Invasion Three: The Second War
Avisk sat back and rubbed the base of his neck with one of his four hands absently.
Around him the various computer equipment hummed, sometimes chirping softly. He was used to it and ignored it, concentrating on the assorted printouts.
He wasn’t too pleased with what he saw.
It hadn’t been necessary to tell the Lylatians the entire truth, even if they had been the saviors as far as the small transport ship was concerned. And it had been best that the Ranits had kept various things secret. Their reputation was already stained, and if those secrets got out, it would be even worse.
But now, he didn’t know if he could get around telling the Lylatians absolutely everything.
He hopped down from the chair and walked on six of the eight pairs of limbs he had, his first pair of hands tucked up against his chest. He wore a version of a lab coat and that was all.
The slender corridor was lined with supercomputers and wires between them. He had requested placement here because that was what he was used to…it was practically all he had ever known.
He stopped and leaned his shoulder against the base of one of the machines, feeling its vibration. The cold of the building didn’t bother him. He was used to that too.
After a few minutes, he went down a flight of stairs, walking on his four legs, giving him a centaurly posture.
“Hi Avisk.” Said one of the Lylatian scientists in the lounge; nose buried in a coffee mug. “Pulling another all nighter?”
“Afraid so.” He replied in a worried tone, lying on a couch; stretched as far as the couch length would let him.
“What’s wrong?”
“I found something I don’t like…”
“What?”
He turned his slender, lizardy muzzle to look at the Lylatian. “I need to talk to the high-rollers as soon as possible.”
“Incoming message from Corneria.” ROB said.
“Coming.” James said, slapping the receive button. “Hello General Pepper. What’s up?”
“We’ve got a Ranit down here who’s found something. We need you to bring the team to StarLab, like right now.”
StarLab was in charge of space research. It was also in charge of weapons design and such. It was the government think tank, so to speak.
“We’ll be there.”
“This is important, James.” Pepper hung up.
“Okay, ROB, let’s do as the man says.”
Avisk stood on the carpet and fidgeted, holding a notebook to his chest. He looked around. A waiting room, meant to be comfortable. But he couldn’t have been more uncomfortable. It wasn’t what he was used to.
The double doors opened, and a guard gestured. “You can come in now.”
He took a deep breath and walked forward and through the doors.
He had been afraid it would be like a meeting room from home, but it wasn’t. It was a small debriefing room. There weren’t that many there…he recognized Commanding General Pepper, a few of the president’s advisors, and the entire of the Star Fox team…who he only knew because of the silver jackets.
They nodded to him, and General Pepper wove him to the podium. The requested projector and computer was nearby. The lights dimmed, and the people settled down a little.
He nervously walked up to the podium, tapped the mic, and started to speak.
“When the refugee ship came here we did not tell your people everything. We didn’t see it as necessary. It might well be necessary now.” He reached over and put a CD into the computer and tapped the keyboard. The projector flared to life, showing a 3D map of the known star systems. “That’s what you’ve mapped correct?”
“Yes indeed.” Said a voice from the crowd.
He tapped the keyboard again, somewhat awkwardly as he didn’t have the right style for his hands, and a larger, far more complex map came up. It showed over quadruple what the first map had. “That’s what we’ve mapped out.”
“Oh, my god.” Said General Pepper, staring up at it. “You’ve mapped all of our galaxy?”
“Yes indeed, and ours as well.” Avisk nervously cleared his throat. He was the only Ranit who didn’t need a translator. “You were under the impression that the fleet was simply going to, er, exterminate you and move in… That’s not true.”
“I believe we’d like the truth, Dr. Avisk.” Pepper said.
“My kind…have believed for many years that we were the most advanced in the universe. We took that mentality to space, I’m afraid. They took over many inhabited systems…enslaved their people…tried to bring the poor innocents up to their standards…” He closed his eyes. “We age slower. I have seen far too much.
The scouts in the fleet found this system ten of your years ago, but they timed it so you’d be fighting when they arrived. I guess they hoped that you’d continue to wipe each other out. The less military left to resist the better in the mind of the Fleet Commander. There was a time when I used to agree and now I know better.
Lylat was just going to be another takeover. You’re the first to stop them, beat them. I don’t think anyone of my race is pleased about it either.” He leaned heavily on the podium. “I’ve picked up some disturbing signals…I think that they might try to take over again.”
A murmur went through the group as the lights came up.
“Other intelligent races?” Dr. Breston asked.
“Yes indeed.” Avisk’s two sets of fingers flew across his specialized keyboard easily, accessing information buried in one of StarLab’s supercomputers.
Pictures came up.
“Seven other races.” He continued. Odd strain marked his voice. “Ch’ari, Janus, Mitar, Gelgar, and three which have lost their names completely.” He tapped the pictures as he named them.
The Ch’ari were a fragile-looking, insectlike race, resembling large butterflies or dragonflies. Avisk had met a few Chi’ari. They were empathic beings…like the Ranit often were. He shuddered. Too much horror in these memories, like so many of his memories.
Janus were a short, four-legged race, covered in thick, short feathers. They looked rolly-polly so to speak, short and rather thick around the middle. They were a completely peaceful race, having developed no weapons, turning their technologies to improving their planet. Now their home was desicrated and they were often servants in rich Ranit’s households, holding small jobs. They had grown automatically nervous and paranoid. They were not to be trusted anymore. But if you looked into their almond-shaped eyes, you saw intelligence and pain…
The Mitar were an airborn race, tall with huge wings. They lived in skyscrapers which could only be entered by flying. Their planet had no tilt to it, and had very few large bodies of water. They were a conservative race, much tied into the land… They had at first met the Ranit with open arms, eager to share their knowledge…until the take over really began. Now there were few. Avisk suspected that there would soon be none.
Gelgar were intelligent water beings. Their cities were so well hidden from beings on the surface that the Ranit had almost missed them entirely. They had been wary, and when they saw the very beginning of the takeover, fled into the deepest waters, the most hidden cities. But a few submarines had taken care of that…
Avisk felt a familiar tightness growing in his shoulders, back, and chest as he looked at the last three pictures.
The loss of names…they were silent nobodies, always servants and slaves, oppressed and unwanted. Two of the races were dull looking, never sporting bright colors or attractive patterns. That alone made them a target of disgust.
Oh, but the last…many artists had gotten rich with their plantation artwork that included the last race at work. There were a few musicians and composers who had them sing on disk, for their beautiful, flutelike voices. But their minds were ignored, their bodies beat and crippled, their presence ignored except for their beauty. But oh the worst…seeing their downy, gorgeous fur…in stores…
“Dr. Avisk. Dr. Avisk…?”
He reopened his eyes. “I’m sorry, Bruce.”
“That’s okay, it’s just that…you looked so sad and angry…” The Lylatian dog’s brown eyes were concerned.
“I’m fine.” He forced himself to say firmly. But they aren’t. He mentally added, looking at the pictures one last time, then turning away. These eyes have seen too much and this heart has broken far too many times.
“You think they’ll attack again?” American President Wallace asked.
“That’s what Dr. Avisk said could happen. He didn’t say when though, or how many.” Cornerian President Peterson sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.
Wallace leaned on the balcony railing, looking out over Corneria City. “Thanks for inviting me here by the way.”
“No problem. I’ve been to your capitol, so I figured you could come to mine. Shall we get down to business?”
“Guess we have to. All the papers are signed. Guess we’re going to be fighting side by side on this one.”
They went back into the office.
“I’ve got someone I want you to meet. This is the Ranit who caught the possible attack. Meet Dr. Avisk.”
The human and the Ranit shook hands.
Avisk looked at President Peterson with begging eyes. “Sir…if you win this one…I ask a favor of you.”
“What would that be?”
He closed his eyes. “Go into their systems and push them back to their home planet… I’m not asking for another war sir. I’m asking for a rescue.”
“A rescue?”
“Yes.”
The two VIPs exchanged looks.
“Maybe you should tell us more, Avisk.”
“It’s a long story sir…and not particularly a pleasant one either…”
“I think we’ve got to know if you want us to even consider a ‘rescue.’” Wallace said.
He nodded. “You are right. I’ll try to keep it short.”
“So you’re Fox McCloud huh? I’ve been wanting to meet you for quite some time. I’m Captain Sam Jackson, leader of Firewall Squad. We’re the best Earth has to offer, and we’ve heard you guys aren’t so bad yourselves.”
Fox blinked at the young human pilot even as they shook hands. “Pleased to meet you. As for our skill, we let other people judge us, and we just do our best.”
“I suppose you know the whole story…about the war.” Said Peppy, leaning back on the wall absently.
“Yes indeed.”
“Then you know how we ended up together.” Wolf said. “We don’t always get along, of course. We’ve all got things we do which annoy each other chronically. But we are able to work together well. I hope we work with you as well. To do that, we’re going to have to respect you and you’re going to have to respect us.”
“We accept that, of course.” Jackson replied.
“Well good. Then let’s take a lap so we can see how each other perform.” James said. “See you in the air.”
That surprised the Firewall squad, but within a few seconds all of the Star Fox team was gone, to their fighters, so they went along with it.
Firewall’s planes had been designed and built on Earth, and were the most high-tech fighter in existence as far as what Earth had made. But there had been and still were arguments about if they were superior to the arwing.
“Okay let’s show them what we can do. Remember that routine we did for the airshow before we went to investigate Earth?” Fox asked.
A line of affirmatives came back.
“Let’s do that as a warm up. Fall in!”
The team did so.
Five minutes later, Jackson spoke up on the radio. “Good teamwork I have to say. What is that anyways?”
“Airshow routine we did a while ago.” Falco replied. “We do things like that sometimes. Keeps us from being bored when nothing else is going on.” The arwings shifted formation some, becoming a V with a triangle on either side. Fox, Wolf, Bill, Fara, and Katt made up the V, and the remaining members split up to create the triangle formations.
“Shall we call their bluff?” Jackson said.
His squad, which consisted of eight pilots, whooped.
From then on it was a competition, and after a while, James and Peppy dropped from their squad and the even groups did mock dogfights.
But in the end there was no victor.
The teams had tied. They were dead even.
Or at least when out of combat.
Miya ran through the forest, rain dripping off the branches at hitting her. Shouts rang out behind her, and she heard the Ranits coming.
Her triheart pounded in terror as she crawled through the grass, mud getting on her small hands and on her knees, hiding in the brush, lying on the ground. As an afterthought she rolled, covering her bright, downy fur in mud, then lay still, still gasping for breath.
A fluting screech of pain, fear, and death came from the plantation. She shuddered, thin fingers digging into the ground.
“FIND HER! I don’t care how! Just find her!” Shouted a voice angrily, harshly.
A hand clamped her muzzle shut suddenly, and she almost fainted. She tensed up, preparing to struggle.
“Shhh…” Said a voice in her ear. “Still as a star, nameless one. I can save you.”
Four arms lifted her and held her, and the Ranit leapt to the branches above, climbing, then silently leapt to another tree.
After several moments like this, the Ranit dropped down into a field. Using only his back pair of arms to carry her, he dropped down to all limbs, sliding through the grass. She was barely off the ground.
The blue grass was very tall, in fact the Ranit could have stood and been able to barely look above the tops.
They came to a place where the grass has arranged into a small, round area, where the grass had been arranged into rainproof walls and a roof, invisible from almost all points, including the air.
The Ranit set her down in the center of this dry area, then turned and used one hand to gently arrange the grass over the entrance.
They were hidden.
Miya shivered, still partly covered in mud, and the rest of her was soaking wet. She was also scared.
The Ranit fetched a bag from a cubby in the area, and took out a towel. “Come here little one.”
She slowly crawled over to him.
He dried her as best he could, frowning when he found the bleeding gash on her shoulder.
“Who are you?” She whispered.
He smiled. “A friend.”
“No Ranits have ever been nice to me.” She said in a quiet, matter-of-fact tone. “They praise me for my work, my singing, my…coat… But it’s all faked.”
“There is a first time for everything, little one.” He said softly, cleaning the wound gently.
She stared at him. She had gotten the wound dodging a blow that would have meant death and her fur being worn by some…Ranit. She had been hurt before, and the wounds had always been taken care of with upmost of care, like some snob tending a damaged valuable. But this Ranit was different. He used real care, not to keep her fur in prime condition, but to help her heal and cause as little pain as possible. “Who are you?” She repeated weakly, leaning her chin on his shoulder. She felt shivery and weak.
“A friend…who knows your name.” He looked her in the eyes and returned to cleaning the gash. “No race is nameless.”
She used her vision to trace the lines at the corner of his eyes, the ever-so-slight silvering of the velvety fur. “You’re…”
“Not an elder. I won’t be for several more years. I am older middle-aged.” He finished with the cut. “I know a lot though. My job has allowed me to know a lot about many races…including yours. The…”
She put a finger to his lips. “Names have power.”
“Indeed. Mine is Avisk.”
“Miya.”
There was a whistle, and a flash of light.
When Avisk woke up, he was lying on his side on the grass, bleeding from a number of flesh wounds along his side. He lifted his head slowly.
Miya was dead.
He closed his eyes to the blood, to the hurtful site. He lowered his head back on the grass with a moan.
“Well well, Dr. Avisk. Somehow I’m not surprised…” Said a low, angry voice…
Avisk awoke with a gasp.
He was lying in bed in a cold sweat. The covers were kicked off, along with most of the pillows.
He moaned and lay on his stomach, setting his head on one of the remaining pillows.
The dream was always the same. Always.
He looked at the scars on his side. By some irony, they formed a crude letter “M”.
Exiled for assisting a runaway, who he hadn’t been able to save.
Maybe, he thought. That ‘m’ on my side is for ‘misery.’
He had displayed signs of his intelligence since birth. He had only been a few years old when he was whisked away to be tested and trained. It was proven he was a potential genius.
And he was…but he thought too hard on the wrong things, according to his boss. He saw things that others ignored, and heard things others blocked out. He was too sensitive, they had told him. Ignore it. It’s been going on for years…
That’s why it’s wrong! He had shouted. But they had said he was in for a treason sentence if he didn’t shut up and fast.
So he did. He wrapped himself in his job. The computers became his life.
Then, on a walk where he wasn’t supposed to be, he had seen one of the nameless running.
And he had to help.
It wasn’t just that once. He did it again and again for over a year…successfully getting the runaways to safer work, kinder owners. There was no such thing as freedom for them, only the kind and the cruel.
Miya had been his first failed.
And with it came his exile.
He moaned, thumping the bed with his fist. He often wondered how almost all of his kind seemed so heartless.
He had concluded a while back it was because of two things. First, they didn’t know any better, and thought they were doing the right thing. Second, they didn’t care. So those that did were outcasts, exiles, few and far between.
But still he wondered why they were, and why the others just couldn’t see what was right…even if he knew…
“I like this ship, man.” Commented Drake, one of the human pilots, kicking back in the kitchen. “It’s more…homey, I guess. More friendly inside then most military cruisers.”
Stephanie, one of the three girls, glanced at him. She was pouring herself coffee. “What do you think of the StarFox team?”
“They’re nice on the whole. Modest too.”
“I noticed. They seem pretty close-knit.” She left the room and wandered down the hallway.
“Falco growls every time he hears us going back and forth on the lines from JCS.” Fox remarked; playing the upright piano that was onboard.
“I noticed.” Wolf leaned on the piano absently. “Hey, I recognize what you’re playing…”
“Trying to play. I’m not good at piano.”
“Okay while we’re talking about that musical… Favorite songs.”
“Sang or listen to?”
“Both.”
“Sang? Heaven on Their Minds, What’s the Buzz. Listen to? The Temple.”
“All that, and I still can’t sing.” Wolf laughed.
“Oh we may make a singer of you yet…”
“Only if you actually learn to act!”
Fox also laughed.
“Excuse me for eavesdropping…but what were you talking about?” Stephanie asked, standing in the doorway.
“We were in a musical at the Academy a few years back. I can’t act and he can’t sing.” Fox replied. “And we hated each other then…and the teacher in charge MADE us work together…”
She grinned.
“Fox?” Slippy called over the intercom. “I’m working on your plane, and you said you wanted the settings changed…could you come down to the bay?”
Fox stood and pressed the button. “Coming Slip.” He left the room.
Wolf picked up the songbook, and something fell out. Steph picked it up. “A newspaper article?”
“Yeah. The musical made the front page of the metro paper.” Wolf shrugged, noodling on the piano with one finger. Music had never been something he was good at.
She sat down and started playing.
“Piano lessons?” He guessed.
She nodded. “I’m a terrible singer though.”
“You’re ahead of me. Anything that includes music seems to come to me hard. Fox is trying to teach me how to sing but it’s slow going.”
They continued talking and were shortly good friends.
Jackson glared at his plane. He had collided with one of the Star Fox team members and lost half a wing, and had no idea how to fix it. He didn’t do repairs…always had the mechanics do so.
He looked around.
The short frog stood in another part of the Great Fox’s bay, working on one of the Star Fox team’s planes. He had a laptop plugged into the computers and was discussing something with Fox. Jackson hid a grin. The frog, whom he had been introduced to a while ago…Snippy or something like that…had a quite comical appearance and a very high voice. He was one of the Great Fox’s (WHAT a name, Jackson mentally laughed) two on-board technicians, and when major repairs were needed, they went to the corporation that had built the ships and got the repairs done there.
He had seen the frog looking over the plans for his plane, reading specs, etc.
He looked at Fox’s plane. Perfect, not damaged at all. Then he looked at his fighter. Well surely that frog wasn’t too busy…he walked over. “Hey, Snippy or whatever your name is.”
“Slippy.” The frog chirped, watching the screen of the laptop.
“Slippy, then. You’re a mechanic right?”
“Yes indeed.”
“I need you to fix my plane.”
“When I’m done with this.”
He blinked. Slippy was a private, and from what he had seen, was not a very good pilot. He failed to understand why Slippy was even on a team with such a high profile as Star Fox. “Pardon me, but I’m missing a wing. This fighter doesn’t look damaged at all.”
“Patience!” Snapped Slippy. “And please, hush! I’m trying to concentrate!”
“You’re addressing a superior officer, private.”
He glared, which just made him more comical. “You are not my superior, Sam. You’d have to be part of the Lylatian Military to be my superior.” He turned back to his work.
“Leave him alone, Jackson.” Fox rumbled from the other side of the plane.
“What right do you have to order me around, McCloud?”
“You’re on my ship, that’s what. You’re in my system. That’s another.”
He laughed. “Piss-poor reasons if you ask me!”
Fox felt anger rise, and stepped around the arwing. Slippy watched with growing alarm. “Your arrogance will be your undoing, Jackson. This is my ship. I am the Commanding Officer. Therefore I outrank you while you are onboard this vessel. I’m your superior. Leave Slippy alone. He’ll get to your ship in all due time.”
“Who are you to preach to me about arrogance?! You seem pretty god damn arrogant yourself, animal-boy. Your whole team seems full of it.”
Fox’s eyes flashed in anger.
“Oh I have another question. Is there a fraternizing rule aboard this ship?”
He forced himself to stay calm. “Never been need for one. The staff, until recently, was all male, and now there are only two girls…”
“Both of which are dating fellow crew members, I believe. That one vixen…Fara seems to be quite hot after you…”
“Shut UP, Jackson!” Fox snarled, ears going back. If it was anything he hated it was people who pried into his private life. For close friends he sometimes made an exception (Falco could be and was nosy sometimes). “Not another word!”
“Are you threatening me, McCloud?”
“I am if you don’t shut up.”
“I don’t take kindly to threats.”
“I don’t give a damn.”
“Fox…” Slippy protested.
“What?!”
“If you fight you could get in deep trouble! The General would hang you out to dry!”
He snorted. “First, how is Pepper going to find out if I do? Second, I’ve been in fist fights before, at the Academy, most of which you saw.”
“If that’s a challenge I accept.” Jackson interrupted, stepping into a fighting stance.
Fox took off his headset, jacket, and shoulder holster, stepped away from his plane, and likewise stepped back into a fighting stance. “Well come on let’s go!”
The two began to fight. Slippy grabbed Fox’s headset. “ROB, fight in the lower bay.”
“Did he say fight?!” Falco said, who was on the bridge. “Who against who?!”
“Fox and Jackson are at it.” Slippy dutifully replied. “Someone come down and break it up! They could really hurt each other or themselves, because there’s a lot of sharp stuff around here!”
“On my way!” Falco ran out of the bridge, and leaned into the den where Wolf and Stephanie were. “Fight in the bay.”
This was passed on, and basically everyone was soon heading toward the bay.
Like in the air, Jackson and Fox were fairly equal fighters. In fact when the others arrived to see what was going on, they were dead even.
Then Fox got the advantage, landing a hit that knocked the air out of Jackson, and another that made the corner of his mouth bleed. Jackson backed off, gasping, then reached up and touched the corner of his mouth, looking at the blood on his hand. “You bastard, McCloud.”
“All’s fair in love and war.”
“Well then…” He kicked, catching Fox across the temple, and swept down, slamming his hand into Fox’s knee.
Fox let out a cry of pain, knee buckling, and ended up sitting on the floor. Pain burned up his leg.
“I win.” Jackson said, spitting blood out.
“You son of a bitch!” Bill shouted.
“I think that applies more to you, and more literally.” Was the reply. Bill snarled.
The crowd slowly separated into the two different teams, looking at each other.
Suddenly, Fox was on his feet. Pain blasted through his leg as he put weight on his hurt knee, and he let out another wordless cry. But it didn’t stop him. He leapt into a kick that made Jackson stagger back, and landed another that made the human fall to his hands and knees.
Then his knee nearly gave out again. He shifted almost all his weight to his other leg and limped back a few steps.
Falco and Bill sprang to their team leader’s sides and gave him shoulders to put his weight on. The human pilots clustered around Jackson then helped him up.
“That is quite enough of that.” James said primly, stepping forward. “Fox, Sam, get to sick bay and let the robots there check you out. And Fox, make sure they look at your knee.”
“Yeah, sure. Good idea.” With Falco and Bill’s help, Fox left the bay.
“Well, give him a hand and get him to sick bay.” James said, looking at the human squad.
“How can you treat this so mildly?” Stephanie asked.
“Because it’s a fight, not the end of the world. It isn’t necessarily a good thing or a bad thing either.” He shrugged. “I don’t care as long as no one is hospitalized. Now get him checked out.”
“Okay, so is it bad?” Fox asked the robot in annoyance.
“It isn’t good.” ROB’s voice said through the medrobot. “You aren’t going to be able to put much weight on it. I’ve called Dr. Miller. He’ll be here soon to take a look on it. My med-tech files all have worst case scenarios and not much else.”
Fox moaned and flopped back on the examination table, covering his eyes. “Well can you at least make it stop HURTING for a while?”
“Quit your whining.” Jackson said, holding an ice pack to his head.
“You will be just fine.” ROB told Jackson mildly. “But I suggest you go sleep this off. Now.” He pointed with one of the medbot’s arms at the door. Jackson grumbled and left.
Fara came in and grabbed a stool, sitting down next to the examination table. “Pretty foolish move you know.”
“Yeah I know.” He uncovered his eyes. A slight burning sensation went through his injured leg, then the pain dulled down. “Thanks ROB.”
“You’re very welcome. Dr. Miller will be here soon.”
Fox sat up slowly, wincing. Seemed to him that everything in his body was attached to everything else. Hurt his knee, and just about everywhere announced the pain.
Fara took his hand. “Slippy told us what happened.”
“Yeah, I lost control of my temper.” He sighed.
“When he mentioned us.”
“That was the last straw basically.” He mildly replied; shifting until he faced her, though the medbot refused to let him move his injured leg.
She stood and leaned on the examination table, putting her face inches from Fox’s. “Was that your only reason for fighting?”
“Well…he was being arrogant…tried to boss Slippy around…pissed me off…” He pulled her into his arms.
“So he was just generally being a jackass.”
“Yes actually.” He laughed, then kissed her.
About a minute later, the sound of someone noisily clearing his throat broke them apart.
“Okay children, that is quite enough for now.” Said Dr. Miller simply.
Fox, reddish fur or not, managed to blush. Fara wiggled out of his arms and left.
Dr. Miller shut the door and laughed. “Woo hoo, Fox.”
“Shaddup.”
“Now, now.” He clicked his tongue, dropping the duffel bag that carried his medical supplies on the end of the examination table and pulled out a medscanner. “I was told you messed up your knee pretty good.”
“It happens.”
“I do deal with lots of hurt knee cases sure. That and hurt backs. But most people don’t get them in fights.” The Doc chided; scanning Fox’s injured knee and studying the data. “The good news or bad news first?”
“Good.”
“Nothing extremely serious. Unless you mess it up again you won’t need surgery or something like that.”
“Well that’s a comfort.”
“However you’re going to be stuck in a knee brace for a couple months.”
“I can live with that.”
The Doc pulled a black reinforced knee brace out of his duffel bag. “Know how to put this thing on?”
“Yeah. I’ve had a hurt knee before.” He put it on, adjusted it, and pushed his loose pants leg down over it. “Still hurts bad though.”
“It will a few days. I suggest aspirin and not too much movement. Don’t let that girlfriend of yours go bouncing you around.”
“DOC!”
Dr. Miller laughed and left the room.
“Looks like ROB was right. You aren’t beat up too bad.” He remarked later, after examining Jackson.
“Why would ROB be wrong?”
“He has been before. Slippy, update his medprograms ASAP.”
“Okay Doc.”
“Nice to see you again Doc.” James handed him a mug of coffee.
The Doc nodded his thanks, accepting the mug. He was a later-fifties raccoon, fur silvering, rather pudgy, but pretty strong too. He had been an on-call doctor for years and had been on the Great Fox too many times to count. He referred to himself laughingly as their on-call patching-up service, and was well liked by the entire team. He was sort of an honorary member in many ways. Besides medicine, he also practiced ‘ego deflation,’ had a rather twisted sense of humor, and loved puns. “I need the wake-me-up. Thanks, James.”
“No problem.”
“I’d prefer a beer though.”
That comment rose chortles.
“Not on a military cruiser.” Said Jackson.
“Who says so?” James replied. “I’ve got contraband stashed somewhere in the walk-in fridge.”
That earned him surprised looks from the humans.
“I’m not surprised.” The Doc said. “If you can find it, right James?”
James laughed. “And if everyone else hasn’t found it and drank it… After this round, I’ll buy you a beer at your choice of bars, okay Doc?”
“Fine by me.” He gulped the rest of his coffee.
“Let me get this straight. Contraband, fraternization…” Said Jackson slowly.
“Ho yeah!” Crowed Katt. Falco rolled his eyes.
“And you haven’t gotten in trouble?”
“We’re mercenaries. We’ve got our own way of doing things.” Peppy shrugged. “I sign fraternization off to morale. Same with contraband, though I really prefer it being legal. Doesn’t mean that it always is though.” He grinned. Falco whooped, and Bill grinned.
“I suggest you loosen up a little Jackson. That goes for the rest of your team too.” The Doc remarked. James refilled his coffee mug. “Thanks. I mean, you have to have a sense of humor when dealing with this team. If you’re an uptight by-the-book military guy, you’re going to go nuts trying to live with these guys.”
“I’ve got a question for you guys.” Said one human, a young man named Steve. “All these different races…do you ever have problems with racism?”
The Lylatians blinked as a group.
“I think I speak for everyone when I say the following.” Falco said. “For us, it isn’t races, it’s species. And there are very, very few acts of violence committed out of hatred for another species.” He looked at the humans thoughtfully. “Why do you ask?”
“Because we’ve had a problem with racism for years.” Steve replied. “I get it sometimes because I’m multiracial.”
Silence for a moment.
“You are discriminatory against…your own species?” Wolf said slowly.
“Yes.”
“Makes no sense to me.” Pigma remarked. “I mean, I have a hard time telling some of you guys apart! You all look the same to me. Various shades of brown. How boring.” He paused, then said, “No offense there. I mean, we spent a month on your planet. My mind was spinning trying to tell people apart! I was about this close to asking for everyone to wear name tags!”
Everyone looked at each other for a while. During this lull, Fox limped in.
“You know, you guys all look like something out of story books to me.” Stephanie said. “One of the little pigs…” She looked at Pigma. “Fox and the hound.” She looked at Fox and Bill. “Ranger Rick…well, an older Ranger Rick.” She decided, looking at the Doc. “Big bad Wolf…”
Andrew guffawed; getting him punched on the shoulder by Wolf, who was grinning.
“Fairy tales?” James guessed.
“Yes actually.”
“Disney’s Robin Hood.” Megan, another human, suggested.
Puzzled noises.
“Let’s take Fox, put him in archer’s clothing, give him a bow and arrow setup… Put Fara in a princess outfit…”
Some of the humans started to titter, but the Lylatians were looking more and more confused.
“What in the universe are you talking about?” Leon asked.
“It’s a long story. Actually the movie lasts…what, two hours or something like that… I haven’t seen it since I was a little kid.”
“I don’t want to know.” Fara decided.
Jackson and Fox looked at each other for a few moments; then Fox stepped forward and held out a hand. “Truce?”
Jackson stepped forward and shook hands. “Truce.”
“You know, I think humans and Lylatians are a lot alike.” The Doc remarked.
“Well, we have some of the same problems. Jackson, you should take back what you said to Bill earlier. While he may be a genuine son of a bitch…no insult intended…it has been said that so am I.” Drake grinned.
This sparked some catcalls.
“I have it on authority my parents were bear when they conceived me!” Said Darrin, provoking laughter and even more catcalls.
“I’ve been called a bitch, a siren, and kittenish.” Stephanie cracked. Wolf whooped.
“Kittenish is reserved for me!” Said Katt.
“It’s said that I’m sly as a fox.” Supplied Steve with a grin.
“Which fox? The few I know aren’t all that sly.” Said the Doc with a slow grin. James bounced a crumpled piece of paper off his head. The Doc ignored it completely.
An hour or so later, they bid farewell to the doc, though he didn’t leave without a few more remarks to Fara and Fox that sparked protests, or without poking fun at everyone else on board as well.
Falco and Leon made an attempt at sneaking by the lounge door, in casual clothing.
“And WHERE are you going?” James asked.
“Come on man, it’s our last free night before we go officially on duty.” Leon whined. “Fal and I were going to go back to our old neighborhood and have some fun.”
He sighed. “Fine. Oh, and boys?”
They had started to leave, but turned back to look at him. “Yeah?”
“No hangovers, and keep it legal.”
“Yes James.” They said like robots, but unlike robots, they had their fingers crossed behind their backs. Then they laughed and galloped off toward the bay.
“Honestly those two!” James shook his head.
“Hey, if they can…” Fox said.
“I know, I know. I owe the doc a drink anyway. Okay people, what I told Falco and Leon applies to everyone, understand?”
Nods.
“Then see you tomorrow.” James grabbed his jacket and left, tailed by Peppy and Pigma.
“Where you headed?” Jackson curiously asked Fox.
“There’s a dance club in town I’m planning on going to actually.”
“Mind if some of us humans tag along? We aren’t familiar with Corneria City yet.”
“Fine by me.”
The group of pilots flew down and landed, then spent twenty minutes arguing with whom was riding with whom. Fox sighed and ended up driving his dad’s humvee, and Wolf grabbed his Surburban. In the end, everyone got there fine.
“What’s the point of going to a dance club if you can’t dance?” Jackson asked, gesturing at Fox’s injured knee.
“I can still talk can’t I?” Fox grinned crookedly. “Besides I don’t necessarily follow the doc’s orders. I do plan on dancing.”
“Fox, glad you’re here.” Called a voice, and a beagle standing on the stage beckoned. Fox walked over. They talked; then Fox came back.
“Swing band I know. They’re short a singer, so are hoping I’ll sing for them.” Fox reported.
“Hey we aren’t stopping you.” Said Fara.
He grinned, then went back to stage. The beagle gave him a hand up, and they talked some more.
Stephanie sat down at a table with Katt and Fara absently. “Can I ask you a sort of strange question?”
“Sure.”
“This is just out of curiousity…but what’s dating protocal here?”
Katt chuckled. “Practically none.”
“What?”
“You date who you like, and that’s pretty much regardless of species. I’m a cat dating a bird, and one that has a bad reputation at that.”
“I was wondering about that…”
“Well, Falco is a nice guy, just a little rough around the edges. He’s had a hard life. Besides,” she giggled. “I think he’s cute.”
“Fox and I just hit off.” Fara shrugged. “We’ve got a lot in common, but sometimes it’s frustrating as hell dating him.”
“Mostly the competition, right?” Katt smiled.
“Right. He just attracts girls like anything, even if he tries not to encourage them.”
A laugh, and Wolf strolled over to the table. “Slandering us guys behind our backs, huh girls?” He grinned amiably, leaning on the table.
“As far as you know.” Said Katt, raising an eyebrow.
“Ha!” He snorted.
The band started up on the stage, much to the delight of the people who knew how to swing dance. Wolf glanced at the dance floor and grinned. “I’m glad this is the music choice, because this is actually something I know how to dance to! I seem to be short a dance partner though…” He looked at Stephanie and rose an eyebrow. “I don’t suppose…?”
“Sure. I’m not very good at it though.”
“Oh that’s okay.” He grabbed her hand and led her out to the dance floor.
Fara looked at Katt. “You know…”
“Yeah I noticed. Hell you’d have to be blind and deaf not to notice the sparks between those two…”
It was early morning when the pilots started straggling back to the Great Fox.
“Man, you guys like the night life, eh?” Jackson asked.
“Sure.” Fox replied. “Nothing better to do when off duty after all! Man I am wired. I’m going to go sweat some energy off in the weight room.” He half-limped out of the bay, jacket swung over his shoulder.
Two more planes landed, and Falco and Leon disembarked.
Katt started towards them and stopped. “HONESTLY! Do you two ever listen?!”
“What?” Leon asked in what was supposed to be an innocent voice, but his voice sounded wrong, slurred a little.
She set her hands on her hips and glared hard at the pair.
“Ahem?” Jackson asked, and was ignored.
“You were told no hangovers and to keep it legal.”
“We aren’t hung over.” Leon protested.
“No but both of you are high as clouds!”
Jackson gawped. Alcohol, fraternization, and now drugs?
Falco giggled. “What’s wrong with that? It ain’t first hand, kitty Katt, it’s second hand. We said we were heading to our old neighborhood, and some people we hang out with smoke things that aren’t legal. Can we help that?”
She crossed her arms and scowled.
Leon shrank into the floor, but then burst into giggles and left the docking bay, apparently heading for his cabin.
“Katt, honey.” Falco protested, voice just as slurred as Leon’s. “What’s that glare for? I’m telling the truth. It’s second-hand…mostly…”
“You’re dead bird boy.” She took a step toward him.
“Now wait just a minute…” He squawked, holding up his hands.
Jackson leaned on his plane and watched; now mildly amused. The Doc was right—with this batch of pilots, better to humor them then be insulted by their behavior.
“You broke a promise to me.” She replied in a cutting voice.
“But…I… Aw, hell, I’m sorry.” Or at least he tried to say that, it came out ‘sowwy.’ He looked exhausted; the drug had worn him out more then he had been originally.
Her glare softened slightly.
“Yeah I wasn’t thinkin’…but I was with m’old group an’ I… I’m sorry…” He gave up and fell silent, waiting.
“Don’t break a promise again, all right?” She spoke softly.
He mutely nodded, and accepted her supporting arm to get to his cabin without falling over.
“Honestly, those two…” James appeared, shaking his head, and strolled over to Jackson. “Little surprised?”
He nodded.
“Thought so. You see Falco and Leon came from the LOW end of Corneria City. Gangs and such. Fought each other on the street long before they got into the Academy.” He rubbed his chin. “Had hard lives, those two did.”
“I can believe it.”
“Don’t judge them by that though.”
“I wasn’t…”
He rose an eyebrow, and said softly, “Yes, Jackson. You were.” And then he left the human standing there by his plane.
‘Should I do this?’ Avisk leaned comfortably against the base of one of the huge computers, listening to it hum. Technology was his job, his life. He found comfort in computers now, as they were all he had in the way of family anymore.
‘Is it betrayal?’ He wondered, four legs folding so he crouched, hidden by the shadows of the supercomputers, by the dim light.
‘How can it be betrayal? It is they who said I was to be exiled. I am no longer one of them, am I? Am I Lylatian now? Who do I fight for?’ He closed his eyes, and shuddered, thinking back to the slavery of the unnamed and the innocent by his people. 'They welcome us with open arms and we kill them. No not we, they. They killed them. They did wrong.
Now I must do right.’
“Dr. Avisk? A pleasure to meet you sir! What brings you to ArSpace Dynamics?” Beltino smiled, shaking one of the Ranit’s hands.
“StarFox and Firewall are going into battle soon, correct?”
“Why yes, they are.”
“If they are going to fight the Imperial Fleet of what used to be my home, they need some better weapons. The lasers on their planes now will not cut though the armor.”
He sighed. “Yes I know…”
“The reason the Fleet stayed away so long is to protect themselves from EMP.” He folded both pairs of his arms. He actually rather liked Beltino, thought he could relate to him.
“Oh, Christ…”
“Don’t worry just yet. I’ve come here to help you upgrade the lasers, from powerless against the Imperial Fleet to downright devastating.”
“Mi casa es su casa, Dr. Avisk! What can I do to assist?”
“Well this is a real go figure!” Jackson remarked as the large group headed toward ArSpace Dynamics flying in the early morning light. “We get all ready to fight and the builder of your planes calls us in for an update!”
“Don’t go slamming something that helps.” Fox replied, touching down. “The way I hear it, Beltino has something that will make us unstoppable while fighting them…”
“Not unstoppable, but formidable.” Avisk trotted out of the nearby hanger, and bowed. “You might remember me, but if not, I am Dr. Avisk, and I am at your service, Fighter Elites. I decided that the best way to win is to fight fire with fire, and the only way to do that was to, shall we say, let some of the technology of my former home leak.”
Fox blinked as the rest of the teams gathered behind him, listening, then bowed back. “I do remember you, Doctor. So you have some new toys for us?”
“Ah yes, I do.” For some reason this had given him purpose, so he was throwing his effort into this. He felt happier, felt important, alive for the first time since he had been injured by the rocket that had killed Miya. “I am going to be upgrading your weapons and armor by a significant amount.”
“Ours too?” Jackson asked.
“Yes of course. I have studied both your planes and the arwings and could do a complete rebuild without looking at the instructions.” Was the confident reply. “Luckily for us and your planes, I’ll just be overseeing. Beltino’s boys, bless’em, are going to be doing the work.” He wove one hand at the workers working to move the planes into the hanger, which had once been empty except for the equipment. “I’ll give you all the technical specs if you want them, but I’d rather not bore you right now, I suppose. Beltino will give you a briefer run down if you like.”
Beltino arrived, grinning. “Don’t let him talk circles around you. He’s back to work and happy about it. Come on, I’ll show you what we’re doing.”
The entire group followed him into the bay, listening as he explained what was going on.
The simple fact was that the Ranit Fleet fighters (N’harro, said Avisk, or Scorpions) were superior to the Lylatian stock Arwing and to the Terran stock FireStorm. If they went up with the planes they had now, it was doubtful anyone would survive, because according to Avisk, they had more then likely fixed the EMP weakness, and given the armor was already proof to whatever they could throw at it…
However, Avisk, working with Beltino, had reproduced and improved some Ranit designs, and the tests they had done were stunning.
First of all, the armor, called Black Star plating, was what the Ranit Fleet used. It would be equal or better to theirs, as they hadn’t improved it in a while and were slack in budget now—the Ranit plating had been growing THINNER as time passed and as corners had to be cut. The new armor for StarFox and Firewall was two inches of black metal, light but amazingly strong.
Second, weaponry. The arwings were stripped of the EMP weapon they had been fitted with the last scuffle, as well as all their other old weaponry. Same for the FireStorms. The new weapons needed all the room of the old.
Laser rank was simple in Lylat—single green, double green, blue. The new lasers installed for both teams were WHITE, and crackled with power at the lowest shot setting, able to cut though eight inch old-style armor even then. Both teams watched in shock as an old arwing was cut to ribbons in five shots.
“Jesus that could have been us.” Wolf whispered.
“Right.” Avisk nodded.
“How exactly did you know all this pray tell?”
He rose what counted as an eyebrow. “Why, dear Lylatian, the SCIENTISTS know about this sort of thing LONG before it goes into another galaxy and can be installed on god-knows how many fighters!”
“Oh… Wait. You worked in military?”
“Sometimes. Had associates who did sometimes.” A four-armed shrug.
Not only were there lasers, there were two new ranks of guided rockets, small but deadly little inventions.
“We’re impressed.” Jackson announced as lunch came and went.
“Thanks.” Avisk passed out coffee, using one hand to hold one for himself and the others to hand mugs to others. “But save the gratitude until you fly them eh…”
“Ah yes that’s something we forgot to say…” Beltino rose his eyebrows. “He made some…interesting suggestions concerning the engines as well…”
Everyone looked at Beltino and Avisk.
At the beginning of the first war the Arwings had been experimental as it was, and admittedly the team had been a bit uneasy about flying them. Now of course Arwings were as much part of the team as the members, and needless to say they had rather fallen in love with the design and were used to the engines. Slippy could take apart, find the problem, and rebuild the engine with his eyes closed and still not miss out on an entire battle.
“Like how interesting?” James asked.
Beltino grinned. “I think you should meet our test pilot… Fox, you feel up to trying to outfly a fellow pilot?”
“Agility contest? Sure.”
“Be right back then.” Both Beltino and Avisk disappeared.
“I’m not so sure about this but have really no protest that makes sense.” Fox commented, and got nods of agreement.
A few minutes later the pair was back, this time with a skinny ring tailed lemur in tow. The lemur looked a bit nervous.
“Meet Brett Newhart. Brett I think you know everyone.” Said Beltino.
“Y-yes, I think so.” Brett said.
“Anyway, Brett here had the honor of testing out a stock plane we upgraded with the engine Avisk suggested. I figured you’d want the opinion of a fellow pilot, not a middle-aged techie who hasn’t flown in years.”
“Thanks for considering that.” Falco muttered.
“Behave.” Fox muttered to his teammate, then turned to Brett. “So, apparently I’m supposed to try to out-fly you.”
This yielded a grin. “I’d love to try actually. I just touched down about half an hour ago… My lab friends here gave me something new to toy with.”
“Yeah so we heard…”
Ten minutes later, Fox (whose arwing had just finished going through getting upgraded) and Brett had both taken off and were heading to a nearby test field.
Fox cast a sidelong look at the other plane, and superfically couldn’t see anything different. “So the upgrade meets your approval?”
“I’d like to know what Avisk did to this thing so I can do it to my car.” Was the reply, with a grin. “Because he certainly managed to tool it up…”
Fox laughed.
“I’m not sure how it compares to your plane though. I’ve heard that yours was upgraded as well during the first war.”
‘Isn’t that interesting. People are already talking like we’re fighting another war…’ “Yes indeed. Had to adapt, after all.”
“Well let’s go then.” Brett suddenly shot forward, darting over the first part of the adgility course.
Fox sputtered a bit and followed, easily going over the first part of the course. It was extremely easy really, a warm up more then anything. He caught up to Brett, and they paced each other, mimicked each other.
Then Brett came to a complete stop in midair and hovered there like a helicopter. Fox did a double-take and hit the brakes, managing to slow way down, but then he had to speed right back up to keep airborne.
Brett’s plane tipped straight back on it’s tail and shot straight up, twisting, then u-turned and came straight down, turning at the last moment and skimming the ground upside down.
“Holy shit.” Falco said.
“You win.” Fox weakly said. “No way in hell I could coax this plane to do that. Beltino, I think you and Avisk’s little engine redo is a go.”
“Right. Come on back, Fox. We’ve got some major work to do. Oh, and ROB? Bring the Great Fox down. It needs new guns, and new armor.”
“Now THAT looks slick.” Falco remarked. “Strange, but slick.”
“Sheesh… all we need are black uniforms and we’ve gone Gothadelic!” Said Fara.
“No kidding.” Fox sighed, looking at the Great Fox. The body shape was the same, but the newly black color was a little surprising to look at. At the same time, the cruiser looked graceful, like a black swan. A deadly black swan, but a black swan nonetheless.
The arwings were already loaded into the bays, and the cruiser was ready to take off.
Jackson shrugged. “At least she’s in style. Shall we?”
“Lets.”
The two teams started up the ramp, but as they did, a car came to a screeching halt by the cruiser, and General Pepper jumped out. “Glad to see everything’s ready, because we need you in the air NOW!”
“What? What’s going on?” Fox asked.
“What do you think?! The enemy fleet’s in the system!”
“Damn! Let’s go everyone!”
Pepper had the driver move the car, and as soon as he was out of the way, the Great Fox was off the ground.
Stephanie looked out the viewport of the observation deck, at the blurred stars. The Great Fox had kicked into warp drive. There was less then twenty minutes until they reached their destination.
“Steph?”
“Hi Wolf.”
“Excuse me, but what’s wrong?”
“Scared.” She admitted. “Earth’s only battles have been in the atmosphere… So that’s basically the only area I’ve got experience in. I’ve never been in a real space battle. I mean, that’s where you guys are lucky. You’ve got experience in this.”
“Does that make you think we’re not scared?” He replied, walking over to her.
She just stared.
“At least I know I am. I’m not sure about Fox… but for Fox it’s pure instinct. It’s in his blood. He may get nervous, he may worry, but I’ve never seen him truly scared. Me, well… I always get pre-battle jitters.”
“Never admitted it before eh?”
“No.” He shook his head then held up his hand. It had a steady tremor. “Hell I’m terrified. I’ve seen what these bastards we’re up against can do, and even with new weaponry, new armor…”
“I understand.”
They looked at each other for several long moments, then she snickered.
“What?”
“Metallica… They have a song called Of Wolf and Man.”
“Oh do they? I take it the lyrics have something to do with what we’re talking about?”
“Maybe a little, but every time I see you that damn song goes through my head.”
“Well…I’ve never heard it, so…”
“To quote: ‘Bright is the moon, high in starlight. Chill in the air cold as steel tonight. We shift, call of the wind. Fear in your eyes. It's later than you realized.’”
He laughed and shook his head; then they ended up looking at each other again. He ended up breaking the silence. “Shall you say, or shall I?”
“I don’t think that it’s going to work.”
“From your standpoint. Different culture.”
“Eh?”
“I’m used to the idea of different kinds of people dating. You, well… Humans have a hard time if the other person is just another color!”
“Hey, now, that’s died down a bit…”
“You see my point, though. Why shouldn’t it work?”
She shrugged, uneasy, and turned back to the viewport. “You don’t care that I’m different.”
“Why should I?” He wanted to know, wrapping an arm around her from behind and settling his muzzle on her shoulder. “All I know is that I like you, so I don’t care. You really shouldn’t either.”
“That’s the funny thing. I don’t.”
“Good.”
“…You’re shaking. You really are scared…”
“For good reason, ay?”
“Hell yeah.”
They were silent for a while after that, just standing there, her leaning back into him, watching the blurred stars.
Zoness was the closest planet to the fleet, and their military immeadiately recognized the threat. They sent a message to Corneria and said rather tactfully that they had no way to deal with the aliens.
The fleet, which was eavesdropping on the Lylat radio channels, was pleased.
“Maybe that group which beat us is gone.” Suggested a General.
“No. They just aren’t here yet.” Replied the Commanding General. Speaking Lylatian, which all the Generals knew now, was awkward to them, but handy if listening to the Lylat radio channels. “For underlings, they’re brave. You’d think they’d realize who’s better…and give themselves up to be bettered.”
Nods all around.
“We hurt them last time, I think, but they still had a military left. And that one group… Star Fox is it? …seems to be the head of the spear. If we can get rid of them, we’ll be able to move faster.”
“Yes, and the faster we move the more pleased the Council of home will be.” Said another General. “Also the faster these underlings will learn, yes?”
“Have you seen what they look like?” The Commanding General rubbed his chin with his upper right hand absently. “This system’s life seems quite diverse… Quadrupeds, but have a variety of variations. Fur, feathers, scales. Almost like they uplifted themselves.”
“How long does uplift take?”
“Who knows? Unfortunately some species can’t seem to uplift.”
“The unnamed.”
“Yes. They lost their names when they didn’t uplift.”
“Will these… Lylatians be able to?”
“They should.”
“Sir?” Asked one who had been silent up to then. “If it’s possible for them to uplift themselves…”
“It isn’t.” The Commanding General snapped. “They’re close but they will need assistance to reach what we have…”
An aide came in. “Sir we have an enemy ship on the screens.”
“And it seems that Star Fox has arrived.”
“Oh my god.” Said Jackson.
“I know.” Said Fox. “And this is SMALLER then it was last round. Looks like they didn’t run home to get their ships replaced. Let’s stay together in one formation for now, all right? ROB you’re clear to fire if you think you need to.”
“Roger that.”
Stephanie had realized just why Wolf was scared. Firewall had been told about the size, the power of the alien fleet, but being faced with it themselves had stunned them all.
Suddenly the Great Fox’s huge guns cut through the air, and ripped into one of the smaller enemy cruisers. It was a starting bell. What seemed like hundreds of fighters poured out of the alien ships, and realized they weren’t up against what they had been.
“We’re outnumbered like two dozen to one!” Jackson fairly shouted.
“Keep cool over there. What’d you expect? For them to fight fair?” Falco wanted to know.
“Good point.” Steve muttered.
Avisk had been right. The armor on the enemy fighters was weaker and thinner then those of the Lylatian fighters, and even the lasers seemed subdued. More and more Ranit ships fell, and cruisers began to tilt and list as ROB targeted them.
“That is quite enough. We call temporary truce.” Said a voice over the radio, and the Ranit forces pulled back.
“Regroup by the Great Fox.” Fox said, and both Fire Wall and Star Fox pulled back. “Well, I assume that whoever is in charge of the Ranit forces is talking.”
“Yes indeed, Star Fox team leader. I am the Commanding General of the forces of the Race.”
“Uh-huh. And what do you want with Lylat, good sirs?”
“To help you actually.”
This rose some muffled coughs and snickers form Fire Wall. “Help us? By killing us?” Asked one.
“Help you by uplifting you.”
“Uh-huh.” Fox repeated. “Thanks for the offer and all, but sorry, I think we’re doing just fine on our own, whatever uplifting is.”
“You’ll never reach full potential on your own, underling.” Was the caustic reply.
“I’m sure, and if that was true we would have fallen to your forces already.” Wolf snapped. “But even before we held, and now correct me if I’m wrong, but we’re winning.”
“It’s true… You are savage fighters and you seem to have good craft.” The Ranit said begrudgingly. “But…”
“But nothing. We’re not going to give in.” Falco said.
“Have it your way, underling.” The radio squealed off.
“Well what was that all about?” Stephanie asked.
“I’m not sure, but I figure we’re going to find out.” Said Leon.
The two groups stayed separate for a while, watching each other.
“Let’s let them know we’re serious.” Fox said mildly. “ROB, that looks like a personnel cruiser, there on the left.”
“You got it.”
The Ranits could only watch as the small, strangely graceful Lylatian cruiser’s guns fired once, then again. It didn’t take long before the carrier listed, then exploded.
“That was a warning.” Growled the Commanding General. “They’re warning us.”
“About what?” Another Commander asked, staring out at the wreck of the cruiser.
“They want us to leave and stay away for good, or perhaps establish a peaceful relationship.” He rubbed his chin. “What they’re saying is that if we continue to fight, they do mean business… And they’re right. As of right now they’re winning.” His eyes glowed with anger. “But if it’s one thing the Ranit don’t to, it’s loose. Order an all-points attack.”
Fox watched the fighters pour out, and said, “They’re going to try to rush us. Stay in formation. ROB, fire at will.”
“Aye, aye, captain!” Cracked ROB, and the Great Fox’s huge laser cannons fired into the oncoming wave of fighters, ripping huge holes in it.
“Looks to me like they don’t even want to consider any sort of truce.” Jackson said, glancing at Fox’s fighter.
“I agree. Ok guys, let’s go.” Fox dove his fighter forward, wings swept back into high-speed mode. “Teams split up and take it to them. If they weren’t going to take us seriously before, let’s make them take us seriously now. Engage when ready.”
Firewall broke off and fell into their own formation as Star Fox rearranged themselves into a few different formations. The first team to engage the enemy was Fox’s main team, the extended team and Star Wolf falling into their own formation and attacking at their own accord. Firewall was the last to attack.
But in the end, the one to the most damage was ROB. He had only been officially engaged in battle once before, and now he was focusing his guns on one cruiser then the next, ripping carriers and personnel transports to shrapnel.
It was when ROB had depleted the Ranit force by half when Fox called the teams back to regroup next to the cruiser, watching the ailing Ranit fleet draw back together at only 45% strength. “I think you drove the point home ROB.” He remarked.
“That’s what I’m here for.” Was the reply.
“All fighters report.”
They all did, one by one. A few fighters in both Firewall and Star Fox were missing wings, or had offline weapons. Almost everyone seemed out of missiles, and three members of Firewall were docked. Slippy and Andrew had docked with them to repair their planes as well as Firewalls.
“Better then the Ranit are doing.” Wolf shook his head. “It seems like we’re bowling them over.”
“With the help of ROB, yes we are.” Fara said. “We have superior craft…”
“What are you trying to prove, Lylatians?!” Thundered the voice of the Ranit General over the radio.
“That we aren’t going to back down and let you take our freedom from us.” Fox replied.
“You…! Underling! Don’t you understand?! Being savage fighters does NOT make you superior to us! We are the Race, and we can uplift you, make you equal to us!”
“Does anyone know what he’s talking about?” Falco asked.
“I do.” Wolf said quietly. “Listen, General. We are savage because we need to be. We are protecting the entire system from YOU. And as for equality… hmm. I really don’t think that a race that goes through systems and enslaves the races inhabiting those systems, under the guise of ‘uplifting,’ is equal to us.”
“Underling.” The General spat.
“Bastard.”
The General tried to make sense of that word, and finally translated it into something none-to-friendly. “Even if you get rid of us, underlings… more fighters will come…” He said in an ominous tone.
“Bring it on. I like a challenge.” Leon drawled. “Besides… I really don’t have a problem stomping you guys into the ground… I lost track of how many good soldiers you ruthlessly killed… Venomian or Lylatian… How many friends I lost when you blew up our carriers for no reason…”
“You snakes came damn close last time. I’ll give you guys that. But we won.” Falco said.
“That’s enough.” Fox said simply. “And as for more fighters coming… General, all respect… But if this is your main fleet, and you guys can’t hold against us… how is your secondary fleet going to perform?”
The General’s nostrils flared in anger. “Urla-wllll shgn.”
“Oh, realllly?” Wolf suddenly said in reply. “Arvi, ur WLLL shgn, urla tur gartat.”
The General sputtered, then was cut off as the radio on his side turned off.
“What the hell did you say, Wolf?” Fox asked, grinning.
“Well, while we were waiting on our planes, I talked to Avisk. You might have recognized what the General said as what that crash survivor said to us. I asked Avisk about that phrase. It’s kind of ceremonial to their race, and means ‘you won’t win.’ I asked him to teach me a decent reply.” Wolf snickered deep in his chest.
“Somehow I’m thinking your decent reply wasn’t all that decent.”
“Well, something like that. I basically told him that yes, we will win, then called him something none to flattering.”
Several of the fighters, Firewall and Star Fox, laughed.
“They’re doing something.” Jackson suddenly said.
The remaining Ranit cruisers were falling into a new formation, the main cruiser centered, the rest at intervals in two circles around it. As the two teams watched, glistening beams of energy, crackling blue and white, jumped from cruiser to cruiser, creating a web.
“I don’t like this.” Fox admitted.
James drove his fighter forward some, watching the energy pattern closely as it danced. He was close enough he could feel the energy playing over him, making his fur stand on end in gradually quickening pulses. He half closed his eyes, not listening to the questions over the radio, and came to a conclusion. “Fall back! Everybody fall back! Fall in behind the Great Fox!” He shouted, doing a u-turn and racing back.
“What? What’s happening?” Jackson asked even as he turned his fighter.
“They won’t let themselves loose! It’s a goddamn synchronized countdown!”
The two teams got behind their cruiser, and just as ROB focused all shield energy forward, a small group of Ranit fighters fled one of the carriers and dove towards the Great Fox, dodging shots from their own cruisers.
“Hold fire.” Fox ordered, watching the group of eight or so fighters approach the cruiser.
The radio rattled, then a shaking Ranit voice asked, “Irvynt? Rai esk ghu’yun. Irvynt?”
“Uh, Wolf?”
“Don’t ask me.” He replied.
In reply, the fighter in lead ejected all its weaponry. “Irvynt!” Was the hysterical cry from the fighter. The Ranits muttered to each other, then the fighter in lead tremored, “T-T-roo-se?”
“THAT I understood.” Fox said. “Truce.”
The Ranit fighters got behind the shield just as the flashing power web stopped, and the force wall of the explosion hit. ROB watched his shield percentage count down lightning fast as the cruiser rocked, in space or not. Milliseconds later it was over, and the Great Fox was the only functioning cruiser in the area.