Chapter Twenty Five: The Battle For Besdolore

Author Notes

Damn, it's been almost a month! Where does the time go? Anyway, I cut out one chapter (it was basically filler) so there's only three left. I hope you enjoy them!

With aversion, this insertion
came so swiftly
Cut the cord, from this day forward
We'll be drifting

No direction, no affection
Watch the soul dive
You're dissected, resurrected
Still don't know why
This illness is like a monster that is
eating us alive

Hold on, be strong
So right, so wrong
With all of our senses
All of our defenses
Hold on, be strong

Korn - "Hold On"

Four Days Later…

Great Fox III

Aircraft Hold

ETA: 42 Minutes

The hold was quiet, save for the occasional metallic clang made by Fox's boots as he surveyed his Arwing in preparation for the confrontation. His posture was rigid, standing tall as he focused on the ship. He knew that in less than an hour, he would be inside that fighter, going up against an unknown amount of enemies. The possible outcomes were infinite, but the vulpine tried not to think about them. They were irrelevant, as it would only cloud his mind more than it already was.

"I was wondering where you were…" Falco said as he appeared from behind one of the other Arwings. The startled fox let out a slight gasp before realizing who it was.

"Jeez, don't do that again!" He replied with a barely visible grin.

"Sorry." The avian chuckled. "I just came down to tell you that Bill was able to contact Besdolore. They're going to help us…"

"Will they arrive before the battle starts?"

"They're not a hundred percent sure…" Fox's ears hung low, but only for a moment as he put on a smile again.

"It's better than no help at all. We'll take anything we can get." Fox wanted to continue, but he felt as though the conversation had ended, so he decided to bring up another subject.

"How's Erika handling-"

"She's doing alright. Her guilt still lingers a little but deep down, she knows it's not her fault…"

"Yeah…" The room went quiet. Once again, the contact their boots made with the floor was all that resonated. Falco knew that Fox was still troubled, but it seemed to be less noticeable than it was a few days ago. There was only one way to find out…

"Are you ready for this?" The avian asked with sincerity. The vulpine was frozen in his attentive stance.

"I'm not sure, but do I have a choice?" He sighed, still motionless. "We're putting our lives on the line to save a planet we hardly know anything about. Does that mean anything to you?"

"Well, it means a lot of things. It shows our will to help out no matter what the situation for one thing."

"Exactly, and we've done that for years now." The intensity in the vulpine voice began to rise. "We could just give two shits about this planet and abandon these guys, but we don't. And we sure as hell won't now, not after getting this far…"

"See Foxie, that's what I like about you. You're up for anything at anytime, no matter what the circumstances." Falco replied with a smile.

"Well, that's just the kind of person that I am."

"Wouldn't have it any other way…"

Near Besdolore

Up in the distance, the armada led by the Star Fox team, already in their fighters, could see a wall of blinding-metallic fighters and carriers. By Fox's estimate, there was about seven carriers up ahead. While that wasn't as many as he had expected, their size was much larger than those he encountered days before, so they made up for it.

Over the radio came a thickly accented voice. It was none of the members of the fleet, but whoever it was obviously knew them. "Well if it isn't Otto and his star cast of freedom fighters. Allow me to introduce myself I'm-"

"We know who you are, Michael!" Otto replied from The Shadow.

The voice chuckled for a moment. "Ah, Otto. So naïve…"

"What do you mean?"

"Haven't you figured it out yet? I am Friedrich Sturm."

Otto was speechless. His whole body went numb as the stunned canine looked out to the ships ahead of him, pondering how he could have let this happen. He was underneath his nose the entire time the mission took place, and he allowed the man he was after to get away with it all.

Son of a bitch…

"Ah yes, it couldn't have been any easier for you."

"Enough of the small talk Friedrich, we're here to fight." Fox interrupted.

"And who might you be?"

"I'm the guy who is gonna take down your tyrannical ass, that's who!"

"Hah! A fighting spirit! I love that, not that it'll do you any good. We've been ready to do this for quite some time, and I don't plan on losing…"

"Well neither do we!"

"We'll see about that." With that, the communication ceased, leaving nothing but dead air. Ahead of them, the fighters were beginning to advance on their position. Everyone waited anxiously for orders.

"Alright everyone, lets go!" Fox yelled into his mic while his Arwing began to thrust forward. Everyone else followed suit, and the battle began.

The vulpine went into the heart of the battle, with most of the team chasing. Every now and then he would fire in short bursts to suppress some of the enemies coming at him. Anything he didn't get, the rest of the group would. Fox was shocked at how quickly they were able to break through their fleet.

"How is everyone holding up?" He questioned.

"Can't really complain yet…" Falco replied, sounding as though he was more focused on what was ahead of him.

"These guys are surprisingly weak to be honest." Panther noted.

"Don't let your guard down yet Panther, they might have something up their sleeve." Wolf retorted swiftly. "If I've learned anything in the past few days, its that anything can, and probably will happen."

Back inside The Shadow, Otto and Teveroth were watching the battle unfold from a safer distance. The occasional stray ship that got past their fighters were taken out by Otto with the small, yet powerful blasters located on the bottom of the carrier. Along with Erika and some of Bill's men, Teveroth would relay information to everyone since they had a powerful radar that had a wider radius of detection compared to the Arwings and Wolfen's capabilities.

The jet black lupine was beginning to feel a bit useless though as the team was progressing through the enemies with very little effort involved. With each passing minute the screen began to become less crowded, until there was practically nothing but another wave of Friedrich's men that was up ahead of the group.

"This is the guy that set you up?" Teveroth asked sarcastically. "This'll be a piece of cake."

Otto wasn't taking the remark very well, but decided not to make a scene over it.

Something isn't right…just like Prall. I know it!

"Guys you have more targets up ahead. Stay alert." Teveroth said over the radio.

"We don't have a visual, but something is showing on our radar. Whatever it is seems to be right on top of us." Co'ort replied.

"Keep us updated…"

Otto suddenly turned around with a look of peril in his eyes. He knew something they didn't, and he was going to make sure that he wouldn't fall into the same trap again. The hound ran for the radio and cued the mic rather sloppily, causing some feedback to emit on the other end.

"Guys, get the hell out of there!" He demanded.

Fox replied with a flabbergasted sounding response "Otto, What's wrong?"

"It's an ambush!"

"What!?"

Before they knew it, the entire squadron was surrounded by hundreds of Friedrich's ships. They began to fire relentlessly on them, barely giving them a chance to catch their breath. It was clear that what they had experienced prior was merely an appetizer for what was to come. Everyone tried their best to maneuver through the enemies, while taking them out in the process.

Lars, Co'ort, and some of Bills soldiers were the first to break free of the struggle. Parts of their Arwings had gone from a bright silver color, to singed black from the blasts that hit them. From the outside, the two of them could pick off enemies a lot easier than if they were still in the hornets nest. Falco and Panther followed suit shortly afterward.

Unfortunately, for the others, it appeared as though they would be stuck there. Their attempts to escape were futile as they would be blocked out by the extremely agile enemies and the occasional explosion from what was a mix of both friends and foe.

"Tev' , we need some help here!" Slippy nervously stated.

"I can't find any openings! I'm trying my best here."

It was becoming quite obvious that they wouldn't be able to last much longer in the firefight. Even with most of the group out of the swarm, they were having problems getting a proper target as their movements were extremely erratic, while at the same time, they had to dodge the incoming fire. It was not one of the best-case scenarios. Something needed to be done, and fast. Turns out the man to do it would be Falco.

"Oh please make this work…" The avian uttered as he launched a Nova Bomb deep into the center of the firefight. Upon contact, the device exploded in a large fireball, collecting a handful of other ships in the vicinity. The explosion itself split the battle in half, this in turn confused the enemy. Fox and Slippy seized the opportunity and blasted their way out of the dogfight.

As he dodged the incoming laser blasts, Fox did a quick sweep of the area to see if there was any of his own men in trouble. Among the debris were a few destroyed ARK vehicles and a single Arwing. This caught his attention the most. He was a hundred percent sure it was an Arwing, but the question was whose it was?

"Everyone, give me a status report ASAP!" He sharply demanded. "Someone didn't make it…" There was a brief roll call, followed by a muffled grunt over the radio from Teveroth.

"Dammit…Andre…"

"Look Tev' , I hate to sound rude but we're in the middle of a battle and we need you to keep your cool, alright?" Falco replied.

"He's right man, we need to help them out as best as we can." Otto mentioned off hand. After a moment, the lupine nodded in agreement and continued to transmit information.

"What's the status on your damage, everyone?" He asked.

"Hold up, let me sync up with the team and I'll get back to you." Fox responded.

"My men have taken numerous casualties, and most who are still out there have taken critical damage, myself included. We're gonna have to pull out soon if we keep up this pace!" Bill panted distressfully. "I still have a lot of pressure being put on me! I could really use some help guys!"

"10-4, we'll cover you." One of his soldiers responded. Within seconds, the canine was surrounded by fellow ARK Fighters assisting him with fighting off the enemy.

The battle continued, and for Star Fox, it was beginning to get ugly. The constant barrage of enemies coming from the titanic carriers that Sturm commanded were beginning to be too much for them. It was at this point, where their last resort option was inevitable.

"Erika, we're gonna need you to try and take out one of the carriers on the double!" Lars relayed to Great Fox III.

"I'm on it." The red feathered avian began to prepare the charge and picked a target to blast. Due to the sheer size of the carrier, she made sure that the blast would be more than enough to take it out in one shot. The shockwave itself could even cripple the others to some degree, but probably not be powerful enough to take them out as well.

"Everyone steer clear of the carriers, one minute until discharge!" She ordered.

Everything began to shake violently once again, as the laser began to charge up. This time, it was more erratic, forcing Erika to grab hold of the side of the control panel in order to stay on her feet. Out the window, she could see the team beginning to remove themselves from the general vicinity of Friedrich's carriers, with the enemy in tow.

"Thirty seconds…" Each second that passed felt like forever as the teams ships drew nearer. The fierce rumbles became so severe, it was beginning to make Erika nauseous. The cannon had finally reached critical mass and the time to fire had arrived…