Titania
Desert

Wolf O'Donnell peered out the side of his Wolfen fighter's cockpit canopy, and watched the flashes of exploding missiles and artillery upon the otherwise empty black void of night. The flashes didn't show much detail of what was on the ground, especially not from Star Wolf's airborne vantage point. It was just old broken stone structures that seemed common across Titania, but made all the more broken now. The missile barrage had already been going for several minutes before Star Wolf arrived to provide forward recon and overwatch, though Wolf himself wasn't sure what for. After Pigma provided the location, Aster set nearly every piece of heavy weaponry at his disposal against the target area, saturating it in a downpour of destruction.

"This all seem a bit overkill to anyone else?" Wolf asked over Star Wolf's private comm channel, a bit bored by it.

Bracketed shapes crossed Wolfen's canopy HUD, outlining the other circling fighters against the dark of the night as they entered the field of view.

"Yeah I know, I told 'em it was a waste of time and ammo," Pigma scoffed mildly over Star Wolf's private comm channel. "The target is dug-in way too deep underground for all this to do anything, which means this swaggering show of force is pretty much useless."

"The point may be more psychological than tactical," Leon mused. "A dizzying torrent of ordinance to unnerve the defenders prior to the main assault."

"Yeah!" Andrew whooped, then added in a sinister tone that Wolf could never take seriously, "Andross's enemies will buckle under the pressure, trembling against Venom's might, right before we break them!"

A brilliant blue-green particle beam streaked through the black to the target area, lighting up the blasted stone rubble and scorched sands in a pale, sickly green glow. As the beam held for a few seconds, the point of impact in the center of the rubble glowed red, then yellow, and finally shined a brilliant white. Then the beam cut off, leaving only the glowing orange hole blasted into the rubble: the liquefied remnants of a wide, armored blast door.

Everything outside went dark and quiet, with only the smoldering glow in the destruction visible, like a mine-shaft into hell itself.

"Star Wolf," Aster stated over the comm channel. "Execute your bombing run. Send your heaviest ordinance right down their throat, and flush them out."

The HUD of Wolf's canopy lit up with several identifier brackets as Aster's forces closed in, which included armored and mechanized units, plus a few specialized pieces like the towering battlemech. Looming far over all of it was one thing above all else: the gigantic, unsettling skeletal Goras titan. Not recognizing it in the first place, the HUD's identifier bracket gave it a yellow outline with a ? label, but it could still be seen clearly as it blocked the star-filled night sky with its black silhouette.

"Copy that. Executing our run now." Wolf curtly acknowledged back, then switched over to Star Wolf's private channel, "we'll each make a pass, send a bomb into the hole, move out of the way for the next. Andrew, you're up first."

"For Venom! For Andross!" the spindly ape whooped as he boosted his Wolfen fighter ahead. Andrew climbed high, then turned nose down to line up his run.

Things were going smoothly, but that only made Wolf O'Donnell suspicious and uneasy.

The way Andross had described the target; resourceful disgruntled spies; Wolf had monitored every action, every minute operational detail, waiting for the penny to drop, for some big catastrophic reveal.

The blown-open hole in the ground started to glow again, but not from anything outside, or the twisted warped remains of the door. This new glow came from deep within, and it was getting very bright, very fast.

"Andrew! Break off!" Wolf bellowed into the comm without a moment's hesitation. "Get your monkey-butt outta there!"

The only response he got was a confused, "what–"

Everything outside went blindingly light for a moment, and Wolf averted his gaze while his vision adjusted. The cockpit HUD flickered and flashed in confusion, unable to automatically identify what had happened.

"Status report, now!" he barked into the comm, but only received garbled static-laced voices in response. They were still connected, just flooded with interference.

The blinding light had dimmed, and Wolf's vision adjusted, but what he saw was an utter and complete mess. For a horrified second, he thought maybe a huge bomb had detonated, that the target had decided to take everyone down with them. Sand, dust and debris had blasted up into the airspace all around Star Wolf and the target area, plunging it all into a bizarre thick reddish fog with the light source at the center. It wasn't a bomb though, at least not any ordinance Wolf was familiar with. Instead, the light source was a brilliant column of yellow-white plasma that had burst from the hole and shot straight upward.

Then the light went out, plunging the space back into deepest darkness. Only now, the ground was dotted with hundreds of tiny lights: mostly weapons-fire and thruster exhaust.

The cockpit HUD stabilized from the interference and had come to its senses, bracketing and labeling shapes in the dark. Activating the thermal image overlay showed much clearer shapes outlined against the dark, mostly power plants, exhaust and weapons-fire, but it helped get a better picture of things in the darkness. The three other Wolfen fighters were out and about, scattered and out of position, with Andrew's in especially bad shape if the broken wings and thermal spew on the HUD was any indication. Aster's ground forces at the perimeter were bustling about like an angry colony of ants, while a slew of smaller shapes were scattering from the open hole at high speeds in all directions, spewing small-arms fire as they went, and leaving a trail of little explosions in their wake.

Then there was something even more peculiar. The cockpit HUD showed a boulder and several more stones, but they were just gently drifting through the air, not moving like under normal gravity. Taking another quick glance around, Wolf saw Aster's ground forces begin to lift off the ground of their own accord and drift–

The static of the comm interference cleared up, only to be flooded by an onslaught of irate voices shouting over one another.

"Find the source of that–!"

"Somebody get some illumination–!"

"I don't need excuses–!"

With an irritated snort, Wolf cut the chaotic comm channel with Aster's forces immediately, and switched over to the Star Wolf private channel.

"I'm gonna blast all of 'em into stardust!" Andrew Oikonny shrieked into the comm. "Just you wait, you sniveling traitors!"

"Quiet on comms!" Wolf scolded.

"I can still take 'em," the silver monkey insisted with gleeful rage. "Gimme a target–"

"No!" O'Donnell cut him off, "not a chance!"

"But I–"

"Your left wings are torn off, your power plant is on the fritz, and you're leaking fuel!" Wolf rattled off as he quickly glanced over remote diagnostics of Andrew's Wolfen. "You're barely airborne as it is. Break off for the nearest airbase or carrier for repairs. We'll regroup later."

For a second it seemed like Andrew might protest, but resigned himself, saying, "you get those bastards good for me, for Andross, and for all Venom, alright?"

Wolf let out a small sigh of relief as he watched Andrew's Wolfen fighter turn and limp away. The last thing Star Wolf needed was for their best link with Venom's leadership to get killed doing something reckless. Frankly, Andrew was a mediocre pilot at best, even with all the training and practice available for him.

A white light spring up in the air from an illumination flare the ground forces managed to deploy. A little light hadn't shown anything new: Aster's ground forces and stone debris drifted aimlessly and helpless over the ground, while dozens of unaffected little shapes poured out and scattered. All of it veiled in a hazy gritty fog of sand and dust. Over it all, the gargantuan, skeletal spindly form of the Goras titan clambered across the sand, unfazed by the strange situation as the massive golem swiped its claws at the shapes, occasionally firing another powerful blue-green particle beam from its mouth.

"Pigma," Wolf began in a gravely, forced-calm tone, "tell us what the hell is going on out there, and tell us now."

"It's an anti-gravity field, big one too," the portly swine replied "Kinda neat really. Everything not bolted down is floating away, just like Zero-G."

"Yeah, I can see that," Wolf grumbled, rolling his eyes. "I don't need to know how it works or how much you like the idea. I need to know how it relates to our target, so we can get ahead of any more crap like this."

"I'd say it's misdirection," Leon stated smoothly, "like a sleight-of-hand magic trick, but on a far greater scale."

"Yeah yeah, we get distracted by a lot of obvious flash-and-bang, while some asshole steals our wallet," Pigma agreed.

"In this case the prize is a whole starship, using advanced stealth tech," Leon added.

"Pigma, monitor outgoing transmissions," Wolf ordered. "Filter out friendly chatter, sweep the frequencies, and look for encryption patterns used by Cornerians."

"I'm picking up what you're putting down," the portly swine said with an audible wink as he went to work.

"Leon, you gotta find a way to peep through their cloak."

"With an anti-gravity field in play, it'll be difficult," the chameleon warned. "With no gravity fluctuation from a G-diffuser array, and no trace emissions from engines, the ship could just quietly drift past us. It's most clever, and it's what I'd do given the means and opportunity."

"Then be more clever," Wolf demanded. "Find a way in."

"We could try to visually observe airflow disruption of the dust, but poor lighting conditions and the chaotic environment will make that problematic," Leon suggested halfheartedly, grasping at straws. "If weapons-fire happens to score a direct hit on the ship, it would disrupt the cloak. We'd have to fire blindly and gamble on a lucky hit, hoping a stray shot connects."

With a grumbling sigh, Wolf replied, "well, it's a start."

"Ha! Screw that nonsense, I gotcha one better!" Pigma whooped with glee. "It's encrypted, short burst, narrow-band, and on a frequency we ain't using. Bad news though: I don't got a clean lock on the source, not with all... this going on. I need more time with that channel open to pin it down, then we pin them down."

That was all Wolf O'Donnell needed to hear. For all his obnoxious, greedy, self-serving egotism, Pigma was nothing if not resourceful.

"Pigma, open a comm line on that same frequency and patch me in. Leon, keep your weapons armed and sensors sharp. I got an idea."

\


Long Shot and a Stab in the Dark


/

Enigma:
Bridge.

"Here goes nothing," she whispered to herself under her breath, then added, "and everything, all at once."

Sasha Zura sat forward on the edge of the command chair at the bridge's center, gripping the armrest while her heel tapped quickly up and down. Though the husky commander felt her heart pound painfully in her chest, and her blood pulse in her ears, she maintained a hard focus on the situation, watching and listening all around her for the inevitable signs of complications. It wasn't a matter 'if' something would go wrong, or even 'when' since it'd be now, but 'how' it would go wrong...

The ship drifted upward into swirling blackness above the surface in silence, with no engine thrust pushing forward, and no G-diffusion array holding the vessel aloft. While the anti-gravity field projected from below caused such chaos all around her, the Enigma used it to float away on momentum alone, like a bubble of soap.

Also like a soap bubble, everything could burst to disaster at the slightest disruption if the cloak were compromised. An errant strike from a piece of debris, a stray shot of weapons-fire, overuse of transmitters or maneuvering thrusters, or any number of other disturbances, and the ship's position is revealed through the cloak. That's why, hopefully, the utter chaos and confusion would distract any otherwise keen onlookers, keeping them busy with more pressing concerns...

"Steady as she goes, Karasu," Sasha stated in a tense steadiness.

Arimoto Karasu sat just forward of the husky officer at the vessel's helm controls, carefully maneuvering, using only the lightest touch of the gravity manipulation systems to steer. Something streaked past the forward view-port, making the dark avian give a slight flinch.

"What was that?" Sasha asked, "anyone got an ID on that craft?"

"Commander," Karasu grunted over his shoulder, "we've got a problem out there, a serious one."

A holographic display lit up nearby, clarifying the problem. The display showed the Enigma at the center, the landscape below, and an abstract image of other vehicles and craft in the immediate area. The skeletal form of the Goras flailed angrily at the tiny scattering shapes of the caravaners, occasionally snuffing out one of the fleeing figures. Of note at the moment were three fightercraft circling around, occasionally shooting a burst of weapons-fire, apparently aimlessly.

"We knew fighter support was a possibility," Sasha stated, and watched their maneuvers on the display.

General Silver stepped forward, looming over the display, scowling as he rapidly scanned the situation.

"Damnable curs," the broad ape grumbled through gritted teeth, "that's not just any fighter support, that's Star Wolf: Andross's own private fighter ace hit-squad."

"I'm familiar with who they are," the husky replied to the gorilla, then turned back to Karasu at the helm, "take precautions as necessary, but we proceed as usual."

What she said was a half truth, as Sasha knew Star Wolf mostly by reputation. They were new, but notorious, ruthless, and effective. From what she'd gathered, they were the fighter squadron equivalent of what Sasha and her squad were for spec-ops infantry. Concerns and misgivings aside, the commander had to put on a show of confidence, had to trust in the plan, and the crew...

From the shadows at the back of the command bridge, Richard Cooney stepped forward in silence, scratching under his thin chin, narrowing his eyes as he got a better look at the holographic display.

"Those precautions, whatever they are, might not be enough," Rick said, shaking his head, and pointing out details in the holographic display, "look, they're firing in a probing pattern, trying to land a lucky blind shot to compromise the cloak."

"Karasu–" Sasha called out sternly.

"I got it! I got it!" the avian responded, focusing all the more on his maneuvering controls. "I'll weave around their firing pattern. It'll just take us a bit longer to get to a safe altitude."

The tense quietness on the bridge gradually agitated, joined by a slow sway as the Enigma started her careful maneuvers, punctuated by an occasional muffled blast of weapons-fire from outside. In the midst of all this, a slight commotion from comms station nearby caught Sasha's attention.

Gillian Morrow hovered there, quietly fussing with the ship's comm operator. She was supposed to get her message out and be done with it. The quicker she got her message out to Corneria, the less likely it could be intercepted and thus jeopardize this already tense situation. However, Morrow was still there, still fiddling, which could only mean something else had gone awry...

Sasha moved across the bridge to the comms station, bracing herself for the inevitable bad news.

"Still no response, ma'am," the comms operator stated bluntly to Agent Morrow.

"Try the message again," the pale wolf instructed, "but widen the band to general Cornerian military channels."

"What's wrong?" Sasha asked as she came alongside them both.

"My contact on Corneria is supposed to respond the instant I send my bottled message, no matter the circumstances," Morrow explained, her words accelerating as she spoke. "I tried my alternate contact with a military commander, where I'd at least get a questioning reply, but still nothing."

"And it's not being jammed here?" Sasha asked, but already guessed the answer.

"There's no comms interference, and there was a return ping from the relay stations," the comms operator answered. "Whatever disruption there is, it's further down the line... likely at Corneria itself."

"There must be someone to contact," Agent Morrow insisted, trying to hide her simmering panic, "maybe the garrison fleet at Aquas–"

"Wait," the comms operator cut her off, "I'm getting an incoming transmission back on this frequency: hailing signal. It's not from Corneria though, not from your relays. The source is right here, right around us."

The comms operator turned around, looking to the holographic display, with the fighters buzzing around the Enigma's image like angry insects.

"Aster's forces might have traced the outgoing signal," Sasha supposed, "can we jam it?"

"And do the comm signals equivalent of blasting a horn in their ears?" the comms operator protested. "That'd give our position away instantly."

"Point taken," the husky commander relented, and moved on, "Karasu, how much time do you need to line up a jump for escape?"

"Not long, but it'd do us no good if we're pursued by Star Wolf." the raven admitted. "They're faster, better armed, and if we jump away, we won't have the cover that we have here and now. We need to get clear first, or figure something else out."

On the display, the chaos that had covered them so well was starting to fade. The caravaners had scattered away, allowing the ground forces to reorient somewhat outside the anti-gravity field. The Star Wolf fighters continued their searching firing pattern, and at the center near the underground shaft, the Goras titan loomed large over its battlefield, waiting...

So then, something else it'd have to be.

Sasha activated the ship's on-board intercom system and dialed into a specific channel, speaking quickly, "Rachelle, get the engineering crew together and get us ready to take the Long Shot."

"You sure about that?" Rachelle's skeptical voice replied from the other side, "making the cloak adjustments and restarting will be quick, but once it's done, it's done, and we can't hide anymore. Staying hidden is still the best bet."

"Staying hidden may not be an option anymore," Rick interjected, "Star Wolf is out here."

"Oh you gotta be– everybody get working just like I showed you, now!" Rachelle spat just as she cut off the channel.

"Just so you know, Commander, I won't take the Enigma on this Long Shot unless there really is no other option," Karasu insisted uneasily, "when our choices are only between certain death, and this new uncertain death, chain-of-command be damned."

"I won't order it unless that becomes the only recourse," Sasha assured.

"Commander, we're still picking up that hailing transmission," the comms operator piped up. "What do we do?"

"Ready to put on a show, General?" the husky offer asked the gorilla, giving him a sharp look from the corner of her eye.

With a stern huff of breath, the gorilla straightened the tunic of his uniform and stood at attention, puffing out his broad barrel-chest as he curtly replied, "ready."

With that, Sasha Zura clicked into a groove, issuing commands in a controlled, rapid-fire cadence, "Karasu, start calculations on an escape jump, but also be ready to reset the cloak for the Long Shot. We'll keep as many options open as long as possible,"

"You got it," the raven replied.

The husky commander activated the ship's intercom and patched into the PA system, making her voice echo across the bridge, and through the whole ship itself, "all hands: standby at action stations."

Without breaking stride or missing a beat, Sasha stepped aside and issued one last order, "comm operator: open a channel. General Silver, you have the floor."

A moving image of a silver-gray wolf in a fighter cockpit projected in the center of the bridge, just in front of General Silver.

"Ah, Star Wolf, excellent," the gorilla greeted with rigid military courtesy. "This is General Halfdan Silver. I've seized control of this stealth vessel in the name of the Venom Coalition, and we're making our escape now under cloak. Any support you can offer would be of great help."

"General Silver, huh?" the gruff canid replied, tilting his head.

"Are you listening, Star Wolf?" the gorilla scolded, "I need support and escort to the nearest station for processing and debrief."

"I got it!" another voice from Star Wolf's channel called out.

"Fire!" the wolf ordered out with a snarl, and he took more active control of his fighter.

A sudden impact jolted the command bridge, causing several of the bridge crew to stumble.

"Cloak's compromised!" Karasu exclaimed. "We're exposed!"

"Return fire and evade!" Sasha ordered sternly.

The ship lurched forward, thrumming to life as the main engines kicked. Strings of plasma erupted from the point-defense guns, tracking the nimble dagger shapes of the hostile fighters.

"Stand down, O'Donnell!" General Silver howled into the holographic display as he regained his footing. "I told you I'm in command of this vessel! Firing upon us is tantamount to insubordination, mutiny, and treason!"

The Enigma rolled over fast, barely evading a gigantic blue-green particle beam fired from the Goras.

"Oh? Treason, is it? Bold talk for one using encrypted Cornerian channels and hiding behind a cloak," O'Donnell sneered back in response. "Got something you wanna share with the class?"

"You are under contract for the Venom Coalition, subject to its regulations and chain-of-command, and I gave you a direct order!" the gorilla bellowed, baring his teeth,"Stand Down!"

"I don't answer to you, General," the silver-gray wolf said with a smirk, "but Andross sends his regards–"

"And we send our regards right back!" Sasha fumed at the pilot.

The husky officer stepped firmly in front of General Silver, glaring into the smug holographic image as she gave him an unmistakable middle finger.

"So you're the one actually wearing the pants on this tub," O'Donnell said with an amused chortle, "shame it won't be for long–"

"Kill the channel," Shasha ordered bluntly, and the comm operator did so promptly.

Everything moved quickly now.

Though the situation was all coming down around her, in a strange morbid way, Sasha felt precisely in the place she ought to be. She was resolute in purpose, riding the mayhem's adrenaline like a wave, gliding over top of it, maintaining balance and control. As she did so, the others would follow suit at her command by her example.

"Karasu, take us down," she ordered, "we're taking the Long Shot."

"Everybody strap in for a bumpy ride!" the raven called out as the ship swung hard with even more drastic maneuvers.

The gravity systems barely kept up with the many jolts, lurches and rolls, nearly knocking many on the command bridge over entirely. Those who were already seated quickly activated their restraints, and those who weren't found something to hold onto for dear life.

Sasha took her own seat in the captain's chair and activated the ship's intercom system, "Alastar, whatever crazy response scheme you and the others put together, now's the time to let it loose!"

"Oh just you wait," Alastar's giddy voice cackled back over the link, "it'll be brilliant!"

As the channel closed, a nearby exchange caught Sasha's attention.

"I'm all out of options..." Agent Morrow said, as unsteady in her voice as she was unsteady on her feet. "This has all been in vain. Corneria is falling."

"Bah!" General Silver grumped, "I knew we shouldn't have gone with this asinine plan!"

"Your damned bluff blew our cover!" Morrow accused, jabbing a finger at the Gorilla's chest.

"Our cover was already blown with your transmission!" Silver retorted as he waved a large arm vaguely toward the comm station. "I simply tried to buy time to cover your failure!"

"Both of you: shut up, take a seat, and strap in," Sasha cut cleanly between their spat.

Nobody had the time, patience, nor luxury of laying blame for anything at the moment. All aboard the Enigma still had one all-important directive to follow: survival.

Rick chose this moment to step in, inquiring in an unsettling deadpan drone, "can we still transmit out?"

"I believe so," Sasha answered quickly, but needing context asked, "why?"

"It's nothing but a stab in the dark but..." the old raccoon looked out into the distance, forlorn, "I might know a guy."

The ship careened in another sharp maneuver, and jolted at the impact from weapons-fire.

Once she stabilized herself, the husky commander replied sharply, "it's a little late to call for backup now, isn't it?"

"The backup isn't for us, Sasha."

She turned to look at Rick, and found him looking back resolute, but also wide-eyed and long-faced. He was calm, accepting the worst possible outcome, but not that there wasn't something he could do anyway. In that grim moment of realization, Sasha conceded they may not make it out alive at all, but if there was something Rick thought he could do regardless...

She nodded to the old spy, saying, "make the call."

\


/

Comments,
"Anonymous" Richard Cooney, former member of Lylat Central Intelligence.

At that moment, I had one last play I could try to make.

After all I put him and his comrades though, after all the pain and suffering I'd caused, I didn't even know if he'd take my call, let alone act on it.

Still, I'd be damned if I didn't try to make that last moment count for something.

\


/

Sargasso Station,
Great Fox

Peppy Hare sat uneasily in his quarters aboard the Great Fox, reviewing the news feeds of the fleet standoff at Aquas, wishing there was more he could do.

He was half-expecting a call from Corneria to join up, almost half wishing for one. Even after calling in old favors and extending all lines of credit, the Great Fox and Arwings couldn't be sustained without some serious income, and fast. With the tensions between Venom and Corneria mounting, Peppy was damn-near tempted to volunteer the Great Fox and the Arwings for a commission in the Cornerian Space Navy. The military brass might reinstate Peppy Hare's rank, but he doubted they'd take the kids in. It would mean giving up James McCloud's final legacy, breaking the young ones' hearts in the process, but might be the only thing they could do now...

These melancholy thoughts were stopped by ROB 64's mechanical voice on the ship's intercom, "Incoming Transmission for you, Peppy."

"Who from?"

"Unknown." ROB 64 stated.

"Fine, put it through to my quarters," the old hare sighed, and turned slowly to the screen.

The comm channel connected, and the vid screen showed the very last person in all Lylat Peppy Hare wanted to see again: Richard Cooney.

"You!" the gray hare fumed. "You have got some goddamn nerve! I thought I made myself perfectly clear last time we spoke that I never wanna see your two-faced, lying mug ever again!"

"Can your team fly?" the aging raccoon asked, oddly desperate, "can they fight?"

"I mean... yeah. The Great Fox is fine, the Arwings are up to snuff, but the boys... they're just kids for crying out loud!" Peppy shook his head, and said in no uncertain terms, "whatever it is you're asking, the answer is no!"

"Corneria is under attack!" Rick shouted.

"Huh?"

"Shake those mothballs off the Great Fox and get your butts over there now!" Rick seemed utterly terrified, in a state Peppy hadn't ever seen him show before.

"What, in the name of all good things, did you do?" the gray hare inquired, squinting hard into the vid screen.

"You don't believe me? You don't like me? Fine, but that doesn't matter right now. Try contacting Corneria for yourself– " Rick's image shook violently, and the transmission cut out into static...

Peppy slumped back into the chair, head swimming with a whole ugly mess of emotions and questions. He'd have sat there thinking for longer, trying to make heads-or-tails of the weird exchange, but he was interrupted.

"Who was that you're talking to?" a curious, energized voice asked, "someone you know?"

At the doorway into his quarters was a young, bright-eyed fox, wearing his father's old flight suit and jacket. It all fit him perfectly, like he was meant for it.

"Yeah," Peppy replied, shuffling himself out of his stupor, "we uh... we just got a call for a job, Fox."

\


/

Titania,
Ruins Battleground.

Wolf O'Donnell pursued his target with glee.

It was practically a relief and joy when Pigma finally exposed the Enigma's cloak, and watching the disgraced General squirm and sputter was an amusing bonus. Now it was time to finish it though, to undeniably demonstrate Star Wolf's rightful place as Venom's best. The Enigma might've been a nimble, sneaky vessel, but it could never outmaneuver well-piloted Wolfen in the open, and her meager defenses were nothing Star Wolf couldn't handle.

Thus in short order, after only a few passes and well-placed strafes, the Enigma had been de-fanged entirely. Nothing stood in their way now.

"Point-defense weapons are down!" Wolf called out over the squad's channel, "light'em up and let'em have it!"

Leon and Pigma fell into formation either side of Wolf, preparing to deliver the final volley.

A glint of blue-green silhouetted the shape of the Enigma as the fighters pursued her, quickly growing brighter, and a great dark shape behind that caused a jolt of panic. They were all flying at the Goras–

"Incoming!" Pigma squealed over the squad's channel. "Break off!"

Wolf was already rolling his Wolfen fighter out of the way, and the others did likewise. The Enigma blasted away just as a gigantic particle beam blazed through Star Wolf's scattered formation, grazing the shields of Leon's Wolfen as he dived to evade.

Utterly livid, Wolf O'Donnell flipped the comm to Aster's command channel, almost screaming, "dammit Aster! Hold your fire! We have the situation under control!"

The Goras swung two of its tentacle-claws as the speeding spacecraft as it boosted away, clipping its engine, and leaving a trail of smoke.

"Then resolve it," the lizard demanded coldly, "or I will do so in your stead."

With an irritated snort, Wolf switched back to his squad's channel.

"They're retreating back underground, why?" Leon stated weakly, sounding a bit frazzled by the near-miss of friendly fire.

Sure enough, the Enigma had dived down, toward the open shaft to the underground it had exited earlier.

"We're going after them!" Wolf declared.

He immediately fired the Wolfen's booster, darting ahead to pursue the fleeing vessel.

"Hey whoa whoa! Ease up there, Turbo!" Pigma protested over the channel. "You don't know what's down there!"

"And I suppose you do know?" Wolf snarled as he followed the Enigma down the wide hole, lining up a perfect shot behind the target.

"As a matter of fact–" KZZZZZZZT!

The swine's response was overwhelmed by a blast of crunching, distorted static. The comm's been jammed, but it didn't matter though. It was too little, too late, and Wolf still had his shot lined up...

The vessel's rear hangar or cargo doors flung open, and a hail of weapons-fire spewed out from within. It was nothing but small-arms and man-portable weapons; nothing the Wolfen's shields couldn't deflect with ease. For a brief moment, Wolf felt almost insulted that in their last stand, this was the best his desperate quarry could throw at him.

Then something else tumbled out of the doors, something considerably larger, and stranger.

A military 4x4 land vehicle had been dumped out the back of the Enigma, gently drifting and spinning in the path of the swiftly advancing Wolfen fighter. The heavy blaster cannon mounted at the rear opened fire, peppering Wolf with a stream of plasma bolts that might actually pose a threat, if given enough time, but he wouldn't give this foe enough time for anything.

With an amused smirk, Wolf shot a volley of laser-fire into the drifting vehicle, easily hitting it. A bright flash and explosion rocked everything, blinding Wolf for a moment and showering the Wolfen with fast-zipping shrapnel. Somehow the vehicle detonated with far more force than it should have, like it had been jam-packed with powerful explosives–

An alarm blared in Wolf's ear as he regained his senses: the Wolfen's shields had failed!

Then with a hefty thunk, a figure encased in advanced armor suddenly appeared on the Wolfen's nose, just ahead of the canopy. The figure held an odd-looking sword, which he thrust hard straight toward Wolf's face. With a sickening crack, spider-web cracks spread across the canopy from where the tip of the sword struck. It wouldn't withstand another hit like that.

Wolf ejected the fightercraft's compromised canopy, exposing him to a blast of oncoming wind from outside, but also causing the armored fighter to stagger back.

Wolf swiftly drew his blaster handgun, and roared in anger as he fired several overcharged blasts into the armored figure's chest, yet he didn't fall, and barely flinched. The armored figure had a personal shield that shimmered and flickered at every shot, protecting him. He was also tethered to the Wolfen by a small grapple cable attached to his wrist, anchoring him in place for another sword-strike that he was about to take.

Acting fast, Wolf fired a precise blaster shot at the tethering cable, severing it just as the sword blade swung down at his face. At the same moment, the lupine pilot fired the Wofen's reverse thrusters, dislodging the armored figure and sending him tumbling out ahead of Wolf, right into his fighter's line-of-fire.

His vision reddened with pure rage, Wolf O'Donnel opened fire with the Wolfen's main weapons. In an instantaneous puff of plasma, the armored sword-warrior was gone. Whoever he was, the lupine pilot had to admit he was pretty good, ballsy for sure to attack like that, but he was better...

As Wolf came down off the rush of adrenaline, he finally noticed that the Enigma was gone too. There was no ship, not even an opening at the bottom of this wide shaft deep underground. Instead, there was just a broad, bright green circle, spanning the whole width of the tunnel, swirling with wave-like ripples.

There was no time to speculate what it was, as the green circle dissipated, and was replaced by a gigantic fireball-explosion, swelling up from underneath...

KZZZZZZZT! "–reckless, crazy, ass-headed punk!" Pigma's frantic voice wailed in Wolf's ear as Comms suddenly crackled back to life.

Another Wolfen fighter swooped down next to Wolf: Pigma's by the looks of it, with the swine flailing his arms about in his cockpit.

"We gotta get outta here!" the portly pig screamed, "this whole goddamn place is commin' down!"

\


/

Author Note:

It hasn't been over a year this time!

And so we arrive at the climax, with final conclusion to come soon. Additionally, I have resolved to do a rewrite of "Star Fox: Legacy" again, mainly of Volume II, since that will have the most extensive overhaul, but tweaks and polish to Volume I will likely be needed as well.

Much appreciation to you patient readers for putting up with a sporadic and all-too-often sparse update schedule. As always, your feedback is most welcome.