The Warhawk was almost ready after a week of work. Slippy brought his father Beltino Toad to study the old bird. Cody was rather protective of his Warhawk, and they could tell he was stressed and tired. He clung to his tools and kept working and grabbed a note pad started doing sketches for the tires. In what they could decipher from the sketch the tires were stuffed with rags and scraps of clothing held together with wire.

Slippy scanned the Warhawk's internals. "All the wiring fuel lines instrument cables gaskets are rotted. The tires almost don't exist anymore, and the fuel tanks are wrapped in thick layers of rotted rubber."

Sturges spoke up. "Slippy they were self-sealing fuel tanks with two layers of rubber outside layer is synthetic the one underneath is natural untreated when a round punches a hole the natural rubber swells sealing the tank preventing a fire. I've been studying the documents Liberator gave us the history and engineering are quite interesting."

He turned to Cody. "Kid calm down freaking out is not gonna make this bird fly. We all know your scared about this threat Liberator told us but all we can do is wait till we can get parts."

Cody did his best not to raise his voice. "Look the longer we wait the more of said threat is coming. I don't care if we must use duct tape bubble gum and prayer."

Beltino gave a fatherly smile. "Hey, we've been there but good news I have a surprise for you a couple of close friends of mine wish to help."

The door opened and walking in were Nathan Farah, Mr. Phoenix Josh Katt all came to see his first flight.

Cody was surprised. "You all came to see me fly? Sorry to say but right now we don't have the parts."

Fara patted him on the shoulder and smiled. "Well lucky for you my old man and I own a majority stake in Space Dynamics so what we say goes."

Cody looked confused. "Why though us Minutemen haven't been able to do much for you just yet and only now are we rebuilding?"

Fara answered. "We did have some hiccups Evan's little breakdown and Bill's great idea to make the crew of an ancient battleship angry come to mind, but Nathan and Josh have been nothing short of joy to have. Josh has explained the Minutemen's history in detail including his own experience. Nathan especially has been a huge help watching my little sister Lilly. Your speech was intense, to say the least, but you gave our people hope and we want to give that hope to your people too. Imagine how the people of the commonwealth will feel to see your fighter flying from what Fox told me most human nations lost their ability to reach the sky."

Cody showed a forlorn smile. "Well, we lost so much technology when the bombs fell, Liberator told me stories of space expeditions the U.S. even had colonies on our moon. I'm curious though Pepper said your government forbid any military aid to the Minutemen or any other outsiders."

Fara showed a smug grin. "Like I said what I say goes it's a matter of safety after all last thing anyone wants is for you to fall out of the sky in flames or the engine to seize making you either bail out or glide it back. Oh, and this sketch you made that's a recipe for a fatal crash if I've ever seen one. Not to worry we'll make the parts needed Sturges please hand us the blueprints."

Sturges replied. "Only if Cody gets to oversee the process. Now Fara how much do you love your Starfighter?"

Fara's grin widened with pride in her eyes. "Well, it's my baby got her black paint job redone and polished and not to brag but we installed a new version of the G-Diffuser."

Sturges answered. "Well think about how Cody feels about his Warhawk it's his key to touching the skies. Well kid you behave yourself and go with Fara I need some sleep everything aches."

The Warhawk was lowered using the tractor beam and rolled into Fara's personal hangar right next to her Arwing. Her engineers helped Cody while Fay observed curiosity in her eyes. Cranes lifted out the fuel tanks and rubber crumbled onto the floor. A small cleaning drone deployed from its charging socket. Cody pulled a small chisel and hammer from the toolbox. He carefully chipped away at the remaining rubber. Space Dynamics's engineers got to work on making the needed parts. They were done within a few minutes. The parts were made of a super advanced rubber-like material, but it wasn't rubber, it was something far better. Cody didn't ask about it simply caring that it worked.

The engineers reinstalled the fuel tanks while Cody installed the new instrument cables. Tailor-made fuel, hydraulic fluid, and oil were all poured in. Steps were taken to make sure everything was working properly. Small crane arms lifted the Warhawk off its new tires. Fara gave her instructions.

"Close landing gear and open it."

Cody flicked the switch the gear closed neatly then unfolded back.

"Ok landing flaps combat flaps takeoff then raise."

The flaps lowered to combat takeoff landing and raised.

"Use the pedals to move the tail rudder."

Cody spoke up. "Um, Fara?"

She walked over and peered into the cockpit seeing his legs could not reach the rudder petals she lifted him out. "Don't worry we'll get it fixed. I'm pleased that you're not afraid of grunt work or grease unlike some. She then glared at Fay."

Fay answered. "What? Grease is hard to get out of my fur. I'm a pilot, not a mechanic."

An hour later the changes to the petals and a custom seat made for Cody's size were installed. Sturges brought in two crates on a hover platform. On the crates was the Minutemen emblem. He cracked it open inside were tens of thousands of 50-cal and 30-cal rounds along with a note.

"Fara, do you have translating glasses or something I can't read this?"

Fara walked in with her visor. "Why can't you read this isn't it in your native language?"

Cody was redder than Pre-War China. "I never tried to learn always skipped out on lessons to do guard duty or recon. I'm a soldier, not a scholar. Please just read it for me."

The note was in fine cursive Fara's visor translated and she read it. "Dear Cody, I did the best I could had to work with what I could get these tracers may not work right so let me know your General Liberator."

Fara smiled. "He must love you very much I couldn't imagine Pepper doing menial labor of any kind let alone making ammo. On another note do you want the radio replaced?"

Cody answered. "No without shields your electronics would get ate up by the rads sure it's as old as the Warhawk but it works Sturges tested it thoroughly now I have work to do."

He held one of the massive ammo belts all used steel casings. Some rounds were jacketless lead others pure steel armor-piercing rounds. He opened the wing panels and started loading the 30 cals. Two of the 30 cals held five hundred rounds while the other two held four hundred eighty rounds each. When he finished, he moved on to the 50 cals. He picked up one of the belts, it was three times heavier than the 30 cal belts. He pushed on opening the panels in the nose loading the 50 cals with two hundred thirty-five rounds each. Fara checked in on him.

"Wow I was going to get my drones to do it but you really don't lie around."

Cody shrugged. "Can you blame me? Can't wait to deliver death from above. All I need are some mini nuke racks and I'll have Deathclaws running. So, we ready for the range?"

Fara nodded. "It's ready let's see how good your General did."

The Warhawk was rolled into another facility. Beside it were Starfighters testing their laser cannons. Cody climbed in and a drone with a crane arm rolled up behind it lifting till the guns were aimed right at the target. Cody looked down the sight. He held the trigger and button, firing all the guns. The sound was deafening casings and belt links clattered all over the floor as the Brownings roared. He let go all guns smoking and sizzling heat haze emanating from the guns. Cody showed a toothy grin.

Next was the final step. Star Fox took off ready to monitor his progress. The engineers reloaded the guns with full belts while Sturges told him all the engine controls. They were more complex than he thought from propeller pitch fuel mixture radiators cowling flaps. Sturges did his best to explain everything. Cody strapped himself in parachute on and belts buckled. The new seat and pedals fit like a glove. He grabbed his headset that Sturges salvaged and fixed.

Sturges radioed in. *Heavy static* "Alright kid give her a go."

Cody flicked the battery and generator switch causing a calm wining whir sound. He eased the throttle to idle and closed the canopy. He switched the main fuel tank on and the fuel pump. He pushed and pulled the primer a few times. The whir grew louder. He took a deep breath pressing the ignition. With a sputter and growl, the engine roared to life fire belching from the exhaust. The V12 Allsion ran smoothly but to the Cornerians the noise it made on idle was unbearable after a minute. With the coolant and oil warmed Cody pushed the throttle and adjusted propeller pitch and flaps. Faster and faster the engine roared as he increased the throttle. Then for the first time in over three hundred years, the Warhawk took flight. He raised the flaps and gear gaining altitude.

He turned left then right feeling for the Warhawk's characteristics. He used combat flaps and cut throttle the turns being much sharper, but the g force was intense almost causing him to black out. Realizing his mistake he straightened out vision slowly returning to normal. He heaved as Krystal radioed in.

"Careful Cody you don't have the tolerance for those kinds of maneuvers just, yet you don't have G-Diffusers like us nor the training."

Cody just heaved. *Heavy static* "Noted."

This became a trend they noticed when they radioed each other. It was clear but whenever Cody received messages or radioed them it came back laced with static to the point they had to repeat. Of course, what else could they expect from a three-century-old radio?

Pepper deployed several large training drones. "Ok Cody Sturges told me about those Vertibirds that may be out there I programmed these drones to behave like them their speed is limited to four hundred kilometers, and they have no shields take them out."

Cody radioed back. *Heavy static* "Copy that Pepper sit back and watch the fireworks."

He turned around aiming down the gun sight as the drone fired training bolts some hit nicking the frail paint Cody let out an annoyed grunt firing the 30 cals. The tracers were all sorts of colors red, green, orange, white. The drone erupted into flames spinning to the ground. After learning the pattern, he approached them at angles avoiding most of the fire. After destroying the last one a new drone was deployed this time with shields.

Pepper gave a new order. "Now Cody this one has light shields we want to test the effectiveness of your guns fire away."

Cody flew behind the drone firing the 30 cals. This time the bullets just merely bounced off. Annoyed, he slowed down a bit this time firing both 30 and 50 cals. After six seconds of continuous fire almost jamming his guns and hundreds of rounds only then did the shields fail and the droid went down."

Cody radioed. *Heavy static* "You call that light shielding almost burnt my guns out trying to kill the thing."

Training was not over before landing they flew together Star Fox Fara and Cody all in formation slowed down to speed knowing he couldn't reach any supersonic speed. Cody shook his wings in salute before landing. The Warhawk came to a halt. He opened the canopy. The experience was surreal. Now he realized why Star Fox and Fara were so attached to their Arwings. It was one thing to have someone fly you but to be the pilot to be in control was so much more exciting.

The flight was broadcasted by the Cornerian media. The people were thrilled best of all they saw a softer side to Cody his hopeful side. They also got a good chuckle about the shields. It was also thrilling to see a child of a grounded species reach the skies again. The Warhawk also got their attention. It was so cool and strange seeing such an ancient design, all mechanical, with no computers or G-Diffusers.

Cody got himself a shower and bundled up in his new robe. Fox patted him on the head. "Hey, kit you alright?"

Cody beamed. "I never felt something like that till now. Thank you for everything."

Fox hugged him. "You're welcome but Cody you've also been a light in our life it's been a long while since Krystal has been so happy she's had trouble with nightmares of her own planet much like you?"

Cody frowned. "Her planet?"

Fox's ears folded in remorse. "Andross committed omnicide on Cerinia destroying it. That's why she's so attached to you. You're not the last of your planet but you are the last of your unit. You know what it's like to have everything you love wiped out. With you she has a duty, a maternal one it keeps the nightmares at bay. Vera told us about what happened at Independence."

Cody nodded. "Yeah, I confess it's been horrible that's why I'm so addicted to chems and killing. As long as I'm on the move fighting place to place with a shot of psycho in my arm everything is well fine it's what I've grown used to. Help people here kill the bad guys over there. Now that we're mainly just biding our time and gaining strength, the nightmares are getting worse. Scared the shit out of Evan he finally fell asleep in his armor, and I started screaming, poor guy almost grabbed his minigun."

Cody became a bit more frantic. "I'm still scared of what will happen when the war is over. Will I be cast aside like a piece of equipment, a weapon without a war, a weapon without a purpose? Even if a new war happens will I be so far gone I'm useless anyway? Will I be left to die or shot out back?"

He began to break. Fox shouted. "CODY NO SUCH THING WILL HAPPEN WE WILL MAKE SURE OF IT! IF YOU DON'T HAVE A PLACE THERE YOU HAVE ONE HERE! WHATEVER HAPPENS, WE WILL BE THERE!"

Cody cried a little. "Come on kit let's go to bed we'll talk about it tomorrow everything will be ok."

That night Krystal held on to him a little tighter.