p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Above the planet Boran, dozens of large green-hulled ships of various sizes and shapes orbited the planet. The harvesting process was going along smoothly, and although there was intelligent life on the planet, so far it has been in hiding from the invaders. The command ship, a long, cylindrical-shaped leviathan of a craft that dwarfed the others, floated just outside the planet's gravitational pull, oversaw the operation, commanding the other ships in their various tasks. On the surface, bipedal Battle Pods roamed the streets of the population centers, raiding and destroying as they went, while the inhabitants hid in underground shelters, hearing and feeling the explosions and toppling of buildings to the ground. Boran city, the capital of of the colony, was little more than a smoldering ruin as the Battlepods patrolled the roads and streets, arbitrarily, or maybe on a sadistic whim, destroying empty buildings and unmanned vehicles. It was as though they were revelling in the destruction and mayhem they were causing. Meanwhile, towering humanoid armored figures supervised the destruction from on high, either hovering in the air, or standing atop office buildings and sky scrapers to better monitor the progressing destruction. Once all forms of resistance had been crushed and the population centers laid waste, the harvesting for materials and supplies can fully begin./span/p
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p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';" Captain Nathan Corson stood in General Pepper's office, his captain's jacket draped over his shoulders like a cape. The general walked in, an apologetic smile on his features, as he closed the door to face the human. "Sorry for calling you in here so abruptly, but I needed your opinion on something."/span/p
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p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Of course, general," Nathan replied./span/p
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p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Given the meeting yesterday, it would seem that your government is…reluctant, as it were, to send help." Nathan was taken aback by this and tried to formulate the right words./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c5" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Well, it's a complicated issue," Nathan started. "About twenty years ago, we were at war with the Zentraedi, and after suffering massive losses, ranging in /spanspan class="c3" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;"billions/spanspan class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';" of lives lost on both sides, we were able to win the war, though obviously not without a great cost. We've just rebuilt our societal and governmental infrastructure into a semblance of what it was before. Right now, our resources are limited, even our planet is just starting to heal. That's part of the reason why we've reached out to you like this, we're hoping that this alliance would help bolster our limited resources. We've even sent out scouting fleets to establish colonies on potential resource planets so we could utilize them."/span/p
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p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""I see. That explains the hesitation somewhat," Pepper replied. "I'm re-gathering the fleet to head back to Lycas and retake Boran. I'm not sure about the Terrans, but can I at least count on your support?"/span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""General," Nathan started, lightly opening his arms as he smiled. "That's why I'm here."/span/p
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p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c5" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';" The re-assembled fleet gathered near Corneria's natural satellite. Having suffered substantial losses, the fleet numbered to barely a dozen, with three command ships, five frigates, and four carriers. The Terran fleet, however, was practically non-existant. Only three ships remained, including the /spanspan class="c3" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;"Megalord/spanspan class="c5" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';". Yet the Megalord was like a fleet unto itself, and it dwarfed the other ships as it brought up the rear of the make-shift combined fleet. The /spanspan class="c3" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;"Lexington/spanspan class="c5" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';" took up a spot next to the /spanspan class="c3" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;"Megalord/spanspan class="c5" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';", while the remaining Northampton-class ship was on the other side of the /spanspan class="c3" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;"Megalord/spanspan class="c5" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';". The /spanspan class="c3" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;"Great Fox/spanspan class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';" took point in front of the fleet as a massive Warp Gate appeared, and the massive Dearnaught-class led the fleet into the Gate, and into the other side of known space where the Lycan system resided. The planet Boran lied directly ahead, with the Zentraedi fleet hovering above the surface. The fleet then reformed itself, the Cornerian frigates forming a line with the carriers and command ships forming behind the line. The Terran ships split up, with the Lexington and Northampton-class taking a place with the carriers, while the Megalord hung in the very back, reforming itself into its modular configuration. The Zentraedi ships apparently took notice, for a handful of ships broke from the occupying force to face the fleet. That was when the Megalord made its move. It floated higher than the line formed by the Cornerians and fired its main cannon, unleashing a devestating beam of raw power from its twin shoulder pylons at the Zentraedi ships. The ships were vaporized instantly, and the beam streaked onward until it made contact with the rest of the Zentraedi force. The beam pierced four more ships and stopped at mortally wounding a Zentraedi carrier, all five ships dying from explosions tearing them apart. In one shot, almost a dozen Zentraedi ships were wiped out, cutting the armada down by over a third. The rest of the Zentraedi ships seemed to take notice of this fact, for they reformed themselves into a line between the Cornerian/Terra fleet and Boran. Moments later, Regult battle pods and Gnerl fighter pods launched from their mother ships by the hundreds, resulting in over a thousand fighting machines bearing down on the fleet. The fleet answered likewise with their own fighter craft, Cornerian Fighters and Terran Thunderbolts to answer the call to arms. However, amongst the fray were seven ships that flew through the cacophony of combat towards Boran. Four of them were the Star Fox's own Arwings, launched from Great Fox to head for Boran while the fleet would deal with the Zentraedi armada. The other three were solid black, angular craft with inverted wings and cockpits set at the end of an elongate fuselage. These were the new VF-19 Excalibur-class fighters, practically made fresh off the assembl line. Van piloted one of them, leading the other Black Knights with Star Fox towads Boran. /span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
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p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c5" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Three Hours Earlier: /spanspan class="c3" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;"Michael, along with Van, Quint, and Jack, was invited aboard the Megalord's hangar. The SDF-Class was as immense on the inside, as it was on the outside. Unlike its predecessor, the Macross, it did not have much of a civilian population inside. Instead, It was filled with mostly military personnel inside a city in the warship, modeled after Macross City, serving as a space-borne city fort of one hundred thousand people, ranging from military personnel to civilians. In the massive hangar, however, the Black Knights squadron looked about, seeing the Thunderbolt-class variable fighters lining the interior deck in their fighter-mode. Nathan Corson was leading the group deeper into the hangar, until he stopped before a trio of fighters, colored black. Their angular shape and inverted wings struck a memory in Van as he recognized the Excalibur-class fighters, except these bore a symbol on the fuselage just underneath the cockpit: It was the image of a black shield with a Crusaders' Cross on the front, a laurel underneath, with a rifle and a sword behind the shield with the latin phrase "/spanspan class="c5" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Semper Fidelis - Numquam Dubias - Omnes Cave"/spanspan class="c1" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;" under the laurel. It was the symbol of the Black Knights with the phrase Michael came up with off the top of his head. Nathan looked back at the group with a smug grin on his face. "You guys recognize these?" Van walked towards one of them, placing his hand on the symbol, as Michael looked to Nathan./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c1" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;""Where did you get these?"/span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c1" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;""Pulled some favors from friends in high places. Was originally going to use them for myself, but figured you guys could use an upgrade from the failed test models you guys are using. These aren't prototypes you'll be flying, these are the first of the mass-production model slated to be released. Lighter and more nimble than those Alphas, and Thunderbolts of course, at the expense of lighter armor. But I'm sure you guys can handle it."/span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c1" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;""But we aren't rated to fly these," Quint replied./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c1" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;""The controls aren't too different from a Thunderbolt's, so it should be akin to re-riding a bike for you, that is if you haven't completely forgotten to fly a real plane. Plus, at least one of you has flown one of these before," Nathan answered, looking to Van. "So one out of three, to me, ain't all that bad. We're going to warp to Lycas in a few minutes, you three get ready and jump in. Captain," Nathan looked to Mike. "I recommend you head back to your ship when we get to Lycas. Once these three boneheads launch, they'll be your problem again."/span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
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p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c5" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"The two teams bobbed and weaved through laser fire, oncoming missiles, and incoming fighters alive and dead, while answering with firepower of their own. The Arwings let loose twin laser bolts and charged shots that decimated the Gnerl and Regult pods, while the Excaliburs let loose a torrent of missiles that tore oncoming enemies apart. In minutes, they had traversed the battlefield and towards the Zentraedi ships. However, even here they received support in the form of Great Fox appearing from above to let loose its powerful cannons on the Zentraedi craft. It was able to disable two scout ships while mortally wounding a third that it exploded from a well-placed shot. Through the deadly beams of light and storm of missiles that raged around them, the seven craft weaved and bobbed, dancing a desperate dance to avoid death and deal some of their own. Jack briefly converted his Excalibur from fighter to Battroid, shooting down oncoming missiles and Gnerl pods alike, Quint switching to GERWALK to let loose a volley of missiles of his own while avoiding some, taking advantage of the type's greater maneuverability. Van powered through, dodging and juking until he pierced through the line of ships, trailing some that fired at him, but still he sped on, using rolls and even a flip to avoid fire and even get some in front of him to mow down with his gatling pod. That was he saw them, a pair of Nousjadeul-Ger power armors bearing down at him at high speeds. The humanoid-shaped power armors had their shoulder cannons in the ready position and were taking aim at the Excalibur. Van shifted quickly to Battroid, strafing and avoiding the deadly beams of energy while letting loose with a volley from his own gatlin pod. He clipped one in the leg, momentarily taking it out of the fight as it spun out of control, while the other took evasive maneuvers to avoid the oncoming barrage. The power armor fired another blast from its shoulder cannon, but Van brought up the pin-point barrier that blocked the blast, right before he fired another weapon. From the wings attached to the wips, twin ports opened up while the wings repositioned themselves to target the power armor and fired a topaz-hued beam of energy. The beam traveled at near-light speed and struck the power armor. The beam hit the center body, blowing not only a hole through the chest, but tore the left arm out of its socket and sent it spinning and spiralling through the vast cosmos, while the rest of the body drifted lifelessly through the vacuum. So caught up in the moment that Van was unaware of the other power armor, the one he struck first, had recovered and doubled around behind him, grabbing the Excalibur from behind. Van heard the armor's wearer speak in Zeltran over his radio, "/spanspan class="c3" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;"Qaud caed B'ktung!/spanspan class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"" Van smirked at the insult and retorted with a shout./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c5" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Yakh, DECULTURE!" That phrase, once meant to be an expression of something horrible, or even evil, was now like a rallying cry for the Zeltran and Meltran who converted and lived in human culture, and at uttering his defiance, Van gripped the controls and rocketed the Battroid upward before shifting the controls to "Fighter". The Excalibur shifting from its Battroid configuration back into its Fighter form, breaking the power armor's grip on its. It fired its shoulder cannon in response, but the shots were more wild, far less accurate. Van evaded them with ease as he tangled his fighter back to face the power armor, reconfiguring back to Battroid and grabbing the Nousjadeul-Ger in a bear-hug as Van spoke again in Zeltran. "Brang cuantro K'GILL!" At the final malediction, the Excalibur fired its laser cannons again, the point-blank bursts tore through the power armor as though it were made of tissue paper. The pilot inside the armor groaned, then coughed blood as his body cavity was, for all intents and purposes, excruciatingly expanded to include outside the body, while his internal organs were vaprized to nothing. The Excalibur let the armored corpse go to float in the cold vacuum of space, gradually drifting towards Boran, as though the planet were exerting its influence even this far out. The rest of the Black Knights flew through the fray, flying alongside the Star Fox team, to link up with Van's Excalibur./span/p
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p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c3" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;""You alright, Van?" /spanspan class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Jack's voice asked in Van's ear. Van smirked at first before answering, feeling the Zeltran blood in his veins finally burn, the way it was meant to when a Zeltran fought in real battle./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""I'm doing just fine, Jack," Van replied with a wolfish grin. Jack felt a little unsettled upon hearing that. He had heard this tone before from Van only twice before in all the time he's known him, and it was often followed by some violent, nigh-disastrous event. Van then set his eyes on Boran, the besieged planet that was their destination, and his next place for glory and battle, and Van could not contain himself. He gunned the Excalibur forward, shifting to "Fighter" and followed by the rest of the Black Knights and their Star Fox allies./span/p
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p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';" The capital city was a ruin. Buildings and structures that were once so tall one could almost say they could touch the sky were now piles of rubble, hardly recognizable as the towering monoliths built by intelligent hands. The streets were pitted with smoldering holes and littered with the scorched hulks of destroyed vehicles and corpses of the inhabitants of the city. The few survivors hid behind ruins, praying not to die, or huddled in the vast underground bunkers, waiting for the nightmare to be over. The once thriving colony was reduced beneath a shadow of itself as Regult battle pods patrolled the ruined streets while Nousjadeul-Ger power armor stood atop buildings that weren't completely destroyed, overseeing the occupation of the city as they looted the resources. A squad of four Regults patrolled a city block, and were suddenly engulfed in flame, exploding into fiery debris. The nearest power armor saw this, then looked up in the sky as it picked up the presence of several oncoming craft. Without hesitation, it fired on them with its shoulder cannon and hand-held firearm, but it was for naught as the oncoming craft evaded the bolts of energy with ease. That was when three of them slowed and broke away from the group, transfiguring themselves from angular fighter craft into a form between fighter and humanoid machine. The Excaliburs, in their GERWALK configuration, headed for the city, firing their internal laser at the power armor that acted as a scout, decapitating it and severing its left arm and right leg, the armored corpse falling hundred of feet to the ruined street. The Arwings switched to their "All Range" mode, opening up their wings to allow greater maneuverability at the sacrifice of superior speed. The seven craft entered the city and began their work: Prior to entering Boran's atmosphere, a plan was made between both Star Fox and Black Knights. They would go through the capital city and decimate the forces within, as they would not be expecting a handful of fighters to be a great threat. They would take advantage of their crafts' unique abilities to strafe through the city and take out any and all enemies within until the armada can break through the Zentraedi blockade. Fox and Krystal paired up and glided down a street, their engines nearly silent as they powered them through until they came upon an unsuspecting squad of Regult battle pods. Both fired their twin lasers and made short work of them./span/p
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p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Falco and Slippy split off and scoured the rest of the streets, blasting upon any Regult pods they could find. Both maintained radio silence from each other, and the rest of the team, for fear of their signals being picked up and the element of surprise is lost from them./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Quint, meanwhile, guided his Excalibur through the numerous ruined buildings, looking for decent cover to do his own work. He used the Gatling Pod's sniping feature to target and eliminate any power armored targets he could find. He was able to kill three of them so far befor they could alert any others to the goings-on in the occupied city, and was constantly shifting his position before each shot./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Jack cruised about in GERWALK mode, letting loose a barrage of bullets on any Regult squad he came upon, his ammo shredding the battle pods' armor like paper before they fell dead, their hulls smoldering./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Van stalked in GERWALK, but he was focused more on the male power armors, letting loose a barrage of missiles on any he found and were unsuspecting of him. However, he wasn't as inconspicuous as he would have liked; a couple of Nousjadeul-Ger flew at him from the air and fired at him with their sidearms. Van evaded the assault and converted from GERWALK to Battroid, unleashing a barrage upon the two power armors. He managed to kill one, its armored body riddled with bullet holes as it fell to the ruined street below like a rock, bleeding oil, lubricant, and life fluids on the cratered pavement. The other made serpentine movements through the air before ducking behind a barely-standing building. Van reconfigured back into GERWALK and unloaded a payload of missiles upon the structure, bringing it crashing to the ground in cacophonic destruction. Flushed out, the power armor fired its shoulder cannon at the Excaliber, but Van evaded the shot and answered with a barrage from his gunpod, but the power armor's pilot was able to evade in time, jumping up to avoid the barrage. Van turned to Battroid and ducked behind a building as the power armor fired its shoulder cannon upon him, blasting away at his cover. Van rocketed upwards, clearing the building and unleashing a torrent of bullets at his enemy. They struck true, amor-piercing rounds riddling its body with holes as Van landed on top of the building, looking down as the now-armored corpse fell to its knees, then lay face-down on the ruined street./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c5" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Krystal had broken away from Fox and acted on her own, going through the streets while her Arwing hovered a dozen meters off the ruined road, just enough to not crash into the ground, and slow enough to not smash into a building. Her HUD's sensors picked up another Regult squad, and she gunned towards them, coming up from behind and letting loose a charged shot. The ball of energy struck one of them in the back of its head-like body and exploded, destroying it and knocking another into a ruined building with the force of the explosion, burying it in the ruins. The remaining two turned and fired on the oncoming Arwing. Krystal was not able to maneuver very well in the enclosed space, her shields taking the brunt of the damage as she fired back, taking the legs out from one of them as it still fired. She barely flew under the falling Regult before it hit the street, but her shields were seriously depleted, so much so that a few shots from the remaining Regult managed to clip the starboard wing of her Arwing. She spun out of control in her climb, making her an easy target for the remaining Zentraedi below, but she was able to regain control before turning her ship downward and head back into the city, but she knew that it cost them the element of surprise, especially when she heard Fox's voice on her headset crackle in a worried tone. /spanspan class="c3" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;""Krystal, are you alright?!"/span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""I just lost a wing, but I'm alright. I guess I fixed it for us, didn't I?" she replied with a rueful smile./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c3" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;""Don't worry about that, we can still deal some major damage to these guys! Let's link up and head back in together!"/spanspan class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';" Krystal didn't have the chance to respond, for she was pounced from above by a Regult pod jumping up and firing down, intent on smashing her fighter with its weight. She was able to avoid that fate with quick, reflexive work, but it still fired upon her, damaging her Arwing extensively. She was falling as she tried to turn to face her attacker, making contact with the ground and creating a furrow in the street that had her facing the oncoming battle pod. In desperation, Krystal fired a charged shot, but the attack was wild and poorly aimed. However, its succeeded in striking the pod in the legs and blowing them off, along with a lower portion of the pod itself, sending it hurtling to the ground with a great crash. Krystal let out a sigh of relief, but seeing movement coming from the pod made her pause for a moment. She saw what looked like a hatch open up from behind the pod, and a hand come out. It grabbed the ruined hull, and was followed by an arm, head, and body of a gigantic being. In horrified fascination, Krystal watched as a forty foot tall giant alien climbed out of the pod wearing a kind of armored space suit and take uneasy steps towards her wrecked fighter. She saw it take its helmet off of its head and throw it to the ruined road, smashing a totaled vehicle underneath. And when she saw its face, she was stunned. It was bruised and bloodied, but it had the face of a human with burning eyes that showed murderous intent. She tried to fire at it, but her Arwing was too badly damaged and the lasers were inoperable. The Zentraedi continued to shamble towards her, blood coming from different parts of its body, and yet with each step it seemed as though it grew more sure of itself, as though it were regaining its strength from its intent to kill alone. The Cerinian tried to open her cockpit, but even that failed to function and called for Fox in desperation as the alien finally loomed over her, looking down at her as it raised a fist intent on smashing the canopy, fuselage, and the pilot within. Krystal reflexively threw up her arms to ward off the oncoming blow, but it never came. Coming from the side, an Excalibur in Battroid mode slammed itself into the Zentraedi, sending it flying into a building and almost embedding it into the ruined structure. Inside, Van aimed the gunpod at the prone alien, but when he squeezed the trigger, the gunpod wouldn't fire. In all the fighting, he had neglected to keep a count on his ammo and had spent it all. This gave the Zentraedi the moment it needed to tear itself from the ruins and lunged at the Excalibur and tackle it to the ground. As both grappled to the death, The Zentraedi was atop the Excalibur, one arm being held back while its free hand grasped the Excalibur's head, trying to tear it free from its shoulders. Gritting his teeth, Van had the Battroid rise up, its own mechanized strength surpassing its alien counterpart as it pushed, then threw, the Zentraedi off of its body, sending it crashing into another building face first. Van pressed the advantage, lunging forward and striking from behind and grabbing the Zentraedi by the back of the head to smash its face into the ruined building again, and again, and again, while inside Van roared in fury and rage, his warrior's blood all but a raging inferno in his veins as it took hold of his mind. The Zentraedi countered with an elbow to the Excalibur's head and turned about, swinging a fist into its metal face, but this did little save for making the Battroid back up half a step and bruising the Zentraedi's knuckles. Van responded by striking a blow to the Zentraedi's guts with a solid uppercut, and as the Zentraedi doubled over, the Battroid brought both hands together and slammed them down on the Zentraedi's back, sending it crashing to the ground face first. The Battroid then got atop the alien and grasped its head with both hands as it tried to rise, to dislodge the murderous machine from its back, but the Battroid performed a quick twist, so fast it was done in practically the blink of an eye. The body jerked for a second, then was still as the Zentraedi's eyes rolled into its head and went dark as the Battroid released its hold to let the body fall limply to the ground. Van breathed heavily as tried to calm himself, perspiration rolling down his face in large droplets. He shifted his attention to the damaged Arwing and guided the Excalibur towards it. He spoke over the PA system when he was able to get a better hold on himself./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c3" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;""Krystal, are you alright?" /spanspan class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"But the Cerinian didn't answer, she was too in shock from seeing the Zentraedi, to the fight between it and the Excalibur, and seeing the blood of the Zentraedi on the metal hull of the Excalibur. Van tried calling her, but Krystal made no effort to respond. It was then that Fox had flown in./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c3" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;""Van, is Krystal alright?" /spanspan class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"he asked, landing his Arwing./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c3" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;""I don't know, she won't respond to me."/spanspan class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';" Fox jumped out and ran towards Krystal's damaged craft, scaling the fuselage easily and looking inside the cracked canopy to see the prone Cerinian within, seemingly staring at nothing. Fox tried to open the cockpit, but the canopy wouldn't budge. He then took out his blaster and shouted for Krystal to cover her face before using it to strike where the cracks originated from, smashing the canopy after a couple of attempts. It was only after Fox grabbed her that Krystal sprang to life, letting out panicked gasps and a yell as Fox dragged her out. She fought against him for a moment before he called her name and she looked at him as though for the first time and all but collapsed in Fox's arms, burying her face in his chest. Fox only held her close as he looked up at the Battroid, and at Van, and saw the blood stained hull of the machine clearly, the image causing a spring of dread to run up Fox's spine as he suddenly wondered about the Zentraedi, and humans./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c5" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';" The battle in orbit around Boran was all but over when the capital city was captured. Despite being almost hopelessly outnumbered, the combined Lylat and Terran fleet was able to rout the Zentraedi forces, with the /spanspan class="c3" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;"Megalord/spanspan class="c5" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';" firing its Reflex Cannon at the retreating ships, wiping out a third of the remaining host before they folded into deep space. There was a triumphant cheer over the radio waves as the commanders of the ships relayed the orders for all fighters, soldiers, and crews to stand down. The Cornerian fighters, numbering to little more than a few dozen, returned to the handful of ships that still operated, though they be burnt, pitted, and scarred by the heat of battle. Meanwhile, the lone/spanspan class="c3" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;" /spanspan class="c5" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Northampton-class ship was lost, half its crew able to escape and were picked up by the /spanspan class="c3" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;"Megalord/spanspan class="c5" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';", while the/spanspan class="c3" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;" Lexington/spanspan class="c5" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';" lost most of its drone fighters, but fortunately it received word that its Excalibur squadron survived. All that was left was mop up on the surface as the Zentraedi scattered about the planet while the /spanspan class="c3" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;"Megalord/spanspan class="c5" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';" and/spanspan class="c3" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;" Lexington/spanspan class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';" descended. On the ground, both Star Fox and Black Knights teams had rendezvoused in the center of the city, save for Krystal's damaged Arwing. Fox had received from General Pepper that the battle was over, and the Terran ships were descending to help mop up the area./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Good to know, General."/span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c3" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;""I would like for you to stay on Boran and assist in the clean up efforts. Of course, there'll be an added bonus to your fee if you do so," /spanspan class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"General Pepper replied, a smile on his holographic hound-like features. Fox returned it with a slight smirk./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""No complaints on our end. What about the Terrans?"/span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c1" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;""That's for them to decide. If they want their team back, not much we can say about it."/span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Understood, General. We'll keep in touch." As Fox returned his holo-communicator to its pocket, he turned and saw the humand mingling with his team./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""We just got the word to return back to our ship," Jack stated./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Our mission here was a success. The capital city is, more or less, liberated from the Zentraedi. All that's left are the few stragglers around the planet, and they don't have the support of an armada anymore," Quint added./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Well, it's been interesting," Falco replied with a two-fingered salute and a grin./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Hope we meet up again, in better circumstances," Slippy added. Krystal didn't say anything, only looked to Van. Both shared a momentary glance, but Van turned away and headed for his Excalibur. As the ships lifted up in their GERWALK forms, they turned to their Fighter configurations and blasted off towards the oncoming Terran ships. On the way back, Van received a private signal, recognizing it as Fox's frequency./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Yes, captain?" Van answered, keying it in./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c3" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;""I have a request for you," /spanspan class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Fox answered./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""What is it?"/span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c3" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;"I think it would be best if you kept your distance from Krystal. I don't want you answering any messages from her right now, and I don't want you contacting her. Am I understood?" /spanspan class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Van paused for a moment, unsure how to respond./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Is that you're asking as her commanding officer?" Van asked. Another pause, and Fox answered./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c1" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;""Yes, it is. And as her friend."/span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Understood." Van keyed the frequency off./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';" On the ground, Fox let out a heavy sigh as he sat in his Arwing. He hated this, but for now he felt it best that they keep their distance until he felt more sure about Van, and humans. The striking similarities between them haunted him, and he just wasn't sure./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Hey Fox!" Falco called from the ground. "What's the word?" Fox got up and jumped to the ground./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""The good General wants us to stay here and mop up the planet. There's an added bonus if we stay and help out."/span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Sounds good to me," Falco replied./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""I'm concerned about Krystal's Arwing. With the beating it took, she's going to need a new pair of wings," Slippy replied./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""It's fine," Fox added. "I'll take her to the Great Fox myself and get here squared away."/span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Want me all to yourself?" Krystal teased. Fox simply shrugged as he gestured to his Arwing. Krystal hopped in the back seat while Fox took the pilot's./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Try not to kill all the bad guys till we get back, alright?" Fox said to Falco./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""I only promise to try," Falco replied. Fox smirked and closed the canopy, having the Arwing hover above the ground before engaging the thrusters and headed for the atmosphere./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""That's odd," Krystal commented./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""What is?" Fox asked./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""I'm trying to message Van to tell him I'm fine, but it's not getting through, it's like he has me blocked or something."/span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Huh, weird. Maybe it's just poor reception where he's at or something. I wouldn't worry about it." Fox felt a little tense, wondering if she'd buy it./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""You're right, of course." Fox felt relief at her answer, and felt even better when the Great Fox was coming into view. "Hey, you got that band thing coming up with Faye and them, right?"/span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""It starts in a month, yes, which means after this mission I need to get ready."/span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Knock 'em dead!" Fox replied with a thumbs up over his shoulder. Krystal laughed lightly embraced Fox from behind./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Thanks, Fox."/span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';" Captain Nathan Corson stood in General Pepper's office, his captain's jacket draped over his shoulders like a cape. The general walked in, an apologetic smile on his features, as he closed the door to face the human. "Sorry for calling you in here so abruptly, but I needed your opinion on something."/span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Of course, general," Nathan replied./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Given the meeting yesterday, it would seem that your government is…reluctant, as it were, to send help." Nathan was taken aback by this and tried to formulate the right words./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c5" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Well, it's a complicated issue," Nathan started. "About twenty years ago, we were at war with the Zentraedi, and after suffering massive losses, ranging in /spanspan class="c3" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;"billions/spanspan class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';" of lives lost on both sides, we were able to win the war, though obviously not without a great cost. We've just rebuilt our societal and governmental infrastructure into a semblance of what it was before. Right now, our resources are limited, even our planet is just starting to heal. That's part of the reason why we've reached out to you like this, we're hoping that this alliance would help bolster our limited resources. We've even sent out scouting fleets to establish colonies on potential resource planets so we could utilize them."/span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""I see. That explains the hesitation somewhat," Pepper replied. "I'm re-gathering the fleet to head back to Lycas and retake Boran. I'm not sure about the Terrans, but can I at least count on your support?"/span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""General," Nathan started, lightly opening his arms as he smiled. "That's why I'm here."/span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c5" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';" The re-assembled fleet gathered near Corneria's natural satellite. Having suffered substantial losses, the fleet numbered to barely a dozen, with three command ships, five frigates, and four carriers. The Terran fleet, however, was practically non-existant. Only three ships remained, including the /spanspan class="c3" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;"Megalord/spanspan class="c5" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';". Yet the Megalord was like a fleet unto itself, and it dwarfed the other ships as it brought up the rear of the make-shift combined fleet. The /spanspan class="c3" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;"Lexington/spanspan class="c5" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';" took up a spot next to the /spanspan class="c3" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;"Megalord/spanspan class="c5" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';", while the remaining Northampton-class ship was on the other side of the /spanspan class="c3" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;"Megalord/spanspan class="c5" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';". The /spanspan class="c3" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;"Great Fox/spanspan class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';" took point in front of the fleet as a massive Warp Gate appeared, and the massive Dearnaught-class led the fleet into the Gate, and into the other side of known space where the Lycan system resided. The planet Boran lied directly ahead, with the Zentraedi fleet hovering above the surface. The fleet then reformed itself, the Cornerian frigates forming a line with the carriers and command ships forming behind the line. The Terran ships split up, with the Lexington and Northampton-class taking a place with the carriers, while the Megalord hung in the very back, reforming itself into its modular configuration. The Zentraedi ships apparently took notice, for a handful of ships broke from the occupying force to face the fleet. That was when the Megalord made its move. It floated higher than the line formed by the Cornerians and fired its main cannon, unleashing a devestating beam of raw power from its twin shoulder pylons at the Zentraedi ships. The ships were vaporized instantly, and the beam streaked onward until it made contact with the rest of the Zentraedi force. The beam pierced four more ships and stopped at mortally wounding a Zentraedi carrier, all five ships dying from explosions tearing them apart. In one shot, almost a dozen Zentraedi ships were wiped out, cutting the armada down by over a third. The rest of the Zentraedi ships seemed to take notice of this fact, for they reformed themselves into a line between the Cornerian/Terra fleet and Boran. Moments later, Regult battle pods and Gnerl fighter pods launched from their mother ships by the hundreds, resulting in over a thousand fighting machines bearing down on the fleet. The fleet answered likewise with their own fighter craft, Cornerian Fighters and Terran Thunderbolts to answer the call to arms. However, amongst the fray were seven ships that flew through the cacophony of combat towards Boran. Four of them were the Star Fox's own Arwings, launched from Great Fox to head for Boran while the fleet would deal with the Zentraedi armada. The other three were solid black, angular craft with inverted wings and cockpits set at the end of an elongate fuselage. These were the new VF-19 Excalibur-class fighters, practically made fresh off the assembl line. Van piloted one of them, leading the other Black Knights with Star Fox towads Boran. /span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c5" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Three Hours Earlier: /spanspan class="c3" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;"Michael, along with Van, Quint, and Jack, was invited aboard the Megalord's hangar. The SDF-Class was as immense on the inside, as it was on the outside. Unlike its predecessor, the Macross, it did not have much of a civilian population inside. Instead, It was filled with mostly military personnel inside a city in the warship, modeled after Macross City, serving as a space-borne city fort of one hundred thousand people, ranging from military personnel to civilians. In the massive hangar, however, the Black Knights squadron looked about, seeing the Thunderbolt-class variable fighters lining the interior deck in their fighter-mode. Nathan Corson was leading the group deeper into the hangar, until he stopped before a trio of fighters, colored black. Their angular shape and inverted wings struck a memory in Van as he recognized the Excalibur-class fighters, except these bore a symbol on the fuselage just underneath the cockpit: It was the image of a black shield with a Crusaders' Cross on the front, a laurel underneath, with a rifle and a sword behind the shield with the latin phrase "/spanspan class="c5" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Semper Fidelis - Numquam Dubias - Omnes Cave"/spanspan class="c1" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;" under the laurel. It was the symbol of the Black Knights with the phrase Michael came up with off the top of his head. Nathan looked back at the group with a smug grin on his face. "You guys recognize these?" Van walked towards one of them, placing his hand on the symbol, as Michael looked to Nathan./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c1" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;""Where did you get these?"/span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c1" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;""Pulled some favors from friends in high places. Was originally going to use them for myself, but figured you guys could use an upgrade from the failed test models you guys are using. These aren't prototypes you'll be flying, these are the first of the mass-production model slated to be released. Lighter and more nimble than those Alphas, and Thunderbolts of course, at the expense of lighter armor. But I'm sure you guys can handle it."/span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c1" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;""But we aren't rated to fly these," Quint replied./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c1" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;""The controls aren't too different from a Thunderbolt's, so it should be akin to re-riding a bike for you, that is if you haven't completely forgotten to fly a real plane. Plus, at least one of you has flown one of these before," Nathan answered, looking to Van. "So one out of three, to me, ain't all that bad. We're going to warp to Lycas in a few minutes, you three get ready and jump in. Captain," Nathan looked to Mike. "I recommend you head back to your ship when we get to Lycas. Once these three boneheads launch, they'll be your problem again."/span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c5" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"The two teams bobbed and weaved through laser fire, oncoming missiles, and incoming fighters alive and dead, while answering with firepower of their own. The Arwings let loose twin laser bolts and charged shots that decimated the Gnerl and Regult pods, while the Excaliburs let loose a torrent of missiles that tore oncoming enemies apart. In minutes, they had traversed the battlefield and towards the Zentraedi ships. However, even here they received support in the form of Great Fox appearing from above to let loose its powerful cannons on the Zentraedi craft. It was able to disable two scout ships while mortally wounding a third that it exploded from a well-placed shot. Through the deadly beams of light and storm of missiles that raged around them, the seven craft weaved and bobbed, dancing a desperate dance to avoid death and deal some of their own. Jack briefly converted his Excalibur from fighter to Battroid, shooting down oncoming missiles and Gnerl pods alike, Quint switching to GERWALK to let loose a volley of missiles of his own while avoiding some, taking advantage of the type's greater maneuverability. Van powered through, dodging and juking until he pierced through the line of ships, trailing some that fired at him, but still he sped on, using rolls and even a flip to avoid fire and even get some in front of him to mow down with his gatling pod. That was he saw them, a pair of Nousjadeul-Ger power armors bearing down at him at high speeds. The humanoid-shaped power armors had their shoulder cannons in the ready position and were taking aim at the Excalibur. Van shifted quickly to Battroid, strafing and avoiding the deadly beams of energy while letting loose with a volley from his own gatlin pod. He clipped one in the leg, momentarily taking it out of the fight as it spun out of control, while the other took evasive maneuvers to avoid the oncoming barrage. The power armor fired another blast from its shoulder cannon, but Van brought up the pin-point barrier that blocked the blast, right before he fired another weapon. From the wings attached to the wips, twin ports opened up while the wings repositioned themselves to target the power armor and fired a topaz-hued beam of energy. The beam traveled at near-light speed and struck the power armor. The beam hit the center body, blowing not only a hole through the chest, but tore the left arm out of its socket and sent it spinning and spiralling through the vast cosmos, while the rest of the body drifted lifelessly through the vacuum. So caught up in the moment that Van was unaware of the other power armor, the one he struck first, had recovered and doubled around behind him, grabbing the Excalibur from behind. Van heard the armor's wearer speak in Zeltran over his radio, "/spanspan class="c3" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;"Qaud caed B'ktung!/spanspan class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"" Van smirked at the insult and retorted with a shout./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c5" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Yakh, DECULTURE!" That phrase, once meant to be an expression of something horrible, or even evil, was now like a rallying cry for the Zeltran and Meltran who converted and lived in human culture, and at uttering his defiance, Van gripped the controls and rocketed the Battroid upward before shifting the controls to "Fighter". The Excalibur shifting from its Battroid configuration back into its Fighter form, breaking the power armor's grip on its. It fired its shoulder cannon in response, but the shots were more wild, far less accurate. Van evaded them with ease as he tangled his fighter back to face the power armor, reconfiguring back to Battroid and grabbing the Nousjadeul-Ger in a bear-hug as Van spoke again in Zeltran. "Brang cuantro K'GILL!" At the final malediction, the Excalibur fired its laser cannons again, the point-blank bursts tore through the power armor as though it were made of tissue paper. The pilot inside the armor groaned, then coughed blood as his body cavity was, for all intents and purposes, excruciatingly expanded to include outside the body, while his internal organs were vaprized to nothing. The Excalibur let the armored corpse go to float in the cold vacuum of space, gradually drifting towards Boran, as though the planet were exerting its influence even this far out. The rest of the Black Knights flew through the fray, flying alongside the Star Fox team, to link up with Van's Excalibur./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c3" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;""You alright, Van?" /spanspan class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Jack's voice asked in Van's ear. Van smirked at first before answering, feeling the Zeltran blood in his veins finally burn, the way it was meant to when a Zeltran fought in real battle./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""I'm doing just fine, Jack," Van replied with a wolfish grin. Jack felt a little unsettled upon hearing that. He had heard this tone before from Van only twice before in all the time he's known him, and it was often followed by some violent, nigh-disastrous event. Van then set his eyes on Boran, the besieged planet that was their destination, and his next place for glory and battle, and Van could not contain himself. He gunned the Excalibur forward, shifting to "Fighter" and followed by the rest of the Black Knights and their Star Fox allies./span/p
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p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';" The capital city was a ruin. Buildings and structures that were once so tall one could almost say they could touch the sky were now piles of rubble, hardly recognizable as the towering monoliths built by intelligent hands. The streets were pitted with smoldering holes and littered with the scorched hulks of destroyed vehicles and corpses of the inhabitants of the city. The few survivors hid behind ruins, praying not to die, or huddled in the vast underground bunkers, waiting for the nightmare to be over. The once thriving colony was reduced beneath a shadow of itself as Regult battle pods patrolled the ruined streets while Nousjadeul-Ger power armor stood atop buildings that weren't completely destroyed, overseeing the occupation of the city as they looted the resources. A squad of four Regults patrolled a city block, and were suddenly engulfed in flame, exploding into fiery debris. The nearest power armor saw this, then looked up in the sky as it picked up the presence of several oncoming craft. Without hesitation, it fired on them with its shoulder cannon and hand-held firearm, but it was for naught as the oncoming craft evaded the bolts of energy with ease. That was when three of them slowed and broke away from the group, transfiguring themselves from angular fighter craft into a form between fighter and humanoid machine. The Excaliburs, in their GERWALK configuration, headed for the city, firing their internal laser at the power armor that acted as a scout, decapitating it and severing its left arm and right leg, the armored corpse falling hundred of feet to the ruined street. The Arwings switched to their "All Range" mode, opening up their wings to allow greater maneuverability at the sacrifice of superior speed. The seven craft entered the city and began their work: Prior to entering Boran's atmosphere, a plan was made between both Star Fox and Black Knights. They would go through the capital city and decimate the forces within, as they would not be expecting a handful of fighters to be a great threat. They would take advantage of their crafts' unique abilities to strafe through the city and take out any and all enemies within until the armada can break through the Zentraedi blockade. Fox and Krystal paired up and glided down a street, their engines nearly silent as they powered them through until they came upon an unsuspecting squad of Regult battle pods. Both fired their twin lasers and made short work of them./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Falco and Slippy split off and scoured the rest of the streets, blasting upon any Regult pods they could find. Both maintained radio silence from each other, and the rest of the team, for fear of their signals being picked up and the element of surprise is lost from them./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Quint, meanwhile, guided his Excalibur through the numerous ruined buildings, looking for decent cover to do his own work. He used the Gatling Pod's sniping feature to target and eliminate any power armored targets he could find. He was able to kill three of them so far befor they could alert any others to the goings-on in the occupied city, and was constantly shifting his position before each shot./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Jack cruised about in GERWALK mode, letting loose a barrage of bullets on any Regult squad he came upon, his ammo shredding the battle pods' armor like paper before they fell dead, their hulls smoldering./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Van stalked in GERWALK, but he was focused more on the male power armors, letting loose a barrage of missiles on any he found and were unsuspecting of him. However, he wasn't as inconspicuous as he would have liked; a couple of Nousjadeul-Ger flew at him from the air and fired at him with their sidearms. Van evaded the assault and converted from GERWALK to Battroid, unleashing a barrage upon the two power armors. He managed to kill one, its armored body riddled with bullet holes as it fell to the ruined street below like a rock, bleeding oil, lubricant, and life fluids on the cratered pavement. The other made serpentine movements through the air before ducking behind a barely-standing building. Van reconfigured back into GERWALK and unloaded a payload of missiles upon the structure, bringing it crashing to the ground in cacophonic destruction. Flushed out, the power armor fired its shoulder cannon at the Excaliber, but Van evaded the shot and answered with a barrage from his gunpod, but the power armor's pilot was able to evade in time, jumping up to avoid the barrage. Van turned to Battroid and ducked behind a building as the power armor fired its shoulder cannon upon him, blasting away at his cover. Van rocketed upwards, clearing the building and unleashing a torrent of bullets at his enemy. They struck true, amor-piercing rounds riddling its body with holes as Van landed on top of the building, looking down as the now-armored corpse fell to its knees, then lay face-down on the ruined street./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c5" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Krystal had broken away from Fox and acted on her own, going through the streets while her Arwing hovered a dozen meters off the ruined road, just enough to not crash into the ground, and slow enough to not smash into a building. Her HUD's sensors picked up another Regult squad, and she gunned towards them, coming up from behind and letting loose a charged shot. The ball of energy struck one of them in the back of its head-like body and exploded, destroying it and knocking another into a ruined building with the force of the explosion, burying it in the ruins. The remaining two turned and fired on the oncoming Arwing. Krystal was not able to maneuver very well in the enclosed space, her shields taking the brunt of the damage as she fired back, taking the legs out from one of them as it still fired. She barely flew under the falling Regult before it hit the street, but her shields were seriously depleted, so much so that a few shots from the remaining Regult managed to clip the starboard wing of her Arwing. She spun out of control in her climb, making her an easy target for the remaining Zentraedi below, but she was able to regain control before turning her ship downward and head back into the city, but she knew that it cost them the element of surprise, especially when she heard Fox's voice on her headset crackle in a worried tone. /spanspan class="c3" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;""Krystal, are you alright?!"/span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""I just lost a wing, but I'm alright. I guess I fixed it for us, didn't I?" she replied with a rueful smile./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c3" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;""Don't worry about that, we can still deal some major damage to these guys! Let's link up and head back in together!"/spanspan class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';" Krystal didn't have the chance to respond, for she was pounced from above by a Regult pod jumping up and firing down, intent on smashing her fighter with its weight. She was able to avoid that fate with quick, reflexive work, but it still fired upon her, damaging her Arwing extensively. She was falling as she tried to turn to face her attacker, making contact with the ground and creating a furrow in the street that had her facing the oncoming battle pod. In desperation, Krystal fired a charged shot, but the attack was wild and poorly aimed. However, its succeeded in striking the pod in the legs and blowing them off, along with a lower portion of the pod itself, sending it hurtling to the ground with a great crash. Krystal let out a sigh of relief, but seeing movement coming from the pod made her pause for a moment. She saw what looked like a hatch open up from behind the pod, and a hand come out. It grabbed the ruined hull, and was followed by an arm, head, and body of a gigantic being. In horrified fascination, Krystal watched as a forty foot tall giant alien climbed out of the pod wearing a kind of armored space suit and take uneasy steps towards her wrecked fighter. She saw it take its helmet off of its head and throw it to the ruined road, smashing a totaled vehicle underneath. And when she saw its face, she was stunned. It was bruised and bloodied, but it had the face of a human with burning eyes that showed murderous intent. She tried to fire at it, but her Arwing was too badly damaged and the lasers were inoperable. The Zentraedi continued to shamble towards her, blood coming from different parts of its body, and yet with each step it seemed as though it grew more sure of itself, as though it were regaining its strength from its intent to kill alone. The Cerinian tried to open her cockpit, but even that failed to function and called for Fox in desperation as the alien finally loomed over her, looking down at her as it raised a fist intent on smashing the canopy, fuselage, and the pilot within. Krystal reflexively threw up her arms to ward off the oncoming blow, but it never came. Coming from the side, an Excalibur in Battroid mode slammed itself into the Zentraedi, sending it flying into a building and almost embedding it into the ruined structure. Inside, Van aimed the gunpod at the prone alien, but when he squeezed the trigger, the gunpod wouldn't fire. In all the fighting, he had neglected to keep a count on his ammo and had spent it all. This gave the Zentraedi the moment it needed to tear itself from the ruins and lunged at the Excalibur and tackle it to the ground. As both grappled to the death, The Zentraedi was atop the Excalibur, one arm being held back while its free hand grasped the Excalibur's head, trying to tear it free from its shoulders. Gritting his teeth, Van had the Battroid rise up, its own mechanized strength surpassing its alien counterpart as it pushed, then threw, the Zentraedi off of its body, sending it crashing into another building face first. Van pressed the advantage, lunging forward and striking from behind and grabbing the Zentraedi by the back of the head to smash its face into the ruined building again, and again, and again, while inside Van roared in fury and rage, his warrior's blood all but a raging inferno in his veins as it took hold of his mind. The Zentraedi countered with an elbow to the Excalibur's head and turned about, swinging a fist into its metal face, but this did little save for making the Battroid back up half a step and bruising the Zentraedi's knuckles. Van responded by striking a blow to the Zentraedi's guts with a solid uppercut, and as the Zentraedi doubled over, the Battroid brought both hands together and slammed them down on the Zentraedi's back, sending it crashing to the ground face first. The Battroid then got atop the alien and grasped its head with both hands as it tried to rise, to dislodge the murderous machine from its back, but the Battroid performed a quick twist, so fast it was done in practically the blink of an eye. The body jerked for a second, then was still as the Zentraedi's eyes rolled into its head and went dark as the Battroid released its hold to let the body fall limply to the ground. Van breathed heavily as tried to calm himself, perspiration rolling down his face in large droplets. He shifted his attention to the damaged Arwing and guided the Excalibur towards it. He spoke over the PA system when he was able to get a better hold on himself./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c3" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;""Krystal, are you alright?" /spanspan class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"But the Cerinian didn't answer, she was too in shock from seeing the Zentraedi, to the fight between it and the Excalibur, and seeing the blood of the Zentraedi on the metal hull of the Excalibur. Van tried calling her, but Krystal made no effort to respond. It was then that Fox had flown in./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c3" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;""Van, is Krystal alright?" /spanspan class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"he asked, landing his Arwing./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c3" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;""I don't know, she won't respond to me."/spanspan class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';" Fox jumped out and ran towards Krystal's damaged craft, scaling the fuselage easily and looking inside the cracked canopy to see the prone Cerinian within, seemingly staring at nothing. Fox tried to open the cockpit, but the canopy wouldn't budge. He then took out his blaster and shouted for Krystal to cover her face before using it to strike where the cracks originated from, smashing the canopy after a couple of attempts. It was only after Fox grabbed her that Krystal sprang to life, letting out panicked gasps and a yell as Fox dragged her out. She fought against him for a moment before he called her name and she looked at him as though for the first time and all but collapsed in Fox's arms, burying her face in his chest. Fox only held her close as he looked up at the Battroid, and at Van, and saw the blood stained hull of the machine clearly, the image causing a spring of dread to run up Fox's spine as he suddenly wondered about the Zentraedi, and humans./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c5" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';" The battle in orbit around Boran was all but over when the capital city was captured. Despite being almost hopelessly outnumbered, the combined Lylat and Terran fleet was able to rout the Zentraedi forces, with the /spanspan class="c3" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;"Megalord/spanspan class="c5" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';" firing its Reflex Cannon at the retreating ships, wiping out a third of the remaining host before they folded into deep space. There was a triumphant cheer over the radio waves as the commanders of the ships relayed the orders for all fighters, soldiers, and crews to stand down. The Cornerian fighters, numbering to little more than a few dozen, returned to the handful of ships that still operated, though they be burnt, pitted, and scarred by the heat of battle. Meanwhile, the lone/spanspan class="c3" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;" /spanspan class="c5" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Northampton-class ship was lost, half its crew able to escape and were picked up by the /spanspan class="c3" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;"Megalord/spanspan class="c5" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';", while the/spanspan class="c3" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;" Lexington/spanspan class="c5" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';" lost most of its drone fighters, but fortunately it received word that its Excalibur squadron survived. All that was left was mop up on the surface as the Zentraedi scattered about the planet while the /spanspan class="c3" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;"Megalord/spanspan class="c5" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';" and/spanspan class="c3" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;" Lexington/spanspan class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';" descended. On the ground, both Star Fox and Black Knights teams had rendezvoused in the center of the city, save for Krystal's damaged Arwing. Fox had received from General Pepper that the battle was over, and the Terran ships were descending to help mop up the area./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Good to know, General."/span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c3" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;""I would like for you to stay on Boran and assist in the clean up efforts. Of course, there'll be an added bonus to your fee if you do so," /spanspan class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"General Pepper replied, a smile on his holographic hound-like features. Fox returned it with a slight smirk./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""No complaints on our end. What about the Terrans?"/span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c1" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;""That's for them to decide. If they want their team back, not much we can say about it."/span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Understood, General. We'll keep in touch." As Fox returned his holo-communicator to its pocket, he turned and saw the humand mingling with his team./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""We just got the word to return back to our ship," Jack stated./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Our mission here was a success. The capital city is, more or less, liberated from the Zentraedi. All that's left are the few stragglers around the planet, and they don't have the support of an armada anymore," Quint added./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Well, it's been interesting," Falco replied with a two-fingered salute and a grin./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Hope we meet up again, in better circumstances," Slippy added. Krystal didn't say anything, only looked to Van. Both shared a momentary glance, but Van turned away and headed for his Excalibur. As the ships lifted up in their GERWALK forms, they turned to their Fighter configurations and blasted off towards the oncoming Terran ships. On the way back, Van received a private signal, recognizing it as Fox's frequency./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Yes, captain?" Van answered, keying it in./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c3" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;""I have a request for you," /spanspan class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Fox answered./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""What is it?"/span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c3" style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;"I think it would be best if you kept your distance from Krystal. I don't want you answering any messages from her right now, and I don't want you contacting her. Am I understood?" /spanspan class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Van paused for a moment, unsure how to respond./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Is that you're asking as her commanding officer?" Van asked. Another pause, and Fox answered./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c1" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic;""Yes, it is. And as her friend."/span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Understood." Van keyed the frequency off./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';" On the ground, Fox let out a heavy sigh as he sat in his Arwing. He hated this, but for now he felt it best that they keep their distance until he felt more sure about Van, and humans. The striking similarities between them haunted him, and he just wasn't sure./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Hey Fox!" Falco called from the ground. "What's the word?" Fox got up and jumped to the ground./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""The good General wants us to stay here and mop up the planet. There's an added bonus if we stay and help out."/span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Sounds good to me," Falco replied./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""I'm concerned about Krystal's Arwing. With the beating it took, she's going to need a new pair of wings," Slippy replied./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""It's fine," Fox added. "I'll take her to the Great Fox myself and get here squared away."/span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Want me all to yourself?" Krystal teased. Fox simply shrugged as he gestured to his Arwing. Krystal hopped in the back seat while Fox took the pilot's./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Try not to kill all the bad guys till we get back, alright?" Fox said to Falco./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""I only promise to try," Falco replied. Fox smirked and closed the canopy, having the Arwing hover above the ground before engaging the thrusters and headed for the atmosphere./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""That's odd," Krystal commented./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""What is?" Fox asked./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""I'm trying to message Van to tell him I'm fine, but it's not getting through, it's like he has me blocked or something."/span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Huh, weird. Maybe it's just poor reception where he's at or something. I wouldn't worry about it." Fox felt a little tense, wondering if she'd buy it./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""You're right, of course." Fox felt relief at her answer, and felt even better when the Great Fox was coming into view. "Hey, you got that band thing coming up with Faye and them, right?"/span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""It starts in a month, yes, which means after this mission I need to get ready."/span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Knock 'em dead!" Fox replied with a thumbs up over his shoulder. Krystal laughed lightly embraced Fox from behind./span/p
p class="c0 c2" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15; height: 11pt;" /p
p class="c0" style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; padding-top: 0pt; padding-bottom: 0pt; line-height: 1.15;"span class="c4" style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Thanks, Fox."/span/p