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Mission No. 28
Beltino Orbital Gate
Military/Commercial Spaceport
"No Going Back."
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Bill drummed his fingers on the armrest of his cockpit. Not only was he cooped-up in the tight compartment, but the ship itself was hidden in a cracked-open shipping container; the fighter probably felt just as claustrophobic as he.
Between the two metal flaps that partially sealed him in, Bill could see a wide swathe of the Beltino Orbital Gate. The main body resembled two halves of a bagel with a large bite taken out, which did nothing to abate the canine's growing appetite. A dozen or so traffic queues stretched a few miles out from the base like strands of holiday lights, packed with numerous vessels of all shapes and functions. Once the ships reached the space station they received a quick security check and were charged a service fee before they could use the gates proper. Every few seconds the concentric rings rotating in the "donut-hole" of the base fired a stream of energy through the missing chunk. The beam then struck one of several detached "Zypher" rings, which opened a portal to anywhere in Lylat one could imagine.
Currently, Bill had the logs of gates 1–12 laid out before him. His HUD showed the tickets of every vessel that passed through; information including the passengers' identities, type of vessel, cargo, and destination.
The canid's eyes flicked absently between each file: delicacies and expensive food to Zoness; soldiers transferring to Venom; rich elites on luxury trips to Aquas; raw materials and construction personnel shipping to Lylat's center… Over time he filtered the green text out completely in favor of just scanning the occupant's faces.
With not much else to do, Bill's mind drifted to the baffling questions still plaguing him.
What had gotten into Fox's head? Why would he kidnap a former Venomian research subject?
Faces flashed before him: too many to count. Among them were a mink, an otter, a magpie…
What did Fox need the gate for? Where did he plan on going that he couldn't have just flown there straight from Venom?
The photos continued pouring in: a hawk, an ocelot, a mallard, an eagle…
Finally, why did Pepper insist on keeping it a secret from him, a captain?
…a leopard, an iguana, an ermine…
All of this thinking only led his head around in circles, exacerbated by the never-ending roster of faces he glanced over. It was all so nonsensical and meaningless…
"Hey, I might have something," Miyu Lynx spoke over the intercom. She snorted. "You're not going to believe this, but security just found someone trying to smuggle sixteen scorpions to Macbeth in the pockets of their cargo shorts."
Another female voice burst out laughing, and Bill finally paid attention. It was Fay Spaniel, the newly-promoted lieutenant of Husky unit. Normally, her comm channel was always reserved for someone else…
When Fay's laughs subsided she said, "You can't make this stuff up, can you? I swear, if the control bridge patches me into one more case of petty smuggling or a fake bomb threat, I might go AWOL right then and there."
"Hey, you're looking at this the wrong way," Miyu chided her. "Be thankful we're not on Venom anymore."
Fay sighed. "Well, guess you're right. Anything beats that hellhole. If you asked me, I would've said hang those sons of bitches and be done with them. But nooo, we have to give them a trial with months of legal proceedings. I think it's too good for them. Everyone knows they're gonna be executed anyway."
"I wouldn't be too sure of that," Miyu said in a quiet voice.
"At least our job was straightforward there," Fay continued without hearing her. "Now we're supposed to be on the lookout for McCloud? Who went rogue? I don't buy it. And why would he use the gate anyway? It would be faster to travel literally anywhere else in the system than to fly all the way back to Corneria first. I feel like we're chasing grid squares here, and I hate sitting on my tail doing nothing."
Bill finally cut in. "That's enough Fay. You know our orders. You've been briefed with exactly the amount of information you need to carry them out: no more, no less. Now stay frosty." The words were just as much for himself as they were to pacify his subordinates.
"Yes sir," Fay replied. "Just a little antsy being cooped-up in these sardine cans."
"I feel you," Bill returned.
"I just wish something would happen…"
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Peppy tensed when he spotted a surveillance drone scouring the shipping lane. As it passed the cockpit of his shuttle, he pulled a red baseball cap down over his eyes to ensure he wasn't recognized.
"How's it goin' back there, Slip?" he called from the cockpit.
"Everything's almost ready," the frog answered.
The two teammates were traveling incognito in the same shuttle they'd boarded the Great Fox with. At the moment they hovered in a long line of ships waiting to be processed, hemmed in on either side by similar lanes. If they had flown their Arwings instead, they would've been a dead giveaway, which was why Peppy had given up his regular uniform for once and to instead don civilian clothes.
Slippy sat in the shuttle's main compartment surrounded by a makeshift computer setup. A small block fort of computer towers rose up to his knees, and wires sprawled everywhere, threatening to strangle the amphibian like a pit of snakes if he made one wrong move. Peppy couldn't decipher the setup to save his life, but at least the frog seemed at home hopping between different monitors and windows.
Slippy wiped the sweat from his green brow with a handkerchief. "Phew! Just got operational control of gate 12—and the warp disruption barrier! Fox can set things in motion whenever he's ready."
Peppy chuckled, loosening up and gripping the control stick casually. "Ha, yer pop's security is pretty weak, ain't it?"
Slippy grumbled. "Not really. If I didn't work with Dad on a daily-basis, this whole plan would've been doomed from the start."
The hare smiled. "I'm only teasin' ya Slip. I appreciate yer hard work. Well, I'll give Fox the go-ahead…"
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Looking out the windscreen, Fox saw the disorienting effects of warp travel distorting the stars; each point of light "echoed" several times, forming comet-like tails as they sped along their course—the effect of light struggling to catch up and interact with them in their current, superposed state. While most of the stars barely shifted as Fox and Krystal raced through the Lylat System, the effect was most noticeable on the much closer, brighter planets and asteroids.
"Where are we going again?" Krystal's voice interrupted his thoughts. "It's hard for me to understand all of this."
Fox glanced at the cerulean vixen. Her wide eyes blinked at the totally alien scene before her, jumping between different points of light.
"Cerinia, the planet you were born on, is several light years away. In fact it isn't in the Lylat System at all. The only way to get there is by taking Beltino's orbital gate. It opens a sort of… doorway across the galaxy."
"But how is that possible?"
"Well, it works like this:" Fox tried to explain fourth-dimensional travel to Krystal with the usual visualization; he summoned a mental image of a folded sheet of paper and "marked" two points on it, only to trail off and realize he didn't exactly grasp the concept himself.
Krystal grinned, amused at his failure.
"And the… 'warp disruptor' Peppy mentioned? How does that work?"
"Uh… to get around faster, ships like this can sort of… phase between dimensions, transforming into energy which can move at the speed of light. Warp disruption barriers are a charged field of energy that converts warping ships back to physical matter, keeping them from getting too… close…"
He trailed off when he noticed Krystal holding a hand over her mouth. She tried (and failed) to stifle a giggle. When she noticed him looking at her, she sat up straight and wiped the smile off her face. "Whatever you say, Fox."
"I swear I understand it. It makes sense!"
"As long as it gets me there, I guess I don't really care!" she laughed. "I don't feel so embarrassed not knowing if you don't, either."
Saving him from any further humiliation, the voice of Fox's godfather suddenly came through the intercom. "This is Peppy; we got control of gate 12 and the warp disruptor. We are go!"
"Hooo…" Fox released a pent-up breath, trying to calm his shot nerves. He hadn't felt this nervous going into a mission since they first entered Corneria City at the start of the war.
Fox switched on his intercom and broadcast a message to the rest of Star Fox.
"Alright team, this is it. Let's rock and roll!"
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Bill's floppy ears perked when his headset crackled.
"—tention unidentified spacecraft, this is the Beltino Orbital Gate. You are exceeding the local speed limit and are on a direct collision course with the gate body. Decrease your speed and identify yourself."
The captain's pulse spiked, realizing what had happened; someone had just patched him into a communication between Gate Control and an approaching ship.
"Repeat! Unidentified spacecraft, you are approaching too fast! Decelerate, or we will be forced to intercept—possibly with lethal force!"
The canine glanced down at his HUD as it filled up with sensory information. A 3D map of the approaching craft materialized, followed by more data once it had been identified.
Fox's Arwing! The yellow wing tips gave it away.
"He's here!" Bill blurted over the comms. "On my lead!"
The shipping container's doors flung open, and Bill's fighter burst out. It was the first time since the war that he'd flown it in any combat capacity, and the first time he'd flown it as a captain. The Cornerian fighter's needle-thin wings shone with a fresh coat of green paint and glossy wax, newly emblazoned with a captain's insignia.
Bulldog unit was right behind him; in similar fashion they boosted from their hiding places and formed up behind Bill, brandishing temporary, specialized guns capable of firing electromagnetic pulses. Cheers crowded the communications channel as the pilots were finally permitted to spring into action.
"Heads-up, target at two o'clock!" Miyu informed them.
Bill's eyes scoured the distance until he found it. The speeding white-and-blue Arwing glistened in the sunlight to a blinding extent. The rays danced off at a gradually curving angle while it made a beeline for the gate.
"After him! Prepare to intercept!"
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Peppy's eyes went wide when he saw the squad of ships approaching; they seemed to appear from nowhere at all, numbering at least two full units-worth of fighters.
"Great lakes o' fire!"
As fast as his paws could move he switched on the microphone and yelled, "They're after you, Son!"
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As Bill closed in on his target, the Arwing seemed to notice him and adjust accordingly. If it wasn't before, it certainly was flying at max speed now. While the joint Space Dynamics and Phoenix Corp-built ship was ultimately faster than his own model of Cornerian fighter, Bill and his squad were closer to the gate, which afforded them a good chance of intercepting.
Fox's Arwing sped towards gate 12, the farthest to the right of the arc of portals. It looked like he was barely going to squeeze in behind a shipping freighter pulling a long line of cargo containers. The last one was still making its way through the green ring of energy. Bill couldn't see through the portal from this angle, so he checked his HUD.
"Where are you headed…" he murmured, glancing down to check the destination of gate 12.
…Titania? But why?
It didn't matter. Bill's one job was to see that Fox didn't make it to the gate—no matter where it led.
With this in mind, he pulled ahead of his unit and fired a wall of EMP bolts in Fox's path. The Arwing was forced to pull off… but just as effortlessly, it angled back on course again. For everything Bill had tried, it looked like Fox would pass through the gate.
Then his conversation with General Pepper resurfaced in his mind:
"Act without hesitation next time. For your sake and the sake of the System, know where your loyalties lie… and decide what you are willing to sacrifice."
"Gate Control, this is Captain Bill Grey. Close gate number 12."
After a few seconds of stunned silence, the response came. "This is Gate Control. I'm afraid that's against regulations, sir. There's still a vessel passing through the Zypher—"
"I don't care! I am acting with the direct authority of General Pepper. Now close that gate!"
"Yes sir! S-sorry sir!"
Only a second before Fox reached gate 12, the boundary of the green circle collapsed in on itself till it was just a single point, then dissipated. The shipping container had only made it halfway through the gate by the time it closed; as a result, it was cleanly sawed in two. It began to drift aimlessly while spilling its contents through the gaping hole in the car, while the rest of the freighter had safely passed to Titania.
Fox's Arwing pulled off even before it reached the deactivated gate. Bill's men encircled the perpetrator from every angle until he had nowhere to escape to.
"You better close all other gates as well!" Bill ordered.
"Roger!"
But the Arwing made its move before they could close the net. It darted through a gap in Bulldog unit to the one place it could find cover: back from where it came.
"Dammit!"
Bill rotated his fighter and followed the rogue merc to the orbital gate proper: its torus-shaped body. The ship flew into the narrow space between the separate halves of the gate, expertly wove between the parallel lanes of shipping traffic, and crashed through yellow-and-black-striped barriers with little resistance.
It was all Bill could do to keep up; each new maneuver took him by surprise and nearly threw him off course, but the canid was no rookie pilot, and he managed to keep pace. Effectively it became a game of cat-and-mouse, with the bulldog's troops waiting in strategic locations to pounce, but Fox always seemed to anticipate their ploys and slip through their fingers on a dime.
"Ugh, I had him in my sights but couldn't fire!" Miyu exclaimed. "Too many civilian vessels around."
"What a cowardly son-of-a-bitch!" Fay cried. "Doesn't he know what he's doing?!"
"They're not live rounds!" Bill reminded them. "Don't hesitate to shoot! If you hit civilian vessels, they'll be fine."
"Yes sir!"
Now whenever they gained a clear line of fire, they seized the chance to unleash on the perpetrator. Yet every single time their bolts missed; they sailed out into space or struck an innocent cargo transport or part of the gate's structure, leaving it deactivated.
It was utterly infuriating: the ease with which Fox outmaneuvered and made fools of him and his men. So many of his decisions were daring, ingenious, but also uncharacteristically-showy for the vulpine, as if he enjoyed flaunting it in Bill's face. The canine reached back several years ago to when he had flown practice missions against Fox, but none of the strategies or even little peculiarities he'd memorized seemed to hold true with the todd now.
Not that it mattered; Fox couldn't run forever. As long as he hung around the gate he could outmaneuver them, but as soon as he left cover and tried to make a getaway he would run into one of the soldiers stationed a short distance away. Either that, or he'd finally slip-up and crash, or fail to avoid one of their ion bolts.
Finally it was too much for Fox, and the Arwing made a break for it. With all the speed it could muster, it left the intricate confines of the gate for open space, hoping to slip away into the void—but Bill's men were ready for him. The ships posted around the station all converged in front of Fox, while Bill and the other units chasing him approached from behind. When the Cornerian Fighters charged their guns with ionized energy, the Arwing had to admit defeat. It powered off its engines and came to a stop, where it hovered in place.
Bill slowly approached, hailing the vessel.
"Give it up Fox, there's nowhere to run. You're behaving like a regular scoundrel, and I've reached the end of my patience. Surrender now and land your Arwing in the processing hangar!"
No response came from the eerily still ship.
"Fox…" Bill growled.
"Uhhh, new comm, who dis?"
The canid balked at the sound of the voice. "F-Falco?!"
The avian yawned. "Uh, yeah, sorry about that. Got drunk last night and must've accidentally taken Fox's Arwing for a spin, ha-ha. Shoulda known from the stacks of Playtodd and the tufts of fur floatin' around… yuck…"
"Then where is…?"
"Captain Grey, the warp disruption barrier just went offline!"
"What? How the hell did you let that happen?!"
"I'm sorry sir, we're trying to trace who did it—"
"Never mind that, just get it back online! Before someone—"
"Warp signature detected in Quadrant 6!" another voice cut in. "It's a big one; looks like it belongs to a dreadnought class!"
Shit, the Great Fox!
Bill flipped his ship around to face the aforementioned quadrant. He was just in time to catch a familiar, four-winged dreadnought materializing out of warp space—all the way on the opposite side of the gate.
In one instant, Bill's plan had crumbled around him. His pride at having captured "Fox" vanished. It was all just a wild goose-chase to get him and his men away from the gate, and Bill had taken the bait: hook, line, and sinker.
"Form up!" he shouted, though his voice wavered. "Intercept that dreadnought!"
But in their haste to stop the real threat, no one noticed Falco slip away one last time…
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As Fox brought the Great Fox out of warp, the stars suddenly caught up to their "echoes", collapsing together again. A blinding white circle rapidly grew in front of them, but when Fox decelerated it materialized into the brilliant blue, cloud-covered marble he knew so well.
"What's that?" Krystal gasped. As she sat in the co-pilot's chair beside him, her eyes reflected the blue-and-white jewel of the planet below.
"That? That's where I live: Corneria."
"So… that's your home?"
Fox smiled, thinking about it. "Yes, my home. At least it used to be…"
"And you're leaving yours behind… so you can take me back to mine?"
He nodded, but he had to squeeze the control wheel to reassure himself.
"I'm sorry. It's so beautiful… I hope Cerinia is just like it."
"I hope they're as different as possible," Fox mumbled—but his attention swiftly jumped from the breathtaking planet to the donut-shaped space station before them—and of course, the swarm of fighters headed their way.
"Hang on!" he shouted. As the Great Fox came out of warp space, it hit the ground running, so to speak. Fox only marginally slowed the ship down to a manageable speed, keeping it barreling like a meteor towards the orbital gate. In response, the vixen strapped herself into her seat and held onto the sides, her knuckles turning white.
"Aight Fox, I got soldier boy all the way over on the other side of the base!" Falco bragged over the comm. "Chased me harder than he chases tail on his one day of shore leave a year! Aw you shoulda seen me flying loops around his head, giving him the slip at every turn—I was like a greased pig's ass!"
"That's true of you all the time," Fox grinned, struggling to control the lumbering dreadnaught. "But the grease is all concentrated in your head-feathers!"
"Heh, walked right into that one. Listen, you and Ms. Blue take care, Fox. Whatever you find on the other side, I hope it works out for you."
"You stay out of trouble too, Falco," Fox returned. "Pains me to say it, but… I'm gonna miss you. I appreciate that you went looking for me."
"Alright-alright, you don't have to get sappy about it. I just wanted to make sure you didn't get up to any mischief without me. Geez…"
A small light on the opposite side of the gate flared and winked out, signaling Falco's departure. While the ace had succeeded in drawing Bill and Bulldog unit away from the gate, it looked like the captain left Husky unit in the hangars to perform security checks. By now they were scrambling to get aboard their ships and take off after him, but he'd be damned if he let some puny gnats stop his father's behemoth of a battleship.
"Engines are overheating!" Navigation ROB warned.
"Calculated risk, ROB! Keep them at full output," Fox ordered. It was now a game of chicken between himself and the gate guards.
When he got closer to the base, Husky unit swarmed to intercept him. Unlike Falco and his Arwing, the larger dreadnought had no way of evading their shots. Blue, ionized bolts of energy struck the Great Fox in quick succession. One-by-one, parts of the ship became paralyzed as the ions frazzled its circuits. Fox found it increasingly difficult to steer the ship, and for a moment the Great Fox careened out of control. It slammed down on top of the gate's hull, causing them both to cry out and jerk forward in their seats.
"Sorry about that!" he apologized to Krystal.
The Great Fox scraped across the gate's outer shell, emitting a tail-curling screech Fox could feel through the dreadnought's frame. When the ship began to rotate from the friction, Fox manually switched-off several of the engines on the left side until they swung back on course.
Ahead of them lay the edge of the BOG's right flank, and beyond that, the empty space where gate 12 was scheduled to open again.
Fox raised the microphone to his muzzle and yelled, "Now, Slippy!"
"Alright, locking onto the coordinates… Administrator override for forbidden zone access… Aaaaand opening sequence initiated! Phew, that was easier than I expected…"
Fox released a sigh of relief when he saw the Zypher ring form ahead of them. Six individual pieces expanded and fired arcs of green energy to each other, inside of which the portal began to glow. At first it looked like a solid wall of emerald energy; then, as if a drop of water had struck its surface, it rippled and went completely transparent, revealing a circular slice of stars that differed from any of the background behind it.
Even from this distance, Fox tried to squint and catch a glimpse of the mystery planet's surface, but it lay beneath the lip of the gate, not visible from their current angle yet.
"That's the 'gate' we have to go through?" Krystal asked. "The door to my homeworld?"
"Right! That's exactly where we're headed, and the one place everyone's trying to keep us from!"
"Fox," ROB spoke up, "we have just received a transmission from an unknown source—"
"Kinda busy here, ROB! Does it have anything to do with our gate run?"
"No—"
"Then save it for later!"
The Great Fox finally reached the edge of the orbital gate, where it dropped a few dozen feet off course, but Fox quickly righted it. He had to fly the ship at an awkward angle because some of the engines had been paralyzed by Husky unit.
"Almost there—!"
Fox's eyes widened when he saw a military transport shuttle pull in front of them, parking itself between them and the gate.
"Ohhh, now's not the time for spontaneous acts of heroism, damn you!"
Fox patched himself into the Cornerian pilot. "Move it you idiot! I don't brake for enlisted men!"
"Pull off now!" the pilot's defiant voice crackled back.
"You're putting everyone aboard at risk!"
"Just me here, bub! Now back off!"
"Argh…!"
Fox glanced at the rearview monitors and grimaced when he saw both Husky and Bulldog units now converging on his tail. If he knew Bill's hard ass, he wouldn't hesitate to bring him to justice this time—even if it meant damaging Fox's prized mothership.
Impulsively he charged up the Great Fox's lasers, trusting and praying he wouldn't have to use them.
"I'm warning you: GET. OUT. OF. MY. WAY!"
More impacts struck the rear of Fox's vessel, but he couldn't tell if they were live projectiles or merely disruptive bolts. Panic set in while the Great Fox barreled closer to the lone transport ship and the gate behind it.
Barely able to make up his mind, Fox gnashed his teeth, said a quick prayer, and fired.
With a piercing, synthetic screech, the Great Fox's lasers unleashed a brilliant gold beam that covered the viewscreen with a blinding white light.
When the glow faded, Fox saw the rear of the transport had splintered into a thousand burning pieces while sparks and debris scattered in all directions. The front of the ship was left mostly unharmed, except for the black coat of soot and a horribly-cracked viewscreen. Fox gasped when he saw what had become of the cockpit, worried that he might've killed the pilot within.
Guilt and remorse brought all of his anxiety back. Every contrary thought that whispered he might be doing something wrong, that he was hurting the very people he loved; all those doubts came rushing back to him like a tidal wave. Their combined force threatened to drown him right then and there. Even his last conversation with Peppy rang true in his ears:
"Once you escape to Cerinia, there's no going back. You'll be counted as a traitor if you flee, and Corneria will imprison you for sure if they ever get their hands on you. Are you really prepared to throw everything away? The most successful PMC in Lylat, your career as a pilot, and the admiration billions of people hold for you?"
But there was no time to second-guess himself now. He had made his choice. Once again, he simply drowned out and shouted over his nagging doubt with a simple, resounding, YES.
Steeling his resolve, Fox adjusted his grip and tightened his fingers around the control wheel—but he wasn't out of it yet:
Ahead of him, the gate suddenly began to shrink.
"Oh no…"
"Fox, I lost control of gate 12!" Slippy's urgent voice came through the line.
"I can see that Slip!" he growled. "Get it back, quick! This is the only pass I'll be able to make! If it closes, and the warp barrier is up, we'll be sitting ducks for Bill's men!"
"I'm on it, I'm on it! Just keep going, I might be able to get it back open!"
As Fox watched the small Zypher pieces collapse and shrink the portal's radius, he cursed himself for flying the much larger Great Fox than the smaller Arwing. Squeezing through would have been much easier with it, but he ultimately decided it would be better to bring the dreadnought to an alien planet he hardly knew anything about. If for whatever reason he was unable to land or make contact with civilization, he and Krystal would at least be able to live on the ship for a time. This wasn't supposed to happen; it was supposed to stay open the entire time!
"It's… it's closing!" Krystal exclaimed. "We aren't going to fit!"
"I know, but Slippy's working on it! Maybe I can buy him a little time…"
Fox turned on the Great Fox's reverse thrusters and decelerated before they reached the gate. At its current radius, there was no way to fit through. By the time they reached it, the portal circumference would cleanly shear off the Great Fox's wings, leaving little more than a soup-can cutout of the dreadnought on the other side—and that hypothetical cross-section they'd be left with shrunk dramatically with each passing second.
"Slippyyyy?!"
"I'm trying! I can't get back in fast enough!"
Fox gripped the control wheel till his knuckles turned white. He bared his fangs and gnashed his teeth, scowling hopelessly as the circle shrank beyond even what an Arwing could fit through. As it nearly winked out completely, he felt his spirits sink in his chest.
"Krystal… we'll have to break off. I'm sorry, I don't know why I ever thought this stupid plan would… Krystal?"
When Fox glanced at the co-pilot's chair next to him, he was surprised to see the vixen sitting straight-up in her seat. Her brow furrowed intently, and her eyes narrowed, their black pupils reflecting twin halos of the shrinking emerald rings.
Fox looked back at the portal and gasped. The physical Zypher components suddenly stopped and trembled in place, halting the circle's collapse. Then, before his widening eyes, they expanded again. The thrusters on each one kicked up to full power, sending out glowing orange streams of energy to push inwards and resume their shrinking—but no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't fight the invisible force prying them apart.
While Fox watched in disbelief, the Zypher pieces spread out. The expanded the green energy ring and completely reopened the portal to full size—more than enough to comfortably pass through. Fox didn't understand how it happened, but they were going to make it!
He turned to the Cerinian beside him, mouth agape. "You… you did that?!"
Krystal fell back in her seat, chest heaving as she breathed deeply. She blushed, but didn't meet his eyes, nor answer. Instead, she let go of her armrests and made an effort to sit up again.
Krystal raised her arms in the air, letting the Great Fox freely swing her around as if she were on a roller coaster. It was something about the scattered, remaining pieces of the destroyed Cornerian transport whizzing past them; something about beating the odds and evading two entire squadrons chasing them; even flying through space at hundreds of miles an hour that lifted her spirits and completely thrilled her. But it was also knowing and accepting that whatever happened was out of her control now, and that there was no use fighting it. Wherever Fox was going, she would follow and let what happened, happen.
All of this Fox felt emanating through their shared connection, and it filled him with courage. Her giggling and shocked cries from each jolt were contagious. The urge became too strong; Krystal raised her fists in the air before crying, "WOOOO!"
And together, they disappeared through the gate into the unknown.
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Bill's blood ran cold when he saw the Great Fox barrel through the portal. He blinked, struggling to come to grips with what he'd just witnessed. Fox McCloud, hero of the Lylat War—and once his closest friend—had fired on a Cornerian vessel. What alternate universe was he living in?!
But he didn't have time to sit and ponder; the gate's radius began to shrink again, ensuring Fox's escape. Bill's adrenaline kicked back in when he realized it was his last chance to capture him. He gunned the engines and raced forwards, willing his ship to go faster than seemed possible.
"You fools, keep the gate open for us!" he shouted.
"Trying, sir—but it's not obeying our commands!"
The gate was now barely larger than the shuttle Fox hit, and Bill knew by the time he reached it his wings might be sawn clear off. All the same, he charged stubbornly towards it, hellbent on passing through—or at least to die trying. The green glow became brighter and brighter, and Bill closed his eyes a few seconds before he reached it, wincing.
His ship shook.
Bill opened his eyes again and looked around to check his surroundings. All around him twinkled the same disappointing field of stars, the same familiar planet below, and the same orbital gate behind.
His heart sank; he had lost Fox.
Cursing, he slammed his fists against the control panel. "You idiots—why'd you reopen the portal for him?!" he demanded.
"S-sorry sir, but it wasn't us! The gate was set to close—there must have been some malfunction—"
"No, no malfunction," Bill murmured. "It was something else entirely." The fur on his arms stood on end as he remembered the surveillance mech lifting "all on its own" on Venom.
He blinked and quickly wheeled his ship around. There was still a chance!
"Gate control, reopen the portal to its last coordinates. Husky and Bulldog units, form up on gate 12. If we hurry, we can—"
"Belay that order!"
Bill's heart skipped a beat. "General! B-but sir, he's getting away!"
"It's too late," Pepper's voice continued, sounding as if forced through gnashed teeth. "Fox has escaped. By now he's warped far away from the exit point."
"Sir, we still may be able to trace him. If you just let me—"
"No! Their destination is a class-1 forbidden planet. It is too dangerous for you to go rushing in there with neither a plan nor sufficient armaments. Call off the search… for now."
Pepper's voice went silent, leaving Bill to seethe silently in his cockpit, alone. He clenched his fists, unable to calm his pulsing blood now that there was nothing to do with all his racing adrenaline.
Scowling, he looked down at his HUD to check gate 12's last destination. The coordinates had been entered manually, but it matched one of the less common destinations on the gate's list:
Cerinia…?
Brow darkening, he glared out at the distant stars and searched them, eyes jumping from bright pinprick to pinprick.
"You won't get away with this, Fox. I don't know what's gotten into you, but you're not getting a free pass this time. I'll make you pay for what you did here; I'll pursue you even to the ends of the galaxy if I have too.
"Mark. My. Words…"
MISSION COMPLETE
Author's Note:
This is the end of Act I and all its rewrites! There will be a couple transitional chapters before Act II begins proper.
If you've already read Act II, do not feel obligated to continue reading past this point! While everything is generally improved, there are only a few new scenes I added (compared to all the new content in Act I), so it's not worth re-reading. Feel free to sit tight until Act III begins, which should be chapter 71! …which will take a while, considering I still have to post all 40-something chapters of Act II. If you need a refresher, I will summarize Act II on my profile when the time comes.
For first time readers, read on!
PS: Thanks again Erold for beta-reading all these last chapters!