Metroid: Endgame

by Enterprise F

After rescuing a ship and its crew from the Space Pirates, Samus Aran has been tasked with infiltrating the Earth and stopping Cyrus once and for all. However, the Space Pirates have also come to Earth, and they have a surprise in store for the hunter...

16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16:

The Federation fleet sat beyond the orbit of the moon, just outside of weapons range of Dane's forces and the Planetary Defense Grid. Admiral Dane watched the screen as Lieutenant Commander Bly informed him, "Sir, the enemy is launching their starfighters!"

Over one hundred and eighty thousand new blips appeared on sensors. Clouds of red filled the tactical screens as the starfighters sought to find their way to the planet below and/or try to intercept the transports and other fighters that would go down to assist Earth's forces. "Tell our ships that they have to launch the transports now!" Dane directed. "Also, get the atmospheric starfighter transports loaded and into space as well so they can deliver the fighter support that they'll need to get to the battle zones on world. Also, tell them that once they deliver their troops and armor to the surface, to return because we'll need their help in dealing with the Federation fleet and its allies."

"Understood, sir," Lieutenant Gates said at the communications console.

Looking out into the distance, he noticed that the Federation fleet was still making no move to attack. They were content to wait until the rest of the fleet formed up with them. Dane knew that he had no time to waste. He still had a chance to slow the progress of the opposing fleet. He knew that until his reinforcements arrived, that his forces were still going to be outnumbered over two-to-one, he could at least harry the enemy fleet. If he could at least slow down the enemy approach, he could buy some time for the ground forces to launch. "Tell all fighters that still have their missile ordnance to form up and make sure that they have a clear line to the enemy fleet. Tell them to go after the Federation and Cornerian ships. The N'Kren and Ylla ships will not move out of formation, and besides, they probably won't sustain all that much damage anyway, but we just might be able to get the Cornerian ships and Federation ships out of position. Once their ordnance is expended, though, tell them to jump back here at once. Also, ready our point-defense systems, but divert as much power as you can to the shields and primary weapons. Save for the Stilettos, some Cornerian Fighters, Arwings, N'Kren, and Ylla fighters, assuming the last two even used fighters, none of the Federation fighters are warp capable.

"Next, tell our fleet to form ranks: Archangel-class battlecrusiers and Olympus-class battleships in front, missile frigates, destroyers, and cruisers in back. Get our front lines just inside of our own weapons range. Once inside weapons range of the enemy, tell them to focus on the Olympus-class battleships, Gehenna-class dreadnaughts, and any Cornerian Pleiades-class cruisers, and Cornerian Assault Carriers. The Heavy Defense Platforms can harry any enemy force that tries to outflank us until we deal with them. Missile frigates and destroyers, fire whatever missiles you can into the enemy fleet. Target the N'Kren singularity dreadnaughts, Ylla ships, and the Great Fox Two if you can. I want those ships to be on notice and if we managed to take out a couple of them, so much the better."

Once Gates had transmitted the Admiral's orders to the rest of the fleet, she told him, "The fleet has acknowledged your orders and is standing by,"

"Tell the fighters to jump now!"

Gates relayed the command to the rest of the fleet and Dane watched as the fighters disappeared. Once they had reappeared in the enemy fleet formations, he ordered, "All designated ships, mark your targets and fire!"

The fleet acknowledged the order by opening fire on the remnants of the initial Federation defense fleet over Earth. The Archangel and Olympus-class ships had a field day pounding on the enemy fleet without having to waste their own missiles from outside the weapons range of the enemy starships. Still, Admiral Dane knew that if the commanders of the reinforcement fleet had a single brain between each of them, that they would be much quicker to jump into their own weapons range and not let the his forces pound on them like Morg did.

Standing onboard the bridge of the newest Gehenna-class dreadnaught, Lucifer, Fleet Admiral Breaz, a male Star Elf with short bright red hair, and red eyes stood near his command chair. The bridge was massive, far larger than the bridge of an Olympus-class battleship, and with more than twice the crew as well. In addition, Breaz had the a dozen security officers onboard in order to ensure that no one on the bridge was lax in their duties, or was sending information to the enemy. He hated the humans of Earth with a passion. Secretly, he had known about the Magic Lords and their workings on Earth and about Elric's attempt to kill the humans. While he was not loyal to them, at the moment, he would not resist them should they return. He had no problems with Elric's plans at all, and neither did most of his initial fleet before his promotion to Fleet Admiral. He suspected that Cyrus was up to something, but if it did sacrifice the Earth, he had no problems with it. As long as the Star Elves were not destroyed in the process, it did not bother him. And there was no way that Cyrus's plan would harm his people.

He watched as the remains of Admiral Morg's fleet were pounded into oblivion by the combined fire of the front lines of Dane's fleet. "Stupid monkey," he derided. "You outnumbered the enemy, and had the Defense Grid at your back as well, and you inflicted minimal losses while losing your entire force. You deserved to die," he scoffed.

He scoffed at the humans and their paltry resistance. He would show them what a Federation fleet commanded by a competent commander was capable of. He glared at the communications officer, a pretty female Star Elf just barely out of the academy, and ordered, "Ensign Teeta, tell the rest of the fleet to keep the missile frigates to the rear of the fleet and tell them to lock onto the enemy fleet. We'll play Admiral Dane's own game, here," he finished with a grin.

"Yes, sir," came the ensign's response. After a few seconds, she reported, "The fleet has locked onto the enemy ships."

"Then by all means, tell them to fire," came Breaz's cool response.

Outside, the missile frigates of the Federation fleet opened fire on the enemy forces just as the Federation in Exile starfighters jumped into the fleet and began making attack runs on numerous starships, many of them the missile frigates of the Federation fleet. The missile erupted from the ports of the missile frigates and traveled across the void of space towards the Federation in Exile fleet that was now defending the planet. Unlike many of the ships in the Galactic Federation fleet, which were mainly planetary defense ships used by the many races in the Galactic Federation that were not included in the previous Galactic Federation's fleet, the ships commanded by Admiral Dane were all Federation warships and were equipped with not only powerful energy cannons and missiles, but also with point-defense systems. Scarlet pulses of energy lashed out at the incoming missiles and multiple explosions erupted over five thousand kilometers away from the fleet. After the initial wave of explosions, the brief, but bright, fireballs that signaled the explosion of a missile started to get closer and closer to the fleet. Dane knew that not all of the missiles would be shot down. Some would get through, but their effect would be greatly weakened since the ships shifted most of their shields forward, only leaving enough shields on the rear arcs to block out the radiation that would be emitted when the matter and the antimatter in the missiles collided and annihilated. Enough of the missiles managed to get through that two dozen corvettes were destroyed or crippled, give Griffin-class frigates also being destroyed with three mores suffering severe shield damage, with one losing its forward weapons array, and five Pixie light cruiser suffering moderate to heavy damage with one being destroyed. However, the losses were far less than what they could have been and the Archangel and Olympus-class ships suffered only light shield damage, their point-defense systems easily being able to handle the missile volleys sent against them. In addition to the relatively light damage that was being inflicted on the Federation in Exile fleet, Breaz's fleet was also suffering damage.

Back in Breaz's fleet, squadrons of Wraiths and Warthogs, being covered by Katanas, Stilettos, and Daggers, were making attack runs on the missile frigates of the Federation fleet. At least twelve missile frigates were destroyed with ten more suffering heavy damage and being taken out of the fight. In addition, many Federation starfighters were being destroyed by the Katanas, Stilettos, and Daggers that were covering the Wraiths and Warthogs. Once the Wraiths and Warthogs had expended their ordnance, they turned and jumped out of the fleet and back to Dane's lines, along with their support fighters, where they could be resupplied and rearmed. When all was said and done, the fighters, alone, had destroyed twenty-four missile frigates and crippled eighteen others, and destroying four Cornerian Cruisers, two Cornerian Assault Carriers, along with too many Federation starfighters, all while suffering minimal losses in return.

Not to be outdone by the fighters, the missile frigates and destroyers locked onto the N'Kren singularity ships and Ylla warships and opened fire, their primary target being the N'Kren singularity dreadnaughts. Missile after missile streaked towards the singularity dreadnaughts, but they held firm under the assault. The N'Kren commanders knew that their ships were far superior to the Federation ships, but still, if the pounding was great enough, even a giant could be taken down, even if it was a death by a thousand cuts. Eventually, the missiles managed to breach the shields of two of the dreadnaughts and started colliding with the hulls of the formidable ships. Orange fires erupted from the missile impacts and explosions, the ships bleeding equipment and crew for a few seconds before force fields activated, sealing the ship once more. Still, missiles continued to pepper the unshielded ships and after a while, they could not take any more punishment. The ships cracked apart slowly, fire erupting from the center of one of the ships was literally split in half. The other ship's core was breached and it went up in a magnificent display of fire and shrapnel. Missiles also struck more dreadnaughts and by the time the first barrage was complete, three of the dreadnaughts had been destroyed, one of the ships in Breaz's front lines being a N'Kren dreadnaught that was taken down by sustained fire from a task force of Olympus-class battleships and two Archangel-class battlecruisers, with three of the Olympus-class battleships suffering severe shield damage in the fighting since the dreadnaught had the weapons range to fight, and two more suffering heavy damage. In addition, numerous other ships were destroyed, including several squadrons of corvettes and gunships, numerous Ba'al and Moloch-class frigates, Unicorn-class destroyers, a few Asgard-class cruisers, two Olympus-class battleships, as well as a Gehenna-class dreadnaught.

Admiral Breaz seethed as the reports were coming in. He had not anticipated Admiral Dane jumping starfighters into the middle of his fleet in order to catch it off guard, but catch them off guard, Dane did. The damage inflicted was staggering. He made a mental note to shoot the battle planner for this grievous oversight after the battle was won, assuming he survived the fighting. Opening a channel to the rest of the fleet, he yelled, "All ships, launch fighters. We need fighter support to protect us from the enemy missile frigates."

Breaz grimaced. Save for his Stilettos, almost all of which were outfitted with an anti-starfighter package, he had no ships that could jump to the enemy fleet and pound on it the way Dane's forces had done to his own ships. And simply sending in wave after wave of fighters was also no good since the Federation in Exile starships had very effective point-defense systems. They would mow down the starfighters, and their missile barrages, before they could even get close. He could jump his ships into weapons range of the enemy, but then the enemy would be able to launch a concentrated assault on his fleet and without fighter support, the missiles from the missile frigates and other ships of the line would tear large holes in his fleet, while his ships' firepower would generally be cut in half due to the fighters and point-defense systems of Dane's ships being able to protect them. In the end, he sighed and said, "Helm, take us towards the enemy. We're going to jump into weapons range. Tell the ships of our fleet to shift all shields forward. Then jump with us. We need to get in range of the enemy, so we can pound on them."

A chorus of affirmatives came through on the comms, but he sighed. He knew that his fleet would take a beating before they got within weapons range of the enemy and given the fact that his starfighters were restricted to sublight speeds, save for the Stilettos, many of his missiles would be used to provide cover for his starfighter forces to fight their way past the Earth's defenses and deal with the troops on the ground. He opened a channel to the Great Fox II and said, "Fox, get your team ready and load your fighters for a long mission. When we go, we'll need you to get on the ground. Even if most of our fighters are stuck up in orbit, if you can fly through any shield holes and get through, you'll be worth a crap load of fighters down on the surface."

"Will do, Admiral," Fox stated, giving a salute before the channel was cut. Admiral Breaz could only smirk. Star Fox was such a noble mercenary group. To have them serve Cyrus would go against everything they believe in…if they ever learned of his secrets, that is. As long as they never learned of Cyrus's true nature, then they would be the fiercest of allies for the Galactic Federation. And he knew the real reason that Cyrus wanted them down on Earth. He wanted them to deal with Samus Aran. While Breaz did not view Samus as the threat that Cyrus did, he had to admit that she was pretty impressive from what he had read about her. Admiral Breaz then sighed and he gave the order, "Go!"

Numerous subspace windows opened and the fleet disappeared from sight for an instant before emerging from warp approximately forty thousand kilometers away from Dane's fleet. Immediately upon emerging from warp, the fleet opened fire on Dane's forces, inflicting shield damage to the opposing ships, but not being able to do too much more, for the tactical officer, a female Lizardian, broke in and cried, "Sir, I'm detecting numerous subspace windows opening in front of us!"

"What?" blurted Breaz. Staring at the bridge window, he witnessed the subspace windows opening and he immediately yelled, "Get back! Get our ships out of range and call back the fighters!" For he knew exactly what was coming through those windows.

Emerging from the subspace windows were dozens, and sometimes even more than a hundred, Federation in Exile starships. He watched as the entire fleet emerged from subspace and opened fire on his ships. Being caught off guard, his ships were not able to mount an effective counterattack against the new arrivals and they were forced to retreat back beyond weapons range of the enemy. As they retreated, the Federation in Exile fleet, bolstered by their reinforcements, opened fire on the retreating fleet. Many of the ships in the front lines were destroyed as they fell back out of the weapons range of the enemy ships. Breaz could only hope that the missile frigates and destroyers of the Federation in Exile fleet had expended most of their missiles in the previous fights. If they had not, then Dane would be able to strike with impunity against his forces and would be able to inflict severe casualties. Looking over at his tactical officer, Breaz commanded, "Commander Vraz, tell me the status of the launch of the transports and shuttles from the Federation in Exile fleet."

Vraz answered, "The fleet is just now launching its transports and support fighters."

Breaz scowled as he heard the report of his tactical officer. He then looked back down at Teeta and told her, "Open a channel to the Great Fox Two."

"Channel open," the young Star Elf reported.

Breaz then spoke. "Star Fox, do you still have any of those stealth transports that we loaned to you when you officially joined our cause?"

Fox nodded. "We do," he answered. "Why?"

Breaz then grinned. "Because I want you to load your Arwings, and however many other fighters you can cram on those transports onto them and jump the transport to the holes in the shield. After that, go about your missions on the planet below."

"Yes sir," Fox replied, nodding. "Sir, you do realize that we'll likely lose the transport once we appear over Earth's shield. Despite its stealth systems, Earth and the Federation in Exile have shown themselves to be able to detect stealth ships."

"I know," Admiral Breaz replied. "Don't worry about it. You won't have to reimburse us should it be destroyed."

That prompted Fox to smile. "Thanks," he said genuinely. When the channel closed, all Breaz could do was wait. Now that the numbers were much more even, especially with the Heavy Defense Platforms, he would have to wait for the second wave of reinforcements before he felt safe continuing the attack on Earth. He only hoped that Cyrus would accomplish his objectives soon. If he was unable to do so, then the chances of Earth and/or the Galactic Federation in Exile capturing or killing him greatly increased.

Meanwhile, in the Sinnoh Region of Japan, Hi'Gor and his dozen Techno Knights made their final approach towards Mount Coronet. As they approached, he told his forces, "Scan for any defenses around the mountain."

One of the Techno Knight's eyes began to glow as he swept his gaze over the large mountain in the distance. After a few seconds, his armor's eyes returned to normal and he reported, "Sir, we have numerous laser and plasma turrets surrounding the mountain. The defenses seem suited to ward off a starfighter, gunship, and transport assault. They are not suited for dealing with capital ships, even small capital ships like corvettes or heavy freighters and transports. Also, we're detecting a dozen Space Pirate soldiers and a few semi-organic statues as well. The statues' weaponry is unknown at this time, but the Pirates are using standard energy blasters and plasma missiles. The Pirates' biology and armor indicate that they have strands of Chozo DNA inside of them and are using some antiquated Chozo technology, or knockoffs of Chozo technology. In addition, I detect what could be the remains of a Space Pirate Heavy Freighter on the far side of the mountain, but the energy of the Spear Pillar is interfering with my sensors, so I cannot confirm that yet."

Hi'Gor grinned. "Then destroying this base should be fairly easy," he noted. He had heard that the Chozo used antiquated knockoffs of Chozo technology before, but he "Okay, ready your weapons. Our orders are to take the mountain and kill all of the Pirates, not destroy it. He needs this mountain intact in case his mission to the Sinjoh Ruins doesn't pan out."

"Yes, sir," the Techno Knights responded in unison. They then charged towards the mountain.

Down on the mountain, the dozen Golden Zebesians were scanning the area for any sign of intruders. Sure enough, one of them caught sight of the approaching force of Techno Knights. Immediately upon spotting the approaching force, the spotter ran to the others, and frantically screamed, "We've got attackers in the distance! From the looks of the armor they're wearing, they're Techno Soldiers!"

This caused the other Golden Zebesians, along with a dozen Space Pirate Militia, to run around the mountain frantically, screaming and bemoaning their impending doom, for they knew that they were no match for the Techno Knights. The enforcer for the Militia soldiers then roared, "Calm down you maggots! There may be a dozen N'Kren soldiers comin' here, but that doesn't mean we're guaranteed to die. After all, the Hunter's made a mess of these things, and enough of us can take her down. So that means that these guys can't be that tough. Now show 'em what Space Pirates are made of and man your stations!"

Despite the rumors of the Techno Knights' power, the fact that there had been evidence that Samus had taken on numerous such soldiers, with the only confirmed sighting of a battle with one of them being against a Technoble, one step above a Techno Knight, with Samus beating said soldier handily. Eventually, the Space Pirate Militia soldiers did as they were ordered and they manned the laser turrets. Their enforcer then activated his comlink and calmly reported, "High Command, we've spotted thirteen enemies on approach. They're Techno Knights, with one of 'em ridin' a crystal skiff of some sort and havin' more ornate armor than the others. We'll need everyone we can get to their posts as quickly as possible."

"That one's a Technoble," a raspy voice replied on the other end of the line. "We'll alert our secret weapons. Get your men to their stations."

"Already there," the Pirate Trooper reported. "We'll need the others to get to their positions manning the plasma turrets. They're the only things I can think of that might have a chance of damaging one of these things, unless you authorize the use of our Knights."

"We will consider it. Just hold off the Techno Knights for as long as you can. We'll be sending up help shortly."

"Will do," the Pirate reported.

In the basement of the mountain, the Pirate Commanders of High Command conferred on what they should do. "Techno Knights are powerful opponents, even more so than the Hunter. We must use our Techno Lords to combat them," one of the Pirate Commanders insisted.

"And reveal to the rest of the galaxy our location, as well as the fact that we have Techno Lords?" another blurted incredulously. "The Hunter has been sighted on Earth and has been shown to be able to own a Technoble in combat."

"That is only due to the Technoble's lack of shields," the first Commander retorted. "Techno Lords like Rodney and Virginia have shields. They can fire their energy weapons without having to make themselves vulnerable for a brief second."

"And that's why we shouldn't risk using them just yet," the second Commander reiterated. "Let the Golden Zebesians deal with the Techno Knights and Technoble. If they can exploit that weakness, then we can avoid having to reveal our full strength. If they can't, then we can deploy our Techno Lords, but not until."

"I agree with P'Faz," a third Pirate Commander said, indicating the second Commander. "We should not tip our hand until we have to. The Golden Zebesians and the Space Pirate Troopers outside are expendable, despite our recent losses. We should withhold using our strongest weapons until we are forced to. The last thing we need is to attract the Hunter's attention."

"I agree," came the voice of Mother Brain. "I believe that we should let the Zebesians and the Space Pirate Troopers manning the cannons deal with them for the time being. Should they fail without inflicting any damage to the enemy, then we will send out the Hunter's parents to deal with them. Should that fail, though, we will have to evacuate this base. In addition, do not send Kraid or Ridley to deal with them. If they are known to be on Earth, then we may as well be screaming to Samus that we're here and that she should come kill us."

"Understood, Mother," the Space Pirates of High Command responded as they turned to her and bowed. Mother Brain inwardly smiled. That display would have infuriated Ridley to no end. She could feel the rush of energy coming into her form. The power she had back on Zebes was restored, at least in terms of raw destructive power. While she wanted to fight Samus once more to avenge her first two losses, she wanted to do so on her terms.

Back in the orbit of Earth, onboard the G.F.S. Olympus, Marines and Army Troopers were boarding the numerous transports and assault shuttles inside the hangar bays of the ship, among the transports were two Aries-class transports, each of which was capable of holding over one hundred Marines, plus their equipment. Once the troopers were all loaded onto the ships, the soldiers took their seats and strapped themselves in. After strapping in, all the soldiers could do was wait, and pray that they would make it down to the planet in one piece.

The transports inside the main hangar bay of the Olympus engaged their repulsor lifts and rose from the floor, turning towards the exit to the bay. The force field that held in the air dropped once the ships were ready to depart and, one by one, the ships left the Olympus and after clearing the hangar bay, they turned and headed towards the Earth. They were joined by six other Aries-class transports, plus numerous Assault Shuttles and Heavy Assault Shuttles from the Olympus as well as a dozen transports from the other Olympus-class battleships. Numerous transports from the Archangel-class battlecruisers, and the numerous Asgard-class heavy cruisers, Midgard-class cruisers, and troopships throughout the fleet also joined the transports from the Olympus as they all made their way down to Earth in an attempt to prevent Cyrus from destroying not only humanity's homeworld, but also the entire universe as well. All in all, more than a million troops were going to be added to the numerous battles being fought on Earth. And this was just the first wave. Admiral Dane, General Malkovich, and the other Federation in Exile military commanders could only hope that those forces would be enough to turn the tide of the ground war and give them a good chance at either capturing or killing Cyrus.

Meanwhile, over in the Federation fleet, the Star Fox Team was getting ready to follow the transports into Earth's atmosphere, hoping that their stealth transport, which was equipped with a cloaking device, would allow them to enter the atmosphere undetected. Fox had his doubts since the Federation fleet had sensors that allowed them to detect cloaked ships with their gravity well sensors, which were sensitive enough to pick up on the gravitational signature of even a cloaked starfighter, assuming the starfighter was not employing other countermeasures as well. They only hoped that the passive sensor jammers onboard their transport would allow it to remain undetected until it was too late, for they knew that they would likely be detected once they entered the atmosphere.

Fox sat in his Arwing fighter, currently dubbed the Arwing II, which had been modified from its original form and was supposed to be more advanced, though it had inferior fuel capacity, with only comparable speed and maneuverability, was also equipped with only a single laser with the ability to lock onto one target, and two Smart Bombs. In essence, while it was supposed to be superior to his previous Arwing, it was inferior to it on almost every level. The only advantage of his current Arwing was the fact that it cost less than his other, superior, ship. Since the team was falling on hard times in terms of funds, they had to cut some corners and believed that using their new craft would allow them to still be an effective fighting force, while not forcing them to spend too much on their ships' upkeep. He checked on the conditions of his wingmen, Falco Lombardi, who was piloting a modified Arwing he dubbed the Sky Claw, a craft that resembled Fox's Arwing, but had forward swept wings with three blue spikes on the end of them that resembled feathers. In addition, his craft was also armed with only single laser, but could lock onto multiple targets and a Charged Laser could split off to seek out those targets; and one Smart Bomb, though the craft was exceptionally maneuverable and had a high sublight speed. Its sole weakness was the fact that its shields were weaker than those of Fox's Arwing. Krystal, his girlfriend, was pilot of the Cloud Runner, a fighter that was only loosely based on the Arwing in appearance, appearing to be in shape of a bird, a single rudder in the rear. It was equipped with two laser cannons with only a single lock, and a single Smart Bomb. While it had shields that were on a par with Fox's, it was slower than Fox's Arwing II. Finally, there was Slippy Toad, the mechanic in the group. Slippy flew a fighter he called the Bullfrog. It was, basically a heavy assault starfighter, resembling a fat Arwing in appearance. It was slower and less maneuverable than the normal Arwing, but was equipped with two Plasma Lasers and also had three Smart Bombs, along with heavy shields. Unfortunately, the ship did not have the ability to lock onto targets in the air, so it would be of limited utility in a dogfight against fast and maneuverable targets. However, it was death against ground targets and/or big, slow capital ships.

Once he found that everyone's fighter was in working order, he opened a channel to the rest of his wingmen and said, "Okay everyone. The Federation is counting on us. Our primary objective is going to be to find a planetary shield generator and disable it so a hole will appear in the Earth's shield. Then the Federation can send down ground troops to reinforce the forces already on the planet's surface. After that, our goal will be to cover the ground troops and go after important targets of opportunity. One such target is the bounty hunter, Samus Aran."

"Samus Aran?" came the voice of Krystal. "But she is renowned for dealing with the Space Pirates and has never taken jobs for any criminal and has refused to go on straight assassination missions, save for if the targets are the Space Pirate leaders. And even then, it's more along the lines of neutralizing their threat or the latest weapon that they have acquired or developed. If anything, she's a lot like us."

"I know," Fox replied in a melancholy voice. This was tough for him, too. "I wish it was different, but she has sided with the enemy; an enemy that must be dealt with now, while Cyrus still has time to accomplish his objective. She is the biggest hurdle to his mission at the moment. We must deal with her should we come across her."

"We're with you, Fox," came Falco's voice.

"Same, here," added Slippy.

Fox could only smile. He resolved to himself that he would not fail his team, his friend Peppy, or the Galactic Federation in its time of need.

An unfamiliar voice then chimed in over the comm, saying, "Okay everyone, we're about to depart. Hold on and get ready to deploy at a moment's notice. If things look bad, don't hesitate to blast your way out of the transport. Your survival is paramount, here."

"Got it," came the chorus of responses from the Star Fox Team.

Fox then patched a screen inside his Arwing to the cameras of the freighter so he could see what was going on outside. He watched as the ship departed the Great Fox II, and immediately engaged its cloaking device. The transport then followed a wing of Cornerian Fighters, which formed up with a few wings of Rapiers, Claymores, Epées, and the few Stilettos that remained in the Galactic Federation fleet and followed them to Earth, and a large number of Federation in Exile transports, Assault Shuttles, and Assault Transports that were delivering troops to the surface. As they approached the Federation in Exile fleet's lines, the battleships opened up on the fighters that were doing their best to get past and enter the atmosphere and pursue the transports. Scarlet energy pulses flashed past the ship, likely connecting with any starfighters behind the transport, since all of the starfighters in front of the cloaked transport that were targeted by the fleet and the Heavy Defense Platforms were instantly annihilated. Fox held his breath as he watched energy blasts sail by his transport. Even if they were not detected, there was still the possibility that a stray energy blast, or a blast meant for another ship, could tag them and expose them. And that was just what happened as they fell in among the ranks of the transports as they neared a hole in the planetary shields. As they neared the hole, a point-defense laser blast from a laser turret struck the side of the cloaked transport and scored damage on the hull, disrupting the cloak shield for a few seconds, and revealing the presence of the transport to the rest of the fleet.

"Launch now!" came the frantic call of the pilot into Fox's radio as the launch doors opened and Fox and his allies prepared their Arwings for launch.

They held their breath as the shields of the transport were lighting up from the fire of numerous point-defense lasers from numerous turrets. The shields quickly collapsed under the weight of the defensive fire, but the fighters of the Star Fox Team were ready for launch and they rocketed out of the opening of the transport and sped away from the doomed craft. As he was heading down towards Earth, Fox looked back for a moment and witnessed the transport break apart under the withering fire. The cries of the pilot and crew of the ship echoed over the radio as the laser blasts tore the ship apart. One final explosion silenced pilot and crew of the transport permanently. Fox seethed in rage at the loss of the fine Cornerians that had been lost. "Okay guys, let's not have their sacrifice be in vain," Fox declared with grim determination.

"Right," came the voices of the rest of his team.

With that, the group flew directly towards the transports, that were making their way through the shields, seeing that there were no starfighters protecting them, the starfighters being forced to remain in orbit to help fight off the Federation fleet and its reinforcements. Before starting on his search for the planetary shield generators, he decided that it would be best for him and his squadron to shoot down a few Assault Shuttles and transports.

As they approached to begin their attack run, though, the transports and Assault Shuttles' defensive guns swiveled around and targeted the Arwing fighters, sending scarlet beams of energy their way. Each of the fighters performed evasive maneuvers and barrel rolled in order to avoid the enemy fire, as well as deflect any bolts that managed to strike them. As they barrel rolled, a shield formed over their fighters that would deflect the laser bolts that were coming their way. Unfortunately, the targeting systems of the transports and shuttles were quite good, and they were continuously able to track the fighters, even when the fighters were several kilometers away. The volume of laser fire was too great for the fighters to be able to deflect all of the blasts. In the split second between one barrel roll shield forming and another barrel roll shield rising, the fighters toll a few hits, enough to convince them that it was safer to break off the attack and focus on their primary objective, for their fighters' laser cannons did not have the range to be effective against the transports, and it took their own targeting computers too long to lock on for a Charged Laser. Fox decided that the best thing to do to try to take out some of the transports would be to fire off one of his Smart Bombs. He pointed his fighter towards the wave of transports and shuttles and then fired off his bomb. The Smart Bomb was programmed to detonate at a predetermined distance and Fox knew that the shuttles were accelerating down towards the planet, and would likely try to shoot down the bomb. Sure enough, the bomb was shot down well before its maximum distance had been achieved, but Fox still hoped that the blast wave of the bomb would take down a few transports. He would have been disappointed to learn that the shuttles were too far out of range of the bomb's blast range and that he had wasted a bomb for nothing. Not knowing that, though, he and his team proceeded towards one of their primary target destinations, the planetary shield generator in the Kanto Region of Japan.

Meanwhile, over at Mount Coronet, the Hi'Gor and his Techno Knights began their attack on the mountain and its defenses in earnest. Blue defense lasers and plasma bolts were hurled at the attacking Techno Lords, but the armored soldiers shrugged off the weapons as if they had merely been quiet summer breezes. The return fire was far more devastating to the Space Pirates. The first targets of the N'Kren assault had been the defensive laser batteries, both automated and manned. The manned defensive laser batteries had been operated by a bunch of Zebesian Space Pirates and their loss was insignificant in the grand scheme of things. After the defensive lasers had been dealt with, the Techno Lords focused on the large Vigilance-class Heavy Turrets surrounding the mountain. These variations of the turrets fired green blasts of plasma blasts exploded on contact with the enemy and were powerful enough to knock off at least one Energy Tank from Samus's new armor, even with all of its built in upgrades, assuming she did not shield herself with her Screw Attack. Against the tough armor of the Techno Knights, and their Technoble leader, though, they may as well have been peashooters for the effect that they were having on the soldiers. Hi'Gor casually pointed his staff at the nearest turret and fired a single pulse of pulsating green energy. The energy pulse hit the turret and blew it apart, along with the Space Pirate inside. The rest of the Techno Knights quickly dealt with the other turrets that were spread around the mountain. When all was said and done, eighteen Vigilance-class Turrets had been destroyed, all of their operators being destroyed along with the turret. However, that was not all of the defenses that the Space Pirates had at the base.

As the N'Kren soldiers were annihilating the turrets stationed around the exterior of the mountain, the twelve Golden Zebesians rushed towards the Techno Knights and fired blue energy blasts from their blasters and sickly green plasma missiles from the launchers on their left arms. The energy blasts and missiles impacted the armor and the missiles' explosions looked quite impressive, but their actual power was far less so, and they inflicted no damage to the armored soldiers. A single Techno Knight then stepped forward and powered his energy projectors. After a single second of charging, the projectors unleashed a stream of pulsating emerald energy. The blast washed over the Golden Zebesians and they could not even contemplate screaming before they had been annihilated by the blast, along with a large portion of the mountain's floor where the Knights stood. The Knight merely grinned as the Zebesians were annihilated.

Once the Zebesians were destroyed and the mountain's outer defenses were destroyed, Hi'Gor looked over at one of his Techno Knights and said, "Na'Kor, scan the mountain. Reports indicate that the Space Pirates reached this world with a Heavy Freighter. Find it and destroy it."

"Yes, sir," Na'Kor replied, saluting his commanding officer. The Knight then activated his armor's scanners and performed a deep scan on the mountain. He was able to confirm that there were only one hundred and seventy Space Pirates remaining, not counting the leaders and High Command. He had also isolated the locations of at least one transport and a group of Space Pirate starfighters that were undergoing maintenance. Sweeping his gaze over the rest of the base, he soon saw his objective, the Heavy Freighter that was being converted into a sector of the base. It was unclear as to whether or not the freighter would be able to fly, or even escape the atmosphere, but its warp drive was still intact, though currently powered down. Na'Kor grinned.

"Sir, I have located the freighter," he informed Hi'Gor. "It is located on the other side of the mountain. If we take it out, the Space Pirates will be stranded here. The Space Pirate generals, Ridley and Kraid, are also located inside the freighter."

"Destroy it," Hi'Gor commanded with a grin.

The Techno Knight flew around the mountain to the location of the freighter, which was located beneath the mountain's surface. Once he had identified the freighter, he powered his energy projectors and fired on the freighter, expanding the openings of the projectors so that they would encompass the entire freighter. He did not care about the mountain's condition as long as the Space Pirates were destroyed. Besides, if Cyrus had his way, he would not need the use of Mount Coronet. A portion of the east side of the mountain was blown open as the hull of the Heavy Freighter was exposed. The stream of energy burned through the hull of the freighter and exposed its inner workings just before they were vaporized by the blast, along with three dozen Space Pirate Troopers. The entire upper half of the freighter vanished, along with several of its engines, and Na'Kor was about to sweep his blast downward to annihilate the rest of the freighter when a pulsating scarlet wave of energy erupted from the lower half of the freighter and engulfed Na'Kor, melting portions of his armor and annihilating the staff he held in his hands. His engines quickly gave out and the Techno Knight promptly fell to the mountainside, crashing into the rocks and rolling down the hill before eventually coming to a halt.

On the other side of the mountain, Hi'Gor and the others waited for Na'Kor to return from his duty when they noticed his biosigns become faint and, after a moment or so of stability, vanish. "Sir, I am no longer detecting Na'Kor's biosigns," one of the Techno Knights informed the Technoble. "And his biosigns became faint before his death."

"I can see that, thank you," Hi'Gor grumbled. "Check it out."

"We don't have to, sir," another Knight said waveringly, causing Hi'Gor and the others to look at him questioningly.

"What is…?" but the Technoble had his question answered before he finished as he stared forward and saw two figures floating towards them. They wore gold and silver armor respectively. The golden armored warrior looked to be armed with a series of blades as his primary weapons, indicating that he or she was a close-range specialist, though the energy projectors on the soldier's chest gave the soldier a ranged attack. Hi'Gor was also certain that the blades of the soldier also doubled as energy projectors as well, much like his own bladed staff. To the left of the golden soldier was a soldier dressed in silver armor. Unlike the golden armored warrior, this one seemed to have an assortment of guns and cannons, in addition to the standard chest energy projectors. However, the warrior was also armed with a single sword that looked reminiscent of an old Earth broadsword. Hi'Gor gasped in horror as he immediately recognized the two warriors as Rodney and Virginia Aran. He looked over at the others in his force and one of them nodded, "Confirmed. The two are Techno Lords and their bioscans identify them as Rodney and Virginia Aran."

The Technoble was ready to faint. He had heard the rumors that the Arans had defected to the Space Pirates, or had been captured and brainwashed by them, but he had scarcely believed it. They had always had fond memories of their child, a mortal enemy of the Space Pirates. There was no way that they would risk hurting Samus. This had to be a trick of some sort. Perhaps the Techno Soldiers standing before him were not Rodney and Virginia Aran. He activated his scanners and scanned the two soldiers. After a few seconds, his scans came back, merely confirming what he already suspected. The two Techno Lords standing in front of him were, indeed, Rodney and Virginia Aran. His shock turned to rage as he saw the human parents of one of the Space Pirates' greatest enemies join their side, seemingly of their own free will. He gripped his staff tightly, barely able to contain his anger and newfound hatred for the humans that hovered before him. Glancing over to the rest of his party, he yelled, "Destroy them!"

Immediately, the Techno Knights powered their energy projectors and unleashed tremendous streams of pulsating green energy. Hi'Gor also joined in on the action as he opened fire with everything he had, in addition to his crystal skiff's weaponry. The two Techno Lords merely raised their left hands and an energy shield formed that protected them from all forward frontal assaults. The waves of energy struck the shields and broke upon them, flowing around the two Lords as they floated. When the barrage of fire ended, the two Lords continued to hover in the same spot, having suffered no damage from the attack. "Oh crap!" Hi'Gor swore, his rage getting the better of him as he fired another barrage of energy blasts from his staff and skiff. The two Lords then unleashed their own volley of weapons fire on the Techno Knights. Scarlet energy streams erupted from the energy projectors of both soldiers, while more pulses of energy erupted from the cannons and guns of Virginia, as the two blades held in Rodney's hands fired energy blasts at the Techno Knights and Hi'Gor. Half of Hi'Gor's forces were defeated in the initial volley, six Techno Knights falling to the mountainside, smoke trailing their breached armor bodies.

The remnants of his force decided that they would have better luck engaging the two Techno Lords in close combat. Drawing their weapons, the soldiers charged the Techno Lords, hoping that their superior numbers would make the difference. Three Techno Knights engaged Rodney Aran, known as Blade to the N'Kren soldiers, with two soldiers, who had drawn twin broadswords that could generate their own energy field slashed at him. Blade, however, drew a cylindrical device and pushed a single stud on the side of the device. A scarlet blade that was about twenty-eight inches in length emerged from the cylinder and was stabbed into the abdomen of one of the attacking Techno Knights. Pulling the blade outwards until it would only cut the armor, he brought the blade upwards, the blade continued to slice through the Knight's armor until it emerged from his head, leaving a massive slice through the soldier's armor, electricity sparking from the furrow. The Knight fell to the ground, where he crashed and remained still, but still alive. During this time, another Techno Knight charged towards Blade firing energy blasts from his dagger while preparing a sword strike. An opaque electric blue shield formed around Blade's body as he turned and swung his blade, cleaving the sword in half, slicing through its electrical field. He then spun to the rear of the Knight and sliced off his engines with the blade, sending the Knight spiraling down to the ground, where he crashed and his armor deformed and disappeared, reverting the soldier to normal. This left one Techno Knight for Blade to deal with. This Knight simply charged towards him, thrusting the blade end of his staff towards the Lord. Blade caught the staff and jerked it free from the Knight's grasp. He deactivated his Beam Sword and then punched the Knight strongly enough to dent the armor. He then proceeded to shove the blade end of the staff into his lower torso, where he left the blade in about a foot deep. He then withdrew the blade and let the Techno Knight fall to the ground, where he smashed into a series of rocks, pulverizing them, and rolled to a halt, reverting to normal and remaining still, with a serious gut wound. Blade's sensors indicated that the soldier, however, was still alive. He then looked over at his wife, Virginia, who the N'Kren had dubbed Blaster when they made her a Techno Lord.

Virginia had done quite well against her three opponents. Hi'Gor and a Techno Knight were the first to charge towards her, having drawn their staves. The Techno Knight thrust his staff towards Blaster's abdomen but a bluish shield formed over her body, deflecting the strike. She countered by drawing her sword and stabbing the Techno Knight with it, while catching Hi'Gor's own staff and jerking it out of his hands. She withdrew the blade and let the grievously wounded Techno Knight fall back to the mountain below. She then used Hi'Gor's staff to knock him off of his skiff, which she promptly blew apart with a single blast of pulsating scarlet energy emitted from a wrist blaster. She then swung the staff into Hi'Gor, cutting a deep gash into his armor across the Technoble's chest, damaging two of his energy projectors. With a single punch, she then knocked him towards the ground.

The Techno Soldier who had held back while Hi'Gor and his comrade had engaged Blaster, and gotten slaughtered by her, felt that it was his duty to let the Federation know of the threat that was located on the Earth. Opening a channel to the Capitol Building, not knowing that it was under Federation in Exile and Earth control once more, the Techno Knight hysterically cried, "This is Ra'Xef to the Capitol Building. General Korro, Colonel Traidan, please respond. This is Techno Knight Squad One of the First N'Kren Techno Legion. We were sent by Cyrus to Mount Coronet to destroy a Space Pirate presence that had infiltrated the Earth. However, the Space Pirates have stronger defenses than we initially believed and are putting up a serious fight! Among those defenses are two Techno Lords. Repeat, the Space Pirates have infiltrated the Earth and are at Mount Coronet! They have two Techno…" but the transmission was cut when a powerful stream of lightning shorted out the radio and disabled the suit's systems, save for the emergency crash systems. The now powerless Techno Knight then fell to the Earth to join his friends on the ground.

Blaster and Blade then floated towards one another and looked down at the disabled Techno Knights. Before they could make any moves to finish them or capture them, however, a blur of motion came towards them and stopped right next to them. Hi'Gor was still alive. However, his suit was noticeably damaged, having a large furrow in its torso, with two of his energy projectors having been destroyed. However, his remaining projectors were still glowing and he was ready to fire them. He seethed, "Let's see you survive this, traitors!" He then unleashed a full powered energy wave upon the Techno Lords. Their shields flared as the wave of energy washed over them at point blank range. After a few seconds, the energy inside Hi'Gor's suit had been expended and the attack ceased. Much to Hi'Gor's shock, and anger, Blaster and Blade still floated before him, completely unfazed by his attack. As soon as the attack dissipated, Blaster told Hi'Gor in a low, cold voice, "The only traitor here, is you."

The N'Kren soldier's eyes flashed as he charged them, drawing his sword and activating its energy field. He then tried to bring it down on the Techno Lord's head. Blaster raised her staff and caught Hi'Gor's sword strike, though the staff broke under the power of his Power Sword. It was of little consequence to the Techno Lord, though, for now, she had two swords. Hi'Gor swung again at the Techno Lord, who parried the blow with the left half of the broken staff, and stabbed the soldier with the right half in the torso. As the blade broke its way into the armor and bit into the flesh, blue blood leaked from the wound. Blaster then withdrew the blade and drew her former master towards her. "You betrayed Rodney and Virginia Aran," she told him accusingly in her now normal cold, hard voice. "You gave them to Cyrus, a traitor to humanity and an ally, or rather, a former ally of the Space Pirates, and he gave them to the Space Pirates, who converted them into what you see before you…their very own elite Techno Lords."

Blade then approached and drew two daggers. "And you shall pay for what you did to them; for that part of them is still alive inside of us. Whereas they prevented us from fighting the Hunter, their own flesh and blood, on Shanera, they are offering us no resistance now. Today, Hi'Gor, you will die." And with that, both Blaster and Blade shoved their blades into the N'Kren soldier. However, the stabs were not in fatal areas of the body. He was stabbed in each arm and leg, along with two blades being shoved into his torso in non-vital areas. Blue blood leaked from the wounds and Hi'Gor roared in pain and rage as he was brutalized by his two former subordinates. Once they were finished with him, they withdrew their blades from his body and Blaster released him. He fell to the ground, tumbling through the air, pieces of broken metal falling off his body. Eventually, he struck the ground, pulverizing a rock that jutted out from the mountain's surface in the process, and rolling along the ground until he came to a halt. When he stopped rolling, the armor deactivated, breaking off into its various components and falling off of his body.

The Techno Lords slowly descended to the ground until they reached the fallen Techno Knights. As they descended, they noticed a shadow come over the scene. Looking into the sky, they genuflected before the Pterodactyl-like figure that was flying towards them. The Space Dragon, clad in brown and gray armor that covered most of his body, though the "helmet" was not fully enclosed. "You two have done marvelous work here," Ridley congratulated. "Taking down a dozen Techno Knights, and their Technoble commander is commendable, indeed." However, despite his praise, he seemed a little disappointed. "Still, I don't think that you're fully functional yet."

"What do you mean, Lord Ridley?" Blade asked.

"You two haven't killed a single one of them," the massive dragon answered. "Every single one of those soldiers you engaged is still alive." He then paused as he put his claw to his mouth as if in thought. "Was, in the case of the soldier that destroyed the freighter," Ridley corrected. "Damn, he was good," the Space Dragon mused, smacking his lips.

"We cannot afford to waste energy at the moment," Blaster responded. "Until the recharge stations have been fully installed, we are still limited to the energy reserves inside our suits. And besides, we felt that it would be better to keep these soldiers alive. Without their armor, they are significantly weaker, yet they have knowledge about N'Kren technology…knowledge that Rodney and Virginia Aran do not possess."

"Hmm," Ridley mused. "You do have a point," he supposed. But a feral grin soon twisted his lips. "But still, we don't need all of them to be alive for us to glean the secrets of N'Kren technology, now do we?"

Blaster and Blade merely stood there, their armored forms hiding their faces, which showed no indications of whether or not they agreed with Ridley nor not, nor did it show whether or not they cared about what happened to the soldiers. When he did not receive an answer, Ridley proclaimed, "I'll take your silence as meaning that you consent to my wishes!"

After the proclamation, Ridley then went to the nearest fallen N'Kren soldier, who was now devoid of his Techno Knight battle armor and opened his mouth. He then bit the soldier in half, swallowing the top half, letting the soldier's waist and legs fall to the ground. He roared and then soared into the air and sprayed fire onto four more fallen N'Kren soldiers. The wounded soldiers were immediately set ablaze and crawled around on the ground, crying out in agony as they burned to death. The Space Dragon then dove towards another fallen N'Kren, crushing said alien in one strike. Another N'Kren, who was not nearly as badly wounded as many of the others, rose and tried to launch an attack on the Space Dragon, only to be grabbed by Ridley's talons and smashed into the ground. Ridley then shoved his beak into the soldier, breaking numerous bones before opening his mouth and setting the dying soldier ablaze. Another soldier who could still fight took this opportunity to fire an energy blast from his pistol at the dragon. However, his grip was loose, and his stance wobbly, so his shot went wide. However, it got the dragon's attention, and with blinding speed, the Space Dragon rushed over to the soldier, grabbed him in his hands, and tore him in half.

All the while, Blaster and Blade just stood by and watched as Ridley tore apart the remaining N'Kren soldiers. The Rodney and Virginia parts of them nearly wept at the sight, but something kept back the involuntary tears. They also remembered Hi'Gor's "betrayal" when he sent them to work for Cyrus, and when Cyrus sent them to the Space Pirates to be their servants. They could not help but feel sympathy for the innocent N'Kren soldiers, assuming soldiers here were innocent. If Cyrus had sent them, then there was the chance that they knew, or at the very least suspected, that Cyrus's plans would likely end up destroying the Earth. But there was also the chance that the N'Kren soldiers truly did not have knowledge of the Chairman's plans.

Eventually, Ridley had had his fun and almost all of the N'Kren had been killed. Only one trooper remained that they could see. The still living soldier was grabbed by Ridley, who was now being attended to by several Space Pirate Troopers. Ridley directed them, "Take the subject to one of the telepath computers and have his mind drained."

"But Lord Ridley, won't that kill him?" asked one of the Pirates.

"Yeah, so?"

"So, don't we need him alive so that we can understand how this stuff works and he can show us how the how to get this stuff to work?"

"You think he'd help us willingly?" Ridley retorted with a snort.

"Good point," the Trooper shrugged as he and the others grabbed the still living N'Kren and dragged him to what would be his eventual death.

As soon as the Pirates had departed, Ridley was about to leave when an energy blast struck his armor and inflicted damage to his shields. "What the hell…?" Ridley roared as he looked behind him and saw that one of the N'Kren, likely the Technoble, was still alive.

The Technoble stared at Ridley and seethed, "You…bastard." He leveled an unsteady finger at the Space Dragon. "What you did to them is unforgivable! I won't let you get away with it!"

He then grabbed a discarded staff and charged the Space Dragon. "If I kill only one more Space Pirate in my life, it shall be you!"

"Not likely," Ridley roared as he thrust his tail forward. The razor-sharp tail caught Hi'Gor in the lower right part of his torso and penetrated his armored uniform and flesh. It continued on its way through and emerged out the other side. Hi'Gor coughed blood as he was forced backwards by the momentum of Ridley's tail. Ridley gave a grin as he pulled back his tail. "Die slowly," Ridley scoffed as he rose into the air and left the coughing N'Kren to die. Blaster and Blade also rose and joined him as he flew away from the scene. Hi'Gor could only look up at his former friends, now turned into mind-controlled slaves by the Space Pirates, as they flew off with the one who had clinically killed them so many years ago on K-2L. Tears formed in Hi'Gor's eyes as he slumped to the ground, coughing up more blood, and whispered, "I'm sorry. Please forgive me." He then fell to the ground and remained there, awaiting his eventual death.