3:09 AM CT, Great Fox

Lylat date: December 21st, 2469. 3:09 AM

Just now getting back to Lylat from that trip to Earth. it's funny, we were supposed to serve as bodyguards for some diplomats or something, but the meeting got cut short so we just traded some gold Slippy insisted on grabbing from a hunk of space debris for a few different monies, bought some things, and started back.

Funnily enough, those two draftees that were with us years ago, ended up catching wind of this, and Krystal invited them. I have a sneaking suspicion they heard about it from her anyway. Ever since we crossed paths at that mall on 41st, I think they probably got talking and ended up exchanging phone numbers. Left in their fighters when we passed by Fic

Fox snapped back to reality when a monotone voice came over the Great Fox's loudspeakers. "Attention all personnel, Great Fox approaching Corneria, ETA two hours. This message will repeat three times at one-minute intervals." Stated ROB, the team's robot.

Fox closed his journal and placed it in the drawer on his desk, looking behind him to see Krystal still sound asleep in his bed. He stood up and walked into his quarters' bathroom to shower.

Meanwhile, in the ship's lounge, Slippy sat at the coffee table tinkering with an old X-94 Laser Sword. In the connected dining room sat Falco eating some human cereal, Fruit Rings or something similar. The room was connected to the lounge, which was connected to a small kitchen. The walls were lined with wooden panels, contrasting the smooth, almost epoxy-like wall plating found on a Venture-class carrier.

Slippy was so caught up in fixing the sword, he almost didn't notice when Krystal walked in, took something out of a drawer, and unceremoniously plopped down on the couch opposite of Slippy.

Slippy immediately looked over next to him, then looked back down at the device on the table again. "You'll ruin the upholstery doing that. Also, good morning."

"Good morning." She replied pleasantly.

Falco paid little to no attention and continued eating.

"I'm almost done with this plasma sword you wanted." Slippy said to her as he tightened one of the last few screws, having been just now putting the outer shell back onto the frame.

Krystal smiled warmly and held out a red-dot pistol optic for Slippy to take. "This should be compatible with your laser gun."

"Only one way to find out." Slippy got up and ran out, presumably to get his laser gun.

Fox walked in soon after, wearing a fuzzy gray robe and black pajama pants. "Good morning." He said, receiving a friendly "Good morning, Fox." from Falco just gave a small wave in response, picking up his bowl and taking it to the sink to wash it. "Good morning, love." She telepathically spoke to him with a smile.

"Morning, Krys." Fox responded, sitting down next to her and he pulled his cell phone out of his robe pocket.

The morning continued normally, Katt eventually came in with a thermos and went into the kitchen, and a few minutes after, Slippy returned with a sleek-looking, copper colored pistol with a handguard and a rounded emitter. The pistol had a newly placed red-dot on it where its iron sights once were. "Sorry, I had to widen the slot where you put on the sight. Also, that sword's pretty much done." He put the gun down, picked the screws and a flathead screwdriver up off the table, then got down on his knees at the table and started to put the last two screws back in and screwed the small, spherical pommel back on the cylindrical lower grip. He handed it to the vixen. She immediately pointed the rectangular device directly up and flipped a red sliding switch on the thinner side facing her. This caused the sword to emit a gaseous whoosh, but nothing else.

She looked over at Slippy and started to read him, but stopped as she remembered an agreement from awhile back not to mind-read any of the others without permission.

Before he could react, the sword made a click, followed by a louder whoosh than before when a spark lit the gas held inside the sword's magnetic field, quickly forming a broad, yellow blade. A big grin immediately spread across Krystal's muzzle.

This caught Falco's attention and he stopped in the doorway from the kitchen.

She flipped the switch back to the 'off' position and the blade extinguished, as the gas flow was cut off. "Are you sure you don't want anything more for this?"

"Nah." The toad replied. "It only needed its ignition thingy replaced. I replaced it with a part that wasn't exactly made for it but still works from my random junk box in my workshop. Also, the safety didn't work, so I made the switch harder to switch. That's the safety now."

"Yeah, I was thinking it was a bit stiff."

"I didn't even know what that was at first." Falco said as he walked up and sat down on a square ottoman module that didn't match the couch.

"It's one of those Venomian energy swords. Don't make em' anymore, I don't think." Fox replied.

"From what I've read, a force field sword can cut through just about anything. If those exist, why use a big complicated torch lighter that you have to refill or replace the gas cartridge, instead of plugging it into a wall outlet? asked Slippy, as he got up off the floor and walked over into the kitchen, still in conversation range.

"Don't those have scabbards, though?" Krystal put the sword down on the coffee table.

ROB interrupted over the loudspeakers, "Great Fox has arrived at Corneria, holding orbit.".

Fox, Falco, and Slippy entered the bridge, Krystal simply stood in the doorway and Katt was nowhere to be seen."

Walking over to the communications console, Fox opened a channel to Corneria City Shipyard. "Great Fox to Corneria City Shipyard, requesting permission to land."

A couple seconds of silence followed before an answer came from a man at Corneria City air traffic control. "Permission granted, welcome home."

"Thank you, sir." Fox said. "Bring us down, ROB." Fox instructed, causing ROB to press some buttons and start to take the ship down through the planet's atmosphere. "Landing at Corneria City Shipyard."

The Great Fox landed in a starship hangar soon after, the huge hangar doors on the roof closing afterward.

5:14 AM CT, Corneria City Shipyard.

The team was walking in the shipyard, now clad in cold weather gear, exiting the hangar, and making their way towards the parking lot. Multiple other hangars could be seen on the property, all of them connected by roads, though, the area wasn't very populated this early in the morning.

"It's good to be home." Falco said, taking a deep breath

"It sure is. I just hope something doesn't happen like us getting a mission and inadvertently end up being sent on some kind of crazy adven-"

"Don't jinx it!" Falco exclaimed at the toad, causing him to immediately go quiet.

A couple minutes of quiet walking later, the team reached the parking lot, where a sleek blue hover-van adapted into a sort of windowless minibus.

Each of the mercs got into the van, Slippy getting in the driver's seat.

"Alright, is everybody in?" The toad asked.

"Yep." Fox replied as he climbed up in the front passenger seat.

Slippy put the key in the ignition and started the van, driving out of the parking lot and onto the road in the direction of Star Fox's main base, an unused military base given by the team's former mission advisor, Peppy Hare, who was now general of the Cornerian military.

Back on Great Fox, a certain robot strode through the hall toward the starboard hangar bay.

5:41 AM CT, Star Fox Base.

After about twenty minutes of driving and talking amongst themselves, the team arrived at the base's perimeter gate. A single cylindrical pillar protruded next to the road on the left side. The device stood at about four feet tall by default but could automatically adjust to the height of just about any ground vehicle, which it did. Slippy rolled down his window, and a panel on the security post popped out and slid down, revealing a camera that automatically recognized Slippy's face.

"Facial patterns recognized, opening." The pillar spoke in a deep monotone voice before sending an open signal to the gate and force field emitters, then closing its panel. The gate opened, and closed after the van had entered. Past the fence surrounding the base was a medium-sized hangar, the main complex consisting of a primarily concrete building with keycard-locked doors. The surrounding area was blanketed in a warm yellow shade of light from multiple lamp posts with spherical globes on top of them, contrasting the morning twilight. Force field generators lined the inside of the surrounding fence, making an invisible dome over the building and hangar, allowing air conditioning and removing the issue of having to shovel snow and deal with storms.

Slippy parked in front of the entrance to the building, and out funneled the three people in the back, Fox and Slippy getting out of the front.

6:11 AM CT, Inside The Base.

Upon entering, Fox walked into a formerly non-living room, plopped into the reclining chair facing the TV, grabbed the remote, and turned on the large plasma flat-screen TV mounted on the wall. "News time." He said to himself, pointing the remote to the TV and switching to channel 4. This caused the morning news to switch on, conveniently, just as it started. It showed a white bulldog. "Hello Corneria City, I'm News 4 Chief Meteorologist, Dan Williamson, giving you the weather forecast in the Corneria City Area." Not paying much attention to the weather, Fox pulled out his cellphone again. Within the next minute, Krystal and Slippy walked in, now clad in matching blue pajamas.

"It turns out I accidentally bought the exact same unisex PJ's as toots over here." Slippy said in a mock 1920's New York accent. "What - did you just call me 'toots'?" Krystal looked down at the toad. Slippy snickered. Fox just looked over at him for a moment, not really understanding what that accent was.

"You guys want me to brew up some coffee?" he asked, receiving two nods of approval in return and then walked into the adjacent room to make coffee.

Krystal sat down on the sofa next to the chair Fox was in. "Fox, the news is coming on."

The tod immediately dropped his phone.

A brown furred feline woman was shown on the news set with a holographic globe of Corneria with a red ring around it and the letters "CNN" on the ring, at the top of the screen.

"Good morning. My name is Cathy Bryant and I'll be filling in for Mike Warner this morning. Our top story concerns two reports of sightings of..." She straightened her glasses a little. "Tall gray men, along a hiking trail near the underground city Tritari."

"Coffee's done." Slippy croaked from the almost-a-kitchen before walking in with some coffee mugs, coffee creamer, and the coffee pot, setting it on the coffee table before sitting down on the sofa.

"Anything interesting on the news?" He asked, pouring some straight black coffee into the three mugs and setting the coffee pot on the table.

"Reports of another Grey sighting." Fox replied as he reached over and grabbed a mug. Slippy placed a mug in front of the vixen.

"Thanks, Slippy." Krystal yawned.

"Shouldn't the CDF have detected a starship of theirs by now?" Slippy asked as he picked up the coffee creamer.

"One would think. as far as I can tell, all anyone knows is they're enigmatic and practically non-existant, also the disproportionate physical traits, if they even really exist."

Slippy took an audible sip from his mug.

"If they're real, let's just hope they stay elusive, because it's a fifty-fifty chance it'll end in another conflict."

Slippy's comment was followed by a video call on the smart TV. It was from Fay.

Krystal picked up the remote off the coffee table and answered.

The screen began to display Fay with a panicked look on her face. "Guys! Guys! There's something outside! I don't know what they are but they're outside the house! I think they got Miyu!" The poor poodle cried, tears rolling down her cheeks.

Krystal quickly stood up. "What!?"

"We were just sitting playing a video game in the living room then s-she was gonna go home, and- and-"

"Fay! Breathe! What do you mean they got Miyu?" Fox asked her in a serious tone.

"Who's they?" Asked Slippy, just as concerned as anyone else seeing Fay like this. What could have possibly gotten her in such a panicked state?

Before she could respond, a door could be heard creaking open, and a look of terror spread across her face as she looked at something off screen.