Chapter 11
This is too good to be true, Fara thought.
The four Star Fox fighters buzzed around the Retribution with impunity, lighting it up with their laser fire while receiving minimal return fire. Not a single fighter patrolled the perimeter, and most of the turrets didn't shoot back. Fara didn't believe it when the Cornerian scout ship's intel said the Retribution was in an unguarded state, and yet here it was. Why would Star Wolf stop here in the middle of nowhere? Why would Wolf deploy the bulk of his force planetside and leave his mothership defenseless?
"This feels like target practice." She made another pass by the Retribution, firing her laser all the way, pelting its translucent shield with multiple blasts. The shield shuddered but held firm, solidifying back into place. "Hey Slippy, you're up!"
"Roger…" Slippy's voice sounded an octave lower and distant, different from his usual self.
"Are you okay Slippy?" Fara glanced over at his Arwing. His ship was modified for attacker duty. Extra armor plating covered the body work, while custom made ion bombs and nova warheads hung from the wings.
"I'm fine." Slippy muttered.
"Are you sure?"
She saw Slippy turn his head, glaring at Fara through their canopies. "Let me do my job, would you?"
He flew towards the Retribution's port side, Fox covering him by drawing the attention of the few active point defenses. Once in range, Slippy released his ion bombs. The blue spheres spread out like dust scattering in the wind, floating towards the transparent wall. Each one let out a burst of electricity on contact, overwhelming the electromagnetic shield and popping open gaps in the wall.
"Great job, Slippy!" Fox shouted. "Time for step two!"
Slippy didn't return the compliment. He flew through the hole in the shield, turning his fighter towards a sphere-shaped structure on the top of the Retribution. Two nova bombs later, the generator blasted into a million pieces, while the shield wall faded into nothingness.
"Their primary shield generator is down!" Fox said. "Have at 'em!"
The four fighters fired as they went, explosions blooming along the ship as the turrets fell one by one. Slippy deployed another nova bomb, the warhead hitting a cluster of missile batteries. Fire and shrapnel exploded outwards. A secondary explosion sent a tongue of fire lashing out, probably from the blast reaching a cache of spare ammunition for the turret.
Everything was going great so far. After studying the tactical data, their plan was to strip the Retribution of its engines and its weapons. With Wolf's mothership unable to move or fight back, he would realize he was cornered and give up the case, thus ending this mess with minimal damage and casualties. Afterwards the CDF would come along and sweep away what was left, and Star Fox would get paid. Or that was what they hoped anyway. Fox mentioned earlier he wouldn't be surprised if they needed to use more force, given Wolf's stubbornness.
"Heads up!" Falco called out. "Star Wolf's here!"
Speaking of... Three fighters darted out of the Retribution's hangar bay, the light of the stars glinting off their red, white, and black paint.
"I knew this was going too well." Fara frowned as she glanced at the approaching enemy ships. Fox had briefed her on the particular fighters they liked to fly, and his list checked out from what she saw. Leon's Rainbow Delta, Panther's Black Rose, and… What was this now? She narrowed her eyes at Wolf's ship. "Hey Fox, that's not a Wolfen."
"I see it too Fara," Fox replied. "Careful guys. Wolf's got something new here."
"You're right, McCloud. I call it the Foxhound." Wolf's face appeared on the radio, a bad look on his mug as usual. "Anyway, I don't have time to play right now. Let's finish this quickly."
Panther and Leon moved to intercept Slippy, while Wolf made a beeline for Fox.
"Fara! Falco! Protect Slippy!" Fox accelerated away from the Retribution, Wolf turning to follow him. "I'll keep Wolf busy!"
"Roger!" Fara whirled around to get behind the Rainbow Delta, her years of practice letting her settle the crosshairs on it within seconds. Squeezing the trigger, her twin green lasers splashed off Leon's shields, forcing him to disengage from Slippy. That gave the toad enough time to deploy another nova bomb, creating more explosions that lit up the port side of the Retribution. Fara grinned. Hopefully they'd have this done in no time flat.
An alarm screeched through her cockpit, indicating somebody trying to lock onto her from behind. Glancing in the mirrors, she spotted Panther on her tail. She turned the stick to the side, flying underneath the Retribution and pulling up in a hard loop, flying around the fuselage of the carrier, Panther chasing after her. He could see Panther right on her tail, though even when he had a good angle on her he didn't fire. Why not?
Panther's face appeared on her comms screen. He seemed confused, his yellow slit eyes scrutinizing her. "You're not Krystal… Who are you?"
So that explained why he didn't shoot. Fox mentioned Panther's obsession with Krystal. He would never try to shoot her down, even when they were on opposing sides.
"I'm Fara." She glared at him. As she completed another loop, Fortuna and the moon Genma came in and out of view during the rotation. She found herself getting dizzy from the two celestial bodies flashing by again and again. "Krystal's not with us right now."
Panther blinked, his ears perking in surprise. A smug grin crossed his face. He seemed to take the news as though he learned he won the jackpot at a casino. "So she dumped him; is that what you're saying?" Panther remained right on her tail the entire time, although his guns stayed silent.
Fara growled. Seriously? That was the first thing he asked about? And this was in the middle of a battle no less. "I thought Fox was exaggerating when he talked about you."
"Is that so?" Panther chuckled, leaning back and looking like he found her anger amusing. "What did he say?"
"You're always trying to steal Krystal away, even though everyone but you knows that doesn't have a chance in hell of working out."
"I bet Fox didn't think he had a chance in hell of losing Krystal either." Panther smiled away.
"You don't know anything, you creep!" Her ears folded backwards behind her head. No wonder Fox didn't like this guy. Fara found himself pissed off at him after less than a minute of talking to him.
"Oh really?" He laughed. "Then where is Krystal?"
"None of your business!"
"It's a shame this news couldn't have come at a better time. Oh well. Once this is over, I intend to find out where she went and make her mine." He gave her a mock salute, as if he were a fellow Cornerian pilot. "Thanks for the info, Big Ears. Adios." He cut the connection.
Risking a glance behind, Fara saw he was no longer looping around the Retribution behind her. She slowed, trying to get her bearings on where the cat might come from next.
A blue blast came out of nowhere, sending electrical shocks jumping over the outside of her Cornerian fighter. Sparks spat out of an electrical box behind her, the screens and buttons winking to black several times. Fara worried they might stay off for good until they settled on, a warning message on the console displaying "Emergency Backup Power Engaged".
Looking to the side, she spotted Panther hovering there on the side of the Retribution, his large cannon aimed at her. He'd slowed to a stop, waiting for her to come around again. That gun wasn't a regular laser, whatever it was.
Furious, she spun her ship around, aiming to get the Black Rose back in her sights. Panther accelerated back to full speed again, flying along the length of the Retribution. It was in a straight line, leaving his backside completely open. Fara chased after him, but soon heard alarms blaring in the cockpit.
"Fara! Behind you!" Falco shouted.
Leon's fighter popped up behind her, firing several consecutive charged laser blasts. Her entire craft shuddered with each successive blast, rattling Fara's teeth. The display showed the shields in the red. A few more hits and they'd be doing direct damage to her craft. Falco popped up behind the Rainbow Delta, firing off his own shots and forcing Leon to abandon the chase.
"Thanks Falco!"
"No problem!"
The small reprieve gave her a chance to relax. She tapped a button on her comms. "Slippy, how's it going on the defenses? You got the engines yet?"
She located him on the radar, spotting him further towards the aft of the ship. Looking that way, she spotted him dropping a nova bomb towards another set of laser batteries. The bomb missed, striking the metal to the side of it instead.
Slippy glared at her over the monitor. "I was doing fine until you interrupted me."
"Oh, sorry about that…" Fara's ears folded back, feeling embarrassed. "You don't sound like yourself today. Are you sure you're OK?"
"Will you stop asking me? I'm going for the engines now." Slippy pulled away from the Retribution's starboard side, looping around again for a good shot on the engines at the aft. Flashing out from behind the carrier, the Rainbow Delta appeared, streaking after Slippy while he lined up for his attack run.
"Hey Slippy! On your six! Falco! We gotta help him!"
"Already on it!"
Fara watched several of Leon's charged shots splash off of Slippy's shields, the sphere holding steady but forcing the toad to disengage from his attack run. Falco sprayed his lasers in Leon's direction again, the chameleon pulling an aileron roll to deflect the shots. Meanwhile, Panther appeared behind Falco, firing his large zapper-style cannon as he went. Blue electrical blasts flashed around Falco, forcing the avian away from protecting Slippy.
"I think they know Slippy's got all the heavy ordinance." Fara turned towards Leon, filling in for defending Slippy. She fired her lasers in his direction, forcing Leon to get off of the toad's tail. "That's why they're keeping him away from the engines."
"Cover Slippy! I can handle Panther over here."
"Take him down for me, would you? Guy's a creep… he wouldn't stop asking about where Krystal was."
"Haha, sounds about right… yeowch!" Falco cried out. Electricity arced across his fighter as he too got hit by the zapper cannon. "That gun of his is no joke! Like getting struck by lightning!"
"Sure you can keep Panther busy?"
"I got this, but we need to hurry. I'm seeing contacts coming up from Fortuna."
Fara glanced at her radar. A mass of red dots representing Star Wolf's forces covered the distant edge of the radar screen. They'd been sitting there since the start of the fight, but some of the dots were drifting away from the mass and coming straight for them. Within a few minutes they would be joining the fight.
~X~
A torrent of laser blasts flashed past Fox's Arwing. He slammed his stick to the side, spinning the ship into an aileron roll and generating a brief electromagnetic field. The shots bounced off, flying away wildly. Wolf screamed by in his new fighter, rattling Fox's canopy. As the Foxhound passed, he recognized the design as similar to the Wolfen II from the Lylat Wars. The Star Wolf team used them in the final dogfight right before he went to fight Andross. If the Foxhound was anything like the Wolfen II, Fox was in for a hell of a dogfight. His grip tightened on his flight stick as he accelerated his Arwing to higher speeds.
The Foxhound did a one-eighty almost in place, Wolf resuming the pursuit and firing more tight shot groupings as he chased Fox. Fox wasn't prepared for how fast the lupine was back on his tail, sweat rolling down the side of his face as he applied the thrusters. With that kind of swerve, Wolf's new fighter must have some serious G-Diffusers to not turn him into mush.
Fox shook his face, trying to keep the sweat out of his eyes. In their past dogfights, Wolf usually taunted and played around a bit at first, like it was all just a friendly game. This time he'd gone straight for the kill there, with no foreplay at all. He was right about being in a hurry.
Fox poured on the speed, rocketing away as he pulled more aileron rolls to deflect away Wolf's shots. He risked a glance in his mirrors, seeing his opponent lagging behind. The Foxhound possessed amazing maneuverability with its smaller size, but Wolf seemed to have traded it for top speed, possibly by using a lighter but less powerful engine. Fox could exploit that by keeping the throttle open and never giving him a chance to use his superior corner speed.
"Get back here!" Wolf snarled, his teeth showing on the comms screen.
Fox lured Wolf away from the Retribution, outdistancing him without much trouble. Once he had enough room, he pulled back on the stick, doing a half loop with some quick turning thrusts, and slamming the throttle forward. Flying head on towards Wolf, he squeezed the trigger, green laser blasts filling the space between them. The lupine fired retros and did a barrel roll, spinning his fighter out of the way as Fox overshot. Without missing a beat, Wolf jerked the Foxhound around while he flashed past, the lupine sending several parting shots plastering against Fox's shields.
Even so, Fox considered his strategy to be working so far. Wolf was by far the most dangerous pilot on the Star Wolf team. As long as Fox kept him busy, he couldn't protect the Retribution. Glancing at the radar, the rest of the team looked like they were making short work of the inactive defenses despite Panther and Leon running interference, although the engines remained intact.
"Stop running away you coward!" Wolf snarled. He almost sounded like a whiny kid complaining about losing at a game on the playground. "Come back and fight!"
If Fox were Falco, he'd be egging on Wolf some more right now. Instead, the remark about cowardice struck a nerve for him. "Like you know anything about bravery Wolf. How about when you beat up Slippy's dad and shot him in the back? He's a lot smaller and weaker than you. You're worse than a school bully."
"Graaaaah!" Wolf roared. "Shut up!" Several red lasers flashed past Fox's canopy, but the majority came nowhere near hitting him. Wolf fired in anger now, spraying his shots at random.
"What happened to you, Wolf?" Fox spun around for another pass. "You helped us fight the Aparoid Queen. Now you're back to your old self again."
"Who gives a damn?!" Wolf shouted at him.
Fox lined up his crosshairs on the Foxhound, the enemy fighter growing in size as he approached. He made several taps on the trigger. Wolf jerked his fighter to the left at the last second, the green lasers narrowly missing him. Seconds after the lupine vanished from sight, Fox took several shots to the rear, gritting his teeth as his Arwing shook around him. The console showed the rear shields dipping into the yellow. Wolf was getting better at predicting his moves. The vulpine would need to try something new for his next pass.
"Does all that mean nothing to you?"
"Kiddo, do you remember when you shot up my place in Sargasso, looking for Pigma? I had nothing to do with whatever he was up to, but you still killed a lot of my men and destroyed dozens of my ships." Wolf glared at Fox over the monitor. "Did I get an apology from you? Do you even remember it?"
Fox's eyes widened. In all the confusion back then, he'd been too focused on stopping the Aparoids to remember what he'd done in Sargasso. The words stung him more than any of the laser blasts Wolf hit him with during this battle.
"Yeah, thought so." Wolf's ears folded back into hard points, his words carrying the weight of someone who'd been through a brutal betrayal. "After the Aparoids were gone, the CDF decided to take advantage of what you did and ran us out of there like we were nothing but vermin. That's what I got for being a hero like you."
Fox spun his ship around for another pass, realizing now he'd never bothered to check on Star Wolf after the war was over. He'd been too busy celebrating with his team and all his friends. What happened to Wolf never crossed his mind. He couldn't look at the lupine's face on the monitor anymore.
"And you wonder why we're fighting right now, McCloud. Some golden boy you are, with all that ignorance."
Fox's tail thrashed around behind him. Before he overshot Wolf, he slammed backwards on the throttle, cutting the Arwing's power. Wolf, anticipating he would do a high speed flyby again, did a high G turn but only ended up exposing his six. The vulpine squeezed the trigger, multiple green laser bolts hitting the Foxhound in the rear before it somersaulted out of the way.
"Whatever I did before, it's no excuse for what you're doing now." Fox pushed the throttle forwards again, accelerating away before Wolf could get on his six. "Give me the case, or I'll make this Sargasso all over again."
~X~
In between attack runs on the Retribution, Slippy watched Fox duel with Wolf off in the distance, his eyes only just barely able to follow as the two jousted across the backdrop of stars. Fox barely kept up with Wolf's new fighter, the vulpine pulling nearly every trick he had to stay out of the lupine's sights.
If you find him, give him hell, Slip.
That's what Dad told him to do. Rage boiled within Slippy, remembering what his father Beltino said about the encounter with Wolf. He couldn't let that bastard get away with what he'd done to his dad, not now while the lupine was right in front of him. When would he get another chance like this?
"Slippy!" Fara called out. "I've got Leon occupied! Now's your chance! Hit the engines!"
Hearing that, the toad glanced between the Retribution's engines and the dogfight between the canines in the distance. This was the first time he'd have a clear shot at the engines… but that also meant it was the first time he had a clear shot at Wolf too.
He knew his fighter was configured for attacking the Retribution, not other fighters. The extra weapons and armor weighed it down. But then again, his ship also had the most powerful blaster out of the four Star Fox-affiliated fighters, designed to punch through capital ship shields and hit the armor underneath. Wolf's fighter did look smaller and lighter, so it probably had less armor to compensate. If Slippy got in a clean shot, Wolf's ship might be destroyed in one hit. He nodded. Just one good shot… That was all he needed. He could make this work.
Slippy rotated his Arwing around, shooting off to confront the lupine.
"Slippy, where are you going?!" Fara shouted. "Their engines are wide open!"
He ignored the fennec, as he observed the deadly dance between Fox and Wolf, one of them getting in a torrent of laser blasts, followed by the other pulling a tight somersault or one eighty to escape a fiery death. Slippy's hands trembled on the joystick as he tried to keep his crosshair over the Foxhound. The enemy fighter jinked left and right, maneuvering more like a house fly than a space fighter at times. The movements made Slippy dizzy, his eyes struggling to keep up. When he had the lupine in his sights, he pulled the trigger, letting off a flurry of powerful green lasers. One of them splashed Wolf's shields with a glancing blow, the transparent sphere around the craft disintegrating from the hit. Slippy's mouth fell open. He'd done it! Now if he hit Wolf one more time with his powered up cannons, it'd be game over for the lupine.
"What, Slippy?" Fox called out over the radio. "What are you doing over here?!"
Slippy ignored Fox, attempting to line up another shot on the Foxhound, a move that seemed certain until he saw Wolf's fighter break from its dance and head straight for him. Slippy's huge eyes widened. Wolf knew he was there now, and he looked angry. In a panic, the toad fired off as many shots as he could, but the lupine rolled and dodged past all of them as if they were moving in slow motion. The Foxhound shot past, its engines rattling the Arwing's canopy, and now Wolf was out of sight. A sinking feeling came over the toad's head.
"Get out of there Slippy!" Fox shouted. "He's behind you!"
Slippy pushed the stick to the right, beginning an evasive swerve. But Wolf had the precision of a marksman, hitting shot after shot after shot into his back, the constant stream of fire like a gigantic drill tearing right through his Arwing. Slippy screamed as sparks and smoke filled the cockpit, everything outside the canopy going topsy turvy as he spun out of control, the entire world bathed in a fiery light as all of his ship's metrics instantly went into the red.
Slippy wept. This was just like Titania, back during the Lylat Wars… He couldn't do anything right. He always caused trouble for the rest of the team like this. It was destiny, he supposed. This time though it was even worse. He hadn't let down only the team. He'd let down Dad too. Why did he think he could take on Wolf? He'd been so stupid, something the lupine had proven to him in mere seconds.
He lost track of time, wallowing there in his guilt and sadness. Taking a moment to glance up, he saw Fortuna filling his canopy as he tumbled towards it, the clouds and jungle rushing upwards to meet him. Remembering where he was, he hands flew over the controls, getting the Arwing upright. The clouds passed by, rain pouring across the Arwing in a torrential downpour. Nothing but a solid green carpet of trees spread out below, as he looked back and forth to find a clear spot. He mashed the button to engage the VTOL thrusters, but the computer's icon blipped red, showing them as destroyed.
He'd have to detach the cockpit from the Arwing. Slippy pushed the button, but nothing happened. The console showed that as inoperable too. No choice, he'd need to do an emergency landing. But if he fell into the trees, they'd tear him and the Arwing to pieces. Searching around one more time, he spotted a mirror-like ribbon cutting through the green, reflecting the sky above. Water. A river. It was the only clear spot he'd be able to reach. The toad gulped. Well, at least he was the best swimmer in Star Fox. He pulled up on the stick, aiming for as close to the shoreline as he could without hitting the trees…
~X~
Inside the Retribution's hangar bay, the technicians and guards milled about. With nearly all of the Retribution's pilots and ships deployed planetside and Star Wolf taking the fight to Star Fox, there wasn't much for them to do at the moment except wait. Wait and see what the outcome of the battle outside would be. Outside the open docking bay on the port side, Star Fox's and Star Wolf's fighters darted in and out of sight, the ship rocking and rumbling whenever Star Fox managed to score a hit. Not much chatter passed around the group as they watched the fight.
One of the techs sat on a crate of supplies, ruffling out a wrinkled spot in his dark red jumpsuit before he adjusted the position of his glasses. He couldn't stop looking back outside, his whole body tingling with anxiousness. Another blast rocked the Retribution, causing everyone in the hangar to stumble for a moment before they regained their balance. Oooh he hated that. It felt like the shaking was going through his entire body every time it happened.
He hadn't been on the Retribution for very long, and this was the first time he'd seen combat while serving with Star Wolf. Sure, Star Wolf was one of the most legendary and hallowed PMCs in all of Lylat, but they didn't have a good track record against Star Fox. Most likely why he felt on edge, despite being inside this massive dreadnought. His long, squirrel tail twitched behind him, never settling for very long.
"Hey you, Wattz, was it?"
The brown squirrel glanced up, seeing one of the ship's guards approaching him. The guard wore a black jumpsuit complete with helmet and a tactical vest, wielding a blaster rifle. As he came over, the guard pulled out his pistol. Wattz froze, not knowing what the meaning of this was.
"We're a little shorthanded here." The guard held out his pistol to Wattz. "I need more sets of eyes. The intruders might try to escape through here."
With hesitation, Wattz accepted the gun, the blaster feeling heavy and clumsy in his hands. "Umm… okay." In truth, while Wattz got his mechanic training in the Zonessian military in years past, he never got to see real combat. Between his job keeping him behind the front lines and Corneria projecting most of the military force in Lylat over the years, the Zoness army mostly stuck to protecting its home world. He'd been through all the required firearms courses of course, but he'd never drawn a gun on anything but paper targets. Nonetheless, Wattz forced a smile, although he suspected his sharp rodent incisor teeth made him look silly. "I'll yell if I see anything."
"Shoot first. I think that'd get the message across quicker."
"Right…" Wattz checked the charge on the blaster, accepting the guard's batteries and stuffing them into the jumpsuit's deep pockets.
"Thanks for the help," the guard patted him on the shoulder, before he looked around. His eyes narrowed as he glanced towards the starboard side, where the docking bay looked empty of people on that side. "Odd. I coulda sworn I had two guys covering the entrances over there." The guard headed over to check.
Wattz didn't pay him any more mind, glancing at the weapon in his hands. A few minutes passed, the squirrel glancing around the hangar, nervous about the intruders popping up at any second. He heard they were a yellow cat and a gray canine, and Yellow was worth a million credits if captured alive and unharmed. Why their client wanted the cat so badly, Wattz had no clue. But if the time came when he had to shoot the other one to take the cat alive, Wattz wondered if he'd be capable of such a thing.
Another loud boom shook the Retribution, sending the squirrel tumbling to the floor. The lights went out in the hangar, plunging the large echoing space into darkness. The only light could now be seen from the docking ports on either end of the hangar, showing the twinkling stars outside. Booms rocked the ship, sounding like a thunderstorm even though they were out in space.
"Someone get the backup power on!"
Several flashlights turned on, one of them moving through the darkness to a switch panel off to one side. Loud clunks could be heard as the flashlight's holder pumped the handle for a generator.
"Nothing's happening!"
"Call for help!"
Someone pulled out their radio. "Hangar here! Bridge, do you copy?" Nothing but static. "Hello? Hello?"
"Did they blow up the bridge?"
"I—I don't know…"
Another set of footsteps sounded, this one headed for one of the exit doors. Wattz heard buttons being pressed. "Damn! Power jammed the doors shut too!"
"So we're trapped in here?"
Pop.
Wattz spun around, glancing towards the direction of the noise. What was that? It almost sounded like a staple gun clanking. Something heavy fell to the floor near the door. Something with the weight of a body…
"Hey! Are you still there?"
Pop. Another loud thump in the darkness, this one much closer to Wattz himself. Someone's flashlight went out. Startled, the squirrel fell over, hiding behind the box he was sitting on.
"Gggah… he got…m—"
Pop.
Silence. Panic took hold of the guards and the techs, flashlight beams dancing back and forth, seeking out whatever was attacking them.
"Turn off your damn lights! They're aiming for them!"
Everyone extinguished their beams, holding their breath as they waited for what would happen next. But the rumbling of the ship from the battle concealed most of the noises coming from inside the hangar itself. If there was a shooter out there they didn't have a way to locate him. The echoing nature of the room made it hard to determine the origin points of sounds. Where'd the shots come from? Wattz held still as a statue, waiting for the shot to come at any second. What kind of gun was that supposed to be anyway? It didn't make a bright flash like a blaster.
Pop pop pop.
A body fell to the floor with each pop. Wattz cried out with every pop, expecting to get shot in the back each time. He shut his eyes, clutching at the box.
Pop pop.
Screaming and panic echoed through the room, although the voices went silent one by one, the ambient rumble of the battle outside drowning out any sounds inside the hangar. Much as Wattz tried he couldn't hear a sound around him over the noise.
Pop pop.
Wattz heart pounded, frozen behind his cover. How many people were in the hangar before the lights went out? How many shots did the shooter fire? Would the shooter pick him next? Oh god oh god someone was out there killing them off one by one and he didn't know where they were or what was going on—
The lights flashed on, temporarily blinding the squirrel. He blinked a few times, gazing around the empty room. Bodies littered the floor, each one leaking a pool of blood from a wound in the head. Whoever did that was still in the room with him… Wattz looked back and forth, feeling exposed hiding behind this box in the middle of the floor. Even if he hid behind one side, his back was completely exposed on three other sides.
He saw a door straight ahead from behind his box, a few cargo containers stacked up next to it. But he needed to cross about fifty feet of open floor to get to the door. Should he try to run for it? Would the door still open? Even so, he couldn't stay out here behind this box. Wattz tensed his legs, deciding to run for it.
Okay, three, two, one… go!
He ran so fast he felt like his feet never touched the floor, almost like he was gliding across it. He was just a few steps away from the door—but someone stepped out from behind one of the containers, pointing a strange-looking pistol right at his face, a black tube screwed on the end of the weapon's barrel.. A golden eye sat right behind the handgun's iron sights, Wattz recognizing the face of the gray canine they were supposed to kill. But the squirrel found himself lost in those shining metallic eyes, as if they stared directly into his soul.
POP.
Redness covered Wattz' sight. He fell over backwards, the vision of those golden eyes burned into his retinas as darkness took him away.
~X~
Augustine lowered his suppressed pistol, a splotch of red appearing on the maintenance man's forehead as he swayed on his feet. The canine turned around, not bothering to look as the squirrel crumpled to the floor. He rushed back over to the cargo container where Giichi was hiding.
"Room's clear," Augustine whispered, the door squealing as he opened it. "Thanks for dealing with the lights. We can leave now."
Giichi poked his head out from behind a crate, Augustine noticing the grimace on his face. Even though he hadn't seen the results Giichi fully understood what Augustine meant by 'clearing' the room. This wasn't the first time Augustine had to do something like this to protect Giichi's life. To Augustine it was merely a duty he needed to carry out as part of his job, thinking of it about the same way a janitor would think about taking out the trash.
Giichi walked around the crate, flipping the protective case over the front of the tablet computer. They ran across the hangar bay to one of the remaining parked fighters, the sand cat being careful to not look at any of the bodies they passed by on the way there. Giichi never got used to the killing, not even after all the repeated attempts on his life across the years. Augustine didn't mind his young master's disgust though. Sometimes he liked having a reminder that what he was doing was distasteful, lest he ever forget this was not supposed to be normal. In a perfect universe, a man like himself would never be needed.
Augustine's ear cocked to the side, hearing a noise behind one of the locked doors leading into the hangar. It sounded like something whirring up, like an engine. Without a word, he snatched up Giichi as easily as if he were a stuffed animal and the two of them dived behind a forklift. A torrent of laser blasts struck the door on the other side, shooting along the middle part where the two doors connected to each other. The lasers flew wildly around the room, bouncing off of the metallic surfaces around them. Augustine shielded Giichi with his own body, holding him down to the floor for as low as possible.
The shooting stopped, but was followed by a set of heavy footsteps of metal on metal. The doors screeched open being pushed apart by something—or someone—with immense strength. Augustine risked a peek from behind the forklift, handgun in one hand. A giant of a man in power armor stood in the door frame, twin laser miniguns hanging from harnesses built into the suit. He needed to stoop over to walk through the door, his massive hands resuming their grips on the guns as he entered. The shape of his helmet gave away he was a bear, and a bulky one at that. Augustine had been undercover on the ship long enough to know who this guy was.
"Ooveh…" Augustine whispered. "This will complicate things."
~X~
A/N: Believe it or not, this chapter is the first time I've written a proper dogfight scene, even though I've been writing Star Fox fics for years now. Even I was surprised when I realized this. With that being said, I'd appreciate feedback on what you think of my little battle between Star Fox and Star Wolf. What looks good to you? What could have been done better? Is there anything you think you would have done differently from me? I'm betting this won't be the last dogfight I'll write, so I'd appreciate critiques on this part of the chapter in particular. This chapter was very difficult for me to write and I'd like to get better at writing these types of scenes.