox did the same, reeling along a smaller space craft than the two of them.

It was a quiet trip back, each focused on the surroundings. They weren't sure what had caused so many to go missing, and had no intent on letting their guard down at any time. After several minutes of travel they reached the location where they had transported from, picking up the frequency of where the energy field lied.

"Straight ahead." Fox said.

They did just that, powering forward with increased speed which sent them into a deep blackness. When all was clear they found themselves back at the Cornerian base, carefully landing with the space crafts they had brought along. Once landed he popped out of the arwing, leaping out onto the ground to almost immediately be greeted by General Pepper along with two Cornerian soldiers.

"That didn't take long," General Pepper commented. "That didn't take long at all."

"We checked out the location you spoke of," Fox said. "As you can see we brought a few things back."

"What exactly did you see?"

"Not something you'd expect to hear," Falco said coming into the fray. "That's for sure."

"We found the ships of your missing comrades." Fox informed.

"If that is true, then why aren't they with you?"

"That's just the thing," Fox replied. "That's all we found, all the ships we came to find were empty, there was no one to be found."

"What?!"

"Well, all except for in one case," Falco informed pointing to the ship a couple yards back from his arwing. "They were unconscious when we arrived, and still have yet to awaken."

"I'd love to go over the details further," Fox said. "But I think it would be best if we focused all efforts on the pilot of that ship."

General Pepper snapped his finger at that given moment, signaling for the two at his side to take action. They all headed over to where the ship was located, taking little time for them to access the situation.

"We can't get it open sir," One of them reported. "The cockpit door is tightly locked in place."

"I'll go ahead and grab the tool box."

"Do we have time for that," Slippy questioned. "Every second could be life threatening."

"Stand back." Falco instructed.

They all did as asked, unsure of what he had in mind. It was then that they watched him reach down for his blaster, blowing off the hinges to the cockpit before stylishly slip his blaster back into its resting place.

"Piece of cake." Falco smirkingly commented before stepping off to the side.

Fox brought a hand to his face with the shake of his head in the wake of this.

"… Falco."

The two soldiers who had joined them quickly climbed back upon the small ship, popping the cockpit top open with relative ease. It wasn't until moments later that they removed the body from the ship, laying an anthropomorphic lion onto the ground. General Pepper's eyes immediately widened after laying eyes on the lying individual. Fox noticing this turned to face him.

"General, what's wrong?"

"Selaxsis," General Pepper replied. "She was one of the three who accompanied Commander Gurich on the mission."

And just like that one question had been answered. But unknown to them the events that had unfolded thus far were only the beginning. But unlike any other battle they had faced this one spanned far beyond what anyone could imagine. The next move was to be made soon, one which would start the link of many trials to come.

A dark mist of dust appeared over a building in the heart of night, fading away to reveal five standing figures. Their eyes peered downward at the city below, a deep feeling of accomplishment just waiting to burst to the surface. An evil grin came to his face as he took a step to the edge, taking in the alluring sight before him.

"So, this is New York City."

To Be Continued