Chapter 12:
Admiral Dane's fleet appeared in the orbit of Luna, just out of range of the energy weapons of the Federation's Earth Defense Fleet. Castor Dane stood on the bridge of the G.F.S. Olympus and stared at the bridge window. The image of Earth appeared in the distance. He also made note of the thousands of small dots appearing in front of the planet: the Federation fleet and the Earth's planetary defense grid consisting of three hundred Heavy Defense Platforms, and thousands of smaller automated energy turrets, missile launchers, and smaller defense platforms. And that was before adding the countless starfighters and assault transports and assault shuttles that were being scrambled and flying towards the Federation in Exile fleet. The warning sensors went red and alarms blared as the targeting sensors of the enemy fleet locked onto Dane's fleet. Fortunately, they were still out of range so Dane's forces were safe, for the moment. Looking down at the communications officer, he asked, "Lieutenant Gates, can we get a signal through to Earth or to the Federation fleet?"
"Not with the Radio Tower jamming us," Gates responded.
Admiral Dane grimaced. He had hoped to be able to send a reassuring signal to the people of Earth that the true Galactic Federation fleet had returned to help them and that the time to take on Cyrus was now. For the moment, he would have to hope that he could keep the Federation fleet occupied and open up some holes for his own transports to fly through so ground troops could be landed in Japan and America. Turning to the sensor officer, he asked, "Lieutenant Commander, put the fleet displacement on the main viewscreen."
"Aye sir," came the reply from the thirty year-old human male with red hair and green eyes.
The image of the Earth and the Federation fleet and the defense grid surrounding the planet appeared on the bridge window. Thousands upon thousands of dots appeared on the screen, as did a filmy field that surrounded the planet. "Sir, Earth has raised its planetary shield," the sensor officer alerted.
Admiral Dane cursed. Now any chance of landing troops was cut off. The only way to be able to send down troops would be to breach the shield, which would be nigh impossible with seven thousand ships standing before them. "Open a channel to the fleet," Admiral Dane called out.
A beep sounded and a channel was opened. Once the channel was opened, Admiral Dane ordered, "All ships hold position here. Try to draw the enemy out towards us. All Archangel-class battlecruisers, Olympus-class battleships, up front and get to just barely within energy weapons range. All other ships stay behind us. Missile frigates and missile destroyers, get to the rear lines and target the lead ships of the Earth Defense Fleet. On my word, open fire! Everyone else, launch starfighters, but keep them back and on hot standby until either further orders are given or the enemy jumps into our formation."
A chorus of "aye sirs" flooded in over the speakers. Admiral Dane sat back as the fleet moved itself into position. The Olympus-class battleships and Archangel-class battlecruisers moved forward slowly, but surely. The modifications that had been made to the Olympus-class battleships allowed them to have the same weapons range as the Archangel-class battlecruisers, though they were not quite as fast or maneuverable as the newer, smaller, starship. Still, with these modifications, Admiral Dane's forces could still hurl energy bolts at a still enemy force at around three hundred thousand kilometers away and still be accurate with their fire, and have their weapons inflict damage. Combined with the missile fire of the missile frigates and missile destroyers, they felt as if they could inflict significant damage in a first strike scenario. But that was not their only goal. Admiral Dane also noticed the many starfighters that were approaching and he told the missile ships, "Missile frigates and missile destroyers, fire anti-capital ship missiles, along with anti-starfighter missiles. Pick your targets wisely. I want as many of the enemy starfighters destroyed as possible."
The affirmatives rang in over the speakers as the ships prepared their weapons. Admiral Dane looked out at the fleet and the approaching fighters once more and said, "This is too easy. There's no way that they would make this mistake twice." He remembered back to the reports of the first Battle for Earth, where the Federation fleet had sent in wings of starfighters towards the defense fleet to soften them up, only to have the starfighters get annihilated by a missile barrage, as well as the Federation in Exile defense fleet open fire on the enemy while the enemy was still just out of range of their Federation in Exile counterparts. Here, though, Dane had the slight advantage in being able to retreat should the fleet come forward and try to get within range of their weapons. Still, he knew that eventually, the Federation fleet would jump the necessary few thousand kilometers in order to close the distance and enter firing range. He merely hoped that they would not do so until they had lost much of their fleet.
He looked out at the Federation fleet, which was merely sitting there, waiting for him to make his move, and he said, "All designated ships, fire!"
As soon as he gave the order, the Olympus-class and Archangel-class ships opened fire with their energy cannons and missile launchers, with the missile frigates and missile destroyers launching volley after volley of missiles. Scarlet lances of energy erupted from the primary energy cannons of the large capital ships on the front line and crossed the distance between the two fleets in a single second. Bright orange explosions appeared in the space between the two fleets as the energy lances carved lines out of the starfighter ranks that were approaching the Federation in Exile fleet, vaporizing the unfortunate starfighters. After their second of travel time, the energy beams found their mark, the lead ships of the Galactic Federation defense fleet. Most of the ships in the fleet consisted of Ba'al and Moloch-class frigates and Unicorn-class destroyers, but there were also some Pixie-class light cruisers, Midgard class cruisers, and Asgard-class heavy cruisers present as well. The shields of the Federation ships absorbed the first volley without too much difficulty, but they were still out of range of their weapons, so they could only try to move forward while shifting power to the forward shields of the ships. Despite doing so, the volleys of energy beam cannons began to take their toll and before they could get within weapons range, many of the ships were destroyed or rendered dead in space. They had still fired their missiles towards the attacking Federation in Exile starships, but the point-defense cannons of Admiral Dane's ships had all day to target and shoot down the slower than light missiles. Very few missiles managed to get through, and the small number that did get through, did not inflict significant damage to Dane's forces. However, a few of the front line Federation starships managed to get within range before their destruction and lash out in vengeance of their impending demise, but it was too little, too late. Their lack of coordination meant that they spread their fire out amongst the entire front lines of the Federation in Exile fleet, instead of focusing on a few of the stronger ships. In the end, they inflicted only minor damage before they, too, met their end.
As for the missile ships, they had different targets than the first ranks of the enemy. Positioned much like archers from old Earth medieval battles, the missile frigates unleashed their weapons fire from well away from the main warships of the enemy fleet. Their targets were not just the incoming enemy starfighter forces, but their own Federation counterparts: the Hydra and Hind-class missile frigates and destroyers used by the Galactic Federation starfleet. The anti-starfighter missiles that were launched at the approaching enemy fighters consisted of casings that contained dozens, if not hundreds, of small explosives that would be magnetically attracted to the metal of the starfighters' hulls. The explosives would then detonate and either damage or destroy the starfighter, depending on how many explosives were connected to the starfighter.
True to their design, the missiles unleashed by the frigates zoomed towards the enemy starfighters without even slowing down. Once they were among the enemy starfighters, they exploded and shot forth thousands of small explosives into the enemy starfighter squadrons. The initial detonations of the missiles, themselves, was often enough to destroy small flights of fighters, with the explosives annihilating the rest of the squadron. Small, round, silver spheres erupted from the casings and streaked towards the nearest starfighters they could find, detonating upon impact with the fighter. The first volley of missiles caught the enemy starfighters off guard and the first few wings were annihilated before they even managed to get close. The rest of the fighters, wise to the next volley of incoming missiles, began to split apart and station their squadrons a little farther apart so as to avoid the incoming barrages of explosives that would erupt from the missiles. But it was not enough to save them and even with their own countermeasures, they were unable to avoid many of the explosives. More fighters and ATCs met their end at the hands of the merciless barrage of explosives.
With the starfighters having to deal with the explosives, they were unable to even attempt to intercept and destroy the anti-capital ship missiles that streaked towards the missile frigates, and missile destroyers of the Galactic Federation fleet. The point-defenses of the Federation fleet were not nearly as advanced, or as effective, as those mounted on the ships of the Federation in Exile's fleet. Blue, orange, and red energy pulses lashed out towards the approaching missiles, but for every missile that was shot down, five managed to make it through. The missiles streaked towards the Hydra and Hind-class missile ships and inflicted heinous damage to the missile ships. Many of the missile ships fell to single volleys of missiles, while others were severely damaged or destroyed. In a single barrage of fire, the missile frigate and destroyer forces of the Galactic Federation fleet was crippled. And with their ability to utilize long ranged attacks severely damaged by the first strike, the Federation fleet was in trouble. Admiral Dane smiled at his good fortune as the missile barrage was quite effective. He knew that his fleet was still outnumbered, but at least, for the moment, he had the edge in ranged combat. He then watched as the battle continued and his forces opened fire again, launching more energy and missile barrages into the Galactic Federation fleet from outside the Federation ships' firing range. He did not know how long it would take for the Federation fleet admiral to jump his forces into their own weapons' range, but Dane would take every advantage he could get and milk them for all they were worth.
Meanwhile, on the surface of Earth, on the outskirts of the Johto Region of Japan, just over Cianwood City, Cyrus rode inside a drop shuttle, holding onto the hand holds, looking down at the series of streets where Galactic Federation Army Troopers and Marines were exchanging fire with a group of Earth Army Troopers, Marines, and Pokémon Trainers, with numerous Pokémon that resembled various creatures from Earth, but often had special abilities that made them more formidable. Among the most powerful of the Pokémon were the Gyarados that unleashed massive orange Hyper Beam attacks on the attacking Federation troopers, blasting large valleys into the troops and their armor support. The Federation troopers returned fire, but the blue and white sea serpent-like Pokémon were giving them a great deal of trouble. They continued to have a rough battle and had been sent into full retreat until a volley of missiles and energy orbs rained down upon them and sent them scurrying for cover farther into town as Federation troopers and a squadron of Techno Soldiers, mainly Serfs and Squires, with a Knight in the lead, arrived and aided the retreating Federation troops, giving them a renewed sense of hope. Those that had not been quick enough to flee were killed by the explosions. The Federation troops still pursued the surviving Earth defenders and the Pokémon Trainers, but at several turns, they were met with a hail of scarlet energy pulses and oftentimes, bolts of lightning as well, which breached their shields of their suits, shorted out the armor, and either killed or severely injured the trooper inside. In addition, not all of the Gyarados were killed when the Techno Soldiers and other reinforcements arrived, so those that survived were directed to concentrate their fire on the Techno Knight.
Orange Hyper Beams powerful enough to destroy mid-sized towns with single blasts were unleashed upon the Techno Knight and the other Techno Soldiers, inflicting moderate damage to the opposing force. Two Techno Serfs were annihilated in the attack, along with a Techno Squire, but the Knight took everything that was sent his way and emerged with only minor damage. However, the damage had been done. The Knights were revealed to the Pokémon Trainers and the other soldiers to not be invulnerable to enemy fire, so hope retuned to the soldiers and they continued to focus on the Federation Army Troopers and Marines, while the Pokémon Trainers dealt with the Techno Soldiers. Soon, the Gyarados were joined by six Dragonites, orange and tan dragons with two orange antennae and small wings. Despite their power, they looked to be much more good-natured and easygoing than other Dragon-type Pokémon. The Dragonites unleashed their Hyper Beams upon the Techno Knight and scored direct hits on the soldier. While the Techno Knight may have been able to survive one hit, six blasts were noticeably more difficult to survive, especially when each Dragonite's Hyper Beam could destroy almost a third of Goldenrod City, the largest city in the Johto Region. The Techno Knight did not have a chance. Before he could fire on the Pokémon, six Hyper Beams converged on his armor, which had already taken a hit from a few Gyarados Hyper Beams. The beams blew through the Techno Knight's armor and annihilated the Knight. The rest of the soldiers then focused on dealing with the Dragonites while they were recharging from using their Hyper Beams, unleashing missiles and barrages of energy fire on the creatures, managing to either kill or critically injure one of the Dragonites, while wounding two others enough to force them to land. The return fire, however, was just as damaging to the Federation soldiers as the Dragonites gouged massive lines into the ranks of the Federation soldiers when they unleashed massive streams of fire and energy meteors as they fired volley of Flamethrower and Draco Meteors. Entire ranks of Federation soldiers were destroyed, but with each platoon that was annihilated, two more came up to support them. Still, the Federation was suffering obscene casualties, losing eight soldiers for every soldier or Pokémon that the Earth defenders lost. As such, the Earth's military forces were still forced to retreat, despite the damage they were inflicting on the invading Federation forces.
Cyrus looked down at the scene with a flat expression on his face. The lives of the Federation soldiers and the Earth military troopers that were being lost or ruined due to injury was not important to him. All that mattered to him was getting to the Sinjoh Ruins and getting his forces to take control of Mount Coronet. He watched as another Techno Knight came onto the scene, flanked by several Techno Power Suits, N'Kren soldiers, and Ylla warriors. They immediately began searching house by house for any signs of Earth military soldiers and Pokémon Trainers, or even civilians that were merely supporting the Earth's defenders. The sounds of energy fire could also be heard, along with some thuds, indicating that the occupants inside the houses were killed. Cyrus almost smiled. This was what conflict was all about. And this was what would happen as long as people had emotion and spirit. Even if he were stopped, there would still be conflict since there would still be evil people and beings in the universe. If he won, though, he could use his two Arceus trophies to create a new Dialga and Palkia to destroy this current universe and remake it in his own image, with him being its new god. Looking over at the pilot, he said, "Take me to the forward command center."
"Yes, sir," the pilot responded.
The shuttle then banked to its right and proceeded to fly over Cianwood City, and over a small sea, which was still being contested by several watercrafts from both sides of the conflict. The Earth sea naval forces were being aided by water Pokémon and were gaining the upper hand in the fighting. He ignored the battle and focused on making sure that they got to their forward command center in Goldenrod City. The shuttle landed on the beach, where most of the troops were assembling. Many troops were coming in via seafaring vessels and assault shuttles, being deployed on the beaches of the city, for the Federation knew that with all of the Pokémon in the city, that it would be exceedingly bloody if they landed troops inside the city.
Once they landed, Cyrus immediately got out of the drop shuttle and ran over to a makeshift command post, complete with a computer and a broadcast antenna. Standing inside the command post were a N'Kren soldier, Ylla warrior, and a single human. Once he arrived at the command post, he went over to the human, a man with red hair, wearing a Team Galactic uniform, and said, "What's the situation, Mercury?"
Mercury turned towards Cyrus and answered, "Sir, we have just received reports that Orbital Ring Eight was destroyed."
"What?" Cyrus blurted.
Mercury nodded. "The autodestruct sequence was activated from inside, even after the self-destruct protocols had been erased. She must have found the data inside one of the computer repair centers and used a disk or memory stick to upload the original operating system and overwrite the modified version, reinstalling the Ring's autodestruct sequence. As for how she could have gotten through security, the Rings were researching new weapons that were being developed by the Galactic Federation in Exile. If one of these weapons had been acquired by Samus, it could give her an edge against an enemy force in combat."
"Are there any indications that the prisoners were onboard the Ring when it exploded?" Cyrus asked, getting the subject away from Samus.
"None that I know of, one way or the other?" Mercury replied.
"Damn," Cyrus swore. "Now we don't know whether or not President Richardson and the others, survived!"
"If I were to put money down, I would guess that Samus did rescue them," came the response from the N'Kren soldier standing next to Mercury.
"So, where do you think they'll go?" the Chairman asked.
"If I were them, I would go either to the Radio Tower to neutralize the jamming field it's producing, or to the Capitol Building in order to bolster any assault force that may come to Earth," the N'Kren soldier responded.
"Too late," came the voice of the Ylla warrior standing next to him. "We're receiving reports that the Federation fleet's already here."
"No!" Cyrus yelled, slamming his fist into a metal table. He then turned to the Ylla and said, "Tell me, what's the status of the defense fleet up in orbit?"
"They're holding steady, for now. Admiral Dane's attacks, however, are inflicting significant losses, though, especially to our starfighter forces."
"Okay," Cyrus began, turning to the Ylla warrior. "Kehlan, you get back up into orbit and direct your fleet. Also, get the Star Fox Team out and ready to deal with Admiral Dane's forces."
"Understood, Chairman," Kehlan said, bowing. He then went to depart, heading to the nearest shuttle which was about to take off. Turing to the N'Kren soldier, he said, "Hi'Gor, I'll want you to send your strongest Techno Knight to the Capitol Building and aid in its protection. We can't afford to let Samus or the President take control it, and Earth's Defense Grid. I'll call in some help from a few friends to try to take care of Samus before she manages to get to the Capitol Building. As for right now, I want you to standby and assist in the fighting, for the time being. I'll have another mission for you shortly and I'll contact you when I need your help."
"Understood, sir," Hi'Gor responded. He then took out a device and held it in his hand. He then transformed into a Technoble and rocketed into the sky and towards the lead line of troops that were making their way into Goldenrod City.
With the departure of Hi'Gor and Kehlan, Cyrus went to the communications array and opened a secure channel and said, "Pigma Dengar, do you read me?"
"Loud and clear," came a high-pitched screechy voice that sounded quite sleazy to the ear. "Whadaya want, Cyrus?"
"Pigma, Samus Aran has destroyed Orbital Ring Eight and is likely coming into the Earth's atmosphere as we speak. Her likely destination will either be the Radio Tower in New York City, or the Capitol Building. I want you to go to the Radio Tower and scan any and all ships in the area. I'll be sending over some fighter support as well to help you."
There was a moment of silence over the comm before Pigma asked, "So, how much ya willin' ta pay me for takin' out Samus?"
Cyrus could scarcely believe his ears. He had known that Pigma Dengar was a money grubbing swine, but this was absurd. He was already paying the Pig-like Lylatian more than his usual fee; and missions like this were the reason he had done so in the first place. "What I have already paid you!" Cyrus roared. "You're already getting close to twice your normal fee."
"Yeah, but this is Samus Aran you're talkin' about. I heard that she had a bounty of three million gold credits or somethin' like that, dead."
"If she dies, you will get the full bounty, along with whoever else survives. That said, if the entire squadron is destroyed, you'll still only get the three million gold credits," Cyrus told him.
The silence that came in over the comm indicated that the mercenary was still thinking it over. Eventually, Pigma responded, "Okay, I'll do it. But I better get every copper penny that is comin' ta me."
"Good," Cyrus said in a satisfied tone. "Inform me should you run into Samus and manage to kill her."
Pigma gave no response and the channel was closed from the other side. Cyrus grimaced. He hated having to work with selfish scum like Pigma, but the mercenary's skill was undeniable. He had, after all, once been a member of Star Fox, and later, Star Wolf. One needed to be a good pilot to be able to fly in those teams.
After finishing his conversation with Pigma, he turned to Mercury and told him, "Tell the others to press the attack now. We need to establish a clear foothold in Goldenrod City. Even with the attacks in Cherrygrove City inflicting losses to the enemy, I don't think that we'll be able to maintain this momentum for long. We need a clear base of operations if we are to launch a massive attack into the region."
"Understood, sir."
"Also, call in the other Team Galactic executives. Once we find the Sinjoh Ruins, I want to be able to get there as quickly as possible. In addition, set aside some Galactic Federation assets to help get us there quickly. Should Pigma fail in killing Samus, President Richardson, and Captain Falcon, I want to have some protection in my journey to the Sinjoh Ruins."
"Yes, sir," Mercury responded.
"One more thing," Cyrus added. "Get a dozen or so Techno Knights and have them assist in the capture of Mount Coronet, now. I want the Space Pirates there dead."
"Yes, sir," Mercury responded with a sadistic grin. As Mercury went about his work, Cyrus merely stood by and watched as the massive force of troops, tanks, mechs, and fighters advanced into Goldenrod City. He could already see the tanks and fighters of the Earth military forces coming out to face off against his forces.
Meanwhile, Samus piloted the Heavy Assault Shuttle through Earth's atmosphere, watching the sensors closely to see if there were any signs of pursuit ships that had launched from Orbital Ring Eight before its destruction, or if there were any enemy ships that were coming to intercept them. She hoped that the IFF codes of her ship still identified it as friendly to the Federation forces that were in control of much of Earth. That brought about another problem. If the IFF codes were still broadcasting her as a Federation shuttle, there was a good chance that any Earth fighters that happened upon the shuttle would shoot it down, thinking that they were the enemy. She quickly checked here sensors and found no signs of any fighters, Federation or Earth, approaching. She then focused on piloting the shuttle once more as she turned to Captain Falcon and said, "Keep an eye on the sensors and tell me if anyone takes an interest in us."
"Got it," the other bounty responded.
The shuttle continued through the atmosphere on its journey towards the Radio Tower with no signs of any pursuit or any interest being paid to it by either side of the conflict. Reports came in and appeared on several monitors in front of Samus. She gave them passing glances, but they were merely updates on how various battles were going. So far, Cyrus's forces were making slow to moderate progress in the Johto and Sinnoh regions of Japan, practically ignoring Kanto or Hoenn, though Federation forces were suffering obscene casualties in the process. The invasion of Unova had stalled and the Federation forces were gradually being pushed back with the help of two Legendary Pokémon called Reshiram and Zekrom. In other reports, most of Europe was already under the control of the Galactic Federation, along with South America, Australia, and Africa. Only Asia and North America were providing any meaningful resistance, with most of the victories for Earth coming in the U.S.A. and Russia.
After she had looked over the reports, she focused back on her course heading. The computer indicated that she was still at least ten minutes away from the Radio Tower. After a moment, she heard Captain Falcon call over to her, and to the others in the cockpit cabin, "We've got company! I'm detecting a quartet of fighters coming from our starboard side."
Samus looked out the window into the distance and was barely able to make out four small dots in the distance. Checking her sensors, she found that they were Rapier-class short-ranged air-and-space superiority starfighters currently in use solely by the Galactic Federation. They had originally been developed by a variety of Earth colonies as short-range, mass-produced fighters along with the Epée, the interceptor, and the Claymore, the bomber. Their primary purpose was system defense against attack until Galactic Federation forces could arrive to assist. Despite their lack of faster-than-light drives and limited roles, they were still quite capable in the roles they were designed for.
Captain Falcon's voice soon rang out again, "Their weapons are hot!"
That was no surprise. Earth was a war zone; there was no way any ship would enter the atmosphere without being either weapons hot, shields up, or both, regardless of the side said ship was on. The comm soon chimed and a voice came in over the radio saying, "Unknown shuttle, state your identification and cargo immediately."
Samus and Captain Falcon glanced at one another uneasily, and then back at President Richardson and General Hastings, before Samus said, "I can't make that response, they'll instantly recognize my voice."
"Don't look at me," Richardson retorted.
"I'd be recognized as well," Hastings added. "As would Captain Falcon."
President Richardson then went to the rear cabin of the shuttle and bellowed, "I need one Marine or Army volunteer to come to the cockpit…" but he was cut off by a thud and shaking of the shuttle. "They're firing!" cried Captain Falcon.
"Never mind," President Richardson told the troopers in the rear cabin. He went to join Samus and Captain Falcon and saw that the shields were still holding at ninety-two percent. Samus was already initiating evasive maneuvers as a pair of energy bolts flashed past the underside of the shuttle. Several more bolts flew past the cockpit before the shuttle shuddered again. The shields dropped to eighty-eight percent, indicating that only a single bolt had managed to tag the shuttle.
Samus quickly took control of the weapons systems and checked to see the loadout. She had hoped to find that the shuttle was equipped with air-to-air missiles, but found that it was merely equipped with air-to-surface missiles. Fortunately, though, they still had the rear-mounted twin energy cannons. She charged the cannons, which only took a single second to charge and once they had been charged, she activated a crosshairs on the screen in front of her. She told Captain Falcon, "Take the flight controls. I'll take care of the fighters."
"Got it," Falcon replied as Samus began to target the fighters. It was just like it was on her own gunship. She entered the data into the computer and the cannons began to swivel. However, as the crosshairs moved over the enemy fighters, the cannons did not fire. This was odd. The first thing she did was to check the cannons and see if they were functioning properly. Everything seemed to check out. She then grimaced as she figured that the Rapiers were likely using some form of jamming or other Electronic Countermeasures against the shuttle. This was confirmed when the sensor range of the shuttle was drastically reduced in an instant. The shuttle then lurched again with another hit. Checking the shields, she found that they were down to eighty percent. However, since the external cameras were still operational, she could use manual targeting to deal with the fighters.
She switched the cannons to manual control and began to zero in on them. While she had not used the manual setting to operate rear-mounted energy cannons since she had been in the Federation Academy, she had been quite capable when she was younger, and was quite comfortable with using these cannons manually. A joystick popped up from the console and she used it to adjust the aim of the cannons. The cannons' crosshairs soon moved over one of the Rapiers and once it did, she pulled the trigger. Scarlet lances of energy erupted from the cannons and blew a hole straight through the center of the lead Rapier, the Rapier's armor doing little to stop the energy blast. The Rapier then listed to the side and began an involuntary dive towards the ground. Samus did not stop to see the fighter crash, or if the pilot managed to eject in time, merely focusing on the second fighter.
The Rapier flight broke formation with the fall of their leader, and they formed a large triangle in the air, with one fighter above the shuttle, and two below it. They continued to pepper the shuttle with energy fire, but the shuttle was able to maneuver away from many of the blasts. However, a few managed to get through and the shuttle's shields were taken down to sixty-four percent. However, a moment later, Samus zeroed in on the Rapier above the shuttle and opened fire. The lances of energy tore into this fighter and blew its rear half off. The forward half dove into the ground, where it exploded, but not before the pilot managed to eject. Not stopping to give the other fighters a chance to react, she quickly lowered the elevation of the cannons and targeted the two remaining Rapiers. Spraying energy fire towards the two fighters, she managed to wing one of the fighters. The hit took off the wing of the Rapier and the wounded fighter began to descend towards the ground, unable to stay aloft. Before dealing the deathblow to the wounded fighter, though, the bounty hunter targeted the final fighter and unleashed a torrent of energy bolts upon it. The scarlet bolts tore through the starfighter and sent the ruined hulk falling to the ground. After that fighter had been dealt with, Samus turned her attention to the wounded Rapier. However, any further action against the fighter was unnecessary since the pilot had just ejected from the craft and was gliding down to the planet via his parachute.
After the four Rapiers had been dealt with, Samus checked the sensors once more, hoping that no signals had been sent to the enemy. The sensors indicated the skies were clear for the moment. Once they felt as if they were in the clear, Samus resumed piloting duties from Captain Falcon.
Two minutes later, Captain Falcon's voice rang out once more. "We've got another contact coming in fast!"
Samus risked a glance at the sensors and saw the small blip approaching fast. As it got closer, her curiosity turned to apprehension as both she and Captain Falcon recognized the ship as an Arwing fighter. "Put as much power to rear shields and to the rear energy cannons as possible," she directed. She knew that where there was one Arwing, three more were likely to follow. Alarm klaxons were already going off as the Arwing, which was still ten or more kilometers away, was trying to lock onto the shuttle. The sensors also detected a rise in energy readings in one of its weapons ports. A massive surge of energy was then launched towards the shuttle, but the surge detonated well away from the ship before it could be threatened.
After a few seconds, the radio came online, and the image of a pig's face appeared. Samus recognized the face as belonging to Pigma Dengar. "Well, well, it looks like I'm gonna get a ton of cash for this," he sneered. "Killin' Samus Aran, Captain Falcon, President Richardson, and General Hastings'll give me great leverage to get even more bounty money from Cyrus."
"Too bad you'll never be able to spend it," Samus retorted over the radio.
"Huh?" Pigma asked, being taken off guard by Samus's comment. "Whadaya mean I'll never be able to spend it?"
"You've undoubtedly heard from the humans of Earth that if Cyrus accomplishes his objectives, that he'll just destroy the universe anyway. You can't take your money with you when you die."
"Then I'll just kill him after he pays me and before he destroys the universe," Pigma concluded. With that, he closed the channel.
The Arwing was now within visual range and Samus got a clear view of the fighter from the rear cameras. The fighter was streamlined, though it looked noticeably heavier than the more recent designs of the Arwing had. However, it also physically looked more durable and able to fly in the atmosphere should something go wrong with the G-diffuser. She checked the analysis of the fighter and saw that it was armed with two laser cannons, which could charge into a single high-powered homing laser stronger than several bursts from the twin laser cannons, as well as a Smart Bomb launcher. The analysis indicated that Pigma only had one Smart Bomb, though, at this time. She soon heard Captain Falcon asked, "Do you want me to take the controls while you take weapons?"
Samus looked back and shook her head. Seeing that the Arwing did not have any strong ECM systems, she would not need to manually control the energy cannons. She could focus on flying the ship as well as dealing with Pigma. She told him, "You take control of the tactical systems. I'll concentrate on flying the shuttle."
Falcon nodded as Samus gripped the control stick and pulled to the left just as Pigma let loose with his first barrage of laser fire. Green bolts of energy flashed to the right of the ship as Pigma missed his initial shots. Setting the rear cannons to automatic, the cannons' targeting computer tracked the fighter. As Pigma fired on the shuttle, though, he was performing barrel rolls. As soon as he performed such a roll, though, the sensors indicated that a second shield appeared over the starfighter. Samus had heard about these shields and that they could deflect almost any pulsed energy weapons fire regardless of power if the blast was either A: not too large, or B: the pulses were short enough in length. She watched as the cannons targeted the fighter and fired. Scarlet energy pulses erupted from the cannons and streaked back towards Pigma's Arwing. However, he had managed to raise a barrel roll shield and managed to deflect the energy lances. The cannons continued to fire, though, and one of the bolts managed to score a hit on the Arwing. However, the hit inflicted minimal damage to Pigma's shields. Samus quickly checked the tactical screen and saw that barely a sliver of energy had been removed. She would have to score dozens of more hits before the fighter would be taken down.
The shuttle lurched again and she performed evasive maneuvers, knowing that while there was no way for the shuttle to be able to outmaneuver the starfighter, she hoped that it would be able to avoid enough energy fire to be able to take down Pigma's Arwing. Her hopes quickly faded when the lock-on alarms blared and the ambient light turned red as the screens all glowed red in warning of the enemy ship locking onto the shuttle. Samus prayed that the weapon that would be used was merely a Charged Laser, for a Smart Bomb was like a tactical nuclear or matter-antimatter weapon and would likely destroy the shuttle with a single hit. She continued to perform evasive maneuvers as the fighter continued to close in on the shuttle. After a few seconds, Pigma unleashed the Charged Laser towards the shuttle. Samus did her best to maneuver the shuttle away from the energy ball as it homed in on the shuttle. She even took control of the rear energy cannons to try to detonate the ball before it struck, but the ball traveled too quickly and took more than one hit to take down. After sustaining two direct hits, it crashed into the shuttle, causing the ship to lurch forward. Sparks erupted from an unoccupied terminal in the corner of the cockpit cabin and the bounty hunter checked the extent of the damage. The tactical screen told her that the rear shields had been collapsed by the Charged Laser and the aft energy cannons had sustained damage from the strike, too much for the auto-repair systems to fix. The hull damage, itself, was minor, but the rear of the craft was now unprotected; and that meant that Pigma could take his time shooting down the shuttle.
Samus was not ready to give up just yet, though. She glanced over at Captain Falcon and asked, "Does this shuttle have a dorsal hatch?"
As Samus was shifting the power of the shields from forward to rear as well as transferring as much power from the damaged weapons systems to the shields in the hope that they would hold for a little while. Captain Falcon looked over the ship's schematics and found that it did, indeed, have a dorsal hatch. "Yes," he called over to Samus.
"Then take the controls," she directed. "I'm going out to take on Pigma." She then rose from her chair and went to the back of the cabin.
President Richardson's eyes went wide as she rose. "By yourself?" he blurted, before she stepped through the door to the rear cabin. "Can your arm cannon's weaponry even damage an Arwing?"
"We're about to find out," Samus replied. Inwardly, she felt as if there was a good chance that if her Power Missile could tag an Arwing, that it could inflict damage to the fighter since it was a miniature matter-antimatter weapon and was powerful enough to take down at least a Techno Squire. It was better than nothing, though. She then stepped through the door and went to the rear cabin.
Once inside the rear cabin, she went over to a red lever encased in glass on the wall and pulled it down. As she did so, a small, round hatch opened on the ceiling that was wide enough to fit two normal unarmored humans walking abreast. Once the hatch opened, air began to flow out of the cabin, prompting the Federation soldiers to activate their magnetic boots so that they would not be pulled out of the shuttle. She went over to the small hatch and jumped out of the hatch and landed on the shuttle's external hull. She quickly pushed a button on the hatch and closed it and stepped towards the rear of the shuttle.
Once she had arrived at the rear of the shuttle, where the damaged energy cannons were located, she proceeded to scan the skies for Pigma's Arwing. She quickly spotted him coming up from below. He sprayed the ship with laser fire and managed to score some more hits. The shuttle's strength appeared on the top portion of Samus's HUD and she found that the energy blasts had taken the newly reinforced rear shields down to sixty-six percent. She grimaced. One of the projectors or generators may have sustained damage as well, for the shields were weaker in their durability this time around. Either that, or one of the blasts happened to strike an unshielded section of the shuttle and the damage to that section had spilled over onto the shields as well. She charged her Wave Beam and fired a Charged Shot at Pigma's Arwing. As she fired, she also took this opportunity to scan his Arwing. The scan read: Object – Arwing. The Arwing is the primary planetary and space superiority fighter for the Star Fox Team. This particular Arwing, piloted by the traitor, Pigma Dengar, was the first in the Arwing series, sporting two laser cannons, a Charged Homing Laser projector, and a Smart Bomb launcher capable of holding five Smart Bombs in total. The next model increased this number to nine. This current Arwing is capable of performing tight loops and Immelman turns, though performing such advanced maneuvers as tightly as it does costs energy and a boost meter shows how much energy is left for a scramjet boost, loop, or Immelman. In addition, the shields of an Arwing are powerful and it can take significant damage before being shot down.
After she finished reading the scan, the status monitor of the Arwing appeared and she noticed that a sliver of its bar was missing, mainly due to the damage the fighter had sustained from the rear cannon of the shuttle. She watched as her Charged Wave Beam struck the Arwing in the center of the craft. She checked the shield bar of the Arwing and noticed a small amount of energy vanish from the meter. However, it was not nearly enough for it to make the Wave Beam a viable weapon. This was bad because she had a feeling that it was the electrical and shield penetrating nature of the Wave Beam that allowed it to score the damage on the fighter's shields. She did not think that her other beams would be nearly as effective, but she felt as if she had to try. She only had a finite amount of missiles. She switched to her Plasma Beam and charged it, targeting Pigma's fighter. Once the blast was charged, she unleashed it at the fighter but, just as she had suspected, the Plasma Beam was unable to inflict any real damage to the shields. She promptly switched back to her Power Beam and decided that it would be best to go with a Super Missile to see just how damaging that would be. She proceeded to charge her Power Beam and ready her Super Missile.
As she had been firing her weapons and preparing her Super Missile, Pigma had not been idle. He targeted Samus and locked onto her, charging his Homing Laser, an orb of green energy appearing over the nose of the craft. However, it was not the laser that he had intended to use. Instead, it was his Smart Bomb. He wanted to take out both the shuttle and Samus in one strike. Once he had locked onto the shuttle, the glowing green ball of energy disappeared and he pushed the button to fire his Smart Bomb a split second after Samus unleashed her Super Missile at his craft. The Super Missile leapt out of her arm cannon and streaked straight towards the Arwing at a blistering pace. Almost immediately after Samus fired her Super Missile, Pigma deployed his Smart Bomb. The Smart Bomb emerged from the nose of the craft and a trail of red exhaust emerged from the bomb for the instant it flew before it was hit by Samus's Super Missile.
Upon colliding with the Super Missile, both explosives detonated, with the massive blast radius of the Smart Bomb expanding outward and engulfing Pigma's Arwing. The massive wave of fire and energy washed over Pigma's fighter and Samus could only watch as the shield bar of the Arwing decreased at a frightening rate. The shuttle, however, was quite safe since it was flying away from the explosion and the wave of energy did not expand fast enough to catch up to the shuttle before it dissipated. Samus could only smile at the sight as Pigma's shield bar continued to decrease. After his fighter emerged from the explosion, smoking but still functional and able to fight, he had lost more than half of his shields. Suddenly, Samus was disappointed that Pigma had only come with one Smart Bomb. Still, she still had her own Super Missiles, and even Power Missiles should they be necessary. She felt as if she had enough firepower to deal with him.
She charged another Super Missile as Pigma went to strafe the shuttle with another barrage of laser fire. Captain Falcon must have been keeping an eye on the battle, for he quickly swerved the shuttle down and to the right, causing it to overshoot the shuttle to the left. Pigma dove along with the shuttle, following it and continuing to spray laser bursts at the shuttle, only one of the bolts managing to score a hit on the shuttle, taking the shields down to fifty-eight percent. The shuttle shuddered under the impact, shaking Samus a bit, but she did not lose her missile's lock on Pigma's fighter. She unleashed the Super Missile and watched as it flew towards the fighter. Pigma performed a loop in an attempt to evade the missile. While a loop would have been able to throw off another Arwing's Charged Laser shot or a Smart Bomb, it was insufficient to throw off the targeting systems of the Super Missile. The missile scored a direct hit on the fuselage of the Arwing, causing it to shudder a bit and give it pause. However, only a small amount of energy was lost to the Arwing's shields, likely equal to a two or three individual Hyper Laser blasts. Even with the damage Pigma's fighter had already sustained, she doubted that she would be able to inflict enough damage to take down his fighter before he managed to inflict enough damage to the shuttle to take it down. And since the shuttle was engaged in what amounted to a dogfight, the shuttle was still a ways away from the Radio Tower. She was not out of options, though. She still had her Power Missiles.
Given the damage that her Super Missile had managed to inflict on the fighter, as well as the damage that the Smart Bomb's detonation had inflicted, she suspected that her Power Missile would be enough to take down Pigma's Arwing. She only hoped that the shuttle would not be taken down with him. Samus then opened a channel to Captain Falcon and said, "Falcon, divert every ounce of energy you can into the shuttle's shields and shift as much power as you can to the rear. I'm going to use a Power Missile and if Pigma closes the gap too quickly, we might get caught in the blast."
"I hear you, Samus. I'm already on it!" came the response.
Samus checked the shield bar of the shuttle and rapidly saw it fill up. Once it had gone above one hundred percent, she began charging her Power Beam. As she did so, Pigma strafed the shuttle once more. The reinforced shields, however, were able to withstand the assault suffering only minimal damage. She prepared the Power Missile and the arm cannon opened up. The red tip of the missile appeared in the center of the arm cannon as she locked onto Pigma's fighter. Once she was locked in, she unleashed it towards Pigma. Again, the Lylatian humanoid Pig performed a loop in an attempt to break the missile's lock. Just as with the Super Missile, his attempts were unsuccessful. The Power Missile continued to follow his Arwing until it scored a direct hit on the underside of his craft just as it was finishing its loop.
The Power Missile detonated and a wave of energy formed upon its detonation. The explosion completely engulfed Pigma's Arwing and Samus watched as the shield bar decreased until it vanished completely. After a few seconds, Pigma emerged from the epicenter of the Power Missile's explosion, his Arwing in flames, smoke trailing the craft. Samus could hear Pigma's cry over her comm, "Noooo! My beautiful reward and bounty. Arrggh!"
She continued to watch as Pigma did his best to control the craft as it fell to the Earth. As it continued to descend, she did not see Pigma eject. It took a few seconds for the canopy to open and when it did, Pigma jumped out of the fighter and fell to the Earth. Samus took her eyes off of the doomed fighter and turned her gaze to the falling Pigma, who seemed to be struggling to deploy his parachute, or whatever other device he had that would stop or slow his fall. She watched as his parachute eventually opened and slowed his descent to the ground. For a split second, she was tempted to fire a single shot from her Power Beam to either take out the Pig, or the parachute and let the mercenary fall to his death, screaming and cursing all the way down, since he was such a despicable person; almost as bad as the Space Pirates. She leveled her arm cannon at the stricken mercenary and was about to fire, but at the last moment, she hesitated. Even though Pigma was evil, she did not want to kill someone like this; not even someone as evil as Pigma. The only one she would do something like this to was Ridley, and mostly because of the power that he possessed.
Once the battle was over, Samus scanned the skies once more for any signs of Federation fighters. When her scans came back negative, she opened a channel to Captain Falcon and asked, "What's our ETA to the Radio Tower?"
"Five minutes," the captain responded. "I'm no longer detecting the Arwing. Did you take him down?"
"Yes," Samus answered. "Pigma's down, but he's not out yet. He managed to escape his fighter before it crashed. I'm going to keep watch up here since the rear cannon's still out."
"Fine by me," Falcon responded. "Thanks for the update," The channel then closed and Samus stood by, scanning the area behind the shuttle. While it would not take much longer to reach the Radio Tower, she wanted to make sure that nothing else happened along the way to the tower.