Three Arwing Fighters came out of lightspeed in front of the barren, deserted planet, Venom. They seemed to stop in space then charge up and blast towards the planet at a velocity that was hardly imaginable. A velocity or speed that was so great, that the G-Force that was the result would crush any living creature that was outside, yet inside the safe cockpit canopy of the Arwing, they felt nothing but a slight tremor.

The cold, vast blackness of space stretched for infinity, the vastness was almost overwhelming to any creature that saw it, and in the Lylat System, it seemed darker then ever. There was but one sun, and many nebulae, but it had only two inhabited planets, three counting the imprisoned inhabitants of Venom.

Venom, from space, was a green and greenish-yellow colour. All those who looked at it would immediately think of Venom, hence-forth the name, Venom. Exiled peoples from peaceful planets like Corneria or Katina or Zoness were exiled to Venom, where they were to remain the rest of their days.

One such man, was the ape known as Andross. Andross had been born on Corneria, and was a genius. He was born to a very rich family, so had access to unlimited technology. But when he was older, working in Colleges, he began to study Bio Technology and create Bio Weapons, which he thought would make a great defense if Corneria was under attack. But when Andross started to experiment, he started to destroy entire cities, such as Remus City in the Northern Hemisphere.

The leader of Corneria, General Pepper, told Andross that Corneria and its inhabitants were peaceful, and that they had no use for such travesties which Andross called Bio Weapons. Eventually, Andross went mad an waged war on Corneria. General Pepper managed to capture Andross, and exile him to the barren and deserted planet Venom: for life.

People had grown up hearing the stories of Andross: maniacal genius, and wishing that if only had had put his brains to good use, he might not have become the horrid monster he was today. A few years past, and General Pepper was elected ruler of the Lylat System, for bringing peace to the peoples. But then, Pepper noticed strange activity coming from Venom. Biological activity.

Now, General Pepper had sent these three brave pilots to investigate, and investigation happened to be one of the Star Fox Team's specialties. The three pilots all had specialties, and weaknesses. Well, a few of them. One of them seemed to have none at all, except for his son.

This fox was James McCloud, leader of the Star Fox team and friend to General Pepper. His son, Fox, was in the flight academy and called "The Next James McCloud" by his instructors and by General Pepper himself. Fox was very honored, and James was nothing but proud of his son's accomplishments, and had no doubt that he would make many great accomplishments in his life ahead of him.

Fox's mother, Vixy, had been killed while Fox was still a cub, by none other then Andross. Vixy had been killed in a car bomb, because Andross thought James and Fox would get in, so he could have Vixy to himself: the chance failure had made Andross only even more maniacal in his purposes. James had taken up a fight with Andross with a vengeance, and Fox had learned every detail of their long, personal war. Pepper had his own war with Andross, but only for the loss of Remus City, and all those lives: gone, thanks to the madness of Andross.

Peppy Hare was another pilot. Thirty five years old, Peppy was a wise rabbit pilot. He had a very good grasp on reality, and on the controls of his Arwing fighter. He had helped James out of many tough spots in his career, and James could think of no one else other then Peppy to be beside him in a gunfight or in a Arwing Battle.

Peppy was very smart, and had several degrees in physics, astrophysics, astronomy, and nucleus and biology. He had been an easy pick for the Star Fox team when all these skills had been added to his superior flying. Peppy was a great friend to James and a Godfather to Fox. General Pepper had very much approved of Peppy, and was also Peppy's friend.

The rabbit had helped evacuate Remus City during Andross' mad outbreak. He had received emotional scars from seeing friends die, but had recovered well with James and Fox. Peppy was his normal cheerful self again, but everyone on the Star Fox Team was glum when they had to talk, much less go and check up on the vile, insane Andross.

The sun of the system was on the other side of Venom, so the lights of the Arwing fighters were all that lit up the small ships, plus the instrument panels inside. The three pilots were all tired and groggy from their long hyper space journey, but slowly they came to and started running through the normal power up routines.

James McCloud activated his communications unit, letting it fuzz a bit before it went into its normal unit frequency, hooked up with the other pilots. Next, he put his fighter into all range mode, which allowed better maneuverability and targeting range. He put his shields on equal around the fighter and checked his nova bombs. All nine of them were there, and the nova bombs had the affect of a nuclear bomb, and that was very big considering that there was no oxygen in space. James made sure his hyper lasers, a personally added technological piece of work, were fully charged. Finally, he grabbed the throttle and disengaged the auto pilot. His ship stopped its forward march, and turned, ducking below the tip of the planet.

Finally, Peppy and the other pilot, Pigma Dengar, followed James as they flew in low circles around the planet. James switched on his scanners, and automatically, Peppy and Pigma did the exact same. James looked, seeing what General Pepper had been talking about. There were small explosions and strange power readings coming from the planet. James decided to let it slide for a little while, see if the scanners could lock in.

Pigma and Peppy were just outside his field of vision, but he knew Peppy was probably thinking about Andross, and Pigma was thinking of the big pay check that Pepper had waiting for him back home. James was thinking of three things, with the addition of his son, Fox. He looked down at the planet, knowing that some day, Fox would probably follow in his father's foot steps, checking on Andross every few weeks, fighting galactic battles as hired mercenaries, it was a life James had lived for so long, since he was Fox's age, and now he was thirty five. People still looked up to him, said he had it all. Wit, brains, cunning, courage, skill, smoothness, everything. They said it, he had it. James McCloud flipped the heat sensors to add to the scanners. They started to trace the locking mechanism to find the source. Peppy appeared on James' wing, looking the other way, down at the planet below. James adjusted his shades and saw the rabbit was very tense. Pigma appeared on James' other wing, he was looking tense too. Both of them knew the horrors of Andross, and both of them knew the dangers which he could hold with his maniacal genius.

James looked at his scans/sensors chart and grimaced. The computer said that it would be able to lock in on the source in approximately seven minutes. James flipped a switch and rock music filled his ears and he displayed it to the other two. He saw Peppy relax a little in his fighter, but Pigma remained tense, a little odd for the pig. He usually started to sing along with the songs that James displayed for the group. James settled back into his seat and watched Venom, and his scans/sensors charts at the same time.

The seven minutes seemed to stretch forever, but finally they locked in. James flipped off the music and saw Peppy tense again, and Pigma kept his eyes locked on the planet. James looked and saw it was in a deep cavern around the equator on the west side of the planet, the side where the sun was, creating a tremendous energy distortion, adding to that of the one on the planet below.

James flipped his communications switch and cleared his throat. "Okay, boys," he said. "Loosen up. Stay tight on my wings. We've got ourselves Andross to check up on, maximum risk. Nobody play the hero here. Let's move in." James barrel rolled and headed through the atmosphere of Venom, and saw Peppy and Pigma doing the exact same.

James steered carefully through the greenish-yellow clouds of Venom, keeping his eyes on the scanners for anything the slightest bit wrong. He took his eyes off the scanners as he broke through the clouds and the shaking of his Arwing fighter began to subside. He looked at the rugged, tough landscape below.

"Okay," he said. "Spread out. Pigma, west side. Peppy, east side. I'll take her down the middle," he concluded as he hit the boost key and his fighter accelerated ahead. "Coming up on the target in four minutes. Until then, here's some music." He pressed the radio again and the music came back on. James relaxed slightly, as did Peppy. But strangely, again, Pigma seemed tense as ever. "Piggy," he said and Pigma looked over to him. "Something wrong?"

It took Pigma a second to respond. "No," he said in his squeal of a voice. "Nothing's wrong, Jimmy. Let's just get this over with," he said and continued en route to the target. James smiled and nodded to himself as he took his route towards the target.

"Will do," he muttered to himself. He thought of Fox again, and Vixy. Vixy had been taken from their lives before Fox had even known her and when James had loved her so: she had been with him for four years before that, and Fox had been only a cub. Pigma was doing a little side to side maneuver. James flipped off the music and cleared his throat. "Okay," he said. "Thirty seconds, guys, look sharp," he said.

Then, it came into view. A tremendous fortress, built to almost the skies, and armies of fighters, battle ships and cruisers were all around it. Ground troops, tanks, heavy artillery, plasma rifles, automated defense systems, were on the ground. James gaped, and realized that Andross was ready for them.

A face came onto the screen. The face of that laughing idiotic ape, Andross. He laughed insanely as James gritted his teeth. He looked at Peppy who was even tighter then ever. Pigma seemed slightly relaxed. Relaxed! How could he even think of the word when Andross was on the screens in front of him!?

"So," said Andross. "James McCloud, Peppy Hare, and Pigma Dengar. The Star Fox team, if I am not correct?" He smiled at the expression of horror on James' face, which was probably displayed by Peppy and Pigma as well. "Yes, my agents have kept me well informed. Yet with all this," the camera cut to a view of Andross, and he spread his arms, taking in everything around him. "you may wonder why I have not yet left Venom. Because I don't want General Pepper to know I'm coming. He has agents everywhere you know, while not as numerous and expensive as mine, he does have them. I have been staging the war for three long years, McCloud. And you will be the start. Once the inhabitants of Lylat, soon to be the Andross System, have seen that I have destroyed the great James McCloud, they will think that nothing can stop me."

James found his voice. "You crazy bastard," he managed.

Andross cackled. "That's what everyone calls me," he said. "I'm quite used to it by now. There are many things I know about you, yet so little you know about me. You know, McCloud, your wife was an accident." James tensed. "I've always wanted to tell you that." He cackled. "That bomb was meant for you and your son. Although I didn't expect her to be the one to get in. But look? All of it is falling into place! I will have you, and the first life I take on Corneria after that of that inferior General Pepper, will be your son's."

James jerked in his seat. "Leave him alone!" He screamed.

"Hmm," Andross appeared to be in deep thought. "I just might," he said. "Not leave him alone, but just might not kill him. There may be uses for him. My agents inform me that while there is no hope of bending you to my will, there are many for Fox. I could catch him soon and make him a commander in my fleet."

"You," James said. "Are an insane, maniacal, mad, stupid, crazy old bastard do you know that!?" He was screaming now. "Well now you do!" He finished.

Andross nodded. "Maybe, actually, it is very possible that I am all of those things which you just mentioned. You are indeed smarter then I thought, McCloud. But not smart enough, I'm afraid." Andross cackled.

"What do you mean?" James asked, giving Andross a quizzical expression.

Andross grinned, a big, toothy grin. "You failed to notice the most important piece of this puzzle. The piece, Mr. McCloud, which will lead you to your doom."

"Oh?" James smirked. "What's that?"

Andross stifled a cackle. "My agent," he said. "Pigma Dengar!"

Suddenly, an explosion rocked James' Arwing as Pigma blew his wings off. James cursed and struggled with the controls as his ship began to spin out of control. He looked at Andross' cackling face on the monitor, then saw that Peppy was in a similar predicament.

James grimaced, set himself in his chair and pulled up and to the right on the throttle as hard as he could, amidst the terrible, horrid laughter of Andross. Then, James' engines went out. James tried everything, absolutely everything, but his ship would not respond.

"Peppy!" James shouted.

There was no answer, save for the sound of an ejection as Peppy punched out. Of course! James reached for the handle, it was just out of his grasp. He couldn't unbuckle or he would be killed. He pushed himself back in his chair, and, with all his might, kicked the ejection handle. There was a loud crack and the cockpit flew away. His chair's rockets shot him into the air and a parachute unfolded as he began to fall. He saw his fighter tumbling, twisting, turning, before finally crashing into the ground far below.

James saw Pigma make a few circles and saw him fly into the hangar bay of one of the war ships. James scowled, and looked down. Armies of Andross' best were waiting. Best not to reach for his gun. He saw Peppy land, and the rabbit was mobbed. He tried to fight, but they lifted him up in chains. They started to drag him away over the rocks.

James hovered his fingers over his pistol, waiting until he reached the ground. As soon as his feet touched, he kicked the closest marine in the cut and grabbed his gun. He shot at one of the others who flew back. James jumped, and, while flipping, detached his parachute, covering seven soldiers. He grabbed the fallen soldier's rifle and started firing rapid bursts into the soldiers. He jumped again as the spot where he had been was scorched out of existence.

The soldiers scattered, firing blindly as James fired down on them. They ran, retreated and scattered before James landed. He fired more bursts and looked for some means of escape, when a blue blast hit him. He went numb, couldn't move a muscle in his body. James stood there, teetering for a moment, before falling on his face. A stun ray had hit him, and he lay there, helpless as Andross' soldiers came, collected his weapons and chained him up. They reversed the effects and though James struggled against his bonds, they would not budge. A shuttle landed as James was brought towards the large fortress and, flanked by guards, was Andross. He grinned his ape grin and came towards James.

Andross stopped right in front of the brave fox. "So," he said. "Ready for some of my diabolical torture, Mr. James McCloud?" he said with a loud cackle. James struggled against his bonds again. "Oh," said Andross in a hurt tone. "Do I frighten you, Mr. McCloud?"

Thinking of nothing else to do, James arced his head back and spat in Andross' face. He staggered back and James felt a rapid succession of clubs hitting against the back of his head. He fell down to the ground, trying to cringe away from the blows which so badly hurt him. He was on the verge of passing out when Andross whirled.

"Stop!" He shouted. He walked up to James, who was bruised, battered and torn. James coughed up a couple of teeth as Andross stared into his face, his cold eyes betraying nothing. "It was easy to get Pigma under my possession." He grinned. "And while it may not be easy for you, you will join us or die."

James whispered something that no one, not even himself, could understand, then fainted, lost consciousness at Andross' feet. His unconscious body was lifted and dragged towards the prison. An ape came up to Andross and wiped the rest of James' spit off his face.

"Pigma," Andross said and the pig was at his side. Andross reached behind him and a guard gave him a huge suit case. "Your payment. I would like you to organize our own little team. One that will make Star Fox look very, very pathetic."

Pigma smiled. "Yes, My Lord Andross."

"Yes," Andross said. "A good leader would be chosen by me, but you and my chosen leader will be the ones who command and choose the other pilots. Clear, Mr. Dengar?"

Pigma nodded.

"Good," he said. "Pigma, I want you to order triple guard shifts. McCloud and that dumb rabbit will probably try to escape. Neither of them are to leave this place alive. Understood?" He said, and when Pigma nodded, he smiled. "Good," he said. "This is turning out to be a very, very good day for me." He walked back towards his shuttle as Pigma started snapping orders at the guards.

James awoke as cold water splashed across his face again. His body ached and burned, a stale smell filled his nostrils and he was lying on something very hard, his head propped up by something very soft. James opened his eyes to see a steel room, with a small light hanging in the center. Two cots were there, and Peppy was standing above him, a bucket of cold water in his hand. There was a faucet in the corner and a drain under it. James groaned as he sat up.

"What happened?" he groaned.

Peppy shrugged. "All I heard was that you killed a lot of their men," he said. "You got quite a few nasty bumps on your head. Plus the fact that you've lost a couple of teeth, and probably broke your tail." Peppy said with a sly grin.

James tried wagging his tail and sharp stabs of pain coursed up his spine. He grunted as he sat up, not sitting on his tail. "Well," he said. "Any idea where we are?"

"The lowest levels of the fortress," said Peppy, looking around. "It's quite classy compared to some prisons I've seen. Not that I ever went there for penal offense, just for being captured and dragged behind enemy lines," he said with a wink. "You know what I'm talking about, right?"

James nodded. "Yes," he said. Then he remembered. "How could Piggy do this to us? I mean, not even him..." he said, trailing as he looked around the room. "Why?"

"Probably he was offered a fatter pay check then Pepper was offering," he said. "You know Piggy. He goes for money like Pepper after Andross." He sighed, whistling through his teeth. We don't have any weapons. Not that would be of any use to us, anyway."

Peppy backed up as James stood. Suddenly, an idea hit him. "How many guards come to bring us food and stuff like that?"

"Huh?" Peppy asked, then understood the question. "One."

James looked at the bucket in Peppy's hand. "With water in it, how heavy is that thing, do you wager?" James said, his idea forming into a full born plan.

"About twenty pounds. I see, so we hit the guard on the head, get his stuff, and get to the hangar bay and get the hell out of here! James, you are a genius!"

James grinned. "Well, I don't like to boast about it."

"We'll have to wait another two hours."

"Okay," James nodded. "We have to form the plan of how we're going to do this. I'll hit him on the head since I have more strength, and you catch him so he doesn't fall and make any sounds for the guards to hear. Check?" he asked and Peppy nodded. "Then, if I'm right, we attack guards on our way and find a map that will show us how to get to the hangar bay. Then, we get a fighter at which time, home we go."

Peppy nodded, grinning. "Okay," he said. "So, now we have to wait."

"I'll fill the water," James said. "You can handle grabbing the guard, right? He's a lot bigger then you."

"Yeah," Peppy said. "Hey, I may be short and stubby, but I am pretty damned tough, Jimmy."

"Yeah, I noticed," James said with a laugh. It took a whole hour, but finally, the sounds of a key in a lock reached his ears and James lifted the bucket over his shoulder. The door opened and the guard stepped into view! With a heavy thud and a crack, the bucket collided with the man. He started to fall forward, blood oozing from his ears, nose and mouth, but Peppy caught him and laid him on the cot.

James grabbed the pistol and a knife while Peppy took a laser and a ring of keys, plus the guard's radio which he dropped in the bucket of water. James looked down the hall and saw three guards at both ends. James fired six quick shots, three in each of the two directions and the guards crumpled.

"Which way?" Peppy asked.

James bit his lip. "Right," he said and they took off as a pair of guards came around the corner. James fired twice and the guards went down. After stripping the guards of their weapons they took off again. A man sat behind a desk and was immediately shot between the eyes by Peppy. James sat behind the computer and tapped the keys. He looked at the door. "Through there, fourth door on the left."

"Let's go," Peppy said and opened the door. Ten guards were waiting. James fired seven shots and Peppy three, and the guards crumpled. An alarm sounded and the two pilots forgot about being careful as they ran. The arrived in the docking bay and found an array of fighters. They saw a patch of Arwing Fighters and jumped in, initiating the start up procedures. James activated his comm.

"Hurry, Pep! They're coming through the door!"

Peppy looked back as the cockpit closed to see the door sparking. "I see it," he said. "I'm going to switch the rotation of my guns and shoot an incinerating fire that should lay waste to any unlucky bastard who comes through that door."

"Good," James said. "I'm ready!"

"So am I!"

James flicked a switch and so did Peppy, and their fighters blasted out of the hangar bay doors which closed behind them. They flew away from the fortress and towards the upper atmosphere. That's when he saw it. The army of fighters waiting for them. They opened fire and James banked right. "Fly through them and go to hyper space on the other side, Pep!"

Peppy gritted his teeth. "Roger, Jimmy!" Both pilots started firing, as they weaved their way through the fighters. Peppy banked hard right and narrowly avoided hitting two fighters. He fired a nova bomb, and found that there were only three in this ship. He grimaced and fired all of them, clearing a path.

James McCloud banked hard right, bouncing left and right, firing lasers and bombs until his bombs were gone, then he just fired lasers. Then, a bomb exploded right beside him. It tore a wing off his ship and he was spinning, again he was spinning out of control.

Peppy Hare watched in horror as James' ship crashed into another fighter and a brilliant flash, brighter than any other flash that he had ever seen in colliding fighters emitted from those two ships. Peppy came out the other side and engaged the hyper drive. With a cry, Peppy engaged the hyper drive and sobbing, headed back to Corneria.

James McCloud, hero, father, friend and family: was dead.

Chapter One

FIVE YEARS LATER

The flagship of the Star Fox team, the Great Fox, was all white against the vast darkness of space. In the distance, a small blue and white marble could be seen, and with every minute, it would get a bit bigger. Barely noticeable to the human eye, people inside the great ship were already scattering to perform their duties.

On the bridge, a toad, Slippy Toad, was working feverishly at a technological command console, pressing buttons, as the bridge crew and four others stood there. The four others who were the only ones not working at stations were the machine, Rob64, the falcon, Falco Lombardi, the rabbit, Peppy Hare, and the young fox, Fox McCloud. Slippy pressed some buttons and finally a projection of General Pepper came on the screen.

"Message from General Pepper," Rob64 stated. "Priority one!"

Slippy pressed a button and the image started to clear and sound came on. "We need your help, Star Fox! Andross has declared war! He's invaded the Lylat System and is trying to take over Corneria! Our armies alone can't do the job! Hurry, Star Fox!" The transmission fuzzed, then blew out altogether. Slippy turned in his seat, and all eyes went to Fox.

"Sound the alarm. Everyone to their battle stations and get the shields up. Star Fox team with me!" He shouted and turned, blasting down the hall at a sprint. Falco Lombardi almost took wing to keep up and Peppy had to run on all fours, not a normal thing, to keep pace. Slippy leapt the whole way, keeping up as they eventually reached the hangar bay where the four Arwing Fighters were ready. Fox climbed into his, while everyone else took their spots. Fox looked at the picture of himself and his father, and brought his head mike onto his head.

"This is Fox McCloud, testing," Fox said.

"Roger, Commander McCloud," said the voice of one of the bridge officers. "Launch in forty seconds. Good luck, Sir," and the voice cut in a burst of static. Fox flipped on his shield gauge with thirty seconds left before launch, and the others were already in start up mode.

Fox cleared his throat. "All right," he said. "We all know what Andross is capable of. Some better than others. But let me remind you, this is not kamikaze, we are here to save the world as we have done for the past three years, and as Star Fox as done for the past twenty."

"Yeah," Falco said with a clap of his wings.

"Let's do it." Slippy said and Fox counted off the last ten seconds and then, they were in space. Fox could never get used to the fantastic awe which space provided him. He saw the planet Corneria largely enough, now, and saw the specks of orange and white all over where Andross was launching his Bio Nuclear devices.

Fox swallowed and plunged into the atmosphere, not saying a word, knowing that his fellows would follow. Fox charged his inter space comm system and waited until they came out of the blue clouds. "All wings report in," Fox said.

"This is Peppy. All systems go," Peppy said.

Slippy took a second to respond. "Slippy, here. I'm okay."

Finally, Falco chimed in. "Falco, here. I'm fine."

"Check your G-Diffuser system and open the wings a bit," Fox ordered as he checked his G system. "Keep your speed nominal until you see attack ships, then accelerate to attack speed on your Y Axis and go full throttle. We've got a way to win, and that's precisely what we're going to do." Fox paused as his scanners beeped. He punched the accelerator. "I see them up ahead. Let's rock and roll!"

The four fighters broke apart and flew in separate directions. Peppy took the right, Slippy the left, and Falco went above. Leaving Fox going straight down the middle. Fox locked onto Corneria City, Andross' area of attack. The enemy fighters were coming into view now. "Engaging laser target system," Fox said. He got three locks and fired his hyper lasers. "Three targets wiped, over."

"Slippy, get back here!" Peppy's voice sounded over the comm and Fox looked in time to see Peppy vaporize an enemy fighter, but another swooped around and came in on his tail. "Watch yourself, Slip! Bogey on your tail!" Peppy reported.

Slippy banked right but the fighter stayed with him. "Whoa! Help me!" He shouted, trying a series of banks and rolls, but Fox came in behind the enemy fighter. "Fox! Help!" Slippy shouted frantically as he tried to evade getting blasted.

"Locked on, firing!" Fox said and blew the enemy fighter out of existence. "Thank me later, Slip. We're coming into a cavern. Fan out behind me, guys."

Falco's voice suddenly came over the comm. "Fox! Enemy fighters above you! They're opening fire!"

Fox jammed on the brakes and watched as laser fire lanced down in front of him and six fighters flew by. Fox locked on and fired six times. In those six shots, six ships went tumbling down. "Thanks, Falco," he said, remembering the days he would zero the best pilots that the Lylat System had to offer in simulation combat exercises. "We're coming up on Corneria City now;" Fox trailed as they exited the cavern and found themselves in the city. Andross' fighters were everywhere, blowing down buildings. His City Destroyers were tumbling things down and carrying hostages to waiting war ships. A few of Pepper's Cornerian Defense Corps Fighters attempted to help, firing and destroying only a few.

"This is horrible," Falco gasped as he appeared on Fox's wing. Fox nodded, his expression grim as he surveyed it. Falco jumped in his seat. "Let's kill some bad guys!" He shouted and started firing like crazy.

Fox nodded. "Rock and roll, boys!"

The four fighters opened a barrage of fire, and didn't miss. They flew through the cities amidst the cheers of soldiers and civilians below. They blew away the enemy, blasting them to pieces. He could see the pilots panicking and trying to get back to their warships.

"Okay," Fox said. "See that warship? Each of you fire one nova bombs and blow that thing away, now, while it's over a field and can't do the city any damage. Fire!" The four nova bombs flew out and hit the warship. It emitted a brilliant explosion and Fox whooped as it crashed into a hill. Below them, Pepper's foot soldiers began to take the upper hand in the battle.

"This is Peppy," came Peppy's voice. "I've got warships in the atmosphere turning around and making the jump to hyper space!" There was a chorus of cheers and Fox sat back in his seat. "But," Peppy said. "They have left numerous amounts of fighters."

Slippy burped. "No problem."

"Okay," Fox said. "Let's go." He accelerated again, blasting now at the City Destroyers below them. He gritted his teeth and fired, watching them blow up as Pepper's fighters moved in to finish off any straggling Andross Fighters. "We're winning," Fox said with a triumphant grin and tone. "Let's keep this up!"

They flew low over a lake, seeing enemy battleships in the water. Falco made short work of them, destroying them all with one nova bomb blast. He whooped as he came out of the fires, his ship a little singed, but otherwise undamaged. Fox flew under a ridge and came out on land.

"Peppy!" Fox shouted, seeing that Peppy had a bogey on his tail. Peppy flipped, soaring through the air and coming around on the bogey's tail, destroying it with a quick burst from his lasers. "Nice move, Pep. Don't scare me like that."

Before Peppy could respond, Slippy's voice clicked on. "Enemy robot dead ahead," he said and Fox squinted at his scans, sweat matting his fur and stinging his eyes. He wiped his forehead and saw what Slippy was talking about. He flicked a switch.

"All range mode," he said, allowing the fighter to have more maneuverability. Then, he saw it. The robot was vaguely humanoid in some ways, but it had rocket launchers for arms and a strange power pack on its back. Fox stifled a laugh at how ridiculous he looked.

"Ah, so this is Star Fox," said the machine. "I'm going to crush you!" He said, firing a series of heat seeking missiles into the air. Fox barrel rolled viciously and fired several lasers, causing a small explosion on the machine's arm. "Ow!" He screamed. "That hurts!" He swatted and Slippy narrowly avoided being crushed.

Falco came in behind the machine and fired several bursts into his back leg and power pack. The leg exploded and the power pack dimmed, causing the machine to topple over. "Fox!" Falco said excitedly. "The power pack! That's his weakness!"

"I'm going in," Fox said.

"I will not be defeated by this worm!" The machine said and fired a laser which hit Fox's wing, causing him to tumble a bit but not sway from his course as he continued towards his target. Fox fired a nova bomb and pulled away. "My Emperor! I've failed you!" He stretched the "failed" for quite some time before the bomb hit and the explosion lit up every scanner for miles.

"Yee-haw!" Fox shouted as they flew away, circling back towards Corneria City. "All aircraft report!"

"I saw my life flash before my eyes!" Peppy said with a chuckle as he flew on Fox's left wing.

Slippy laughed. "We did it so far, Fox!"

"You worry about your own hide," Falco said with a chuckle as they flew back towards the building where soldiers stood, cheering and civilian crews had started to rebuild the city and their automated defense systems. General Pepper himself came out onto the landing platform as the four Arwing Fighters landed.

Fox climbed out of his fighter and shook Pepper's hand, and General Pepper pulled him into a back slapping hug. "Way to go, Fox," he said, and looked Fox up and down. "You're the spitting image of James. He's proud from where he is. I know." He paused for a moment. "You've destroyed one of the machines," he said. "But there is another one, out over Rome Lake. There is only one way to get in quietly, and that's through the waterfall."

"Looks like we're moving," said Fox and started to climb back in, but Pepper grabbed his arm.

Pepper swallowed. "Fox," he said. "Come back in one piece, Fox. I don't want to lose you the way I lost James. Okay?" He said. Fox nodded and climbed into his Arwing. Pepper watched as the cockpits closed and the four fighters jetted away into the mid afternoon sun. "Start fixing up the city," Pepper said, heading back inside.

Fox looked at his sensor board as the waterfall was about three clicks away. There were many of Andross' fighters in between. "Incoming," Fox reported as they came in. "Watch it, Falco, you've got three on your tail!" Fox swooped forward to help.

"Shit! He's right behind me!" Falco shouted.

Fox came in and locked on. "Break right, Falco!" He fired. The hyper laser bursts flew forward and destroyed the enemy fighters. "You're clear, Falco. Thank me later. There's more incoming! Slippy, with Peppy! Falco, with me!"

They broke off into different directions and Fox came up, Falco on his wing. "Open fire!" They started rapidly firing, raking down the enemy as they got in the way. "Locked on and firing! Waterfall is one click! I can see it!"

"I've locked onto the enemy robot," Falco said. "Try to keep up!" He jetted ahead through the waterfall and Fox swallowed hard, knowing Slippy and Peppy were right behind him all the way through this godforsaken war which they were fighting.

"Here goes," Fox said and flew through into a tremendous battle zone. Bombs were dropping as Andross' War Cruisers were firing down on them. Fox fired several of his nine nova bombs into the enemy cruisers then jetted along, blasting down enemy fighters. "Be careful, guys! Fire some nova bombs, get them to bug out!"

Peppy took only a second to respond. "Copy," he said.

"I can't see it," Falco said. "He's gone off the sensors board."

They were over Rome Lake now, trying to lock in. Fox looked at his sensors and gaped. "Holy shit! He's right behind us!"

"Ah, someone wants to play," came a mechanical voice. Fox looked up to see the machine passing over him then coming down right in front of him. "Charge!" Shouted the machine and launched a barrage of missiles.

Peppy gasped. "I know this one," he said. "Fox! Aim for the open spots! We'll distract him!"

"Copy," Fox said and locked onto one of the open spots with a nova bomb and fired. A brilliant explosion caused Fox to look away as one of them tumbled off. There were two open spots, rocket launchers, left and Fox was locking on. "Locking on." he said.

Then, Fox's engines exploded, sending him into a spin. "Oh, shit! I've got some hydraulics problems, here! I'm going down! Mayday, mayday!" He shouted, twisting with the throttle, trying desperately not to lose too much control. "Mayday!" He shouted, the water was rushing up at him, reaching out to touch him. "Mayday!" He screamed at the top of his lungs.

Then, Fox plunged into the water. To his great surprise, his cockpit didn't explode and send icy water flowing over him. Instead, he bobbed to the surface; on top of a Cornerian Submarine! Fox was winded, and hurting on his left leg. He opened the cockpit as Cornerian Medical Units came out and started tending to him.

Falco heaved a sigh of relief as Fox was taken care of. "I'll get the rocket launchers," he said, swerving, losing one of the missiles and moving in. Peppy and Slippy flew around in front of the main optical sensor which served as the machine's eyes. "Locking on," Falco said. A steady, monotonous beep sounded. "Firing!" He launched a nova bomb and a brilliant explosion shook the area. The shock waves that chorused from it blew Falco backwards, cart wheeling across the skies. He got control in time to see an enemy fighter coming in behind Peppy. "Peppy, watch out!"

Peppy banked hard to the left and avoided being vaporized. Falco ignored the big machine and fired at the enemy fighter on Peppy's tail and finally blasted it. Slippy came across his view, shooting down an enemy missile. "Thanks, Falco," Peppy said.

"So, ready to die?" The machine asked.

Falco banked left as a missile shot past. He formed into a hard barrel roll and flew across the skies, finally turning on his port engine and coming back around for a strafing run on the machine. He barraged it with laser blasts, scorching the machine's quantum armor. He circled, gaining speed as he came in for another pass, firing at its optical sensors. He destroyed one and whooped as he came in again.

"Lombardi, this is Captain Coyote of the Cornerian Defense Corps. We're coming in to assist, over," Shawn Coyote said, roaring in, firing his lasers, which weren't as advanced as the hyper lasers of an Arwing, but still pretty good, at the machine. Four other fighters were with him and the machine began to reverse.

Falco banked. "Glad you could join us, Captain," he said as he shot a missile out of the skies. "Looks like we're all..." Falco stopped as he looked at his sensors. "Oh, shit!" He shouted. "Captain, we have a war cruiser dumping what looks like a hundred fighters down on us!"

"Aha!" The machine shouted. "My friends have come for me, and now, you will die," he said and fired a missile, blowing one of the Cornerian Fighters right to pieces. "You see? Nothing can stop the great Emperor!" He launched more missiles and enemy fighters.

Falco shook his head. "Okay," he said. "This could pose a problem."

Coyote banked hard right, blasting an enemy fighter to shreds. "Lombardi, take care of the machine. We'll distract the fighters long enough for you to blow it up. Hurry, there's not much time before they get here!" He said, blowing a missile up.

"Right," Falco said, turning and zoning in on him. He aimed for one of the missile launchers and locked on. "Firing!" He reported and launched a nova bomb with a rapid succession of hyper laser bursts from his batteries. He watched as they hit, and another brilliant explosion coursed out, but it took out three optical sensors and sent a huge shock wave into them. Some of the systems in the Arwing and Cornerian fighters started to shut down. "Captain Coyote, he's almost gone," Falco said when he had gotten his controls under power again.

"Good work, Lombardi," Coyote said.

"Incoming!" Peppy and Slippy hollered together as a hundred fighters dropped down from the skies. Falco ducked beneath their line of fire and zoomed along the surface of the lake, avoiding reefs, rocks, submarines, animals and waves.

"Scatter!" Coyote ordered and every ship scattered. Seven ships against a hundred was not Falco's idea of great odds, but he circled and started up towards them. "Puncher, watch it! You've got one on your tail! Get out of there!"

Puncher Doggy tried to evade. "I can't shake him, Sir! He's on me tight!" He tried again. Falco saw the severity of the situation and swooped in behind him. "Help!" Puncher said as he narrowly avoided a blast. Falco fired three shots and blew the enemy fighter to pieces. "Thank you," Puncher said.

"No problem," Falco said. "Puncher, stay on my wing. Peppy, with Slippy. Captain Coyote, regroup and come back in for another run, over," he said.

"All right," Coyote said.

Puncher stayed with Falco in a sharp bank and they zoomed through the maze of fighters, passing the occasional good guy before spotting the enemy robot. "There he is, Falco," said Puncher as they roared in. "Lock on and fire?"

"Affirmative," said Falco as he did the same. "Locked?"

"Locked," Puncher agreed, his hands hovering over the trigger that would doom the enemy robot.

"Fire!" Falco shouted. Six nova bombs flew straight at the robot. The explosion this time was worse than all the others combined. The shock wave was incredible, and every fighter was affected. Puncher and Falco wrestled for control and got it. Captain Coyote was tumbling before he got control again, but the enemy fighters paused for a minute then started to run. The few that stayed were destroyed in the fire of the rebellion. Whoops and cheers went up as the people turned back towards Corneria City once again. Falco was off to see Fox.

"Great job, Puncher," Falco said to Puncher Doggy as they landed. "You flew well out there. We'd have been out there still if it wasn't for your help."

Puncher grinned. "Thanks, Falco," he said. "Where's Fox, anyway? I heard he was downed?"

"Yeah," Falco said as they saw Fox walking up to greet them, a small cut on his forehead. "Fox! You missed out on all the fun! Where the hell were you? Puncher and I had to take care of everything ourselves, while you were out flirting with the staff!"

"I was not!" Fox shouted.

Puncher smiled. "Well," he said. "Good luck. I have to go. Got myself a planet to clean up."

"Later, Puncher," Falco said. "Puncher Doggy. He's a pretty good pilot to have on your wing." He shook his head and turned to Fox who was glaring at him. "Hey," he said. "The staff thing was only a joke, okay, man? Jeez!"

"Not a very funny joke, Falco. We've got a job to do. Apparently, Andross' lapdogs have hidden themselves in the Meteo Field, so we're off right now."

Falco nodded. "All right," he said. "Why are we going through there?" he asked.

"Fortuna," Fox replied. "It's been taken over by Andross, and we have to go through Meteo in order to get there. Pepper's sending the fleet to Sector Y to try to secure us a course for when we're done on Fortuna, so he's heading out too."

Falco grimaced. "Okay," he said. "I guess that means we're saddling up." He said as he walked over towards his Arwing. Fox's new Arwing was just getting repaired by Pepper's men."So they're going to Y? Why?" Falco chuckled at his little joke.

"Not funny, Falco," Fox said. Falco shook his head. Their leader had no sense of humor, he might have at one time, before his father died, but now he was just dead cold, never telling a joke or anything otherwise. Falco sighed as he climbed into his fighter.

Peppy and Slippy were already initiating start up procedures and the rescue crews of Corneria were reconstructing their world. Falco flipped his systems go switch and the landing gear came up, letting his fighter hover there for a moment, then he flicked another switch and blasted off, gaining altitude as the rest of the Star Fox team came up with him.

"Yee-haw," he said as he punched through the atmosphere and into space, where the Great Fox was waiting to head into the asteroid field.

"We're ready," Falco said.

Fox swooped into the lead. "This is Fox, all ships and fighters follow me. Blast any asteroids that get too close. Slippy, do a sensor reading. Peppy, hang back in case we need any help. Stay a few clicks behind us."

"Copy," Slippy and Peppy said at the same time.

"And Falco, stay on my wing," Fox said and jetted into the asteroid field. Falco grunted and followed, swerving to avoid asteroids. "Keep it tight." Fox ordered and Falco swerved to get a bit closer to Fox's fighter. He avoided asteroids, some by a wide margin, others just barely. He pushed on the throttle and accelerated.

"This is fun," Falco said with a grin as he accelerated even faster, blowing past all of the asteroids. "Woo-hoo!" He shouted, flying through a hole in one of the larger asteroids as he jetted. Finally, he cut back on the throttle and slowed down, allowing Fox to catch up.

"Be careful," Peppy said, now in front of them. "It's quiet. Too quiet." He flew over the lip of an asteroid and green laser fire suddenly barraged all around him. Peppy looped and flew back. "Be careful, it's a trap!" Falco powered his guns as Andross' fighters came out of the asteroids, blasting all their supplies.

"Take it to them!" Fox ordered.

Falco locked onto one unfortunate bogey. "Well, well," Falco said. "Looks like we've got ourselves some bad ass perpetrators," he said, locking on with lasers. "Locked on and firing," he said, blasting the fighter to shreds, then swerving to avoid hitting an asteroid. "Scratch one bogey."

"Bogey on my six," Fox replied. "Lost him. I got a bit scorched on that one but I'm okay," he said, swerving to avoid an asteroid. "Falco, watch it, you've got one on your tail!"

Falco looked over his shoulder. "I see him," he said. "Let's see how he likes debris." Falco pressed a button and the garbage disposal threw garbage at the enemy fighter which swerved right into an asteroid. "Ha, ha," Falco said.

"Nice work," Fox said. "Pep, Slip, how are you holding up, back there?"

Peppy answered first. "Fine," he said.

"Things are really starting to heat up!" Slippy said.

"Quit dinking around, Slip," Peppy said with a chuckle as they all moved into formation, with Fox on the lead. Fox pressed a button and looked at what was in front of him.

"Jeez," he said. Fox could see the asteroid where there were two battle cruisers. He could tell the others wee thinking the same things as him. "Split up! They're targeting us!" Fox said and banked hard right. "Steer clear of the asteroid, but blow up any fighters that get to close! Slippy, with me!"

"Roger, Fox," Slippy said, appearing on Fox's wing as the two of them broke right, Peppy and Falco headed to the left. "Fox," Slippy said. "Sensors indicate there are more cruisers out there!"

Fox cursed under his breath. "Okay, boys," he said. "Bring up your nova bomb lock system and blow those cruisers right out of the stars." Fox locked on. "Seekers," he said. "They'll go around the asteroids. Make sure the seekers are activated."

There was a chorus of "copies" as they brought up their systems. Fox's finger hovered over the button until the steady monotonous beeping sounded in his ears. "Locked on and firing," Fox said and pressed the button. A nova bomb circled out, avoiding asteroids as it continued towards the target. A brilliant flash and the ship disappeared, destroyed. Fragments hit Fox's fighter.

"Firing!" Falco said. Everyone checked in and blew star cruisers right out of the skies. "Fox, I think we got 'em all," he said, looking around.

"Look out!" Slippy shouted. A hail of fighters came roaring in at the four Arwings.

Fox cried out in dismay. "Fighters coming in!" He shouted and banked hard right, seeing Slippy follow him. "Slip, stay with me! Our only chance is to lose them! Falco, do the same! Now!"

"Copy," Falco said in a hurried voice as they all followed Fox through the asteroids. Fox went up, down, all around to avoid asteroids and fighters. "Fox, speed up, fast!" Falco said, looking at his scans. "They're gaining!"

"Roger," Fox shouted and punched it up. Everyone else did the same and they were going at unknown G Factor Forces. Fox maneuvered around asteroids and fighters, looking through his cockpit canopy occasionally to see the fighters falling back. "I think we're losing them."

Slippy sagged, but then saw it. "Fox! Star cruiser!" Slippy flipped the switch and fired two nova bombs, blasting it before it could do anything to Fox.

"Thanks," Fox breathed. "Way to stay heads up."

They finally came out of the asteroid field, and Fox sagged back in his seat, sweat drenching his fur. He rubbed his eyes and looked ahead of him. There was Fortuna, sitting there, looking innocent. "Rob, this is Fox," Fox said, attaching a communications connection to the Great Fox and sighing with relief. "What's the situation and how long until you're here?"

"We will be there in thirty minutes," Rob64 said. "Start the defense. The base has been overrun, you must free the prisoners and move in for the kill."

Fox nodded to no one. "Right,"

There was a burst of static that Fox could not understand what Rob64 said next. "...something...wr...system..." was all that Fox could make out.

"Peppy, what is that?" Fox asked.

Peppy took a moment to respond, and his call was also stitchy, but Fox could make out every word he said. "Someone's scrambling out communications circuits."

Suddenly, a laser blast blew through space and narrowly missed Fox. "I cannot allow you to go any further," the voice of a machine said, and it came into view. Fox gaped. It was huge, bigger then four of Andross' star cruisers, and it had weapons! God, did it have weapons! "Now you shall die."

"Aim for the energy boxes!" Peppy said.

"What energy boxes?" But Fox realized it as soon as the words were out of his mouth. There was a laser shooter on the front of the machine, and it showed energy boxes while it rotated. "Copy," he said and locked on. He blew one up, but several shots hit the disc. It hummed, glowing green and fired. Fox rolled, and it barely missed. "That disc absorbs our lasers!"

"Yeah," Falco said grimly.

"Okay," Fox muttered. "Can't miss." He blew up another, and another, and another, destroying everything before the machine had a chance to return fire.

"You're more cunning then I thought," said the machine. "How about this?" It fired a tremendous laser, singing one of Fox's wings. "Ha, ha," the machine laughed and fired again and again, causing Star Fox to scatter. "Ha, ha," the machine laughed again.

"Shut up!" Fox shouted and fired a nova bomb. He had lost his temper. There was a tremendous explosion, and the shock waves chorused into the fighters. Fox struggled for control and saw the others tumbling and trying to stay in command of their ships. When it died down, several of their systems had been shot. Fox shook his head.

"Sorry," he said.

Their ships started to power up again and the Great Fox arrived minutes later. Rob64's voice came on the comm. "Why have you not started your attack, Fox?"

"We had problems," Peppy filled in for him.

"We're starting now. Come on, guys. Fox, you're in the lead." Fox silently thanked Peppy and dove into the atmosphere of the blue and white planet of Fortuna.

The ice winds of Fortuna could freeze people in a matter of seconds, and it would have frozen the Arwing Fighters had they not been so hot. Fox turned on the heaters to full, despite sweating, to keep warm in this climate.

"Split up and take it to 'em," Fox said.

"Fighters are dispatching from the base, over," he said as the four Arwings split up. Fox engaged and started firing, letting his lasers rip through them. Automated defense systems fired at the four fighters as they entered the battle.

Slippy blew one down. "You're dead," Slippy said with a chuckle, then saw another fighter and took off after it. "Ha! You die now at the hands of Slippy!" He said and fired. He took off after another. "I've got you, now!" He said and destroyed the fighter.

"Slip, calm down," Peppy's voice said.

"You're dead meat, pal!" Falco said and destroyed another enemy fighter.

Slippy destroyed another fighter. "Why are ships coming out of the base?"

"A bomb has been planted in the base," Rob64 said as the flag ship of team Star Fox appeared in the distance. "It will go off in ten minutes."

Fox rolled his eyes. "Jeez," he said. "Can anyone take care of it?"

"I might," Slippy said. "If you can buy me some time, I can get in there and deactivate it without a problem." He said, blowing another fighter.

Falco swooped in and blew a fighter off of Peppy's tail. "Well," he said. "What the hell are you waiting for, Slip-up? Get the hell moving and deactivate that damned thing!" He said, engaging in battle again.

"Right," Slippy said. "I'm going in."

With that, Slippy Toad flew into the base and cut all communications. Fox McCloud breathed out a sigh of relief and hope as he blew another fighter to atomic dust. "Clear," he said. "I'm firing a nova bomb."

Falco and Peppy flew away as Fox launched it. The explosion was not as brilliant as impacting on the fighters, but it was a great explosion nonetheless. Fox squinted and pulled his shades down.

He swerved and avoided being blasted again. He dropped his garbage disposal and watched as the fighter spun in confusion and then crash into the side of the base. "Rob," Fox said, addressing Rob64. "How much longer?"

"Ten minutes," Rob64 replied.

Fox cursed. "Slippy?"

"I'm working on it," Slippy said, a touch of urgency in his voice. Inside the base, Slippy had his gun and decoder drawn, pouring with sweat as he worked like mad to dismantle the huge bomb in front of him. Slippy looked up into the barrel of another gun, realizing with was one of Andross' men who was holding it.

"Freeze, scum," the ape said.

Slippy swallowed, then pressed a button on the bomb and a jet of flame shot out, hitting the ape in the groin. He fell to the ground, whining in pathetic pain. Slippy pulled out his gun and shot him. "How nice," he muttered as he went back to work. "Red, blue, or black?" He held his clippers over one wire, then the next.

"Um," he muttered. "One potato, two potato..."

Fox swooped down and under one of the wings of the base. He grunted as he pulled up, avoiding a rock ridge which had come out of nowhere. "Slippy! Hurry it up!"

"Three minutes," Rob64 reported.

Falco swooped towards the base. "Should I help?"

"No!" Fox said. "If that bomb goes off I want as many people out here as possible when it does! Keep fighting! Slippy, we're not leaving you here!"

"I know!" Slippy shouted into the comm.

Fox looked up in time to see a fighter tumbling towards him. "Oh, shit!" He swerved left but it knocked off his wing. Fox tumbled, out of control, flying nowhere. He grimaced and pulled out of the roll, but was listing badly to the right. "This is Fox, I've lost a wing!"

"Head back to the ship!" Peppy shouted.

"But..." Fox began.

"Now!" Peppy shouted.

Fox shook his head. "I'm not leaving here without Slippy! Never! Hang on, Slippy, keep working!"

"One minute until detonation!" Rob64 said.

Slippy was pouring now. He closed his eyes and cut the wire. There was a low rumble and then the bomb shut down. Slippy popped his eyes open and grinned. "Yes!" He shouted with glee, doing the jig as he danced around. "Fox, get back to the ship! We've got one deactivated bomb!"

"Way to go, Slip-up!" Falco shouted.

"Freeze!" A voice came from behind him. Slippy stopped and slowly turned to see three apes standing there, with huge rifles. He doubted any small jet of flame would work this time. Slippy waited, but pressed a button on his belt. His ship's lasers turned towards the men. They turned but were blown to pieces.

"Yep," Slippy said. "I'm good."

Fox watched from the entrance to the hangar bay as the others landed. They all took turns congratulating Slippy as the rescued personnel of the Fortuna Base were cheering or being taken to Medical. He sighed and walked along the length of the ship towards the fitness room, but Peppy caught up with him.

"Fox, you could've been killed back there," he said, a hint of anger in his voice.

"Why didn't you just leave when you had the chance? A wing for a friend? Your life?"

Fox whirled, angry at Peppy. "It was my life and maybe his," he said angrily, and Peppy was taken aback. "I was not prepared to leave Slippy there. I was there to see him through it, and everything worked out just fine."

"Do you really think so, Fox?" Peppy asked.

Fox nodded. "Yes," he said. "Slippy is an expert at these types of situations and he handled it with all the accuracy of a well trained bomb squad officer. He did a fine job, and I'd appreciate it, Peppy, if you would get off my back for what little part I had in it."

"Fox," Peppy said. "You're like a son to me. I don't want to see you get hurt. I made a promise to myself and James that I would not let harm come to you if he ever didn't come back. Forgive me for being worried."

With that, Peppy turned on his heel and walked down the hall. Fox thought for a moment then entered the fitness room and he started doing chin ups, working and flexing his paws as he did so. He was pouring with sweat by the time he had finished one hundred.

He continued doing them, feeling the muscles flexing and stretching and getting bigger in his arms. He reached two hundred and was exhausted. He finally dropped to the ground and realized an hour had passed. He pressed a button on his communicator. "Rob, how long until we reach Y?"

"Two days until we reach Sector Y," Rob64 replied.

Fox turned off the comm and decided he would spend the days working out and getting fit. Basically all he had done for the past few weeks before the Lylat System War with Andross had surfaced, was training in simulators and taking tests. Now, he needed to get into physical shape and work on his accuracy and reflexes.

He started working on sit ups.

On the bridge, the tactical officer, named Pike handed a sheet to Peppy Hare who read it over. Pike went back to typing at his console at the planned route to Sector Y. Peppy wasn't really thinking about the report he'd been given, he was thinking about his earlier talk with Fox. The boy was growing, and he could take care of himself now, but Peppy didn't want the same thing to happen to him that had happened to his father.

Fox was in the weight room now, Peppy knew that much. Peppy was trying to learn as much about the Sector Y as possible, and the route they would take from there would eventually lead to Venom. Peppy looked at T.O. Pike who was typing at his console as a 3-D hologram came up in front of him.

"Computer, chart projected course," Pike said and a course went from planet to sector to nebula to star of the system. "Computer, locate enemy strongholds," Pike continued and some of the planets grew medals on them. "Computer, locate main base enemy strongholds which remain the largest threat."

Several of the planets which had medals started to blink. Sector Z, Area 6, Venom. Pretty big places. Pike grimaced, his lips curling in what looked like a snarl. "Things aren't looking good, Sir," he reported. "Andross has pretty much the whole of Lylat at his whim. It's a good thing we managed to take back Fortuna and Corneria, or we'd have some major problems, here," he said, continuing to work.

"Keep me updated, T.O.," Peppy said and took the reports, leaving the room. "Rob, you're in charge. Alert me if the situation changes." Pike went back to work as Peppy left the bridge. He nearly ran right into Falco as he left. Falco nodded and went onto the bridge.

Chapter Two

TWO YEARS EARLIER

Wolf O'Donnel sat at the bar, sipping silently at his drink. Corneria wasn't the best place to get drinks, but it was on his way. If the Cornerian Army found out about his mission, he'd probably be captured or killed. Wolf sighed and ordered another beer.

He was putting up at the Pep's Inn tonight, and would head out tomorrow. The bartender looked at Wolf quizzically, as if trying to place him from somewhere before. Wolf's hand slipped under the table and rested on the butt of his gun. He heard the door open and in stepped a person who he had grown to hate for his father's mistake.

Sixteen year-old Fox McCloud didn't look very dangerous, especially to a beast like Wolf O'Donnel who was at the age of thirty-seven, now. His hand was resting on his gun. Fox didn't know what Wolf looked like, only by reputation. Fox had two lap dogs with him. A rabbit and a dog. He later found out those two were Peppy Hare and Bill Gray. Wolf drew his laser out and kept it on his lap, pushing the drink away. Staying sober would be important in this battle.

"Excuse me," Fox said to the people in the bar. "This building is surrounded by the Cornerian Police Squad," he said.

Oh, SHIT!

"I would like everyone but Wolf O'Donnel to leave this bar. We know he's here," Fox continued. "Please leave in an orderly fashion. Show us your ID for confirmation.

Wolf made no move to leave the bar and waited until everyone was out. Fox stepped towards him and Wolf's hand was clenched around his gun. Fox tapped him on the shoulder and Wolf whirled, hitting Fox across the head with the butt of his gun. The young McCloud hit the ground hard.

Gray had his gun out and fired twice. Wolf shot the bartender and dove behind the bar. He could hear the sounds of a radio. Wolf jumped up, firing twice. Gray fired and missed. The shot hit a glass bottle and a large piece of glass hit Wolf in the face. He screamed in pain as blood gushed out of his eye. He shot rapidly, finding the back door and saw his ship. He took off.

PRESENT DAY

Wolf scratched at the patch over where his left eye had been and shifted in his chair. This wasn't the first time this particular person had called him and his team, Star Wolf, for a special mission. Wolf hoped it was something that would make Star Fox look foolish. He wanted nothing more than to kill young McCloud.

Too bad he hadn't been the one to kill his old man. He'd been there, had a lock, but then some unlucky bastard had fired the shot that sent James McCloud out of Wolf's sights, and into another fighter. Wolf had killed that insolent pilot, and had his eyes on James' son, to exact his revenge.

The door opened and several Ape-Guards stepped in, followed by an ape in a glistening gold uniform. Andross had an aura of evil around him, and he stopped in front of Wolf and his other pilots. Leon Powalski and Pigma Dengar were perfectly good pilots, but Andross' nephew, Andrew Oikonny, was a not good pilot, and only there because Andross was his uncle.

"Well," Andross said. "Commander O'Donnel, I am never unhappy to see you, my friend," he said.

Wolf nodded. "Likewise," he grumbled.

"As you know," Andross continued. "Star Fox has been causing some difficulties in my control over Lylat. He has defeated us at Corneria, Meteo, Macbeth and Fortuna. Right now, they are heading for Sector Y.

"Our best technicians managed to hack their ship's mainframe and project their course. They will eventually wind up in Area 6, where they will be intercepted by Caiman and Andy. If they succeed, and I doubt they will even get that far, I would like you to intercept them at Venom."

Wolf grinned. "I hope they make it," he said. "McCloud belongs to me."

Andross nodded. "Your new ships are far better than their pieces of crap called "Arwings". We are moving the fleet to intercept Pepper's fleet at Sector Y. Since Star Fox is heading there, their mission will have a very low survival probability. So they will most likely be killed, in which case, you get minimum wage and spots as soldiers in my Air Command for my future rule over Lylat."

"Right," Wolf said. "So how much do we get paid?"

Andross smiled. "For destroying them seventy billion each. For minimum wage, thirty billion each."

Wolf whistled and a chorus of gasps and whistles went through the group. "Andross," Wolf said with a lop sided grin. "You've got yourself a deal. When do we get these new and improved fighters?"

"Right now," Andross said. "Andrew, show them."

Andrew Oikonny opened a door and led them into a large hangar bay, where four, four winged, hyper laser capability, nova and thermal nuclear bomb capability, hyper maneuverability, ejection seat which made it seem as if you were still in the fighter, four of them, were right there.

"Whoa," was all that Wolf could manage to say.

Andross beamed. "Hmm. 'Whoa' is right, Mr. O'Donnel. Enjoy."

Halfway across the galaxy, the Great Fox had finally arrived at Sector Y. Fox McCloud climbed into his Arwing just a little after the tech boys inside had started the pre-flight procedures. The other pilots were all strapping in as Fox did, and Fox put a picture of himself and his dad right above the radar.

"This is Fox," he said. "I am systems go and ready for launch, over," he said, flipping systems and waiting for his permission to go ahead and get this sappy mission to escort the fleet to Sector Y.

"You are cleared for launch," said Rob64.

"Launching." Fox hit the accelerators and he was out of there...right into a hailstorm of laser fire. The fleet, or what was left of it, was vastly outnumbered by Andross' army. Fox gaped as the few of Pepper's fighters fought, and were destroyed. Star Fox teamed up on his flanks. "Kill them." Fox growled and took off into the fray.

General Pepper ducked under the fallen support beam and looked at First Officer Hellhound. "Sir," Hellhound said. "We've lost the Auxiliary Power and our turbo batteries are being shot down!"

"Do something," Pepper said. "I'll take the helm."

"Right. Sir, I...aaaaah!" The console in front of Hellhound exploded and the dog flew back and hit the door, which buckled under his weight. He fell to the ground, his face burned, and Pepper knew with a sinking feeling that the dog was dead. He turned to the helm, buried under sparking electronics.

Second Officer Dally grunted as he helped other officers out from under the wreckage. "Sir! We can't hold out for much longer!"

Puncher Doggy whipped his fighter around and blasted one of Andross' lap dogs. He saw Pepper's personal cruiser, badly beat up. "Shit," he whispered. "General! Get the hell out of here! We're outnumbered ten to one, over!"

"This is S.O. Dally," said the voice of Dean Dally. "The General is working the helm. We are not leaving until we can declare this a safe passage! We are going to win this war or die trying!"

Puncher shook his head. Suddenly, four fighters he recognized were there, fighting. "Sir!" He said excitedly. "It's them!"

"Who?" Dally asked.

"Star Fox!"

Pepper felt his heart leap when he heard Commander Puncher Doggy speak those words. He smiled as he activated the turbo laser batteries and let them rock the Androssian Forces again. The Great Fox was firing blasts, blowing cruisers to bits.

Dally grunted. "Sir," he said. "Fighters are concentrating fire on us!"

"Destroy them," Pepper ordered.

Dally shook his head. "Can't," he said. "They've taken out all the aft turbo lasers and our shields are at twenty percent!" Dally looked up.

"Bring our fusion engines on line and roast them," Pepper said. Within seconds, the order had been carried out and the threat no longer remained. "Target all turbo laser batteries on the war cruisers. Star Fox and our ships can handle the fighters."

"Happy to oblige," Dally said, when suddenly, an explosion rocked the bridge. The ground opened up beneath them and Pepper clutched the helm, hanging from it. Dally tumbled out into deep space, and the suction hit him. Pepper gripped on for dear life as the bridge doors started to close so agonizingly slowly.

Pepper looked at the cables. He grabbed one and hooked it on his belt as the air started to leave. He pushed off, letting the suction pull him to the door and he floated through. They closed behind him and Pepper breathed in painful, yet refreshing air. He looked back. He heard explosions as the ship was attacked, drifting.

"Secondary Bridge online," he said to Third Officer Rot. "I want all the crew on the bridge and blasting the shit out of that fleet."

"Yes, Sir," said Rot.

Fox McCloud vaped a fighter and swerved to avoid the wreckage. He was flying along the top of one of Andross' warships.

"Never give up! Trust your instincts!" Peppy said.

Falco jetted through the area, blowing several fighters to shreds. "Shut up, Pep," he said. "Just get the damned job done and get it done right. Come on, bring it on, baby!"

"This is Slippy. I've got some strange readings up ahead after these warships," Slippy reported.

Fox saw his comm system beeping on Channel 456. He flicked it. "Rob, that you?" he asked, blowing a fighter out of his way and dipping below an enemy warship as he moved again to the other side.

"Fox," General Pepper said. "It's me. You've turned the tide of the battle. We have the upper hand and they're starting to fall back. Be careful, they have a secret weapon in front of the nebula...luck...ox...good...luck..." the last of it was lost in static as the group headed towards the nebula.

Fox cleared his throat. "Boys," he said. "There is only communication between us four. If something goes wrong, head back for the ship. We've probably got ourselves another machine here."

"Something's up ahead," Slippy reported. "Looks different."

Falco appeared on Slippy's wing. "They all are, Slip-up," he said. "Every last one of 'em. I'm switching to all range mode."

"Yeah," Fox said, doing the same. "All range mode engaged."

Suddenly, two small robots launched off a war cruiser. Fox swerved as one of them fired a plasma cannon, which narrowly avoided him. Fox was tired of being the one in trouble. He locked on with a nova bomb. "Locked on and firing!"

A brilliant explosion caught the first machine and the second machine blew up by catching in the debris. It exploded and for a moment, Fox thought that they had won, but then, the bigger robot appeared. "Don't party just yet," it said in a slang sort of voice. "It's time ta try our new weapon!"

"Shit," Fox breathed as it came out in front of them. "Lock on with novas and blow that thing out of space and time, guys!" He said, locking on, but the machine didn't lock. "Shit! It gives off no heat signature! Try manual targeting, over!"

"Copy," Peppy said moving in. "Firing!" The shot flew at the robot, but it raised a shield which was attached to its arm and the bomb detonated, and the thing was only slightly weakened. "Crap! Nothing happened!"

Slippy spoke up. "Something did," he said. "The shield he has is at forty percent from that one shot. Fire another and it will not only blow the shield, but him as well!"

"Dead men tell no tales," the machine said and fired a plasma burst which caught Slippy's fighter and tumbled it away. "Ha, ha!"

"Slippy!" Fox shouted. "All right! Game over, man!" Fox fired a rapid succession of nova bombs. They hit, and the explosion was small, a welcome surprise for Fox as he sagged in his settled back in his chair. "Slip, you okay?"

"Y-yeah," Slippy replied. Hypes have been blown out, shields down, but other then that, yeah, I'm okay," he said. "He tried vaping me but I wasn't about to let him do that, guys," he said, trying to sound cheery."I wouldn't let you be that lucky." They took off in opposite directions, Fox and Slippy to the right, while Peppy and Falco headed to the left. "Fox," Slippy said. "Sensors indicate there are more cruisers out there!"

Fox cursed under his breath and turned to face the threats head on. He swallowed hard as he saw them, the Cornerian Cruisers were coming behind too slow. That would mean Star Fox was the only line of defense for a few minutes, and four fighters against an army of cruisers wasn't very nice odds to play with. "Let's kick their asses," he said and the four of them accelerated.

"Sir," said a commander on the bridge to Admiral Deke Slug. "Sir, the four fighters are attacking."

"Kill them," Deke said.

"Fire nova bombs!" Peppy shouted into his communicator. "Then break off! The Cornerian Cruisers can take care of this! Firing novas!" He pressed his paws down on the trigger. "Now break!" Peppy shouted and they obeyed.

"All wings report," Fox said.

"Let's go home," Falco said, exhausted.

It was a bit later and Falco and Fox had decided to go to the Flight Simulators when Slippy walked up.

"Hey, Slip-up," Fox said and received a good natured scowl. and the two of them headed for the flight simulators.

"You know?" Falco asked. "This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship," he said with a lop-sided grin. "I'm just grabbing a soda first to wake up. Want anything?"

Fox paused. "Something sweet," he replied.

Wolf O'Donnel looked out at space from the large cruiser at Area 6 in front of Venom. He was alone in his quarters, pondering things that could have been, but never would be, wondering what he might do in the future, and how he would make McCloud beg for mercy before killing him and getting his money.

The good thing about being a mercenary was that you had no emotional attachments. Wolf had learned not to have that after grade nine of High. Wolf had been dumped by his girlfriend who had found someone better. Wolf had been an exceptional pilot with great skills and dropped out of the local High, applying for the Academy, but they turned him down. So he became a mercenary, stealing the money and buying himself a ship. He'd been roughing it ever since, and his old fighter had become his home. Now he was moving into a new fighter.

"Some day, McCloud," Wolf growled. "Someday soon I'll kill you. Shoot you dead."

Rob64 stood behind one of the main control consoles on the ship. T.O. Pike was standing behind his station and the bridge crew was thinner then usual. They would be arriving at Katina in four hours, yet time passed so quickly for Rob64, and he tapped at the keys on his board.

"Attention," he said into the ship wide comm. "We will be arriving at Katina in four hours." He disconnected and went back to work, making sure that the four Arwing Fighters had received upgrades and repairs. Making sure that shields and weapons on the ship were fixed, that everything was one hundred percent perfect.

T.O. Pike turned. "Rob," he said. "Our course is projected, with the minor difference of Katina. Afterwards we figure we'll head for Solar."

"The sun?" Rob64 asked, his brain circuits buzzing.

Pike nodded. "Yes. Apparently, Andross has launched one of his Bio weapons there in the hopes it will destroy the sun and slowly freeze us, since Venom has its own sun. We figure we should destroy the Bio weapon before that happens. Then, Aquas, because another has been laid there."

"Oh," Rob64 said. "All right."

Pike didn't turn away. "After that, Sector Z. There was some activity at Sector X, but it was moved to Z when some of Katina's defense fleet passed through there in the early stages of their project."

"What was their project?" Rob64 asked.

"Unknown, Rob."

Rob64 nodded, his neck circuits shrunk and grew, letting his head bob. "Get back to work, T.O."

"Yes, Rob."

General Pepper was having his paw bandaged in the medical chambers of one of the new Recruit Warships that had come in from Titania. Pepper grimaced as they patched up wounds everywhere. Doctor Chihuaha for one of the smaller versions of the dog, was bandaging him.

"Many injuries, Sir," Chihuaha said.

Pepper nodded. "Yes," he said gruffly. "Innocence is the first casualty of war."

"We have arrived at Katina, Peppy," Rob64 reported as Peppy Hare stared out the observation ports of the Great Fox down at the planet Katina. Even from space, the explosions on the planet surface could be seen. "It does not look good, but the field commanders are still there and requesting reinforcements."

Peppy nodded. "Well tell them the reinforcements are here."

Fox flipped a switch and the cockpit came down, sealing him into the fighter as he engaged the weapons and shields systems. As quick as a cat, his paws danced over the controls and the start up procedures started to initiate as he looked at the picture of himself and his father which was just over the radar as a few technicians were finishing their last minute checks on his fighter.

"This is Fox, I am go for launch, repeat, go for launch, over," he said and settled himself back into his padded seat.

It took a moment for Tactical Officer Pike to reply. "Roger, Fox. Launch in five seconds. Good luck."

"Thank you, Pike," he said and gripped the throttle controls as his fighter blasted out into space, quickly followed by the rest of the Star Fox team. Falco quickly appeared on Fox's wing as they blasted in towards the surface. Fox started barking orders. "Falco, you stick with me, Slip, your with Peppy. I want you guys to split up and take it to 'em hard and fast."

"...calling Star Fox, Katina calling Star Fox! Do you read, over?"

Fox flipped the comm switch. "This is Fox McCloud of the Star Fox team, we read you loud and clear over. We're coming in and are ready to kick some serious Andross-Ass, here!"

"Fox!?" A sort of punkish voice came over the comm which Fox immediately recognized as the voice of Bill Gray. "How's the world been treating you!?"

Fox sighed. "You, Bill, are the highlight of my day." He flicked a switch and the visual came on and he saw the battle, confirming what his radar had told him. "And, it looks like you are in some very big trouble."

"Yeah," Bill said. "Can you help us out?"

Fox grinned. "As ordered," he said and punched the boosters and shot into the battle, Falco on his wing as ordered. "Okay, Falco, listen up. I want you to split off and help any fighters in trouble, I'll grab the stragglers."

"Copy," Falco said and broke off.

Fox came in behind a fighter, it must have been remote controlled, because Fox had no trouble locking on and firing. "Scratch one bogey," he said and turned, finding another, a cluster of twelve fighters were approaching. He switched to nova bomb locking systems, locked, and fired. He turned without watching, but the bright flash which lit up his sensors told him all he needed to know. "Twelve more down."

Bill's ship appeared on Fox's wing. "We've got a little bit of time," he said. "We've got standard two by two formations coming in from the three. Can you take 'em?"

"Can I?" Fox kept the nova bomb system up. "Stay back, Bill. These poor bastards are mine." He fired the bomb and it flew across the landscape and collided with the enemy squadron, creating a series of secondary explosions. "Bill, help out your guys."

Fox cast a glance to his sensors as Bill moved in to help Falco save his friends. The radar showed all the small blips which represented fighters. He squinted as something big started to appear in the corner. Something huge...

"Bill," Fox said. "Get one of your units to cover the base."

Bill didn't ask. "Bulldog Unit, don't let anything through. Husky Unit, cover the base, over," he said. "What's up, Fox?" he asked.

"We've got something about ten times bigger then a battle cruiser coming at us, Bill," Fox reported. "And it looks pretty damned big."

Bill grunted. "My radar isn't picking up anything, but I'm reading massive power fluxes," he replied. "I'm coming to your position."

"Oh, boy," Fox whispered.

A tremendous explosion rocked the landscape and cracked Fox's cockpit canopy as he flew out of his seat so fast that his safety harness snapped. He crashed into his cockpit canopy, his knee hitting the throttle and jamming his Arwing into a nose dive. The G-Force drove him back hard into his seat, and he could feel the blood running down his face. He reached for the controls but they sparked and burned his paw. He yipped in pain and looked around.

"...ox! Fox! Pull...out, pull out! Pull..." He could just make out Bill's voice through the static of the comm. Fox's hand was sore but he reached for the throttle with trembling paws. He kept reaching as his altitude monitor clicked down by the hundreds. Three hundred, two hundred...

Fox got the throttle and pulled up hard. He was pushed back into his seat as he scraped along the rocks and pebbles on the ground as he pulled back into a steep rise. He gasped as the pressure on him was relieved and he could grip the controls again.

Suddenly, an alarm went off and Fox looked. One of his wings was gone and fuel was leaking out right into the laser battery. "Oh, shit!" He shouted and started to shut it down.

Then, the entire side exploded, and the right side of the cockpit exploded and Fox's seat tumbled out. He fell away from his fighter, flying towards the ground. "My parachute is gone!" He shouted to his head mike as it dangled from his mouth. He sagged, letting himself fall, when Bill's fighter appeared, falling at the same speed as himself. Bill grinned from inside.

"Hey, Fox," Bill said. "I'm here to catch the third out of the last inning of the game. Gray is chasing the ball, he gets under it..." Fox smoothly touched onto Bill's fighter and it slowed until it hovered and Fox hopped off onto the ground. "And Gray makes the catch! He wins the World Cup and everybody loves him! Yay!" He said with a grin as he hit the accelerators and they blasted through space then charge up and blast towards the planet at a velocity that was hardly imaginable. A velocity or speed that was so powerful that checked in and blew star cruisers right out of the skies. "Fox, I think we got 'em all," he said, looking around.

"Look out!" came the voice of Slippy Toad over the comm, shouting at one of the pilots. "Fox, where are you?"

"I'm hot," Fox replied. "Launching."

Fox was not quite comfortable in the newer Arwing. The seat was more comfortable, the controls, weapons, shields and maneuverability than the ones used by the others, but that made Fox feel weird, for some reason. "This is Fox," he said. "I have visual on the mothership. It's slowing down...parking its ass over the base."

The mothership stopped right over top of the Katina Base. Fox watched, spellbound, as four hangar bays opened on the mothership and hundreds of fighters started pouring out of the underside of the ship.

"Looks like we've got company," Falco said over the comm.

Bill yelped. "Holy, mother of God...we are vastly outnumbered! Split up and fight! Fox, do you have any other fighters or ships around!? We need some serious help! Major, right now!"

Fox nodded to no one in particular and hit the comm. "Rob, we need you to bring in the Fox right now! We are getting our asses kicked big time down here! We need some serious help!"

"That will endanger the ship," Rob64 reported.

Fox rolled his eyes. "I don't give a damn! Bring her the hell in, because we're gonna die some time, but for now, our graves are gonna stay empty! Get the hell in here, right now, Rob, or your mechanical butt is heading for the microwave on that ship when I get back! You hear me you stupid, mechanical piece of crap!"

"Yes, Sir," Rob64 replied.

Fox flipped off the connection and opened a connection to Bill and all the other fighters. "All right, guys, listen up," he said and moved his fighter into formation with the rest of his fighters. "Rob is bringing the Great Fox in to give us a hand here."

"The Great Fox?" A pilot asked.

Fox smiled. "Yes," he said. "But they aren't going to arrive for five minutes, so until then, paint your targets and engage. Take it to them!"

T.O. Pike sat at the controls and maneuvered the great ship through the atmosphere of Katina. "Sir," he said to Rob64 and turned in his seat. "ETA in three minutes."

Fox banked hard around a blast and came back onto his original course. "All right," he said. "Firing a nova at the mothership!" He fired. It suddenly stopped as a fighter got in the way. "Well, shit," Fox said.

Bill Gray blasted a fighter out of the skies and opened a connection to Fox. "How're we doing, Fox?" He asked. "Please give me some good news because nothing over here is looking very good!"

"I know," Fox replied. "It's the same over here. We've got the ship coming in for ETA in two minutes now."

"Thank you God!" Bill shouted and blew up another fighter. "We've got a lot of stuff to do here, and I don't like this queen mother ass blowing my home to pieces! Not now and not ever!"

Fox coughed over the comm. "Don't worry," he said. "I don't think we're going to have that problem...Slippy! Behind you! Watch out!"

Slippy looked back and started to bank but too late. The nova bomb exploded in his engine fusion and the back of his sent blew into his back. The breath was punched out of him and he was thrown through the glass of his cockpit, hurled to the barren world below. He tumbled through the air, unconscious, as medical crews moved to the ground to take the wounded, Slippy landed in a cloud of dust, and they loaded him onto a cart, wheeling him away...

"Slippy!" Fox screamed at the top of his lungs as he watched in horror, the rest of his fighter crumbling to the ground in atomic dust. He could feel the tears running down his face as he looked away. "Somebody tell me he made it! Somebody!"

No one answered.

Fox turned his fighter towards the mother ship. "You're going to die," he croaked. "It's just a question of when." A monotonous sound of the nova bomb lock beeped loud in his ear. "Firing." Fox expended all ten of his nova bombs and then went at it, before they impacted, with his hyper lasers. A great flash appeared and was immediately followed by the sound of the explosion. Falco and Peppy did the same, and more flashes, then, a rain of bombs and fire from all the fighters, nukes dropping down as the Great Fox arrived overhead, firing all their weapons at the great ship.

Finally, it crumbled. The mothership tipped, one side facing the ground, the other defiantly towards space, and even though the engines fired, it still fell, towards the ground, and came to rest with a huge explosion, right beside the Katina Base.

Slippy was having trouble breathing as they moved him into the E.R. He looked at the faces of the doctors, who were mostly dogs. He could feel the sharp pains in his back, and fell unconscious again.

Chapter Three

Bill Gray watched as the clean up crews cleaned up what was left of the battle which had taken place on Katina. He felt sorry for Fox, Falco and Peppy, because one of their best friends was in critical condition, floating in a healing tank to repair his wounds. He had been hurt badly. A broken spine, broken legs, concussion...it would take about five days in the tube, but Slippy wouldn't be flying for a little while after. Maybe three weeks. Bill had let Fox and the others put up here for the five days Slippy would be there. He was conscious now, floating in the tank, and already talking into his mouthpiece and describing his heroic experience to his friends.

He didn't need to know that the war would continue. He just wanted nothing more then to help Fox. He had turned down the ability to help Fox once before, the chance to become a member of Star Fox, the most celebrated flying group in the galaxy, because he had taken the opportunity to become a member of the Planetary Defense Corps, and he had been assigned to Katina three years ago, and hadn't left since. He sighed and turned on his heel, walking back into the base in search of Fox to offer his assistance.

Fox watched Slippy bobbing in the tube, floating. He was asleep now, and the team was putting up here for a few days, or at least that's what Bill had offered, but Fox knew it wasn't acceptable. Andross could take over all of the Lylat System in those few days, and the team had to continue striking, with or without Slippy.

He sighed, looking at his friend, floating lifelessly in the tube as the door opened and Bill Gray stepped in. Fox knew what the dog was going to say even before Bill was at his side, talking to him. "Fox, I want to help."

"I know," was all Fox said before turning to Bill. "But I can't. I'm not risking any more friends then I am now, and Bill, no matter how much I'd like you to be there at my side, I can't endanger you too. You're needed here."

The next day, they headed out. Despite Bill's protests, Fox refused to let him go along, refusing to risk another life. Slippy's tube was shifted to the Great Fox along with some of Katina's medical staff as Fox climbed into his fighter. Fox exhaled deeply as Bill approached.

"So, where are you off to now?" Bill asked.

Fox shrugged. "Wherever Pepper orders us. We take our orders from him right now, but we're probably going to go to Solar. There's some weird Bio Activity. I'll see you around," Fox said, and closed the canopy before Bill could ask to come along again.

Falco Lombardi watched their ship take off and engaged his Arwing Fighter's systems. He blasted off, taking in the turbulence as he broke atmosphere and flew into space. Fox had said something about Solar, so that's where Falco plotted his course.

"This is Falco," he said. "I've got a course for Solar set in. Are we sure we're going to do this, Fox?" he asked, looking at Fox's fighter.

"Yes," Fox said. "Engage the hyper drive."

Solar was a burning hot star, hotter then the sun of Corneria, at least eleven thousand degrees on the surface, and the three Arwing Fighters roared in towards it. Fox was zooming in when a long range comm was activated. He flipped a switch and the face of General Pepper came on the screen, static was making the transmission sparking, but Pepper was there, nonetheless.

"General?" Fox asked.

"That place is an oven," Pepper said. "What are you doing?"

Fox sighed. "There's Bio Activity here. If they harness the sun's power, then they will be impossible to stop, General. It's my call, and I've just made it."

Pepper gritted his teeth and growled noticeably. "All right," he said. "Just come back in one piece, McCloud. Don't play the hero. Pepper, out."

The three fighters zoomed in, out of the sensor range, and Slippy watched from inside the tube, watching as his friends went off on another suicide mission. Slippy sighed into his mask and watched through the visor which protected his eyes from the water. He coughed as the water seeped into his back, melding his bones back together.

"It's really hot in here," Falco said over the comm and Fox grunted as he stayed well clear of the sun's surface. He could feel sweat running down his face. Suddenly, rings of fire were jumping at them, trying to catch them and bring them down. "Take evasive action!"

Fox swerved from side to side, avoiding fireballs. They were out of communications range, and Fox narrowly avoided another blast. "Stay on target," he whispered and engaged his lock system. "It's getting close. Stay tight and..."

"Oh, SHIT!" Falco shouted. "Fox! Move it! MOVE!"

Fox looked at his radar just as the sun creatures burst out of the lava beneath and came at him. He cursed and dove, closer then he should have as the things scorched the bottom of his ship. He was inches from the surface, the screams of his friends shouting at him to pull out, the heat was baking him, his shields running down, his alarms screaming in his ears, his throttle shaking in his hands and he was roasting. He tried to pull up but the throttle would not respond. Fox could see the wall of fire coming at him. He tried to swing left or right, then realized one of the fire creatures was jammed in his rudder controls. Fox tired brakes and boosters but it stayed lodged in there.

Fox heard rather then saw Falco roaring in, he came in right beside Fox. "Okay, bud," Falco said. "I'm just gonna bump you off here, and remember, you owe me the next beer, boy," he said and hit the side of Fox's fighter, sending Fox careening up and away. Falco fired a precise shot and the lava creature in Fox's rudder was gone.

"Thank you, Falco," Fox said, barely able to believe what had just happened.

Peppy came in beside Fox. "You okay?"

"Yeah...enemy lava squadrons are coming in!"

The creatures screamed and shrieked as they flapped their wings, coming at the three fighters. Fox started locking on and firing, gritting his teeth and blasting the creatures out of existence. "Die you sucker."

"Bogey on my six," Falco said. "Thanks, Peppy." He concluded as Peppy destroyed the bogey. Fox swerved around a tsunami of fire as he looked down to see thousands of the creatures roaring up. "Dropping a nova bomb," Falco said and they were all engulfed in the fire from Falco's bomb. Fox looked forward, painting targets with lasers as he flew across Solar.

"I've got something," Peppy said. "It's right below us!"

Fox was already jetting up, but not before the Bio Weapon came out of the lava below. Fox swallowed hard as it looked at them, swinging its huge arms into the lava, creating jets of fire which sprang out at them. Falco rolled hard, barely avoiding the jet of deadly flame. "What the hell is that thing?" Fox shouted.

"It's the Bio Weapon!" Falco reported.

Peppy was nearly torched and flew hard and fast to the right. "Take evasive action!"

"Move out fast!" Fox shouted and tried to lock on with a nova bomb. Then lasers, but nothing happened. They wouldn't lock. "It must not be able to lock, because I can't lock on!" He said. "I'm firing in its rough vicinity!"

Bill Gray's voice suddenly came over the comm. "Better make it all over this vicinity, Fox, because this thing will kick your sorry little butt!"

"Bill! What the hell are you doing here!?"

Bill chuckled. "Here to give you a hand, McCloud. Don't get too excited, now fire that bomb or we're all going to get in bed with the devil, and he's supposed to be a pretty nasty guy, so I'm not all that hot on it."

"Firing," Fox said and fired the bomb. The Bio Weapon swung at it and hit it, which blew off its other arm and it screamed, a high pitched, horrible sound which Fox tried to cover his ears from. "Only minimal damage, so far," he reported and it seemed to swallow, but then it spewed flames and rocks at the group of fighters. "Scatter!" Fox shouted.

Peppy banked hard right and rolled up and away, firing several laser blasts into the thing's head. "No damage on the head, it has some kind of armor against lasers. Novas are our best bet."

"Affirmative," Fox said, and engaged his torpedo system. "Firing!" He launched a bomb and it flew straight at the thing but it moved and it was hit in the chest, which did hardly any damage which gave a small leak in lava-like blood. "My god..." Fox said. "That hardly did anything!"

Falco zoomed in. "Hold on, I've got something here. Firing!" He fired a bomb and the creature was just rearing its head back to spit again, and the bomb went in. It swallowed and shook, its armor blowing outward and its head exploded, it started to collapse to the lava, the corpse would create a huge wave of lava.

"Pull up! Get away from Solar!" Falco shouted and blasted upwards.

"Everyone move!" Peppy, Falco, Fox and Bill zoomed away from Solar as a giant wave lept from the planet, falling just short of the Great Fox as it avoided the blast by inches. Inside, Slippy was still recovering as Fox turned back towards it.

"Rob, this is Fox, we've got Bill along with us for the ride, over. What's our next destination?"

Rob64 took only a second to answer. "General Pepper has not sent his orders yet, but apparently, they are stuck at Sector X, so naturally, I think they'll want us to help them. Please come back to the ship for the trip to light speed. Welcome aboard, Commander Gray."

"Thanks, dude," Bill said.

Fox shook his head. "I can't believe you did that. I can't believe you disregarded my orders, you idiot."

"Hey," Bill said. "You needed the help, whether you liked it or not. I'm coming with you to X, and I'm helping for the rest of the way."

"Fine," Fox said. "But I'm not going to be held responsible..."

"I know, Fox," Bill said. "My life is in my own hands. I'll take care of it."

Wolf O'Donnel looked at the fleet that was assembling in the place in Venom's orbit called Area 6, as Andross' battle cruiser flew towards Venom. The defense systems were huge, it was a tremendous army, but Wolf selfishly hoped that it was destroyed and McCloud would reach Venom so Wolf could destroy him.

"This is good," Commander Caiman of the Area 6 Defender Unit. "I'm going to my fighter. I'll alert you and Colonel Andy if they arrive."

"When they arrive," Wolf corrected. "Don't underestimate them. They've done well so far. Even destroyed our weapon at Solar, so don't think a pathetic little fleet will stop them. Try multiplying this by five, then you'll have a force which might be capable of bringing them down."

Caiman swallowed. "I'll try, Sir."

"Don't try. Do it."

It was a rare time where Fox felt relaxed as he swam laps around the ship's swimming pool. He had finished his weight lifting and fitness for the morning and was spending some time swimming.

He was going to use the simulator next, and then would go up to the bridge to get the stats on what was happening with the situation in Sector X, where the fleet was assembled and waiting for them to be the inspection team for them.

Fox let the water slip over his fur, cooling him down as he swam on, his muscles aching for rest as he continued relentlessly on. He had started swimming at the age of eight, and had specifically requested that the Great Fox have a swimming pool put in. Fox remembered suddenly, something completely off the topic, a day which was about five years ago, when he was still in the Cornerian Flight Academy, still the best, rivaled only by his father, pilot in the Lylat System. Fox sighed as he remembered that day...

Fox brought up his targeting system as the simulator hatch closed over his head. His flight group was tightly snugged in all around him. It was at least a few years before Slippy or Falco came along, and Peppy was only an instructor, but his wingmates were good all the same. Fara Phoenix, his girlfriend, was an excellent pilot, and Fox really, really liked her. Bill Gray, his best friend, was an exceptional pilot whose skills rivaled Fox's own.

A friend who had died only a year after graduation serving in the war at Sector Z, was Jeff O'Neil. Jeff was a dog who was an exceptionally good pilot who had it all; wits, brains and cunning. Jeff had been an almost obvious pick for joining the Cornerian Air Defense Corps.

Now, they were going into battle against some of the top instructors in the business. Peppy Hare, the legendary Johnny Cash, Jimmy Dalmation and Petey White, a rabbit, like Peppy. They were leading an attack force against Fox and his wing team. Flight 4 was Fox's command, and his crew was ready and prepped for battle.

"Flight Leader, standing by," Fox said.

"Flight Two, standing by," Jeff said.

"Flight Three, standing by," Bill answered in his punkish west side accent.

"Flight Four, standing by," Fara chimed in.

Fox flicked a switch and exhaled deeply. Then gave the order for them to follow his lead. "All range mode," he said as they approached the field where to the two Flights would intersect and engage in battle. Fox cut back on his speed and engaged the radar system, seeing the group of bogies coming at them fast.

"Charge your hyper lasers," Fox said.

Jeff, Bill and Fara fell into perfect flank formation around Fox and the flight moved up to engage. "All right," Jeff said. "Let's get some. I'm engaging."

Fox watched as they broke formation and attacked. Fox hadn't known then that this would be the day where not only was he proved to be one of the bests pilots ever, but the exact year before his father died at the hands of Andross. Fox engaged his locking program and found what he thought was Peppy, but turned out to be Petey.

"Nice try, kid," Petey said and banked hard right, but Fox stayed with him. "You gonna hover back there all day, kid?" Petey asked, an edge of irritation creeping into his voice as he banked, rolled, cut, accelerated, yet all the time, Fox stayed with him. "God damn you, kid." Petey finally said as Fox launched the nova bomb and his fighter exploded, ending the simulation for Petey White.

"Fox, this is Jeff," Jeff O'Neil said. "They got Fara and one of 'em's on Bill really tight." Fox saw Bill, and saw that his shield gauge was down heavily. "Oh boy," he whispered and the shot was fired. Bill was down and out. "Three on two, Jeff. Can you dig it?" he asked as Jeff came onto his wing.

"No problemo," he replied. "Engaged!"

Fox took Peppy, while Jeff took Jimmy. Johnny Cash was still in the open, flying around. Fox concentrated on his target as Peppy tried his best to outsmart Fox, but it was no use. The monotone of a lock sounded in Fox's ears. "Firing," he said and Peppy was gone from the simulation. "Jeff, how ya doing?"

"I got Jimmy, but Cash is on me like...God, I don't know!"

Fox zoomed in as Cash tried his best to wipe out Jeff O'Neil, who was doing a fine job of evading his fire, but Fox could tell from earlier simulations that Jeff couldn't keep it up, and Fox had never predicted it would some day be Jeff's downfall in the battle for Sector Z.

Cash fired a shot and singed off Jeff's wing and his fighter tumbled away. Cash moved...right into Fox's targeting range. "Firing!" Fox said and Cash's fighter exploded. "Whoo! Splotch four!" He shouted and saw Jeff's fighter limp up beside him.

"Game over," came the computer voice of the simulation and the cockpit opened, revealing many clapping figures, applauding him as Fox looked around. Bill climbed up the side and gave Fox a noogie, while Fara pulled him down into a bear hug and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. Jeff ran up from his fighter and whooped, high fiving Fox and cheering with the others as General Pepper entered the room.

Fox had never seen the General come down from his office for a mere simulation, but Fox had never done so well, and had recorded the highest mark in history aside from his own father's in the simulator test. James McCloud had been off at home, repairing some pipes in the kitchen and Peppy had come to the flight academy, but Fox had never felt prouder as General Pepper, THE General Pepper, congratulated him personally on his simulator run.

Fox had spent the entire night out with Fara, Bill and Jeff. Fara had kissed Fox longer then ever that night and whispered some ideas for the future which Fox would have found interesting...if his father had not died in the ensuing year. Bill and Jeff just spent most of the time drinking and congratulating Fox.

The next day, Fox had gone home and found his father had read it in the papers and received many phone calls saying what a great pilot Fox was. James had looked up and his face had filled with happiness and pride as Fox strode in. James had stood up and given Fox a hug.

"I heard the news," James said. "I'm really, really proud of you, son." He said. "God knows I'm proud of you. Everyone should know. You keep that up. Peppy told me all about it, even I had trouble shooting him down, but you wiped him out."

Fox nodded. "I lost Bill and Fara in the sim, though," he said.

James smiled. "Hey, there's gonna be others where you'll probably be even better and all of you will come out of that with a splotch on each of your fighters for vaping some bad guys."

Fox had remembered James' words. Practice makes perfect, was their motto.

Now, Fox looked back on that day and decided the simulator was not a good idea. He exited and stood there, thinking about past events that had been like that. And other things. Jeff's laughter, James' pride, Bill's contempt, Fara's kiss...

All memories, now. Bill was here, right. James and Jeff were dead, and Fara...well, she was still in the academy, working as an Assistant Instructor. Fox hadn't broken up with her, but when his father had died, he'd basically severed all contact. He still saw Fara occasionally, but not much anymore.

He stopped thinking about the past and decided to go get some well deserved rest. The others were probably playing poker, Slippy had just gotten out of the tank and thought he was getting luckier, so he'd been dumb enough to join in when Fox had left. Even Bill had made a rare appearance at playing poker, and Fox wondered if they were still playing. Peppy was probably the only one who was still wide awake, making sure that if they were tired or anything like that, they got the rest that they deserved.

Fox entered the combination into his door and stepped in to see them all wide awake and playing, Falco with his mean looking poker face slapped on. They greeted Fox, and Bill offered him a seat, but Fox picked up his "Arwing Arial Combat" book and sat in his bed and started to read.

At the exact same time, Wolf was instructing a class of pilots using the exact same book to tell them what Star Fox's attack patterns would be like. Even Commander Caiman and Fleet Commander Andy were attending was Wolf gave the lecture. His team was around, checking things out that Andross had promised them. Pigma was busy counting up his money toll as usual. The greedy pig was probably thinking of all kinds of way to blow it. Leon Powalski, however, was probably doing the same thing. Planning how to put it in his account and save it for the future, and act as cool as usual, because Leon, the chameleon, was exactly like that. Cool and calm in even the most extreme situations. Andrew Oikonny would be getting more than most of them because Andross was his uncle, and he was a spoiled brat with almost no flying abilities at all, they would all be having dinner in a moment to discuss the new command chain. Wolf had made the decision of command: himself, Leon, Pigma, then the brat, Andrew. Of course the greedy monkey would probably start bitching at him because he thought he was better then all of them, but Wolf's arguments were practiced and valid.

He handed out a copy of the weak spots of Arwing fighters to the pilots of the ships in the Area 6 defense zone which would be set up as a perimeter. Wolf sighed as everyone filed out. He looked out the thick window at the fleets setting up in front of Venom, preparing for the war which would be probably days from now. Even with the vast size, which was growing by the hundreds every day, and being set up into lines, Wolf had to wonder, if it would really stand a chance against McCloud and his lap dogs. The boy was really a good pilot, not as good as Wolf, or at least he thought that way, but he was good, good enough probably to get through this fleet in only hours.

He moved towards the dinner room, where everyone was already sitting, Andrew pointing out what he wanted. The most fancy, exquisite food in the galaxy. Pigma was making a mess of the appetizers, tearing through them all, while Leon patiently went through his files, one of them was a copy of what Wolf had handed out in the class.

"All right," Wolf said in his slick voice. "I've made the command chain, here. I want no arguments at all," he said, eyeing Andrew, who was already beaming, thinking that he would be second-in-command, but Wolf had a very, very big surprise for him. "The command will go as this; myself in command. Leon will be next," he could see Andrew's jaw drop and his eyes flame with anger but continued. "Pigma, then Andrew. Those are my decisions based on battle simulations and previous situations," he concluded. "What have we ordered?" he asked the main waiter.

Andrew was on his feet in a flash, but tripped on the carpet and fell flat on his back. Wolf kept a cool composure as Pigma squealed in delight. Leon didn't even look up, but the waiter was noticeably shocked as Andrew clambered back to his feet and walked over to Wolf and pointed down at him. "What the hell are you talking about!?" Andrew asked, fuming with anger.

Wolf decided to play a little. "What ever do you mean?"

"Don't play dumb, O'Donnel! I know exactly what your little game is! I know it! You know I'm a better pilot then all of you! I get the second in command position! If you weren't in command, I would have your spot!"

Now Wolf was angered. He stood on his feet, a full three feet taller then Andrew who started to cower. "I made a command decision. You are not a good pilot. Never have been, never will be," he saw the anger this provoked. "Leon and Pigma are ten times the pilot you are, and no matter how much money or fame in Andross' minions you have, as long as you are in my command, you will follow my orders!" Andrew was angry again.

"But Andross is my uncle!"

Wolf was fuming now. He reared his paw back and slammed his fist into Andrew's big nose. The ape flew back a few feet and was on the floor. He walked up to him and kicked him hard in the stomach. "But Andross is my uncle! But what!? As long as you are in my command, then you will obey my orders! Andross is your uncle, so what!? Huh?"

Andrew clambered to his feet and swung a weak fist at Wolf which he dodged and parried with a blow to the back of the neck.

Andross watched on the camera as Wolf and Andrew fought. While a more sane person would have acted on his own nephew's behalf, Andross was not like most. Wolf had a very accurate way of getting his minions to follow his orders, but Andross had to intervene. He picked up with his security guards and headed for the room.

Wolf side kicked Andrew in the head, as the ape bled from several different wounds. There was one thing that was good about the ape; his intensity was good, but his picking opponents was awful. He swung at Wolf and, to the great delight of Pigma, Wolf kicked Andrew in the groin, who whined and crumpled to the ground. Wolf then brought his foot down on Andrew's head and started to drive it into the carpet when, from the doorway, came a very, very loud and booming voice which made Wolf's blood run cold.

"Cease!" The voice of Andross shouted through the room. Wolf whirled to see Andross standing there in the doorway, flanked by security as medics helped Andrew to his feet, who was still snarling. Only now did Leon look up casually at Andross as Pigma started shuffling nervously. Andrew was dragged away, and Andross stepped into the room. "Very interesting, Commander," he said. "Beating up my nephew like that was amusing."

Wolf lifted his chin. "It was necessary that he followed my orders, Sir."

"Yes, I know," Andross said. "Andrew is sort of a spoiled brat, isn't he?" He looked very amused, his few strands of white hair covering bits and pieces of his balding head. He sighed and looked at Wolf. "I wonder, Wolf," he said. "Would you be able to train my soldiers to beat up dummies like that?"

Wolf snarled. "I can beat up anyone, Sir," he said. Leon didn't look up to see Andross' expression.

"Really? Even myself?"

"I'm not sure," Wolf replied.

"Then we don't know, now do we, Commander O'Donnel?" Andross said with another smile and left the room. Leon finally looked up as his dinner arrived and he sighed with contempt as a very strange dish was placed in front of him.

Wolf shook his head. "The guy creeps me out."

Fox McCloud sat up in his bed the next morning, seeing everyone else was asleep in their beds as he was the only one awake. They would be arriving at Sector X in the afternoon, around three p.m. as Fox sat up in bed and pressed his food simulator, ordering a coffee.

Wolf O'Donnel was looking at sensor panels and readouts. He was giving orders to Caiman and Andy of their placement of the fleet. Wolf pointed out the spot where Caiman's flight would be patrolling.

"You'll be there, just at the outer ring of the perimeter with your squadron in front of the first line. Andy, you'll be at the back where the weapon is."

Caiman and Andy nodded and went to it. Star Fox wasn't even past Sector X, and if they were clearing every planet before they came here, then they had a very easy chance of getting everything they had into the fight at Area 6, if they even got past the ambush that was not only waiting for them at Sector X, but after that, after Titania, Macbeth, Aquas and Zoness, they would go to Sector Z, where another part of the fleet would be deployed along with six C-Bombs. C-Bombs were Andross' invention, and they held the nuclear power of a million atomic bombs, and that would put a dent in the precious hull of Great Fox. That would give them something to think about while they were de-atomized into the ions that they were built out of.

Wolf was still angered from his encounter with both Andrew Oikonny and Lord Andross. Andrew was a spoiled brat, everyone knew, even Andross. But Andross himself was pretty spoiled, getting everything he wanted. Wolf had to live with it, though, if he wanted his money, which he didn't want as bad as Pigma.

Andy would be working pretty hard keeping his soldiers in check, and he would be too far away to kick their asses as Wolf had done to Andrew when he had been charged with insubordination. Andrew would probably be back soon, and with revenge and something to prove on his mind, he would be more intense then ever, which was good. Wolf liked to have intensity in his pilots.

Caiman was just assembling his flight group as Wolf looked on at the fleet assembled in front of him. Commander Caiman was an experienced pilot who Wolf would have wanted in Star Wolf alongside him, Leon and Pigma, instead of Andrew. But, as usual, Wolf didn't have a choice in the matter as he watched them get into their strange, disc shaped fighters with mounted cockpits and lasers on the side.

Wolf had another plan besides Area 6 and Venom. He had sent a team to Titania, where he knew Fox would be stopping, especially with the little surprise that he had waiting for the Cornerian Fleet at the edge of the nebula. Fox would not know who had set up the brilliant trap, but when he reached Venom, Wolf was sure now that he would, he would know.

The new fighters Andross had supplied Star Wolf were very good indeed, and far better then Star Fox's pathetic Arwing Fighters. Wolf's new Kaywing Fighters were going to kick some serious ass when it came time to fight for Venom and Andross' personal protection when Star Fox arrived and was ready to come and fight.

The Kaywing was in a K shaped design, a very odd design, but good, nonetheless. The maneuverability was spectacular, the shield gauges were higher then any other recorded fighter, the weapons systems were beautiful and everything was smooth. Wolf had gone out in his Kaywing to patrol Area 6 just the other day and had seen Caiman and his flight team making their normal routes as he flew by. The Kaywing handled nicely, especially in ZeroG, where there was nothing to hold you down. Wolf grinned at the idea of the spectacle of watching Fox's fighter go down in flames as Star Wolf emerged victorious...

...he was snapped out of his day dreams as the door behind him opened and he turned to see Leon Powalski, Pigma Dengar, and Andrew Oikonny there. Andrew had been patched up, but Wolf wouldn't hesitate to pummel him again when given the chance.

"What is it?" Wolf asked.

Leon spoke, in his calm voice. "Andross has said to go down, in disguise, with a SWAT Team to Titania. We're going to try and figure out a way to lure Star Fox to the planet surface, and by golly, that happens to be one of my surface specialties."

Wolf nodded. "Pigma, prep the ships. Leon, get me readouts. Andrew, chart us a course, I want stats by 0600 tomorrow, we leave at 0930. Move out, people," he said and they all turned to leave as Wolf flicked on his personal comm connection to Andross and the ape's face appeared on the screen.

"What is it, Commander O'Donnel?" Andross asked in an irritated tone of voice as Wolf straightened and looked at the ape.

"Sir, we are going to Titania at 0930 tomorrow morning, and everything is going according to plan. Re route any remaining forces from Katina, Sector Y, Corneria and Solar to Area 6, Sector Z and Sector X plus Titania, give or take. I want your best SWAT Soldiers on the ground on Titania for the ambush on Star Fox."

Andross nodded. "It will be done," he said. "Now, I trust you can handle the mission? And that you will have the Bolse Defense Outpost operational within a few days, no doubt, Wolf?"

"Yes," Wolf said. He had forgotten completely about Bolse with all of the Area 6 planning. "The shields will be operational in time for Star Fox's arrival," Wolf said with only a small hint of pride in his voice. Andross was smart, because he noticed it and smiled.

"Good," he said. "If, Star Fox arrives."

Wolf's grin vanished. "Oh, he will arrive," he growled. "Fox McCloud never misses a deadline. Never."

At that time, Fox McCloud was still off in Memory Lane as he ate his breakfast. The hot chocolate tasted much like Fara's recipe back on Corneria, where she was now. The taste of the eggs and bacon was much like that which Jeff O'Neil had made.

Fox sighed as he shoved another spoonful into his mouth and chewed. The others came in, laughing, talking, chatting...Fox was slightly worried about Slippy, since it was his first mission back since Katina, and that had been a very close call.

General Pepper had apparently made a bridge call to Rob64 telling him that the fleet was in place at Sector X and awaiting arrival of the Great Fox to scout out the area before heading through the charge at Venom. They would destroy any enemy armies which happened to get in their way, because that was their job.

"Hey, Fox," Bill said, sitting down beside him as Falco, Slippy and Peppy went to get their breakfast. "Haven't had much of a chance to catch up. How did things go between you and Fara after I left?"

Fox shrugged. "After Dad died, I didn't see her that much."

"Whoa, whoa," Bill said, holding up his paws. "Do you mean to tell me that you two broke up? Man, Jeff nor James would've liked that move, Fox, let me tell you that," Bill said and looked at Fox with concern.

Fox glared at him. "I didn't break up with her," he said. "It's just that with Dad dying, and her job, we didn't have that much time for each other any more. I swear, after this last mission, I'm going back to Corneria and back to my girlfriend." He said.

"Good for you, boy," Bill said, patting him on the back. "I'm gonna get some grub." He left for the counter as Falco patted Fox on the back.

"I hear right? You got a girl waiting on you back home?" Falco asked with a smile on his beak. Fox nodded and instead of laughing, for once, Falco was dead serious. "I had one once," he said, and he was off down Memory Lane.

Falco had just arrived at the Zoness Flight Academy to go on his three day flying pass. He was just hear to give a short demonstration of what the Space Hot Rodders were capable of. He'd left Vincent Monroe and the others back to their mission and he would be joining them in a few weeks. He had no idea that only about a day after he left, Zoness was going to be taken by Andross. Falco entered the class room, and the teacher, a cat named Catlyn Kitty, was giving a lesson on flying skills. Nowadays, flying was one of the most important skills. Falco had noticed right away one pink and white furred cat who had her eyes on him. It turned out she was the most promising student in the class: Katt Monroe. Vincent's own little sister! Catlyn had immediately turned the class over to him.

"Hi," Falco said. "My name is Falco Lombardi, I'll be giving you some basics on flying." He had then gone into a very long lecture about battles and Arial Combat Procedures which he had the Rodders had done quite often in their day. This had been before Falco had left the Rodders and joined Star Fox. He had then taken the class to a new simulator which he had supplied the school with. It was actually a class worth of Arwing Simulators, and they all went into the heat of battle of the War of Sector Z. The only people who survived had been about three others, Katt and Falco. Katt had hung on Falco's every word, and when he had left, she had winked at him.

Falco could still remember the feeling of his heart sinking when he'd heard about Zoness being taken by Andross, and that was his personal reason for going up against the evil bastard.

"I never knew that was what happened," Fox said as Falco nodded grimly. "You saw Zoness before it was taken by Andross? Bill had been there a few times to surf. Apparently, the waves there were really big."

Falco nodded. "Still are," he said. "Andross can't change that much," he said as he took a healthy gulp from his hot chocolate and the others sat down. For the next few hours, they talked. Even after they had finished eating, they talked about the worst combat situations they'd ever been in, and they all agreed that it had been Katina for Slippy. For Fox: it had been Corneria. For Falco, Solar. Peppy...well, he had to say Sector Y. Bill had chosen Katina because that was the only place he had been.

Little did they knew they would probably all choose Sector X in this same conversation in the near future.

Wolf entered the bar on Titania, looking at the pathetic bunch of bar flies who were cluttered around. Secret agents were piling in all around them and taking positions at tables and slumping at the bars. Andrew had been ordered to remain in the freighter they had used to get here to keep a low profile, and so had Pigma, because Fox and Peppy knew his face to well. Leon and Wolf had gone in with the teams to take them. The forces above them were trying to get one fighter in their tractor beam and force it down on Titania, then they would intercept Star Fox.

Wolf sat down and ordered a beer while he waited, as Leon calmly sat, looking out the window.

General Pepper looked at the nebula. It was beautiful...would be even more so if it was not an enemy stronghold. Corneria had been the last place on Andross' list. Without Star Fox, Corneria would have been taken, and Katina would have followed. Nearly every other planet had been taken by Andross, but slowly, the Lylat System was coming back in a brave battle.

Soldiers like James McCloud and Jeff O'Neil had died in wars like this. Fighting for what they believed in, and that was what the brave troops of the Here and Now were doing now. Fox McCloud carried on proudly in his father's steps, and Pepper watched most of the way.

He watched and waited for them to arrive.

Finally, the time arrived for the team to get to their fighters. Fox sat down, adjusting his flight jacket under his harness as the technicians strapped him in. He slipped on his head mike and flipped on the start up switches.

"This is Rob64," Rob said. "We will be coming out of hyper space in twenty seconds. Disengage from the ship ten seconds after. Clock starting now."

Fox saw it come up on his main control panel and breathed out. The ship would burp him out of the hangar bay and into the midst of General Pepper's fleet. Star Fox would then cruise on ahead and inspect the field. He sat there as the others buckled in. He could see Bill's fighter, the Gray1. Not as classy as an Arwing, but it had it where it counted.

"Ten seconds," Rob64 said.

Fox gripped the controls as the counter reached zero and he flew away from the ship with a great jolt of his craft. The others were seconds behind as he flew in among the fleet of Corneria.

"General Pepper, I hope you haven't had any fun yet without your pals, over," Fox said.

Pepper laughed over the comm. "Great to see you, Fox. We need to know what's going on in that nebula. It's been very quiet while we've been here. Be careful and make no mistakes, over."

"Copy, over," Fox said. "Okay boys, let's roll," he said and boosted his engines to speed and flew out in front of the fleet. "Activate radar." He looked at it but it showed only static. "What the hell....radiation interference, guys. Look sharp and keep your eyes open."

There was a chorus of "copy's" from the group as they flew in. Fox saw something up ahead. "I think I see the base, General. We're going in for a closer look, over," he said and didn't wait for Pepper's response as he accelerated in towards what looked like the base. Fox squinted as it came into view....but the odd thing was that it was in pieces.

"Somebody beat us here," Falco gasped. "It's all gone!"

Suddenly, what must have been hundreds of fighters burst out from all directions and Star Fox plus Bill Gray was barraged by a hail of fire. "Holy shit!" Fox shouted and banked hard and hit the boosters. "Scatter!"

Slippy was better this time as he flew about, avoiding laser fire from several directions as he swerved amongst the strange fighters, looking around as he did so. He tapped his cap which read "Slippy" and shaded his eyes from the brightness of the nebula as he flew.

Falco banked and swerved to avoid fighters. He rolled up on his axis and dove down beneath the ocean of fighters. He whooped as he did this.

Andrew Oikonny pressed the button and the fight appeared on the screens. He nodded to Pigma Dengar who pressed a button which was a direct communication to Wolf and Leon who were in the bar. "Ambush has been sprung," he reported to Wolf.

"Good."

Slippy jetted hard and fast and popped out the other side as Bill decided to hang back a small bit and blast some fighters before continuing. "Fleet this is Slippy Toad. You have multiple bogies incoming, over," Slippy said and the Fleet's reply was jumbled by the static but it was an affirmative. Slippy flew, the remnants of the base's guns were firing at them as they moved along.

"So far so good, Fox," he said.

That's when the second wave hit. The fighters were everywhere, at least ten times more then the first wave as Slippy rolled up and away, dropping a nova bomb down at them and jetting forward again as the rest of them copied his maneuvers. Slippy punched a button and dove back into the fray, firing rapidly, when Falco's exasperated cry came over the speaker.

"Jeez laweez what is that?" He shouted as a large thing moved past him. Then: "Scatter! There's another one!" And another thing flew past. Slippy was so awestruck he almost didn't notice the fighter that came in at him. Bill zapped it before it came any closer.

"Thanks, Bill." Slippy rolled up on his back thrusters and punched the boosters, slapping in the main hyper lasers as he came in behind one of Andross' lackeys. He tried a lock, but the fighter was evading. Slippy switched to single fire lasers and aimed for a lock and got it. He fried a rapid succession of shots and the fighter exploded, a brief ball of fire exploding like a firework in space, then disappearing into dust which sprayed against Slippy's cockpit canopy.

"Scratch one bogey," Slippy said, rolling back on his fighter's axis and coming in behind another. Slippy switched back to his hyper lasers and locked on and fired a blast of energy that blew the fighter to dust. "Make that two. How are we doing, guys, talk to me?"

Fox took a moment to respond to Slippy. "The fleet is being taken down by the remaining fighters. Rob is moving in to assist."

"Good," Slippy said, coming up on Fox's wing. "How are the shields turning out here, guys?" Then a static burst came over the communications and shorted his. He took his hands off of the lasers and throttle and switched to auto pilot defense systems, his personally designed data. He pulled out a screw driver and pried the communications panel off of the main circuit board and saw there had been a small electrical fire in the circuits. "Great," he murmured as his lasers automatically took out a fighter on Bill's tail. Bill probably said thanks, but the comm showed no signs of improvement as Slippy brought out his circuit connectors.

"Slippy?" Fox asked to the comm, but still, his friend did not reply. Slippy's ship showed signs that he had engaged auto pilot mode, which meant that something had to be wrong. And since he was not responding, Fox could only assume that it had to mean his communications was the problem. Fox rolled up on his back engine and braked hard, letting the enemy fighter fly right past him.

Slippy connected the black to the blue as sweat rolled down his tough skin. Slippy gritted his teeth as he slowly worked to control his shaking hands. Auto pilot control was running high, but his ship rocking back and forth made it hard for Slippy to work. If he screwed up, his whole fighter would shut down and he would probably be blown away by some lackey from Andross' army. He was just about to make the connection when there was a great bump, and suddenly, all of his systems went blank.

"Oh, shit...." Slippy whispered as he stopped dead in space.

Fox looked at Slippy's fighter which had suddenly stopped. He must have hit the shutdown! His air recyclers wouldn't be on line! He wouldn't be able to breathe if the oxygen wasn't being filtered in. "Slippy! Slippy, do you copy!? Slippy!?"

Slippy pulled out his emergency oxygen supply as the air in his fighter started to grow thin. He breathed in deeply, sucking in the air, as Andross' fighters swarmed all around him. He fastened the mask onto his face and got the tools out to get his ship back on line. He unbuckled his safety harness and pressed his back up against the canopy, careful not to hit the release button. He took his screw driver and unscrewed the pilot seat from its moorings. The gravity had suddenly left the ship, so Slippy had no trouble lifting it up against the canopy and climbing down to behind the seat to see the last part of the inside ship. He pulled a flash light off his belt and looked at his watch. Seven minutes of emergency oxygen left. He flicked on the flash light and looked around the engine until he saw the power supply. Slippy pushed off, thankful for being little, as he squeezed into the back of the ship.

Still no reaction from Slippy. Fox swooped by the fighter and got an odd view. The seat pressed up against the cockpit! He saw Slippy's shoes disappear into the back. He was working the manual power ride! If Fox's watch was right, Slippy now had seven minutes of emergency air left, that meant seven minutes to get the power back on in his ship before he was killed in space.

Slippy squinted at the power supply. His flashlight in one hand, he pulled out a screw driver and let his flashlight float in the air as he unscrewed the power supply. He grabbed the flashlight out of the air and looked at it. Two circuits fried, and that made it all the easier. He brought out the power connection but before, he looked at his watch. Four minutes. He had plenty of time.

Then, a laser blast hit his canopy, and air started blasting out. His chair hit the canopy, plugging the hole, but the canopy cracked and a shrill whistle filled the ship. "SHIT!" Slippy shouted as he felt the coldness of space slipping in. He really needed the power back so he could weld that shut.

Fox saw the fighter hit Slippy and blew it away immediately, but he could see the damage that had been done. Slippy would be killed in one of two ways if he didn't finish his job in the back of the ship.

Slippy brought the connectors out and plugged one of the circuits together with shaky hands. He swallowed hard, trying to comfort himself, but the whistle grew higher as the cracks spread across the canopy. He swallowed and hit the connectors and grabbed the screw driver, sealing the panel back in place. He backed out of the back and turned to face to panel...

...and saw that the chair blocking the hole in his canopy, was blocking the manual switch as well. "Crap," he whispered. He would have to move the chair, creating a suction in the cockpit, in order to get the switch within his reach. With both hands, he braced his feet against the floor and pulled. As soon as that happened, he felt the darkness tugging at him. Then, the incredible suction hit, and Slippy pulled with all of his might against it, until the switch was in reach. He kicked it and all systems came on line. Automatically, another canopy went up under the other one, sealing the leak, and gravity returned, making Slippy collapse under the weight of the chair. In a matter of minutes, it was bolted down and he had his harness on. He kick started the engines and was back in the game.

"Slippy here, I'm okay."

Fox sighed with relief as Slippy reported in. He went back to the fight, blasting and detonating over and over again, destroying Andross' feeble army. He grinned as he went into the fray.

The wine tasted dull now. It was supposed to be a taste of sweet victory, but as he pulled a hand through his thinning hair, Andross felt nothing but bitter defeat. Star Fox had handled this ambush far too well. Of course all the pilots were going on to attack the fleet and several Cornerian Cruisers had been destroyed.

Still, it was not enough. The main threat was Star Fox, and they were getting through, even as the robot assembled itself to destroy them. Wolf and his team were in position on Titania, awaiting the blow that would send one unfortunate Arwing flying to its doom and sending Star Fox after it. Andross took another sip of the wine, feeling it sweeten with victory again.

Across the table, was General Krang, a turtle who was busy working with Admiral Wildcat, doing several hundred battle strategies. The High Command were all there, and Colonel Tiger was also there, working on some things as he watched the video screen.

"They're getting through," Tiger observed.

Andross nodded, but said nothing, and Tiger took his cue to shut up. Krang and Wildcat were talking in hushed whispers as the battle continued. "Switch to the remaining fighters and guns against the cruisers, Captain."

A captain switched the panel to the fight, watching the Cornerian Fleet being crushed by the fighters. This made Andross a little happy as he watched. "Excellent," he whispered.

Fox McCloud barrel rolled high up and lost the fighter on his tail, allowing Falco to blast him. Peppy flew by, shooting a fighter out of the stars and they continued along. The two long things were side by side now, and something was appearing in the distance. Something huge...

"Wolf, they're powering up the weapon," Pigma said.

"Excellent," Wolf replied.

Fox jetted forward, trying to see what the thing was, when the two things attached to the giant machine, and it took on the shape of a robot. All of the enemy fighters were suddenly, fighting the Cornerian Fleet, letting Star Fox have the robot all to themselves.

"What the hell...." Fox was whispering.

"Robot is on line," it said in a nasal voice. "Directives....to destroy enemies....you are a enemy....destroy.....destroy...." it raised one huge arm and swung at Fox, but his quick maneuver saved his life yet again. The robot focussed a sharp beam of laser at the others and they scattered, flying away from the battle.

"Aim for an arm!" Peppy shouted out the weakness.

"Data analysis as been taken," Slippy said. "Displaying the data to you guys." Fox looked at his screen and targeted an arm.

"Firing a nova bomb!" He launched and watched the sphere of light flying in at the machine and it impacted heavily with an arm. But it didn't slow down, charging the Star Fox team and Fox broke off, turning around for another pass, when the monster turned its attention from him.

"Let me take a look at this," Slippy said, flying in closer, evading the lasers and missiles the machine was firing at him as he moved. He was getting in close, when it raised another monstrous arm and swung.

Slippy's ship was hit hard in the side, and Slippy's wing was gone. Although he'd been trained for situations like this, he couldn't get control as he was thrown from the fight by another impact from another slam by the machine. He tumbled, screaming all the way, towards the planet that was called Titania.

"Slippy!" Fox shouted after him as Slippy hit the atmosphere and disappeared from all sensor relays.

"Fighter down," Tiger said to Andross. "I'll go and relay the information to O'Donnel." He left as Krang and Wildcat and all the other staff congratulated eachother as they looked and saw only four hundred of the seven hundred cruisers left in the huge fight. They were winning.

Andross rubbed his hands together, knowing Pepper would be trying to pull back...or be brave and stay to the end. That would be just like Pepper, but it would save Andross a lot of trouble.

Then, suddenly, a great white flash lit up the field and hundreds of fighters were gone. The Great Fox came into view, all weapons firing as it swooped in for the kill like a bird of prey. The congratulations stopped immediately as it started to kick some serious butt. Andross was no longer tasting sweet victory.

"Tell the fighters to pull back and group to Area 6, Sector Z or Bolse. Their choice. Zoness has been reinforced to the maximum." That from General Krang. Andross didn't tell him anything, but watched as the great white ship moved across the screen, killing all kinds of fighters.

Fox rolled up on his Y Axis and away from the machine, dropping a nova bomb down on its other arm. "I've got both arms disabled! Falco, hurry up and finish him off, will you?" He shouted as he turned, seeing Falco rush in.

"You're dead meat, pal," Falco said and fired. There was a tremendous explosion which the group barely escaped, a roaring fire which was then swallowed up by the vast blackness of space. The group of fighters turned towards Titania.

"Hang on, Slippy," Fox said.

On the planet surface, Slippy had been secured by the robot. Wolf sat in the bar, awaiting the arrival of Star Fox, a grin pasted on his face, and he was glad that no one could see his face, because it was the most maniacal grin, even worse then Andross', in the entire history of maniacal grins ever recorded.

Chapter Four

Fox opened the doors to the bar and the whole team stepped in. Bill, Peppy and Falco were right behind him. They didn't care of the raging battle in space overhead, because they were here to find Slippy, and Fox would find Slippy, no matter what.

There were lots of people there, many of which were slumped at the bar. Bar flies, obviously. Titania was a backwards little world which was basically just a big cargo stop for pilots on their way to more important places like Corneria or Katina.

Fox walked over to a table where a chameleon was sitting playing cars with a rabbit, not much unlike Peppy. The chameleon looked up, a very calm expression on his face, and Fox guessed that he was winning. The chameleon had keen, farseeing eyes as he looked right at Fox.

"Help you?" He asked.

Fox nodded. "I'm looking for a friend," he said. "He crashed around here. You know anything about his whereabouts?"

"As a matter of fact, yes," came a sharp voice from behind him and Fox whirled to see Wolf O'Donnel standing there, the patch over his eye giving him the perfect pirate look. "Recognize me, boy?" He said with a cackle, and Fox realized that almost all of the thirty people in this bar were Andross' men, because they had weapons drawn.

Fox slowly turned to see the chameleon with a strange gun pointed at them. Falco was snarling at him, his teeth grinding under his beak. "Leon Powalski," he growled and the chameleon let a slow smile play over his face and he made a low, gruff laugh.

"Falco Lombardi. I didn't think you were good enough to be down here," he said.

That's when things got weird. A shot, not from Star Fox, nor from Wolf's boys, but from somewhere else, hit some of Wolf's guys. He whirled and Fox took his cue. He cried in rage and tackled him. Peppy jump kicked the nearest man and Falco charged Leon right into a table. They went to the ground, fighting.

Fox jumped up as Wolf jumped as well. Wolf tried to catch Fox with a spin kick but the wily McCloud evaded the kick with a forward flip and his foot caught Wolf in the face, sending the misfit backwards.

Bill Gray had pulled out his gun and shot down two of the officers from Andross' SWAT boys.

The wine tasted bitter again in Andross' mouth. "This is pathetic," he said. "And all of this just for that miserable toad. I want them dead or captured. Relay that to the troops down there."

Andrew and Pigma entered the room with the reinforcements, firing their guns. Fox dove behind a table and found the others were there as well. Falco had been skinned by a laser blast and Peppy had taped it up as much as he could. All of them had their blasters out as the SWAT team tried to destroy their cover and them in the process.

"The bar," Falco said.

"You sure? Lot's of glass and flammable..." Fox started but Falco, with one swift flap of his wings was off like a shot which no one could hit. Bill patted Peppy on the back and the hare launched himself off of his powerful hind legs and over the bar. Fox forward flipped, landing on his feet behind the bar, then Bill combat rolled, shooting down two of the SWAT boys before coming up and hurling himself over the bar.

Fox stood, ready to fire, but Falco yanked him back down as a blast seared over his head. "Idiot," Falco hissed with a grin on his face.

Suddenly, all gunfire stopped, and the annoyingly slick voice of Wolf O'Donnel filled the bar and the people's ears as they hid. "All right," Wolf said. "McCloud? I have a proposition for you." He said, and pausing for dramatic effect, continued. "If you surrender to me, I will let your friends go. Do we have a deal?"

"Wolf, I have two words for you: Eat me." Fox said and jumped up. Before any of the SWAT boys could get their guns up, Fox had shot and hit Wolf in the foot. He fell behind a bench and Fox dropped to the floor as the area where he had been was riddled with laser blasts.

Falco jumped up and launched himself with his wings right at Leon. Bill and Peppy jumped over the bar, followed by Fox, and Fox tackled the finally standing, yet injured, Wolf. Falco tackled Leon Powalski and took him to the ground.

Slippy awoke. He was still inside his fighter, but outside, it was black. Blacker then space because space had stars to eventually light up the horizon. He was sore all over as he unbuckled his harness and sat up with a groan.

He looked around and picked the flash light off his belt, flicking it on. He was on some sort of planet, a barren landscape. His fighter was trapped in the claw of some weird claw, but at closer inspection, it looked more like a tree branch or something like that. Slippy drew his pistol as he realized he was on Titania. He swallowed, looking around, flicking the power button and watching his systems hum to life, which made him feel a bit more comfortable.

Falco rolled along the ground, punching and kicking at Leon who was doing the same. They came onto their feet, and Falco balled the end of his wing into a fist and hit Leon as hard in the head as he could, and Leon's head flew into the wall. Leon crumpled and slowly started to get up, but Falco kicked him. Suddenly, a gun cocked behind his head and he froze.

"Don't move," a SWAT member said. Falco slowly reached his hand to his belt. He turned it around so the front faced the back. The small laser hole he had designed was right at the ape's crotch, and Falco pressed the button. A small arc of electricity hit the ape in the groin and with a wheeze he fell to the ground.

But Leon had used this time to get to his feet. He head butted Falco hard in the gut and the wind was knocked out of the falcon as he hit the ground hard, and Leon lept on top of him. Falco took a few seconds to get his breath before throwing his foot into Leon's gut. Leon flew back against the wall and Falco was on his feet.

Fox spin kicked Wolf hard across the jaw and Wolf did a backwards somersault and hit the wall. He slowly got to his feet as Fox drew his gun and pointed it at Wolf, who stopped dead cold. "You're under arrest," Fox said.

Then, the butt of a gun hit him in the back of the head. Wolf looked at Andrew Oikonny, bleeding from several wounds, as he came over to Wolf, grabbed him by the paw, and pulled him up. Fox started to get up and Andrew kicked him hard in the head.

"Maybe my nephew's not so useless after all," Andross said, having another glass of the wine. He watched the bar brawl. Andrew had taken out Fox with a good piece of weaponry that Andross would have used to blow Fox to shreds.

Krang, Wildcat and Tiger watched with fascination that battle that was emerging in a simple bar on a small, backwards planet such as Titania. Wolf had received a broken foot, which would probably heal in Andross' healing tubes in the time it would take for Star Fox to reach Venom, if they did indeed reach Venom.

Falco punched Leon again and again until the chameleon sagged. Pigma Dengar suddenly jumped out, shooting Falco in the arm. He fell to the ground as Pigma picked up Leon and ran after Andrew and Wolf who were heading for the door. The SWAT team covered them as Star Fox rallied. Fox made no move to get up from the floor, and lay motionless. Bill combat rolled to his friend and got him out of the way as a laser scorched the spot where he had just been.

Falco lay there as everyone left, and Peppy moved to his side and touched his feather. Shot twice in a row by these bastards, but he had taken down a fair amount. Peppy took out the same medical kit he had used before, and started taping up Falco. That's when they all noticed Bill trying to revive Fox.

Slippy pushed at his cockpit but it wouldn't budge. He sagged back into his seat, looking around, wishing he had something to eat, or that his comm system wasn't acting up again and that his flash light had burnt out long ago so he couldn't see what he was doing this time.

He squinted in the dark, seeing the sun starting to come up over the horizon. It would give him enough light to get his work done, and then he would be able to contact Fox and the others.

Fox awoke in the Great Fox, as the mission to find Slippy was being prepared. He had healed nicely and was in perfect condition for the mission, but he would not be flying an Arwing as usual. He would be driving the Landmaster Tank, in which he would support the others, who were in their fighters, from the ground, while he went in and picked up Slippy and brought him back to the ship. After that, they were going to the planet Aquas. Fox hated the schedule, because it left next to no time for rest.

He seated himself in the pilot seat of the Landmaster and looked at the shaded windows. The passenger hold in the back was nearly empty aside from T.O. Pike, who was coming along for the mission to look after all the secondary needs that Fox couldn't handle alone. At this time, the others were in the hangar bay on the top of the ship loading into their fighters. Bill, Peppy and Falco would be providing air support, as Pike and Fox made their mission from the ground.

The technicians started to run their final checks as Fox pressed the button for ignition start. "This is Fox," he said. "Initiating start up procedures for the Landmaster, over," he said. Rob64 gave an affirmative check as Fox grasped the controls as the supports for the Landmaster were moved away from it.

"Activate hover engines," Fox said to Pike, who followed his orders to the letter and pressed the console activating the hover engines, bringing the Landmaster itself on line and operational. Pike gave Fox a thumbs up and Fox thumbed the controls, lifting the ship out of the bay and into the morning of Titania as the rest of Star Fox flew by overhead.

Fox flipped on the sensor which showed Slippy's beacon. "Three clicks," he said. "Pike, get the weapons on line, cause it looks like we're gonna need 'em soon," he said as he looked at the radar, seeing the numerous fighters roaring in at them. "Watch it up there, guys."

"Copy," said Falco who flicked over to nova bomb targeting and aimed for one of the bigger squadrons. "Firing a nova," he said and launched a bomb. He could see the brilliance of the flash and Falco smiled as the screen lit up, showing twelve fighters were gone.

"Seven down," he said, switching over to hyper laser targeting. "Painting targets, over," he said and hit the boost, jetting his fighter into battle. "Fox, we're moving into cover position to see if we can jet and find Slippy."

"Roger," Fox said.

Falco hit the boosters again and swerved to avoid the falling wreckage of one of the fighters which he had destroyed. He locked onto a fighter and fired, watching the hyper laser blast home in and destroy the fighter. He wiped sweat out of his eyes and exhaled, blowing another fighter to pieces as Peppy and Bill kept up with him. "Fox, this is Falco," he said. "Slippy's beacon isn't moving and is not responding to hails, over."

"Copy," Fox said. "Two and a half clicks. I haven't had much trouble down here...." he trailed and suddenly, over the hills, numbers of tanks and land assault fighters started roaring in at Fox. Falco could see them and imagined the horror that must have crossed his friend's face as they came in for the kill. "Revise that," Fox said. "I'm under attack."

Peppy spoke up. "Falco, we going to see Slip-up or what?"

"Belay that," Falco said. "We're staying and helping Fox. Lock on to targets and fire. I'll handle the air traffic." He switched comm channels and the face of Rob64 came on his comm visual screen. "Rob, we're going to need some cover on the aerial assault fighters, here. Can you take it?"

"I'll have officers man the turrets and set all torpedoes, missiles, and lasers to lock and fire." Rob64 replied in his mechanical voice.

Falco nodded. "ASAP, Rob," he said and switched back to Bill, Fox and Peppy. "How're we doing?" He asked and blew another target away, looking down at the Landmaster as Fox handled the weapons with incredible agility, blasting the fighters to pieces.

"Okay, so far," Fox said.

Falco nodded. "Two clicks until Slippy's beacon. Rob's bringing the ship in so we'll have more then enough power to get us to Slippy and the fire power may scare some of those fighters into second thoughts."

Andross watched the screens in amusement. Fox was handling this new vehicle with incredible skill. Wolf and his team had arrived back and Andross had immediately ordered him in the healing vat, along with all his wounded soldiers. He needed everyone operational for Area 6. Wolf had failed because of the element of surprise and skill. He had not chosen the team himself, and it had been comprised of inexperienced soldiers, because all of the ones at Area 6 working hard to ambush the Star Fox team.

He sipped his wine as the High Command watched in fascination, analyzing Star Fox's flight tactics. They had nailed some down and had been trying to figure out each team member's strengths and weaknesses, but none had surfaced at the moment. Krang, Wildcat and Tiger had been working around the clock getting the armies ready for Area 6, and still more were on the way.

Andrew Oikonny was working in the flight simulator, and yes, he was not doing all that well, but it was an improvement. Andross would assign his nephew to go after the toad when they did indeed arrive on Venom if they got past Area 6, much less all their other plans.

Fox locked on and let the Landmaster's gun swivel and then he fired. The enemy exploded, catching four more of them in the process, and he sighed in relief. Slowly, bit by bit, they were taking them apart. T.O. Pike was heading up into the back gun turret so he could start manually destroying enemies. "Guys, we've got more coming up. Try hailing Slippy again."

Slippy was busy trying to get his comm unit working again. He had his tools out, and this time, there was nothing that could bump him around. He connected the wires. Now all that was left to do, was hit the manual restart for the ship. He reached his hand out and pressed the button. Nothing happened.

"Great," he whispered.

Fox waited for Falco to reply, and when he did, the news was not good. "You sure you tried an All-Channel broadcast on your message?" he asked, as he locked and fired on another enemy land assault vehicle which was racing towards them at high speeds.

"Yeah," Falco said. "He ain't answering."

"Dammit," Fox muttered. "Pike, how're we doing back there? I need some more fire power!"

Pike finally got in the seat and activated the controls. "We're online, Sir," he said and he started firing a hail of laser fire at the oncoming enemies. T hey started to break off as finally, Rob64 arrived in the Great Fox and started raining down fire at them. "Looks like we're doing good sir."

"One click until we reach Slippy's position," Fox said as they moved across the landscape. Pike was doing a fine job of blasting his targets as Fox activated the hover engines and flew over a field of mines. "We're low on hover fuel," he said to Pike. "I'm punching up the speed."

Fox hit the throttle and the fighter accelerated. They had indeed been trained to use the Landmaster, but Fox didn't know it as well as the Arwing or the Blue Marine Submarine as he jetted across the landscape. "How're we doing, Pike, talk to me?"

"Almost there," Pike said. Then, an explosion rocked the Landmaster as alarm klaxons went off at a piercing level. Fox was thrown from his seat and into the back of the Landmaster where the hatch was swinging open. It was luck that the emergency shutdown closed the door. Wind still whistled in the ship.

"What the hell was that, Pike?" Fox asked, then saw the turret was gone, save for some scorches and blood stains. "Pike? Pike!"

Falco had seen what had happened and gave a moment of silent prayer to the creature that had been Tactical Officer Pike, who was now scattered in pieces over the soil of Titania as the group flew along. Falco swallowed as he locked on to another target and fired, blowing it to dust as the Landmaster was finally under Fox's control and moving again.

"Fox was hit, Pike is dead," Falco said, the words sounding dead in his ears as he flew along, wishing that Slippy would just answer their hails so they could get off of this Godforsaken rock!

Slippy Toad took much longer to screw off the chair this time, and it took him a good half hour to lift it away from the back of the ship. He had no flashlight, so it was working in the dark for him as he slowly moved his hands until he found the small panel that was the main power box. If this didn't work, he was almost as good as dead unless he could blow open the cockpit canopy himself, which was highly impossible, as he pulled out his screwdriver and found the sockets. He could feel the connectors dangling down and blindly attached them to their sockets. He got everything back to the way it should be and pressed a button, and with a hum which sent a wave of happiness through Slippy, the systems came on line. He was about to speak when his fighter fell loose from the tree which it was lodged.

"Aaaah! Slippy's hit!" Came the toad's voice over the entire comm speaker and Andross bolted up in his chair, anger creeping into his voice as Toad started to communicate with his comrades. "I'm okay so far! I just fell down a few feet!"

Andross was fuming. He threw his glass at the video screen which shattered as he screamed in fury and picked up Krang, throwing him across the room and then he kicked Wildcat with a satisfying thud. Tiger and seven security officers held him back as he regained control. Wildcat and Krang didn't object, for they knew the penalties of objection.

"Thank the stars," Peppy Hare said as Slippy's voice came over the communications system and his static blurred face appeared on the video screen. "Where the hell have you been, Slip-up?"

Slippy grinned. "Getting my ship back in business, Peppy. I thought you would have rescued me sooner," he said with a chuckle.

"We had problems," Peppy said. The radar started to beep rapidly and Peppy looked down, his eyes widening as he saw the hundreds of blips coming towards them on the radar. "And we're about to have a shitload more!"

Bill Gray heard it and looked at his own radar, the Gray1 was far more advanced and read it quicker. Three hundred, exactly. He gaped as he looked at it on visual, seeing them all coming in. "Break right!" He shouted.

"Breaking right," Peppy said, which left Falco covering Fox as the Landmaster trudged along the ground, minus the gunner who had died. Bill maneuvered and finally arrived on the other side of the fighters, and awaited the arrival of the others as he carried on, when a group of fighters, maybe twenty, broke off and followed him.

Bill chuckled. "You think you can take me? The three words: Be my guest," he said and flipped, firing a nova bomb which caused them to scatter. It caught roughly eight of them and more circled back to replace them as Bill zoomed through each of them. "Guys, I could use some help," he said.

"Firing!" Fox said from the ground and Bill dropped sharply in altitude to avoid the nova bomb which McCloud had launched from the ground as the Great Fox came into view, raining fire down on the enemy fighters as Cornerian Cruisers started to come into the fight, deploying their fighter squadrons to fight the others. "Help is here," Fox said.

Chapter Five

Wolf O'Donnel had decided to watch the dog fight as it occurred on the plains of Titania, the barren planet where he had recently fought the insolent Fox McCloud, and the big surprise to Wolf, was that he had lost, but not completely. The war continued. He had allowed Andross' forces to get into a defensive perimeter so that Star Fox could hardly move out of the bar. While Wolf had requested permission to go back to Titania and blow Fox away from that fancy little tank, Andross had said no because now the stakes were getting higher. This time, Andross' forces were the ones who were outnumbered, and they were getting their asses kicked as Star Fox plus Gray1 flew along, with the exception of Fox himself who was using the tank.

Andrew Oikonny had proven to be a good ally, and had kept a steady watch over the battle himself, idealizing what it would be like to destroy them. While Wolf still wasn't very fond of the ape, Andrew had been good in battle. Leon Powalski had been cheated out by that brat Falco with his fancy weapons, and Pigma had had to come to his aid in that battle, kicking the bird's ass. Wolf sighed as he sipped some of the coffee that Andross had specifically ordered for them as he sat behind Andross. The fit which Andross had just had was a spectacle for an ape of his caliber. A once in a lifetime event which Wolf and the rest of Star Wolf had been a witness to. Andross had then gone over the outline for the Venom Air Defense Zone, codename Area 6. If Star Fox did indeed manage to succeed in defeating the army, there would first be the backup army on Venom, then Star Wolf. If worst came to worst, Andross himself would go up against them. A very good spectacle which Wolf would pay good money to see, but Fox would never make it to Andross if Wolf O'Donnel had anything to say in the matter, which, as a matter of fact, he did.

"Looks like we're losing, Boss," said Pigma in a hushed voice so Andross couldn't hear them. Pigma missed everything until the worst possible time. "D'ya think we're gonna get another chance at it?"

Wolf glared at Pigma with his one eye. "Shut up," he hissed in a low, murderous tone of voice which suggested death, and Pigma shut up. Boy, did he shut up. Andross apparently didn't miss a thing, for he had picked up on every word. He turned in his seat to face them, a deadly grin pasted on his horrid features.

"We may lose this battle," he said. "But, this war will be won, one way or another." He then turned back to his wine and started gradually sipping from it as fancy platters were delivered to him by the Lylat System's best cooks. Andross sighed and lay back in his chair. "Only in a matter of time, my friends. Only in a matter of time."

Wolf didn't know why, but those words made him shudder involuntarily.

Fox McCloud flipped the switch which launched the C-Bomb, the only one he had in his Landmaster, and in a flash, all of Andross' fighters were gone. He grinned as they came up to a tree, a tree which was very ugly. In that tree, suspended fifty feet over the ground, was Slippy's Arwing. He was cheering from it.

"Fox, you made it!"

Fox breathed a sigh of relief. "Let's get him down."

That's when something weird happened. Now, when you go off to war, some pretty strange things happen, but nothing could have compared to his. The tree started to MOVE! It popped its roots from the ground and roared a horrid war cry at them.

"I'll distract it!" Falco shouted and flew in. Fox wished he had saved that C-Bomb for now. He launched and fired a rapid succession of nova bombs at the thing's head, but it had no effect as Slippy screamed over and over and over and over again!

"SHUT UP SLIPPY!" Peppy shouted at the top of his lungs, something he had never done in his entire life, as the Bio Weapon lunged at Fox. Fox kicked the controls and rolled the tank hard to the right, barely avoiding the lunging claw. He quickly started firing again.

"Peppy, weaknesses!"

Peppy could be heard pressing buttons, then he came up with an explanation. "Class 45-C Bio Weapon! Aim for the roots, Fox! The roots!" He shouted, then muttered. "The roots are always the weakness."

Fox tried to lock but suddenly, a small warning came on the screen. The weapons systems were jammed and his fuel was very low. He cursed. "It's jammed," he said. "It won't fire and I'm losing fuel."

"I'm on it," Falco said, swooping in. Slippy's wing was missing, the second looked like it was ready to fall off and the engines glowed with attempts to escape the clutches of the Bio Weapon. He came in, trying to lock. It refused. "They have some sort of locking shield," Falco said. "Open fire in the general vicinity of the roots."

The group of fighters opened fire as the Landmaster below turned and headed back towards the fleet which was ready to pick him up, the loss of T.O. Pike heavy on Fox's mind. Falco swooped in, firing his hyper lasers and nova bombs as he blew past. Bill and Peppy were doing the same, and the creature screamed and swiped at them.

Falco swerved and avoided, but it hit Peppy. The claw tore through his fighter, leaving a gaping hole in the cockpit canopy. Peppy ejected and he was almost clear of his fighter when it blew. He was shot through the air and was almost about to land atop the Great Fox when he pulled his chute and came to rest on top of it. Immediately, medical crews were helping him back inside the great ship, leaving Bill and Falco to help Slippy and take care of the enemy Bio Weapon. Falco wiped sweat from his brow and went to it.

Bill hung back a bit as Falco went in, firing all of his nova bombs and they impacted with incredible force upon the Bio Weapon. Bill then fired his succession, and the thing screamed. Slippy's ship was thrown, and it took a few minutes after his crash landing to be recovered.

"Activate the planet destruct," Andross ordered General Krang who nodded and pressed the button. The team would see Andross' face delivering the message to them, and they would be horrified.

Fox saw it first. Andross' hologram. "I hope you realize," said Andross. "The planet will be exploding around you in the next two and a half minutes. Have a nice day. McCloud, can't say I'm sorry." Andross cackled and Fox watched the crew, horrified, as finally the hologram vanished.

"Get the hell out of here!" Fox shouted and all the ships headed for maximum burn, even the remaining Cornerian Cruisers. Andross' fighters must have known, because they had a headstart. Fox threw the helmsman aside and jabbed the controls to Factor Nine.

Falco was thrown to the ground by the sudden increase in speed as were the rest of the group. Bill, Peppy, Slippy and Falco made their way to the Combat Bridge as the great ship accelerated away from Titania. They arrived on the bridge. "What the hell is going on!?" Peppy shouted.

"The planet's blowing up around us," Fox replied over the roar of the engines. "We've got two minutes before we're all atomic dust on Andross' shoes!"

The group gaped for a second as the ship cleared atmosphere. "Head to lightspeed!" Falco shouted to Fox who simply nodded and pressed the button. Everyone but the people who were seated were hurled across the bridge. Falco was beginning to get annoyed at this when they finally broke away, Titania exploding behind them.

"GOD DAMMIT!" Andross screamed at the top of his lungs as slammed his fist on the table so hard it broke in half. Andross glared at the screen where Titania and Star Fox had been. "I HATE YOU!" He screamed. "JUST BE GOOD BOYS AND DIE!" He hung his head as others waited in the wings for his mood to improve.

Not bloody likely, thought Wolf as Andross stormed out of the room. Wolf stood and looked at the atoms flying across space that had been Titania. "Very clever, McCloud," he said to himself. "Very clever indeed."

The bridge was very quiet. The fleet was all around them in lightspeed and Falco Lombardi had some trouble getting up from the corner as Fox gave the helm back to the rightful pilot. Falco growled as he got to his seat.

"Life on the edge can suck," said Falco, as an officer helped him to a seat. "Where are we going now on our "no break" schedule, fearless leader, Fox?" he said with a mock sarcasm in his tone.

Fox shook his head. "Lightspeed for a week," he said. "We're going to Aquas. Until then, you're free to do what you like." He said. "Sorry about the flying. I'm not used to handling this ship."

"Nice job," said Slippy. "My dad would have thought you were some idiot ape like Andross."

Peppy chuckled. "Can't be any worse than you are Slippy," he said and that got a few laughs from the crew as Slippy put on his best scowl at Peppy who put on an "I surrender" look. Fox rubbed his chest and left the room, slowly followed by the rest of Star Fox plus Bill Gray.

Wolf O'Donnel was very amused at Star Fox's success. Thee were other systems that Andross could have chosen to conquer, but no, he had to choose the one that had some of the best damned pilots in the known universe defending it! Wolf sighed and turned. Everyone was on edge from another of Andross' psychotic episodes. Maybe General Pepper had been right. Maybe Andross was a maniac. But, he had money, food, bed and one hell of an army, so Wolf worked for him, not Pepper. Besides, Wolf would never be on the same side serving with McCloud. Never. Star Wolf was a mercenary group that always took the side of evil. Well, not always. There had been a time where Wolf had been one of the top pilots in the Cornerian Army until they had found out he was stealing money and cheating on tests. He was booted and was a wanted criminal.

Fox had made him lose his eye, and Wolf would make him pay dearly for that.

At the same time as Wolf was thinking all that, Bill, Peppy, Slippy, Falco and Fox were engaged in a game of poker. Since alcohol wasn't on their diet, they drank sodas and ate candies instead of smoking stogies. Fox was staring blankly at his hand, sure that he had something good, but keeping his poker face on. Slippy looked upset, Peppy was pleased and Falco kept a straight face. Bill had to refrain from swearing. Falco was the dealer, looking at each person in turn.

"Fox?" Falco asked.

Fox put down one of his cards. "Hit," he said and Falco gave him one brand new card. Fox looked at his hand, keeping a smile from going over his face as he plopped a candy into his mouth and washed it down with some soda. Falco asked the others all in turn if they wanted to hit or stand. Bill stayed, but Peppy and Slippy each gave in most of their cards, except for one or two. Fox knew they were not going to do all that well in the big scheme of things.

"Okay," said Falco. "I guess that's it for everyone. Slippy?" he looked at the toad. He put down absolutely nothing with a depressed face on. Falco nodded and moved on. "Peppy?" The same. "Bill?" The dog put down one pair of kings and Falco nodded, looking at Fox, who put down a full house. "Shit," Falco muttered. "That beat a king a queen and an ace," he said. "But not a full house."

Fox gaped as Falco placed the full house on the table, grinning. Everyone groaned as Falco collected the candies from the center of the table. Fox looked at him. "How did you do that?"

"I didn't do anything," he replied. "It's all a game of luck, Fox. You've gotta get used to it some time or another. You can't win all the time. I don't, but I do get lucky some times, some times when I don't even deserve it. Make your own luck, Fox." Falco went back to the game with the others as Fox pulled up his chair and took the seat. Falco grinned.

"Are you sure?" Rob64 asked as First Officer Coyote was tapping on the control console.

Coyote nodded. "Yes, Sir. Titania was indeed destroyed but the remnants of the fleet have gone to a placement in front of Venom but behind Bolse."

"Call the team up here, ASAP," Rob64 ordered.

The alarm interrupted the poker game with incredible ease. Slippy took a few seconds to shovel candy in his mouth and guzzle some soda. Fox and Falco wound up dragging him all the way to the combat bridge. They waited there until Rob64 and Coyote had finished conversing in private and turned to them.

"You have the floor, Mr. Coyote," said Rob64.

Coyote nodded and stepped forward. "We have noticed something. Every time we beat back an enemy, the remnants of that enemy fly back to Venom, but not completely. They stick between the Bolse Defense Outpost and Venom. They go nowhere. We think they are mobilizing a fleet."

"If they do that, we may be as good as dead," Bill said.

Coyote nodded. "What makes it worse, is Katina needs Commander Gray back for assistance. We may only have four pilots plus this ship."

"I'm staying," said Bill. He folded his arms across his chest in an effort of defiance which Coyote swallowed and took notice of.

"Anyway," said Coyote, bringing this to a quick close. "Just be prepared for anything when we destroy Bolse, because we don't know what may be out there, so be very careful. That's all."

Falco snorted. "You called us up here to tell us that? I thought we were coming out of hyper into an all out war, for crying out loud." He walked away and was slowly followed by the others, except for Slippy, who took off back to the poker room to pig out on all the candies that were left on the center of the table. By the time the others arrived, Slippy had eaten nearly half of the candies and had a guilty expression on his face, a lopsided grin.

"Who's up for more poker?" Slippy asked.

Bill and Peppy shook their heads and climbed into bed, while Fox and Falco took to their own bunks. Finally, reluctantly, Slippy went to his own bed. They bid each other good night before going to sleep.

The vastness of space was comforting to him, and he did not know why. He had a spectacular view, and instead of frightening him, it made him feel at home. He could guess it was probably due to so many years in space, but that was probably a worse reason with all the close calls he'd had in his time. Maybe it was just because he'd grown up thinking about it, and although dangerous, space was his home. The Lylat System rejected him, but space welcomed him with open arms.

He sighed, turning from the window, sipping his champagne as the others sat in the room, conversing quietly. He could hardly think of a time where he'd felt more relaxed. The champagne was one of the most expensive kinds in the galaxy. He looked around, seeing many of the people were quiet because of his imposing figure. He smiled, scratching the patch over his left eye. Wolf O'Donnel was indeed intimidating, and he knew why. His looks, brains, wit, smoothness and cunning.

Leon Powalski was the only one who wasn't phased by Wolf's figure, a good characteristic for the chameleon to have, especially at a time like this, where they were preparing for a war that Wolf nor anyone else was really prepared for, but were fighting anyway. Wolf sighed and finished off his champagne, taking a cigar from the ape who offered it. He smoked it thoughtfully, then took another, which he would smoke after his victory dance over Fox McCloud's grave. He smiled at the thought.

It was all a matter of time.

Fox was dreaming, he knew it. But the dream was so real. The image in front of him was the image of his father, James. He had darker fur, and his voice had a deeper, more bass tone. James McCloud stood in front of him, looking at Fox with the same expression of pride that he had been wearing when Fox had defeated the simulation against Peppy, Johnny, Petey and the other who Fox had lost the name of in memory in this battle.

"All hope is not lost, Fox," James said.

Fox blinked and moved his mouth, yet no words came to his lips. Fire was licking around them, and James' figure started to recede into the flames. Fox tried to call out, but still, no words came from his moving lips. He was hot, very hot. He forward flipped incredibly high, and then was bitter cold, and could not breathe. He realized he was in Remus Lake on Corneria. He could see the dim light of the surface above, swimming for it...and then just before he could reach the top, his lungs gave out. He was falling...falling...the darkness reaching to him, smothering him...

Fox bolted up in bed, sweat soaking his fur. The lights were out in the cabin, and snores told him that everyone was still asleep. Fox wanted to sleep in his subconscious, but he was not prepared to go to sleep. He ordered a coffee and a soda to be delivered to him immediately to keep from sleeping. He looked at the clock. Five thirty in the morning. He sighed as the servant gave him his coffee and soda. Fox drank his coffee greedily, then took more time on the soda. The first one to wake, was Falco, always the early bird. He blinked a few times then flew down to meet Fox. It was rare that Falco flew, because he liked to keep his wings in better condition for wrapping around the controls of the Arwing.

"Hey," Falco said, landing beside Fox and pulling his jacket off the hangar. "How long have you been up?"

"Since five thirty," Fox admitted, sipping some more of his soda. "I couldn't sleep, so I thought I should be wide awake instead." Fox smiled as Falco shrugged and went off to the showers. Fox went up to the battle bridge to see how things were going. The bridge crew didn't get much rest, because they had to make sure nothing went wrong on the Great Fox, because if something did, they were dead meat. Fox walked down the long, heated corridors which eventually led to the combat bridge. Nothing was happening, some officers were even sleeping at their posts, and some were looking at the station where T.O. Pike had worked until his death on Titania at the hands of Andross...

Fox decided it hadn't been a great idea to come here anyway. He turned and left, seeing the memorial that had been set up for Pike made him feel guilty for the brave officer's loss, and he decided to find the others, who were probably all up by now. Falco was probably doing his routine morning exercise, while Slippy, Peppy and Bill would be starting breakfast.

Their next destination was Aquas, the aquatic world. Rob64 had given them a short briefing on the planet, saying that Andross was setting up another Bio Weapon, according to General Pepper's reports. Fox walked back along the ship, observing the surroundings around him as he did so. He watched out the viewport window for a long time, staring into space at what might have been, what was, and what might be. It was a while before Peppy Hare caught up with him and found him staring out the viewport.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Peppy asked and Fox only nodded, barely taking notice of his best friend's arrival. "Your father always talked about this when we were kids," he said, blinking as if he was reliving the memory. "He would say; 'Someday, I'm gonna be the best pilot. The best pilot ever. And people will call me a hero. And I'll be rich and famous'," Peppy sighed. "He said that all the time. Those exact words."

How right you were, Dad, thought Fox as he turned to face Peppy. "And he did," he said. "He pursued his dream. Pursued it to the last ounce, and he accomplished his goal. He even trained me," he said, sighing as he looked around the ship. "And then he died for no reason at all," he said, looking at the ground, shifting on his feet.

"No," said Peppy. "Never say that, Fox. Everyone has a reason. Everyone. Even your father," Peppy looked at the ceiling. "Everybody has to go sometime, and while your father shouldn't have been taken, especially by that bastard Andross...he did what he had to do. He saved me, Fox."

Fox nodded. "I know," was all he could say.

"It didn't work," Andross repeated the words that Wolf O'Donnel had just related to him. Andross leaned back, his champagne bottle still in his hand as several of his fleet officials looked at Star Wolf which was standing, their heads hanging down, in front of him. "It didn't work." He said again, finishing off his champagne bottle and standing, walking over to Wolf. "It didn't work?" he asked, a question this time instead of a statement. "Goddammit! What the hell do I pay you all for? Huh? I pay you, to eliminate the greatest threat to my conquest, and all you can do, is give a half-assed attempt, come back here and say it didn't work?" He screamed, his face red.

Wolf snarled at him, his face wrinkling with anger. "We did the best we could," he said. "Our specialty is flying. Not hand to hand combat. I had incompetence on behalf of the SWAT Team sent with us. It was not our fault," he said, and Andross could see his paws twitching dangerously over the laser pistol holstered on his hip. "So don't go telling me that I made a 'half-assed' attempt to do my job, 'My Lord', or you'll be singing a different tune."

"Of course," Andross said. "You are stationed on Venom until further notice," said Andross, and then he looked across the room to Commander Caiman and Admiral Andy. "And you, Commander," he said. "You chose the best SWAT Team members?"

Caiman nodded. "The best available, Suh," he said.

"The best," Andy said in his gruff, gravelly voice.

"Hmm," Andross said, standing and moving over to the viewport which overlooked the fleet stationed at Area 6. "What about Bolse? We haven't done much for that station lately," he said.

Caiman and Andy exchanged a confused look. "There's nothing wrong there," he said. "And some of our top pilots have been sent to overlook that process that if Star Fox should arrive, there will be no problem," Caiman continued. "Suh, if I were you, which I'm not and never will be, I would remain with our basic strategy that we have right now. Deal, Suh?"

"Yes," agreed Andross. "You are surprisingly smart for a fighter pilot, Caiman," he said. Then his smile faded as he looked out Admiral Andy. "How is the weapon coming along, Admiral?"

Andy straightened. "Sir, it is finished and ready for battle."

"Excellent," Andross said as he took a new glass and filled it with the galaxy's most expensive champagne. "Well, then," he said. "Admiral, to your ship, and Caiman, perform another perimeter search. There will be nothing and no one to break through you," he said, leaning forward. "Because if they do, you will die a very painful death. Understood?" he said.

Caiman nodded, his expression not changing. "Yes, Suh," he said as he and Admiral Andy turned and strode out of the room at a brisk pace. Andross sipped his champagne and looked out the window. In a while, Commander Caiman's squadron would fly by and give Andross a bit of a show, and he hoped it would be good.

Fox McCloud sat at the controls of the simulator as the hatch opened. He climbed out and was in the cafeteria, an interesting place to put the simulators. Fox walked up to the soda machines and chocolate bars, peeling off his head mike and revealing his fur was damp with sweat. He clicked his watch communicator as he got a candy bar and a pop.

"Slip, you there?" he asked.

The face of Slippy Toad appeared on his watch. "Blue Marine is almost ready, and we still have three days to spare," Slippy said with a grin. "Bill's been doing some work down here too."

"Good," Fox said. The idea of Bill, stuffed into a ventilation shaft, his tongue rolling down over his chin and panting because it was so hot brought a smile to his face. He sighed. "Fox, out," he said and sat down at a cafeteria table next to Falco Lombardi, who had entered the room. "Slippy's almost done."

Falco nodded. "That's good," he said. "So, what's that leave us doing until then?" he asked.

"Nothing," Fox grinned. "We've got leave."

Andross was not happy. Apparently, Star Wolf was having problems in the chain of command. Andrew Oikonny, Andross' nephew, wanted to be in command. But Wolf O'Donnel was a much more capable commander. He watched the video screen. It wasn't the first time this had happened, but last time, Andrew had wanted to be second in command, now he wanted to command.

"I'm a better pilot and leader then you," Andrew protested to Wolf who stood there, his paws folded over his chest. "I deserve to lead this team because you are incompetent. If I had been leading on Titania and Fortuna, we would have destroyed McCloud and his lackeys sooner."

Wolf snorted. "If you had led us, we would've been crap on the bottom of McCloud's shoes right now he would have trampled us so fast, Mr. Oikonny. Like it or not, this chain of command is the one that stays."

Pigma Dengar was too busy eating to notice, but the chameleon, Leon Powalski, watched with interest. "I'm so much better than you, Wolf," he snarled, but he was a full foot shorter then Wolf was. "I would have killed McCloud immediately."

"No, you wouldn't have," Wolf said. "He's too good a pilot for you, and this Squadron is too good for you as well. The only reason you are here is because of your connections to Andross and he put you here."

Andross smiled. "A mistake I could easily remedy," he muttered.

"That's not true! Andross recruited me to this team for my superior flying capability!"

Andross snorted at the same time that Wolf did.

"He put you with us so you would get out of his hair, so you wouldn't be there every second of the day to piss him off and distract him from his work, so he's laying the burden on us to do this, you dumb shit."

Andross cocked a brow.

Andrew roared and leapt at Wolf, and both of them went to the ground. Andross decided not to call security just yet, but see how this progressed. Wolf got his feet into Andrew's stomach and vaulted him off. Pigma was finally watching and cheering Wolf on, while Leon sat quietly.

Andrew got up, grabbing a knife from the table. Now it was out of hand. Andross pressed the button for dining room security. It would take them roughly four minutes to get there, in roughly the amount of time Andrew or Wolf could kill themselves.

Andross watched as Andrew leapt at Wolf, the knife extended, but Wolf was good. He threw his foot heavily into Andrew's face, then, in a quick move, swept his feet out from under him. Wolf kicked Andrew's hand and the knife flew into his paw. He pressed the blade to Andrew's throat when the security arrived.

"I'll kill you!" Andrew screamed as security held him back.

Wolf snarled at him. "Feel free to try," he said.

Interesting.

Bill Gray left the ship for Katina with the entire crew of the Great Fox there to see him off. Bill had been of great assistance to the Star Fox team, and he shook paws with Fox before he left. "Well, I guess I'm off," he said.

"Guess so," Fox said.

Bill tried to look serious. "Just a warning; you'd better be coming back, or I'm gonna kill you myself," he said with a lopsided grin. "Just get your ass back here in one piece, okay, Fox?"

"Sure," Fox said as Bill climbed into the cockpit of the Gray1. "Good luck," Fox said to Bill as the dog saluted, pulling on his shades and hitting the startup. Gray1 blasted out of the ship and entered hyperspace. It would take only a few hours since they weren't all that far from Katina, but Fox couldn't help but miss his friend already.

Peppy Hare, Slippy Toad and Falco Lombardi walked to the cafeteria with Fox after Bill had gone. They found a table and sat down. "I'll buy," Peppy said with a grin. There was nothing to buy, since it was all free.

"Yeah, yeah," Slippy said, tapping busily on a data pad.

"Looks like someone brought the entertainment," Falco said, slapping a deck of cards and some coins on the table. Fox smiled and put down a few coins of his own and Slippy followed suit. Peppy came back with their orders and they started to play, enjoying a small break.

Admiral Andy stood on the bridge of the main battle cruiser, the fleet assembled all around him. He looked down into the crewpit. "Well?" he asked.

"The Fleet is assembled, Sir," a lieutenant said.

Chapter Six

The bridge of the Cornerian Command Ship was quiet, especially at night. It was night it Cornerian Time standards, and General Pepper was sitting in his personal quarters, reviewing files on his data pad when a knock on the door came.

"Enter," Pepper said, placing the data pad down on his desk and looking up as Vice Colonel Hellhound entered and saluted smartly. Pepper returned the salute and leaned back in his chair. "What is it, Vice Colonel Hellhound?" he asked, taking his cup of coffee off the desk.

Hellhound extended a hand. "Communication from the Great Fox, Sir. They'll be arriving at Aquas in two days, and will expect the entire Cornerian Fleet to be on standby for Sector 6 attack," he said. "Plus, Commander Gray has gone back to Katina to help in the rebuilding process."

Pepper nodded as he reviewed the data. "Good," he said. "Carry on, Mr. Hellhound," he said and the Vice Colonel left the room.

Supreme Lieutenant Grizzly, SWAT Team Commander of the team that had gone to Titania shortly before its detonation, stood in front of Lord Andross, who was listening to his version of the events.

"Interesting how well they fight," Andross said, standing. S Lieutenant Grizzly had been working for Andross' SWAT Team for eight years, and had received the rank of S Lieutenant recently to command his SWAT Team. "Especially against some of my best troops."

Grizzly nodded. "Sir, and ambush is what we need," he said. "Think about it; once and/or if they get past Zoness, they will have to move through Sector Z, and with the high levels of radiation from that planet, it would be a perfect cover to hide troop transports and fighters. We could board the flagship and take it over."

"Good plan," said Andross. "Write it up on a data pad and then give it to me. I would like to check it over before I make any decisions that may result in the loss of more men," he said.

S Lieutenant Grizzly nodded and saluted, flexing his claws as he left the room. "A good strategy indeed," said Wolf O'Donnel as he stepped out of the shadows as the doors closed. Andross turned to look at him. "It may be useful, My Lord," O'Donnel continued.

"How is your relationship with my nephew coming?"

O'Donnel visibly fought back a grimace. "I'd prefer not to mention the terms of engagement with your nephew, My Lord," he said. "For they are getting steadily worse."

"I see," Andross said. "Where is your team now?"

"Stationed on Venom as ordered," O'Donnel said as he moved to the door. "I'm heading to join them, but my suggestion is simple; take that officer's advice. Overrun the flagship. An ambush may be what we need."

Andross nodded, but stopped partway. "Titania was an ambush but it failed miserably," he said.

"That was different," O'Donnel said. "This time, we'll have the advantage in numbers even more then we did on that desert planet Titania," he said, flexing his muscles which ripped under his fur. "We must tread cautiously this time, even more than before."

Andross nodded. "Thank you, Commander O'Donnel. Dismissed."

Fox McCloud yawned as he sat up. With Bill leaving yesterday, things seemed a bit dull on board the Great Fox and Fox was sure that they would stay that way until Star Fox was off flying missions again. He sighed as he sat up, slipping his beige flight jacket on and ruffling a paw through the fur on his head. He stood and moved across the room, seeing that the others were showing signs of awakening.

Fox stepped out the door and walked down the long corridor, looking out the viewports as he walked past them. He came to the cafeteria in time to see his friend, Bulldog, moving around behind the counter, fixing food. Bulldog looked up, a smile on his face.

"Hey, Fox," Bulldog said goodnaturedly as Fox came up to the counter. "What can I get you today?"

Fox looked at the menu. "The Special, I guess," he said.

"Ah," said Bulldog, tipping an imaginary chef's hat on his head as he started to work up Fox's order. "My Special is always the best Special. One Special coming right up, Fox!" He said as Fox took a seat.

He waited as Bulldog carried out his orders. He sent a server to the table and he placed a delicious looking platter in front of Fox. Fox picked up a fork and took a bite, chewing tentatively. It was overwhelming, the taste was so hot and sweet at the same time. "Delicious," he said, giving the OK sign to Bulldog who grinned and continued working on other crewmen's orders.

The door opened and Peppy Hare came into the room, pulling his coat behind him. Combined with being one of the best and most skilled pilots in Star Fox, Peppy had been doing Intelligence work lately, and before the mission against Andross had been working with Cornerian Intelligence trying to figure out what the maniac was up to.

He sat down, tapping a data pad. "Apparently," he said to Fox. "Andross has built some kind of underwater establishment on Aquas. For what, we're not sure at the present time. But," he continued as he grabbed a cup of coffee. "There is ample reason to believe there is another Bio Weapon there, similar to the one we found on Solar."

"Interesting," Fox said. "Anything else?"

Peppy nodded. "Whatever establishment they have on Aquas, they abandoned, except for some scientists. Apparently, they have a wide range of defense systems that may be difficult for Blue Marine to bypass."

"Except with Slippy at the helm," Fox said.

Peppy nodded. "Correct," he went on. "With Slippy working on a stealth system for the Blue Marine, it shouldn't be too difficult. I stress the 'too' because it might yet prove to be otherwise. Also, Andross has apparently been massing a fleet at Area 6."

"What's Area 6?" asked Fox.

Peppy took a plate of food from a waiter. The hare had the same thing every day. He took a bite then looked up at Fox. "It's a Defense Zone in front of Venom, close to the supply depot called Bolse," he went on. "Bolse has been supplying Venom with Bio and Nucleo Technology for quite some time, and Andross' theories about Nucleogenic Toxic Flux Capacitors have been receiving much work from his scientists and himself," he went on. "In order to defend both Bolse and Venom, a Defense Zone had to be established."

Fox nodded. "Henceforth, Area 6," he said.

"Precisely," Peppy said. "They've also been working on many projects back on Venom, and apparently, they've been sending ships off towards some point in the galaxy. Where at this time, we're not sure yet," he said. "They've been disappearing somewhere around Sector Z."

Fox nodded again. "Do you think they were destroyed by allied forces?"

"No," Peppy said. "You see, Sector Z's radiation capacity is as high as millions of nuclear bombs. A few years ago, Andross tried to tap that energy to use it to his advantage, and partially succeeded. But this radiation would make a perfect cover for smaller craft, not like the levels we received in Sectors X and Y. Now, bear with me here; if Andross can put his ships in placement, and we cannot stop him this time, Intelligence believes that he will be able to tap the energy, and a weapon that powerful could destroy a planet at a time."

Fox felt his jaw drop but quickly snapped it shut. "All the more incentive to succeed against him," he said. "But what about Zoness? That place has apparently been overrun since Andross bombarded it with nuclear weapons a few weeks ago before we started our mission," he said. "We don't know what's going on there."

"You're wrong there, Fox," Peppy said. "We do. They have massive amounts of fighters and defense systems on Zoness, and while there are a few rebels fighting against them, their numbers are slowly dropping. This will not work in our favor when we get there unless the rebels can team with us to work against Andross' forces."

Fox finished his food and pushed the plate away, sipping from a coffee. "What was the significance of taking Zoness?"

"Zoness had one of the main weapons and foods supply depots in the Lylat System," Peppy said, bringing up a few holos between the two of them to show Fox what he meant. "Andross was trying to cut off all our resources, and so that made things a little difficult for Cornerian, Katinans, Titanians, etc. However, we do know that he stopped that and went on an all out conquest of the galaxy."

"So, basically, he's left the forces there to keep us from getting our resources back," Fox said.

Peppy nodded. "Except they are useless. The weapons were destroyed and the foods and waters have been hopelessly filled to beyond breaching point of nuclear poison," he said. "Yet still the inhabitants of this world will not abandon it to Andross."

"Meaning?"

Peppy turned off the holo. "That they will keep fighting until the last one dies, so we have to hurry to save their world."

"How can we save it?"

Peppy leaned back. "We'll have to transfer the inhabitants to either Corneria or Katina, and it will take about four years for Zoness to be the thriving planet it once was, but it should be able to work with some of the repair teams working full time."

"Good," Fox said, shaking his head. "Peppy, you're a marvel. Digging up all this information while flying for our team, it just boggles the mind on how you can do this so much," he said.

Peppy shrugged, slipping the data pad back into his pocket as he finished his food and coffee. "It's a skill, Fox," he said. "One which I've had ever since I joined Star Fox and before. In fact, I was one of the stars of the academy, a reason your father chose me."

Fox nodded. "I can tell," he said. "Now, with Slippy and the techs working on the Blue Marine, we should sharpen up in the new Blue Marine simulation machine. It might give us the sharpening of skills we need."

"Right," Peppy said. "We should get Falco while we're at it."

"All right, stop it there," Slippy Toad called up to the technicians working on the power supplies for the Blue Marine submarines. "We've got a day and a half before we get there and we have to have this finished by that time," he said. "So let's get moving."

One technician, Kron, came up to Slippy. "Sir, we're having some trouble with route from the cockpit controls to the rudder," he said. "Apparently, there's a glitch in one of the line systems."

"Why are you telling me this now?" Slippy asked. "Get your ass in there and fix it you moron," he said and Kron nodded, running off to take to the task at hand. Slippy looked up at the people working on the communications dish in front of him. "Right. Make sure you fix the yaw osculation so we can be able to talk directly to Great Fox," he said and the techs called down the affirmative.

"Sir?" came the voice of Rob 64 behind him, and Slippy turned to see his mechanical friend standing there. "I have been asked to report to you that the repairs and work on your fighter are seventy-nine percent complete. They should be ready by the time you finish the mission to Aquas. Plus, the new applications, repairs and work on the Blue Marine is eighty-seven percent complete. At current rate of progress, it should be finished by the end of today."

Slippy nodded, a smile on his face as he patted Rob on the back. "Good work," he said. "You can go and get your sensors oiled by one of the techs. Tell him it's a direct order from myself, all right?"

Rob nodded. "Thank you, Sir," he said, turning and leaving.

"All right," Slippy said. "Keep it going, you guys, we still have to finish this on time. No slacking off," he continued as he pulled out a wrench and made sure of the main bolt that was holding the camera feeds to the Great Fox on its sides. He patted the cameras and stepped back to view it. "Looking good, guys," he said. "Looking good."

"Slippy!" A voice shouted from behind him, and Slippy turned to see Falco Lombardi striding across the hangar bay towards him. He stopped in front of the Blue Marine and nodded his appreciation. "Nice work, Slip-up," he said. "How far done is it?"

Slippy turned to face Falco. "Rob just gave me the statistics, apparently, eighty-seven percent complete and it should be finished by today," he said, and Falco nodded, a smile on his beak.

"Good work," he said. "Peppy, Fox and I are just going to work as back up pilots. We're going to go into the Blue Marine and practice in case of an emergency where you can't pilot this thing."

Slippy nodded. "Best you guys do, because the Blue Marine has higher risk of being hit due to its lower maneuvering capabilities," Slippy said as sparks flew down from the top of the Marine. He turned to the techs angrily. "Watch it you morons! You can hurt somebody like that!"

"Sorry," was the reply from the techs.

Slippy turned to Falco. "You guys go get your practice. I'll keep working here," he said, turning back to his work as Falco left the hangar bay area, taking the same route that Rob 64 had taken earlier.

Andross sipped his champagne, alone in his observation lounge. Wolf O'Donnel was apparently trying to get along with his brat of a nephew, but Andrew Oikonny seemed to have some other things in mind. Apparently, Andrew wanted to be in command of Star Wolf so bad, that he would kill O'Donnel to get the position. He had good intensity, but too bad he was dumb and a horrible pilot. Even that blasted frog, Slippy Toad, had managed to out fly him.

Admiral Andy stepped into the room, and Andross didn't turn to look at him. "I told you to go and wait on your battle cruiser, Admiral," he said, turning, letting his voice become a menacing growl. "Why is it that you are back here yet again when you shouldn't be?"

"Sir," Andy said. "The Great Fox is nearing the planet Aquas," he said.

Andross nodded. "Thank you, Admiral," he said. "But I fail to see why you had to come back here to address this matter to me," he continued. "So Star Fox is nearing Aquas; no problem. They will surely be destroyed by the sheer brilliance of some of my scientists who remain there," he said. "It would be interesting to watch, but unfortunately, I cannot have our defenses dropped down a single bit, agree, Admiral Andy?"

"Yes, Sir," Andy said.

Andross turned in his seat. "Admiral, tell me; has Mr. Grizzly finished his SWAT Data report for me to review, yet? Since he is stationed on your ship at the current time," he said, and Andy nodded. "Yes?" Andross said. "Good. Get on the communicator and tell him I would like to speak with him immediately."

"Yes, Sir," said Admiral Andy. "Will there be anything else, Sir?"

Andross looked thoughtful for a moment. "Stay here for a while, watch the progress of Commander O'Donnel and my nephew. My nephew's ruthlessness and intensity are his powers, his lack of brains and flying skills are his weaknesses," he continued. "Call Mr. Grizzly over here and listen to his mission outline with me and help me make a decision," he said.

"Yes, Sir," Admiral Andy said, and got on the communicator with Supreme Lieutenant Grizzly. It took the bear a half hour to get to the office, but when he did, he outlined his mission. It was very impressive, and both Andy and Andross agreed that is was a very good and impressive plan on S Lieutenant Grizzly's part, even though Andross knew something about it that Admiral Andy did not, nor did S Lieutenant Grizzly.

"It's a suicide mission," said Andross after S Lieutenant Grizzly had left the room to organize the mission with his best SWAT Troops. At the quizzical look that Admiral Andy gave him, Andross leaned forward. "You've seen how well McCloud and his team react to those kinds of situations, Admiral; surely it hasn't escaped your notice."

Andy shook his head. "It hasn't, Sir," he said. "But, Sir, if it is a suicide mission, then why did you allow it to proceed?" he asked tentatively. He received a rare grin from Andross which made Admiral Andy want to back away and cower in a corner.

"We cannot have such failure in my forces," he said, sipping from his champagne. "Therefore, I will train others; yet Mr. Grizzly will be dead, so will therefore have no reason to object to his replacement."

Andy nodded. "Yes, Sir," he said.

When the ship finally reached Aquas, the crew had had enough training and Slippy was finished the work on the Blue Marine Submarine. Now, they were all taking their respective seats, with Slippy at the front in the pilot's station, Fox working the guns, Peppy the sensors readings and back up guns, while Falco handled the communications board towards the back of the cockpit.

"This is Slippy," he said in his light, gentle voice. "We're hot and we're ready to go, do you copy, Rob?" he asked, waiting for the response from the electronic Rob 64.

"Copy," said Rob. "Disengage in four minutes."

Slippy nodded. "Copy," he said. "Falco, you're handling the communications from this point on, you got it?"

"Affirmative," Falco said, slipping his head set on. "Re routing your guys's communications power to my own now," he said. "Okay, Rob, we're hot and ready to go, disengaging in three minutes forty-eight seconds, over," he said.

"All right," Slippy said. "Let's get ready. Give the go-no-go for launch, you guys," he said. "Weapons?"

"Check," Fox said.

"Sensors?"

"Check," said Peppy.

"And communications, check," said Slippy, finishing it off and checking all the secondary systems. He turned back in his seat, slipping his communications headset linked to the identical ones Peppy, Fox and Falco wore, but Falco was the only one who could communicate with Great Fox. "All right, Falco, how long?"

"Three minutes," Falco said.

"Sir, they are preparing to launch the mission on Aquas according to the communications we have managed to tap," said Admiral Andy, handing the sheets to Andross, Star Wolf standing behind Andy.

Andross grunted. "Good," he said. "If they get any to Zoness, get Grizzly's plan ready," he said. "And as for you," he said to Wolf O'Donnel, Leon Powalski, Pigma Dengar and Andrew Oikonny as Admiral Andy left. "I told you to wait on Venom."

"A small problem, Uncle," said Andrew. "I'm supposed to be in command of Star Wolf, but-"

Andross raised a hand. "You are not supposed to be in charge of Star Wolf, Andrew," he said.

"But-" Andrew began.

Andross raised a hand again and cut him off in mid-sentence. "I don't care," Andross said. "I put you in the squadron because of your ruthlessness and your ability to annoy people, most likely the enemy, to death. I didn't put you there because I thought you had command capabilities, so shut your foul whining trap and do as Commander O'Donnel orders without question, do you understand?"

Andrew looked as if about to explode, but turned onhis heel and left. Leon and Pigma followed, but Wolf staid behind, standing in front of Andross. "What is it, Commander?" asked Andross.

"Sir," he said. "I would like to report gross incompetence in Andrew Oikonny," he said.

"I noticed," said Andross, filling his glass with champagne again. "Two fights with you, one in which was an intent to kill. Heated arguments about the chain of command, one of which was caused by your promotion of Leon Powalski, the second your undisputed command...he is grossly incompetent, isn't he?"

Wolf nodded. "Sir, Bane Redfox is a far better pilot and takes orders willingly. Drop Flight Officer Oikonny back to Academy and let him train while we shape a pilot like Redfox into a far better one, like the next...well, never mind," he said.

"You see," Andross said. "I know Redfox is a better pilot by far then Andrew," he said. "But I want Andrew to learn some discipline, and the best way to do that is to put him with such battle hardened veterans as yourself, Captain Powalski and Lieutenant Dengar."

Wolf nodded. "I understand the logic in that theorem, but I cannot agree with it. Flight Officer Oikonny is not a capable pilot. Maybe a position on a battle cruiser would better suit him, but I don't like gross incompetence in my unit."

"I don't like it either," Andross said. "Which is why I want you to stop it. The next time that happens, make the threat of the Academy-Redfox deal, and if it happens again, I personally will see to it that Andrew is back in the academy and Redfox in your unit."

Wolf swallowed. "But I think we should do it now."

"Out of the question. Deal with it," Andross sipped his champagne as Wolf nodded grimly, saluted, and turned on his heel leaving the room.

The Blue Marine hit the water and shook the inside as the water eclipsed over the top of the Marine as it went down into the depths. Slippy sat at the controls. "Okay," he said. "Initiating main drive engines."

"Rob says they can supply minimal cover for us," Falco said from the back.

Slippy nodded. "Good. Hop to it," he said. "Fox, Peppy, ready with the guns. We need them in tip-top condition if we're to do anything against all this stuff, and hope the technicians did a good job knocking this thing back together."

"Right," Fox said for both of them.

Slippy flicked a switch. "Accelerators are on," he said. "Radar report, Peppy?"

"Enemies coming in...but they read as organic..."

Slippy looked out the viewport. "I can't see worth a damn," he said. "Peppy, hit the flood lights and I'll drop us in depth, try to stay below their scans and use a minimal amount of weapons fire."

"Copy," Peppy said, hitting the lights. The lights illuminated the partially murky water and Slippy squinted. "Are they moving to follow?"

"They must work on some other frequency, because they still detect us somehow," Peppy said. "Anything we do they match and vary their courses to stay with us and eventually they're going to catch."

Fox looked up. "Then we'd better find this Bio Weapon pretty fast," he said.

"Great Fox this is Falco. We need some cover on my mark," he said. He added under his breath: "Question is, when is my mark?"

Slippy scanned with his eyes outside. "Nothing," he said. "I can't see a damned thing. They still coming?"

"Yes," said Peppy. "But I'm getting a very large reading, quite possibly the Bio Weapon."

Professor Snail let his two proboscis move over the control panels as he looked up. "The aquatic vehicle is still moving," he said. "Shall I activate the Bio Weapon's defensive procedures and speed up the defensive forces?" he turned to Chief Professor Sluggo, who looked at him.

"Indeed," said Sluggo.

"Activating," Snail replied.

Slippy gasped as they came into view and rammed the Blue Marine, it all happened so suddenly. "Damn!" He said. "Fox, the guns! Hit the torpedoes because we've got plenty of 'em!"

"Firing," said Fox.

The nova bombs flew from the launchers of the Blue Marine submarine and homed in on their separate targets. Small lances of yellow/white laser fire bolted down from above, no doubt it was the Great Fox supplying the laser fire. "Thanks, Rob," said Falco.

"Anything on the Bio Weapon?" Slippy asked as he dropped below the line of fire, moving the Marine down to avoid the ramming of the creatures for a few moments. He looked over at Peppy, hunched over at his station.

"Nothing," he said. "But we are getting closer. We're going to have to make this very quick," he continued.

Fox grinned as he blew up one of the creatures. "How nice," he said.

Suddenly, the Blue Marine rocked incredibly hard and the Red Alert lights started flashing all inside the ship. Falco flew from his seat, hitting a wall. Slippy somehow stayed at the controls but Fox tumbled from his seat. Peppy managed to stay at his station.

"Mind telling me what that was?" Slippy asked.

Peppy grimaced as a spark flew from his control board. "Some kind of organic missile, built up of various unknown compounds. This must be what Andross had been working on for so long," he said.

"Rising above their rammings," Slippy said, pulling back on the yoke. "Falco, Fox, get to your stations! And somebody figure out why the Red Alert is on..." he trailed as he realized it was there for the first time. "Why is it on?"

"We've got a problem!" Falco shouted from the back.

Professor Snail let his proboscis dance over the control boards. "Sir, our missile has hit and apparently caused severe damage to their craft," he said as Sluggo watched, a smug look on his slimy features. "Fire again?" Snail asked.

"Yes," Sluggo replied.

The water was filling the lower-stern compartments of the Blue Marine, and more of the organic missiles were coming in. Peppy and Slippy were working the ship while Falco and Fox worked desperately to stop the water.

"Shit, here comes another blast!" Peppy shouted.

"All hands, brace for impact!" Slippy shouted as he dipped down but was too late. The blast hit the Blue Marine on the side and knocked the Blue Marine away from the course of the Bio Weapon. A small stream of water trickled down from the hatch. "The hatch is coming loose!"

Fox turned. "I'll get it!" He shouted, leaping onto the ladder and leaving Falco to stop the leakage in the lower bowls of the Blue Marine.

"Incoming!" Slippy shouted and once more the Marine was knocked to the side. This was even worse then it had been for Fox when he was inside the Landmaster Tank. The hatch came up a few inches and water poured in, widening the gap. Fox tightened his grip as he was hit by a jet of water.

Falco turned as water gushed in from the hatch above them. It swooshed around his ankles as he rushed forward. Slippy looked over his shoulder. "Holy, Shit!" Slippy shouted as he and Peppy looked at it. "Transferring communications power to my console, over!"

Fox felt the water rushing past him as he tried to reach a paw up, but it was no good. It was pushing at him too fast, and slowly but gradually, the Blue Marine would sink and die...unless there was something he could do.

"Sir, they're floundering," Snail said. "Should I finish them off?"

"Continue firing," Sluggo replied.

"Incoming! Three missiles!" Peppy shouted as Slippy tried to maneuver the controls, but the rudder must have been destroyed for there was no response whatsoever from the engines.

"There's nothing I can do! Fox, hurry up!"

Fox heard it but didn't acknowledge as he tried to get the hatch closed. He heard their shouts.

Falco was knee deep in the water now, trying to stop the leakage wasn't working. "We've gotta do something!" He shouted over the roar of the water coming in, taking his usual seat. "I'll contact Rob! Maybe he can nuke the Bio Weapon and whatever is organizing those missile attacks!"

"Make it quick! The missiles are gonna hit-"

They hit and the ship shook again. Even more water rushed in and with it came Fox McCloud, smacking down into the water. He stood, soaked to the fur, and shook as Falco looked at him. "There's nothing I can do! The water is too powerful!"

"Slippy, get us out of here!" Falco shouted, sloshing up to the front and looking over his shoulder.

Slippy was tapping his keyboards madly. "I wish we could, Falco," he said. "But we're too heavy. There's no way we can lift out of this! And they're not stopping!" He said, trying the propulsion, the engines, the repulsorlifts, anything that would get them out of there, but nothing responded.

"Fox!" Falco shouted. "We've got to close that hatch! It's our only chance!" He said and Fox nodded, cracking open a box and pulling out a tool case. "Let's move," Falco said and they moved to the jetting water.

"Blue Marine Submarine come in please..." Officer Darna Croc called into the communications device. Rob 64 stood on the bridge, waiting nervously for some sign that the Blue Marine was still intact and that his friends would return safely.

"Aaah!" Fox shouted as more water gushed in, thanks to another missile blast. Another explosion from down below and they could see bubbles. Bubbles meant more holes in the ship, and more holes was bad right now. "Come on!" He said, reaching his paws up through the water as Falco acted as a barrier, not letting him fall. "Just a bit more!"

He grasped the handle.

With all their strength, they managed to pull it down and then they too fell down, back into waist high water. They got up, sputtering, but they were still sinking. "Get me a welder!" Fox shouted as Falco dug into the tool box and came up with two of them.

Slippy was in a high seat, as was Peppy, so the water was up to their knees only. Slippy could see the blips on the radar at Peppy's console, even as the missiles came into view. They were drifting closer to the Bio Weapon, being knocked towards it by the organic missiles. "We can't take much more of this!" Peppy said.

"I know, I know!" Slippy shouted.

Fox was underwater, holding his breath. It wasn't comfortable, considering his fur was sticking out from his body as he worked to seal closed the gaping hole in front of his face, which pushed at him. Fox wouldn't let it win, though. He grimaced, air escaping through his lips as he came up for air.

"It's hopeless!" Falco shouted.

"It always is!" Fox shouted and went back down. Falco quickly followed suit and the two of them continued working maliciously to get the job done. If they failed on Aquas, then Andross would be able to take them all back and destroy the Lylat System. Fox wasn't about to let that happen.

"Sir, reports say that their craft is heavily damaged," Admiral Andy gave the report to Andross. "The report comes from Chief Professor Sluggo. They are barraging them with your new Organic Missiles, and they are having great effect. They are helpless," Andy said.

Andross smiled, pouring himself some more champagne as he looked at the reports which lay on the table. "Excellent," he said.

Slippy looked over his shoulder. Fox and Falco frequently came up for air before going back down, and the water was now up to Slippy's waist, engulfing the bottom of the chair as he tried the repulsorlifts again and again. The communications array was a blackened charred mass.

Fox came back up. "I got one sealed!" He shouted. The ship rocked again and he slipped, falling into the water before he managed to quickly come back up. Falco reported similar success. "Slippy, can you get us out of here?"

"The pumps are working too slow," Slippy said, flicking comm switches. "The only way to get out of here is to use the repulsorlifts and they aren't responding!" He said.

"We're gonna have to improvise," Fox said.

Slippy looked back. "How do you intend to do that?"

"Take my place here and give me control of the ship," Fox said. Slippy unbuckled and quickly swam through the water, being an amphibian, he swam quickly. He took the welder from Fox and ducked under the water. Fox slammed into the pilot's chair and buckled up as Peppy looked at him. "Damage?" he asked.

Peppy smiled. "Really bad good enough?" he asked.

"Fine by me," said Fox as he looked at the controls. "What are these buttons, Peppy?"

Peppy looked at them. "I didn't get much of a briefing on them but they are apparently for the missiles rocket activation sequence."

"If we re routed the sapped communications power and sensor powers, do you think that would give the rockets amplification enough to get us up to the surface?" he said, and judging from the width of Peppy's grin, Fox knew he was right.

"Come in, Blue Marine, come in, this is..." it went on and on, but Croc was having no luck. Rob 64 was afraid for his friends, and his servos were working so fast on concern mode that he was afraid he would overload.

Slippy sealed the first hole that he saw. "Got one!" he said and looked at Falco, who managed to seal one. Suddenly, a shudder. But no new holes appeared. A whoop from the front of the Blue Marine made Falco and Slippy turn to see Fox had activated the missile systems...and they were lifting.

"Take over, Slippy," Fox said, unbuckling as Slippy slid in. "Rapidly hit the missile switch. Falco, help me get the life raft out, because this thing will flounder. "Guys, we'll only have a short amount of time to get into this thing before this thing goes back under. If we aren't in the raft, the suction will pull us down." He looked at Peppy. "Got the data feed ready?"

"On your mark," he said.

"Mark."

"Sir! Receiving a data feed from the Blue Marine submarine! They're still alive!" Croc shouted and Rob 64 moved forward quickly, getting to the station. "He wants us to fire a nuke on these coordinates..."

"Must be the Bio Weapon. Launch two of them immediately," Rob said, a new sense of purpose found within himself.

"Sir, they're lifting!" Snail said, aghast.

"Fire at will," Sluggo replied.

"Keep going!" Fox shouted as he and Falco waded through the chest-deep water with the box that contained the life raft. The water was also up to Slippy's stomach, and Peppy's as well. "We have to get to the surface. Then we have to keep it there and set a rapid fire modulator," he finished and received a nod from Slippy as they hit the ladder and climbed. "How long to the surface?"

Peppy bent over his comm and Slippy continued to fire. "Twenty seconds," said Peppy.

"Fire," Rob 64 said.

The missiles launched.

"How long until impact?" he asked.

"Twenty five seconds."

Slippy peppered the button when the voice to Peppy Hare cut through his thoughts. "Two nukes, breaching atmosphere and coming in fast on the coordinates we set!" He sat and grinned at Slippy. "I'll set the modulator. Fifteen seconds, you guys!"

"Roger," Fox said as he and Falco reached the top. "We're gonna have five seconds to open this and get out, you know," he said and Falco grimaced, wrapping the ends of his feathers around the valve.

"Right," he said.

"Fifteen seconds," Darna said.

Rob nodded as he watched.

"Open it now!" Fox shouted and Falco twisted it, pushing as Peppy and Slippy hit the ladder, the modulator working. The raft inflated and Fox clambered in, helping Falco. Together, they hauled in Peppy. Water started to go in the manhole as Slippy clambered up the ladder. He screamed and fell down.

"Slippy!"

The bombs detonated.

Fox could hear the water rushing up, could hear Slippy's frantic screams and made his choice. He dove into the water, into the manhole, despite the cries of dismay from Peppy and Falco. Fox came up, the water was past head level now and he saw Slippy, holding onto a broken pipe.

"Come on!" Fox grabbed Slippy and hauled him back, about one meter was the distance from the water inside the Blue Marine to the ceiling.

"Fox!" Peppy shouted into the rapidly sinking manhole. "Fox!"

"Sir, two hits on the Bio Weapon," reported Croc.

"Good," Rob 64 said.

"Sir," Andy said. "Professor Sluggo's labs were destroyed as was the base of operations where the Bio Weapon was stored," he said.

Andross's grip broke the glass and he screamed in rage.

"Hurry!" Fox said as he kicked up the ladder, the surface of the water a few meters after the hatch of the manhole, and beyond it, Fox could see the faces of Falco and Peppy above, Peppy with his paws in the water stretched out to Fox while Falco held his feet.

Fox grabbed Peppy's paw and the foursome slowly pulled away from the sinking submarine. They landed on the deck of the small life raft in a wet heap, and they all lay there for a few moments, panting and tired.

"Thanks...Fox..." Slippy managed.

Fox stood, pulling out a small communicator which, miraculously, was still intact and in working order. He flipped it open. "Rob, this is Fox," he said. "Blue Marine's gone down. Bio Weapon destroyed. Mission accomplished. We need a retrieval team down here," he said.

Cheers erupted on the bridge and Rob 64 felt a glowing pride. "Roger, Fox," he said. "We'll send a team down for you immediately."

Andross stood, staring out the viewport with Commander Caiman, Admiral Andy, Star Wolf, and S Lieutenant Grizzly in the room behind him. He turned. "Admiral, see to it that three full fighter squadrons are sent to Sector Z to back up Mr. Grizzly's plan. Lieutenant, get to the transport vessel and stay there until you leave. Commander Caiman, you and Star Wolf stay here for a personal briefing. I am not happy. Not at all."

Chapter Seven

The Great Fox entered hyperspace, leaving the planet Aquas behind, along with the wreckage and destruction which now lay in the depths of its oceans. In the Medical Bay, Slippy was receiving treatment for a broken foot, received when he had been knocked down the hatch ladder by the force of the water. Fox was getting a piece of shrapnel removed from his thigh, Falco a small bone fracture in his shoulder, and Peppy was having a full physical examination and some health liquid treatment from burns.

Aside from all that, the team was in fairly good health. They had received a hyperspace transmission from General Pepper, telling them that there was something strange about Sector Z when the Cornerian Fleet had passed through it, and warned Star Fox to be careful. The four pilots had agreed. But now, they were not heading there, but to Zoness.

"Well," said Falco. "I cannot let it escape notice that I taught some classes there, even got to know some of the people," he said as they finished bandaging his shoulder. "So that'll be just a little more incentive to success then, won't it?" he said with a grin.

"Right," Fox nodded. "The Arwings will be prepped and ready by the time we arrived. Our technicians are working on the data now," he continued. "We managed to download some of Andross's research onto disk from the base on the bottom of Aquas," he continued. "Peppy will be analyzing it once he has come out of the tank treatment," he continued. "But from the way it looks, Andross was apparently trying not waste supplies so he was mutating compounds to make highly explosive yet organic weapons. And he succeeded," he said.

Falco nodded. "But we blew up all that research, there's nothing left of the place," he said.

"Correct," Fox said. "Thanks to us. Anyway, so without the base on Aquas, we have dealt a rather serious blow to Andross," he continued. "Once we've taken back the rest of the Lylat System, we can fully look into what he was using for these experiments and destroy it."

Falco nodded. "Starting with Zoness," he said. "General Pepper skipped that planet."

"I asked him to, due to your mental and emotional connections with that planet, I decided we should take it ourselves. I have managed to organize a meeting with some of the Rebels, which are stationed on a small base built into a moon orbiting the planet."

Falco looked at him as they opened the doors and exited the medical bay. "Why doesn't Andross just get his ships to fly into space and destroy them?"

"Because they apparently don't know about the base," Fox said. "The Rebels have done a fairly good job of covering their tracks, and have led the forces on Zoness to believe they are stationed somewhere on their own planet, Venom."

"Pretty ingenious," Falco replied.

Fox nodded. "Indeed," he said. "Apparently, the name of the person we're meeting on planet is Katt Monroe," he said. He stopped as Falco froze in his tracks. "Falco? Something wrong?"

"Who?" Falco asked.

Fox looked at him quizzically. "Katt Monroe. Why?"

"Nothing," Falco replied and kept moving. He swallowed. When he had taught a small class there, Katt had been one of the top students in that class, and had seen very intent on getting Falco's attention...either for publicity due to the fact he was a member of Star Fox, or the fact she liked him, and Falco was betting on the latter. He sighed. "Nothing, Fox," he said.

Wolf O'Donnel sat at the table, chewing thoughtfully one his food, when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned to see Andrew Oikonny standing there, his fist drawn back. It slammed with astonishing force into Wolf's snout and he felt blood spurt from his nostrils as he fell backward, hitting his head on the table before falling to the ground.

Andrew kicked him in the side and grabbed his roughly by the collar, lifting his face to within an inch of Wolf's. "I may not be leader in the sense of the word, but I do have the element of surprise, and with it, you will fall and I will rise, O'Donnel."

"You're forgetting something," Wolf said.

Andrew seemed genuinely surprised. "Oh? What's that?"

"I'm a lot better than you," Wolf said and punched his paw into Andrew's unprotected gut. The ape doubled over and Wolf threw a sturdy kick into his back, sending him to the ground. Pigma squealed in delight and Leon was suddenly at Wolf's side.

"Commander," Leon said. "I would consider it wise to stop."

Wolf nodded. "Agreed," he said. "Captain, resume your seat," he said and helped Andrew to his feet. Wolf wiped the blood from his face. "Now," he said. "I may warn you of the consequences should this happen again. As you know, there is another candidate for Star Wolf, Bane Redfox. He is a far better pilot then you, and I have Lord Andross', yes, your uncle's permission, to drop you back to the Academy and bring Redfox up if this happens again, so, that would be the end of your command. Clear?"

Andrew clearly wasn't, but he growled. "Clear," he said.

Wolf smiled. "You can get along with me quite well if you act more like Leon, and, heaven forbid, Pigma; but if you don't, you will find I am not a nice doggy. Now, if you please, take your seat and have your food. We'll be heading to the simulators afterwards."

Leon nodded. "Good practice is invaluable," he said.

"Shut up," Pigma said. "You are really starting to piss me off with being so calm, so mighty, so perfect. So shut your trap," he said.

Leon didn't look at all surprised. "No, you shut up you foul, mud ruckussing pig. I have no time for adolescent bastards like yourself, so shut up and keep it that way," Leon said and went back to his food.

"I didn't understand a word he said but I'm sure it should have been made by someone with a brain larger then a grape, like myself," Pigma said, pointing his hoof at his chest as Leon looked up.

"Are you suggesting," Leon said smoothly. "That you have a larger brain capacity then mine?"

Pigma snorted. "Not suggesting, I know, you moron," he said and snorted again, a laugh at a very dumb joke that no one, especially Leon, found very amusing.

"Your brain capacity is one that is so small there is nothing to joke about. So shut your foul trap or the matter surrounding that space of nothing in your head where your brain should be will be distended from your dead corpse by my blaster, do you understand?"

Pigma looked shaken. "Uh...yes, Leon."

Leon looked at him expectantly.

Pigma let his shoulders fall. "Yes, Captain Powalski."

"This is looking better," Leon said with a grin that Wolf mimicked as he wiped the last of the blood from his face. The entire team dug into their food.

Fox McCloud entered the hangar bay where the sounds and smells of the Arwing Fighter crafts being repaired met his nostrils. He sighed as he moved forward, climbing into his own Arwing where the techs were working. He checked everything. It was working smoothly. He climbed out and onto the back where Slippy Toad was working on his own ship. Fox jumped from his fighter to Slippy's and the frog nearly fell of the fighter since he was so startled.

"Don't do that, Fox," he said, and continued working. "I may be young, but I can still have a heart attack from fear," he said with a grimace. "So, what do you want?"

Fox looked at him. "How long until the fighters are finished?"

"About four hours, give or take. We'll be on Zoness in a day, and this will give us some time to spend in the simulators and approximating data we need. We're rushing to finish so we can do so."

"Good, I guess," Fox said.

General Pepper was sitting in his quarters on the main cruiser which led his fleet. They were waiting for Star Fox to arrive and make sure that they were good to go to Area 6. He looked up as Puncher Doggy entered the room.

"Sir, Star Fox transmission; they'll be at Zoness within the day and hopefully be able to take it out and reach us."

"Good work, Puncher," Pepper said.

Puncher looked at him. "Are you sure he's capable of doing this alone, Sir?"

"Puncher, Commander Doggy, if you please; that boy can recite the Cornerian Constitution backwards. He's the best pilot ever, maybe even better then his father. The boy has talent that no one else has, except for maybe Falco, and he is plenty capable of pulling this off, I assure you."

Puncher nodded and left.

"I hope," Pepper added under his breath.

Fox holstered his blaster pistol and slipped his flight jacket on. Peppy was prepared to give the team a short briefing on what he had managed to learn from the data they had stolen at Aquas. Fox shuddered at the memory of that planet and left the quarters, his jacket unzipped as he walked briskly down the corridor.

He entered the briefing room and saw that they were all waiting for him. He sat down and nodded. "Proceed, Peppy," he said and the hare nodded for the lights to go down. He cleared his throat as a holo came up in the center of the room.

"This is a picture of some of the experiments that were being processed on Aquas," Peppy said. "Apparently, Andross was trying to create nuclear explosive weapons without the waste of valuable technological material. So, he was building organic weapons, such as the ones that sank the Blue Marine.

"Andross has been well known for his work with Bio Technology, and has corrupted many scientists into this field on his planet, Venom," he continued. "Andross has tried two weapons at the moment, but neither were successful in stopping us from getting by. Both have been destroyed, one with the assistance of Commander Bill Gray.

"Andross is currently working on a project, which we managed to intercept plans for," he continued, and brought up a new holo. "After we complete our mission on Zoness, we will be flying through Sector Z. We cannot punch through this place with light speed to the light speed jamming radiation levels coming from the nebula there.

"He is apparently tapping that energy. If he does manage to, the power that will emit from it will be unchallengable," he continued. "If Andross gains control of it, the molecular capability would give him weaponry and technological superiority unmatched by any power. It would give him enough power to destroy an entire planet.

"When we pass through, we will be destroying a small space station laboratory with all of the current research on it," he continued. "Apparently, we will be firing a nuke into the station and hopefully before, install a virus into the computer mainframe which will transfer back to Venom.

"Unfortunately, the virus must be uploaded manually. Fox McCloud has volunteered to enter the station, get past security, upload the virus, and get back out in the allotted time given before we launch the nuke. He will be given twenty minutes to do all this, and he has ordered that if he does not come back out, then we are to proceed anyway," Peppy looked at Fox momentarily before continuing. "If this is successful, Andross will lose high amounts of his work.

"With that gone, there should be no problem for us to take him out in his state without his technology. While he still has a fleet, his other threats will have been extinguished long before, and no one will ever be able to find the records again. Andross' life long works and studies will be lost. We will have a struck a major blow to him. Lights," he said and the lights went back up as the holo projector stopped.

The team made their way to the door. Fox walked down the hall, thinking about a lot of things as he did so. His sister suddenly popped into his mind involuntarily. Star McCloud was his sister, and an ace pilot, but she had staid on Corneria to perfect her skills in the Academy, since she was still a few years younger then Fox, even with her skills nearly a match for his own. She had gotten to know Fox's girlfriend, Fara Phoenix, quite well.

"I'm going to come home, Star...Fara..." he said to himself as he walked past a vending machine. He made a second thought and turned and grabbed a drink. Maybe if he was lucky, Falco would be ready to play some poker back at their room.

It was chance luck, but Falco, Slippy and Peppy were all there with an empty seat for Fox when he arrived. Fox put his soda on the table and realized he hadn't needed to bring it, for Falco patted a twelve pack beside him as he dropped the chips onto the table. While Slippy organized them evenly, Falco dealt out the cards.

"What are you thinking about, Fox?" Peppy asked.

Fox looked at him. "Home, mostly," he said. "I mean, I've got a sister to worry about, and a girlfriend..." he said. "I want to be able to see them again. I'm not going to die like mom and dad did..."

"You'd better not," Falco said with a sly grin. "At least in flying. But in poker, you're dead meat, pal," he said. "I don't have a girlfriend. At least not yet," he said. "Emphasis on the word 'yet'," he continued.

Peppy nodded. "Don't worry," he said. "Star and Fara will do just fine until you get back, which you well, because you have superb wingmen flying at your sides," he said with a grin. Fox nodded and they started to play.

Andross had awakened in the morning in a horrible mood, and had already gotten mad at several of his officers who were working under his command in the late morning and early afternoon. Admiral Andy approached with caution as Andross picked up a glass of champagne.

"Sir," said Admiral Andy.

Andross turned. "They are at Zoness, yes, I know," he said with a grimace. "Are the defenses completely set up, Admiral?" he said. "If it isn't yes, then I highly advise you leave the room and contemplate the many ways you can die."

Andy nodded. "They are in place, Sir," he said.

"Good. Consider your life spared for the moment, Admiral," he said.

The four Arwing fighters stood in the hangar bay as Fox McCloud, Falco Lombardi, Peppy Hare and Slippy Toad arrived. They climbed into their respective fighters. Fox flicked a switch and the cockpit canopy lowered and sealed around him.

"Right," he said. "Everything is looking good."

"Ditto," Falco said.

Peppy Hare took a moment to respond. "This is Peppy," he said, stating the obvious. "All systems go."

"Slippy here," said the frog. "I'm okay."

Fox nodded. "And I'm hot. Launch." He pressed the button and heard the plasma engines heat up and launch him out of the fighter bay. The others jetted out quickly behind him and he flicked a switch. "Lock onto the course heading, guys," he said. "Entering atmosphere in three minutes."

"Copy, Fox," Peppy said and the three fighters behind him adjusted to the new course heading. "We've adjusted. Check G-Diffuser systems, everybody," he said and entered the codes for a manual ships scan. "My G system is just fine," he reported.

Falco came right after. "Same here," he said.

"Everything is A-OK," Slippy said. "So let's get this mission over with and out of the way, okay guys?" He looked at his scanners. "Whoa," he muttered. "Things are really starting to heat up!"

"Quit dinking around, Slip," Peppy scorned.

Fox looked at the data scrolling up his control panels. "Everything looks good. I'm entering atmosphere. Follow suit, guys," he said and rolled hard right and down towards the planet of Zoness below.

Katt Monroe launched her fighter into the air and looked down at the once blue, now green toxic oceans of Zoness. Her small fighter squadron flanked her. Spear Squadron was ready to fly thanks to her training.

"This is Spear Leader," Katt said, flicking a few switches. "Heading out to rendezvous point set by Commander McCloud, over. Spears, stay with me," she said to the seven fighters which were with her. They accelerated.

"Leader, we have multiple bogies approaching," came the voice of Spear Four.

Katt looked at her scanners. "I've got it, marked in at oh-zero-four-nine class seven," she said. "Configuration is Androssian. Lock into all range mode and prepare to supply cover for Commander McCloud and his fighters, over," she said.

"Copy," came the voice of Spear Four, her second-in-command. "Spears Three, Two and Five, with me. Six, Seven and Eight; stay with Leader, over," said Four as he broke off and flew out to engage the bogies.

Fox grimaced as the control stick bounced around in his hands. "This is a little rough," he said with a grimace and affirmatives crackled over the communicator. He flicked it. "Commander Monroe, this is Fox McCloud," he said. "We are approaching the rendezvous point that has been set and organized."

"This is Spear Squadron Leader Commander Katt Monroe," came a fluid voice. "Commander McCloud, we have engaged bogies, so be prepared to fight 'em off. Stay tight with out Squadron, we are in command now. Hello, Falco. Long time no see."

Fox clicked it together. Falco's hesitance at the mention of Katt was because he knew her. "What are you doing here?" Falco asked with obviously feigned surprise.

"Good to see you too, fly-boy," said Katt. "Get ready, because they're coming in fast!"

Fox punched through the cloud cover and saw Spear Squadron fighting the bogies. "Whoa," he whispered at the size of the enemy attack force against the small Rebel fighters. "Good thing they're good. Okay, guys, all range mode," he said, flicking the switch to acknowledge his own command. His wings panned out around him.

Peppy Hare flew up on his wing. "Looks like we're ready," he said. "Fox, I've got your wing," Peppy said.

"Right. Slippy, with Falco," said Fox as he and Peppy broke off from the others and zoomed in. Apparently, the second-in-command of the Spear Squadron was number Four, and he was helping Two to vape a fighter off his tail. "This is Fox," he said. "We're coming in."

Admiral Andy stood in front of Andross who had cooled down a bit from the earlier episodes of anger, but was still his usual dangerous self. Star Wolf was also in the room, watching the Zoness attack on the holo cam, coming from a fighter feed on the lead enemy fighter.

Just hope they don't foul up and make Andross mad again, Andy hoped to himself.

Fox zoomed in, flying his Arwing and raking the attack force with hyper laser blasts from his fighter. He rolled hard to the right to avoid a missile that was shot at him. He rolled left to avoid another, all the while firing laser blasts which destroyed the random fighter.

"Peppy, you still with me?" he asked.

Peppy was still on his wing, mimicking his every maneuver. "I'm with you, Fox," he said. "I'm launching a nova bomb now," he said and pulled the trigger, releasing the nova bomb and letting it fly. "It's going," said Peppy.

It detonated in the center of the enemy forces and blew several of them to shreds, then the shockwave tore yet more of them apart.

Great, thought Admiral Andy as he watched the fighters explode. How can one fighter cause so much damage to an entire fleet of fighters? He thought. He looked at Andross and Star Wolf, neither of which looked amused in the least. Just fine and dandy.

Falco Lombardi banked hard right, firing a nova bomb and adding to the destruction. "Enemy robot seven clicks away," Slippy reported. Good. That gave plenty of breathing room to Falco and the others, plenty of time for them to fight off the enemy fighters before they met the robot. He remembered the first one they'd fought on Corneria...he longed for it to be so easy again.

"Firing another nova," Falco reported and fired again, watching several fighters explode. Katt Monroe's fighter suddenly appeared on his wing and Falco swallowed, resisting the urge to pull away from her fighter.

"How're you doing, Falco?" she asked.

Falco put a block on her communications system to his and saw her look at him angrily. Falco started to bank right and saw her follow through, then he banked left, letting her take a small unit of fighters. "Take that, Katt," he muttered to himself. "Slippy, you still with me?"

"What was that all about?" Slippy asked.

Falco grinned. "Just having some fun, Slip-up. Let's kick some Androssian ass, shall we?" he asked and jetted forward, raking the attackers first with his hyper lasers then he added a highly lethal nova bomb blast to the fray.

"Right," Slippy said, staying with him.

Peppy rolled right. Fox had ordered for the two of them to split up and individually cause more damage then they would have as a unit. He came up on his Y Axis, moving quickly to avoid a missile shot which went past him and hit one of Andross' fighters. Peppy chuckled and came onto another fighter's tail. "All right, buckethead," he said. "Take this." He fired and blew the fighter to shreds. "Got another one," he said and banked right.

It seemed to be going fairly well. "Enemy robot five clicks," Slippy reported over the communicator and Peppy grimaced, hoping it wouldn't be as difficult as either of Andross' Bio Weapons had been.

"Great," he muttered, cutting back. "Fox, this is Peppy. I've got boat units coming in, firing up at us. They'll be a little difficult to hit, over," he said.

"No problem, guys," said Katt Monroe. "Spears Five, Six, Seven and Eight, take the boat units and fly skimmer until I give the order. Four, Three and Two, stay with me and help me take out these sky units, over," she said.

She sure can command, thought Peppy as he banked right. "Okay," he said. "Fox, I've got a reading. One's banking around behind you."

"Roger, thanks," Fox said and turned his Arwing into a kickspin. Peppy watched as he blasted the fighter out of the skies and watched the flaming wreckage fall to the ground. "Thanks for the warning, Peppy," said Fox.

"No problem," Peppy replied.

Katt Monroe squinted. "Five, how are you doing down there?" she asked.

"Pretty well," Five replied. "We have assault tankers coming in but we're handling them pretty well. We're gonna take 'em down pretty fast if we can keep this up," he said and Katt watched as they blew up another boat.

"Good," she replied.

"Multiple bogies are coming in," reported Slippy Toad, the amphibian pilot in Star Fox. Katt looked on her long range sensors and confirmed Slippy's findings. "We should be able to take 'em," Slippy said.

"I copy," Katt replied. "Accelerate to attack speed," she said and punched up the throttle a small bit. "Choose some targets and take 'em down with one shot, people," she said. "Four, you're on my wing."

Spear Four quickly appeared on Katt's starboard side. "I copy, Spear Leader. The others are still taking skimmer range," he reported and Katt nodded, looking down to see the other Spears flying along the water and destroying assault gun boats.

"This is Spear Leader," Katt said. "Everyone engage targets. Commander McCloud, load your nova bombs and try to take 'em out at the long range," she said. "Spears who aren't skimming load your missiles and open fire, over," she said and switched to missile firing systems. The small schematic of one of Andross's fighters appeared on the screen. "Locked on and firing," Katt said, pulling back on the trigger which was attacked to her pilots stick. She rolled hard right as laser fire raked past her. "They have opened fire. Four, stay with me," she said.

"Copy," Four replied. "They're breaking off into three groups, one for the skimmers, one for Commander McCloud's group and one for us, Leader," he said. "Long range sensors are picking up more reinforcements heading our way, as well," he finished.

Katt spared a glance at the long range sensors. "I copy," she said. "They'll be coming in on vector zero-four-two-six-three," she said. "On their present speed and course, the reinforcements will be arriving in T-Minus four minutes," she said.

"Copy," Four said. "Loading more missiles."

Katt fired another missile and four fighters disappeared from the radar. "Fire nova bombs!" Came Commander McCloud's voice over the communicator and she saw the blue novas launch across the landscape. Katt noticed something.

"Commander," she said to Fox. "There's search lights up ahead. We have to take 'em out or they'll spot us," she finished and saw Fox in his fighter nod.

"Okay," Fox said. "Falco, stay with me and take out any of the lights I don't miss. Stay a bit behind me so you'll have the time you need," he said.

Falco took a moment to respond. "Copy," he said. If only he hadn't blocked her out of his communicator.

Fox roared in at a few meters off the ocean surface, avoiding some waves. He engaged the laser targeting system. "Okay, Falco, drop back a few feet and if I miss then you take it out, got it?" he asked.

"Right," Falco replied.

Wolf O'Donnel sat in the simulator built as the format of their brand new Kaywing fighters, far better then Star Fox's Arwings. He slipped in and engaged his targeting system first thing. "This is Wolf," he said. "All aircraft report in," he continued.

"This is Pigma, reporting startup success," came the squealy voice of Pigma Dengar.

"This is Leon, everything is fine," came the chameleon's voice over the communicator, so liquid and calm. It annoyed Wolf at times, kept him cool and calm at others.

"Andrew here. Fine."

Wolf pressed a switch and the simulation began. It was of Fortuna, fighting Star Fox. Wolf had personally recorded this on his flight recorder and taken it to be built into a simulator for practice. "Engage," he said.

Fox rolled to the right and fired seven laser blasts, which blew the spot light out of its roots. Falco was blasting any of the fighters that managed to get away, when Fox saw something that was making him dizzy. Two spotlights, at the exact same interval, but a mile apart.

"Falco, stick to the right, I'll take the left," Fox ordered.

"Copy," Falco replied.

Slippy and Peppy appeared with Spear Squadron behind Fox and Falco. "We're backing you up, Fox," Slippy said in his energetic voice. "Fighters coming in," he said almost immediately after.

Laser blasts hit the ocean surface around Fox as he dodged left and right. He blasted the search light as Falco took his own. "Slippy, Peppy; take a rise in altitude and take out those fighters. Get some of the Spears to help you out," he ordered as he blasted another search light.

"More gunboats, coming in, Fox," Falco reported.

Fox looked at the ocean ahead of him. "I see them," he said. "Slippy, how far until we reach that enemy robot you mentioned earlier?" he asked, flicking his sensors to long range and watching the data scroll down his screens.

"Three clicks," Slippy reported as he blasted a fighter. Then, a laser blast hit the back of his ship. He cried out in dismay as fire started to erupt from his engines and he smoke billowed out into the fighter behind him. Fox watched as the fighter spun out of control and crashed into the ocean, leaving Slippy's fighter limping along. "I'm monkey food if I don't leave," Slippy said, pulling up.

"Damn," Fox uttered. "Two clicks enclosing, guys," he said. "Commander Monroe, take to the waters and blow up those gunboats with a few of your squadron. The rest of it flies up and helps Peppy in the sky. Falco, take care of the task at hand, and that is destroying the search lights," he said.

"Roger, Fox," Falco replied and blew another one to pieces in front of him. "One click. We should be able to see it by now," he said.

Slippy Toad flew into the hangar bay of the Great Fox and clambered out of his fighter which was sparking and fizzing, with the engines on fire. Technicians rushed forward with fire extinguishers to put out the fires. Slippy hit the ground running and he tore through the corridors of the ship until he reached the bridge.

"We need to get down there and supply cover," Slippy reported.

Rob 64 looked at him. "Fox ordered us to hold here."

"There's too many of the enemy fighters. We need to assist," he said. "That's an order, Rob," he said and Rob nodded, giving the order to the pilot of the ship and the Great Fox turned towards the planet. "Charge the laser and missile batteries."

Slippy moved the gunnery officer from his station and sat down, letting his webbed hands dance over the panels and keyboards as he loaded the missiles and laser batteries. "Prepare to open fire," Slippy said. "Fire with the port side to the action and protect the starboard side. Shields full to port," he said.

"Yes, Sir," the shield control officer replied and commenced the orders which Slippy had given him.

"Fire," Slippy said.

Lances of yellow/white light blasted down from the sky and Fox looked up to see the Great Fox there, like an angel descending from the heavens to assist in a hopeless situation, which was what this was.

"Anything on that enemy robot?" he asked.

Falco was slow in replying. "It should be right on top of us..." he trailed off and Fox knew what he was going to say. "Or right below...pull up! All craft pull up!" Falco and Fox pulled up into sky where Peppy and parts of Spear Squadron were. Katt pulled up but the rest of her team that was following her wasn't fast enough. The 'bot broke through the surface of the water and the fighters exploded.

"Fighters are down," Katt said as she looped around. "Opening fire," she said. "Four, you with me?"

In his cockpit, Piggy Dorm felt the blood trickling down his face as he grimaced. He was Spear Four, and his cockpit was sparking and flaming from the damage he had taken. "Yeah," he said. "I'm with you, Spear Leader," he said. "I'm with you. Prepared to-"

His fighter exploded around him.

"We've lost Spear Four!" Falco Lombardi heard Katt cry over the communicator.

"Disrespectful little welps," the 'bot said. It had a voice like a pirate's, and a face like one, too. "I'll teach yee some respect." He fired a huge wrecking ball which was connected to the bot by a long chain. "Fire!" the bot said pointlessly.

Fox flew in and launched a nova bomb into one of his missile launchers. It broke off the side of the bot and sunk. "Argh," the bot said and turned, revealing a crane. He was going to get that gun back! "Drop the crane, now," the bot said.

"Blow it up, quick!" Fox shouted.

Falco quickly locked on and launched two nova bombs. He waited for the blast to fade before he saw the crane was gone. "Oh, SHIT!" the bot shouted as it turned and fired with its remaining gun.

Peppy flew in, dodging the blasts which were emitting from the gun. He launched a nova bomb and everyone whooped as the gun exploded into pieces. The bot screamed in agony as Peppy blasted away.

Three pilots of Spear Squadron flew in, only to be destroyed by laser blasts emitting from an unseen laser in the chest cavity of the bot. They exploded with human and metal screams.

"No!" Katt shouted and flew in, firing laser blasts at random and fired a missile.

"Aargh!" The bot screamed, and then it screamed again as Fox, Falco, Peppy and Katt flew away, Spear Squadron gone as the laser blasts lanced down from the Great Fox and the giant bot exploded.

Falco could see the fire licking around the edges of his fighter, but it finally receded. He sagged back in his seat. "All aircraft report," Fox said over the communicator and Falco sighed as he heard Peppy and Katt report in.

"Falco, here," he said, keying the communicator. "I'm fine."

Fox shifted his fighter. "Let's go. Katt, you head back to your base and tell your people of the movement plan to Corneria," he said.

"Okay," Katt replied. "Seeya, Falco. Good luck, little man," she said.

Falco shuddered involuntarily and turned the communicator off as he flew into the hangar bay where he could see Slippy's Arwing being worked on. He turned on the repulsorlifts and cut the accelerators, dropping in speed and lowering into the grips of the hangar bay.

Andross was quiet as he stared at the screen, which registered only static. Security was standing by in case Andross tried anything drastic, and Admiral Andy stood behind him with Commander Caiman as they waited for some kind of orders.

Without warning, Andross stood and threw his foot into the first of the two guards waiting there and took the blaster that fell from his hand. He fired a precise shot and hit the second guard between the eyes. He whirled, but Caiman and Andy had already anticipated this and ducked under the table.

"We need a security team over here now! Andross has flipped!" Caiman shouted into his communicator. "We're going to stun him," he said and drew his blaster, setting for stun, motioning for Admiral Andy to do the same as the table flipped over and Andross fired a shot, hitting the floor in front of the Admiral. He slammed his hand on the door lock mechanism just as the thumps from security hit it.

"Break the damned door down!" Caiman shouted, firing a blast of blue stun ray at Andross, who nimbly avoided it and fired a real deadly blast which tore the table in half. Andy and Caiman split and each took a half. Caiman came up and fired four quick stun bolts at Andross, who dove and combat rolled, firing four shots, one of which tore through the table and creased Caiman's ribs.

Andy fired a stun blast but missed Andross by inches.

"Break the door!" Caiman said, holding his chest in pain as laser blasts sounded outside, the door started buckling inwards. Andross fired another shot and Andy cried out in pain, falling to the ground, blood seeping from his shoulder. His blaster skidded to Andross who took it and set it to kill. "Hurry!" Caiman shouted, firing another blast.

Wolf O'Donnel was outside, listening to what was happening inside. He pulled out his blaster as he heard the screams of Caiman, Andy and Andross emitting from the room. He, Leon, Pigma and Andrew strode up to the door, past the security officers who had their stun rifles and opened fire.

Andross picked up Caiman's blaster and turned to the door as the blasts continued to hit the door from outside. Andross holstered one of the blasters and held a blaster in each hand, each set to kill. He fired shots into the door and strangled screams came from outside.

Wolf hit the deck as the blasts hit the door, and he saw the other Star Wolf members do the same, but the security teams weren't so quick. The blasts hit a few of them in the face and they went to the ground.

Andrew Oikonny stood and fired more shots through the door as the shots came through it. Andross fired more shots at the door as Caiman crawled across the ground, bleeding from his wound. He managed to get to his feet behind Andross who was standing, firing. He tackled him to the ground and knocked the blasters from his hands.

"Hold your fire! Caiman has him!" Andrew shouted. Wolf grabbed the ring of keys from one of the dead guards. He slipped the keycard into the slot and the doors opened, revealing Andross and a wounded Caiman scuffling on the floor, both of them were fighting over a blaster when they were separated.

Andross suddenly seemed calm. "Thank you," he said. "But take your hands off me. Get the Admiral and the Commander medical attention and fix this room up. I would like some champagne when I get back. Get to work, everyone," he said.

Wolf holstered his blaster. "Damn," he said to Leon as Andross left the room. "That guy is weird."

"That's my uncle, for you," Andrew said.

Chapter Eight

The Great Fox flew through space, heading towards the nebula known as Sector Z, the biggest source of radiation in the entire Lylat System. They would reach the Sector in about four hours, which was four hours to prepare for the mission at hand.

Slippy's ship had been repaired, and Fox McCloud was sitting in his quarters, reviewing some mail that had been sent. Star, his sister, had sent mail regarding a recent tie she'd had with his girlfriend Fara in a simulator test. Both of them were amazing pilots, and Fox felt proud for both of them, candidates for Star Fox and for the Cornerian Air Defense Corps. This was good.

Fox sighed, looking over the mail sent by both Star and Fara. It was good to hear from them, but it would be better to see them in person after he had gotten his vowed revenge on Andross. He put the data pad back on the desk beside his bed and stood, grabbing a soda from the twelve pack Falco had brought in the night before for the poker game.

"Mail from home?" asked Falco Lombardi as he appeared in the doorway in the silent manner that he usually used. Falco was light on his feet, all birds have hollow bones, and had the ability to creep up on anyone just as well as Fox could to Slippy. "I never get any," he said.

Fox looked at him. "Never knew there was anyone you had to receive mail from," he said.

"There isn't," he said. "That's why I don't get any. I get the occasional congratulation from General Pepper, and sometimes I receive mail from a few old friends, but not much else than that."

"I've got Star and Fara," he said.

Falco nodded. "Your sister and your girlfriend. Lucky you," he said, shaking his head. "I don't have either."

"What about Katt?" Fox asked.

Falco grimaced. "Don't even remind me. She's not my type. Besides, you do know that cats eat birds," he said with a grimace. "At least if we de evolved that's what would happen, eventually," he said.

"I understand completely," Fox said. "Just not a bird out there for you?"

Falco shrugged. "Dunno," he said. "Haven't met one, yet."

"Am I interrupting something?" asked Peppy as he came in, holding a deck of cards in his hand, shortly following him was Slippy. "We don't have much time for this, so let's just do it and get it over with. Falco, this time your ass is mine."

SWAT Team Supreme Lieutenant Grizzly was in the troop transport deep in Sector Z when the report came in that Star Fox's flagship was in sight, and they had made no move that suggested they knew about the trap that was waiting for them there.

"Sir, the fighters are in place for the aerial assault, Sir," said and officer.

Grizzly nodded. "Good. Engage."

The alarm klaxons went off in the ship and the team stood up from the poker table. The call went out for them to get to their fighters and they took off down the hall. Fox was in the lead, followed shortly by Falco, then Peppy, and bringing up the rear was Slippy.

"Let's hurry this up!"

"Move out!" Grizzly said as they landed in the docking bay of the Great Fox. "Kill anyone who enters this hangar bay!" he continued as the intruder alert alarm went on like crazy. Grizzly and his team secured the area.

"We've got some of Andross's lackeys on our ship!" Slippy said, pulling out his blaster and looking at a datapad. The techs aren't letting them near our ships which is a good thing, but they're being killed and that is very, very bad!"

Fox pulled out his blaster as the first troop came into the hallway. Fox shot him square in the chest and the man fell to the ground, dead before he hit. Fox rolled and came up firing at two other officers.

"We're under attack!" One of the officers shouted.

Grizzly heard the shouted and came around the corner to meet a technician with a welder. Grizzly opened his mouth to scream but the tech rammed the welder into his mouth and thumbed it on, killing the lieutenant instantly.

"Kill them! Kill them all!" One of the officers shouted as Star Fox took defensive positions all around the corridor, using crates and doors as cover. Fox fired his blaster and ducked down.

"Rob! How's the outside situation going?"

There was static first, then Rob 64's voice came over the communicator. "Sir, we're under attack by fighters. We're trying to take them down but they are for more maneuverable then usual!"

"Damn!" Fox shouted. "We have to get to our fighters! Get security down here NOW!" he shouted as more SWAT Agents from Andross's forces came into the corridor, their rifles blazing as they fired. Fox jumped up, firing three shots and ducked back down as they targeted him and fired. Fox cowered to the wall as they fired at the crate he was using for cover. He stopped and came back up, firing a shot and hitting one agent in the head. "Shoot them down!"

Falco Lombardi pulled out a shock grenade and nodded to Fox and rolled it down the corridor. There was a shout and then the grenade exploded, sending a brilliant flash of light through the room. Fox jumped up and fired at them, raking them down as Falco, Slippy and Peppy mimicked his maneuver.

"Get to the hangar bay, now!"

"Sir, the SWAT Team has been thwarted," Admiral Andy, now healed due to medical treatment, reported to a much calmer Lord Andross, who was sitting in his chair sipping from the galaxy's most expensive champagne. "But the fighters are still attacking without Star Fox fighter resistance," he said.

"Good," Andross said. "We have delayed Star Fox enough. Launch the missiles at the ship and destroy it before they can come out," he said.

"Sir," Andy acknowledged.

"Okay, let's fire the missiles," Commander Al Ligator said. "Escort them to position and let them fly!"

"Six missiles approaching from the left!" Rob 64's voice said over the communicator. "Missile One approaching. Distance fifty," he said as Fox launched out of the hangar bay and flew in the direction specified by his scans.

"I'm heading for the missiles now!" Fox said. "Falco, stay with me."

"I'm right with you, Fox," Falco replied.

Fox keyed his comm. "Slippy, Peppy; stay behind and hold off those fighters while we take care of the missiles. We're going to have to make this pretty damned quick if we want to get out of here alive." Fox turned off the comm and wished, not for the first time, that Bill were still with them and not on Katina.

"I see it," Falco said.

Fox looked and saw. "Paint it with laser fire," he said and opened fire.

Ligator saw the ships firing. "They're trying to take down the missiles!" He shouted. "Don't let them do it! My orders come from Lord Andross himself and the orders are don't let them take down the missiles!"

"Yes, Sir," a fighter acknowledged.

"Fox, we've got more fighters coming in," Falco shouted, and Fox looked down at his sensor array. "We aren't going to get a chance to upload the virus! We're going to have no choice but to attack Venom!"

Fox nodded grimly. "Plan B, everyone," he said. "Rob, tell us when you're clear to go to light speed and we'll come back to hangar, over," he said.

"Copy," Rob 64 said.

The missile exploded in a brilliant flash and Fox nodded. Two more missiles appeared. "Missiles two and three approaching," said Rob, stating the obvious. "Slippy and Peppy are doing a fine job holding off the fighters."

"Good," Fox said blowing one up. Falco took the other and Fox sagged with relief as it exploded. "We got them," he said. But then, the last three missiles appeared. "Oh, shit," he whispered.

"Missiles four, five and six approaching-" Rob began but Fox cut the communicator connection. He raced up, firing and hit one of them as Falco hit the other. Fox brought his communicator up as the next missile slipped past.

"We missed one!"

Ligator whooped. "Get that missile to pick up speed! Give it some cover!"

"Distance thirty!" Rob shouted. "We're unable to avoid! It will hit if you don't stop it!"

"What can we do!? Peppy, Slippy! Hit that damned missile now!" Fox shouted as he tried again and again to hit the missile.

"We're under attack and we can't, Fox," Peppy said. "Rob, isn't there anything you can do?"

"No," Rob replied. "It's too close."

"No!" Fox shouted.

"Distance twenty! Impact in ten seconds!"

Fox sagged. They'd failed. They were going to lose. There was nothing they could-

"Did somebody call for help?" said a familiar voice as Katt Monroe flew her fighter in front of the missile and blew it to shreds. "Now let's roll," she said and moved into flanking position with the ship.

"All right Katt!" Fox whooped.

Falco looked at his control board. "Wait," he said. "I'm picking up a hornet's nest of fighters approaching on vector zero-four-oh-two-mark seven. Configuration checks out as Androssian," he said.

"I copy," Fox said. "Rob, how long before the radiation stops jamming the hyperspace motivators?"

Rob was fast in responding. "Seven minutes," he said.

"We've got to hold them off for seven minutes. I have a chance to upload the virus," Fox said, diverting his course to the station.

Falco keyed his communicator. "Fox, seven minutes isn't enough time. You said yourself it wasn't. We have to stay out here and keep these fighters off of Rob right now," he said even as he moved into a defensive position between the fighters and the Great Fox.

"I can do this, trust me," Fox replied.

"Let's give him some cover, then," Falco replied, taking command of the situation. "Peppy, with Katt. Slippy, you're on my wing," he said and turned off his link to Katt's ship before she could ask to go on his wing. Slippy moved into position on his wing.

Slippy looked out his canopy and waved at Falco. "Let's kick some serious ass," he said.

Fox approached the hangar bay area of the small base, seeing that fighters were scrambling. He fired laser blasts, tearing the hangar bay apart except for one landing zone which he put his fighter down on. He slipped a data pad into his pocket and pulled out his blaster as he opened the cockpit canopy which rose with a hiss. He jumped down to meet three guards there, leveling their laser rifles at him. Fox fired three precise shots and all the guards went to the ground. He quickly moved to the door and turned on his head mike.

"Rob," he said. "Where's the main computer terminal?"

"The command room on D-7," Rob replied.

Fox looked at the deck description. Two decks up. He found a stairwell and took the steps three at a time until he reached D-7. He came into the corridor to bump into more guards. "It's him! Blast him!" the lead guard shouted.

Fox raked them with blaster fire and dove across the corridor into a doorway and sealed the door shut behind him. "Is this it?" he asked Rob. "Never mind," he said as he saw the main computer terminal which was handily labeled. "Rob, what's my time?"

"Five and a half minutes," Rob replied.

Still enough time to do this, Fox thought as he put in the disk. The computer brought up a screen warning him there was a virus on the disk. There were two options. Upload and Erase. He hit Upload and waited. Blaster fire hit the door and he turned, firing randomly through the door and listening to screams.

The virus finished uploading and all the terminals in the room caught fire. He lunged down a stairwell as the entire room went up in flames and the windows broke, space outside sucking things out. Fox pulled himself down the stairwell and moved back to the hangar bay.

"I've uploaded it," he said and pressed a door.

"This door is nonfunctional due to a virus in the system programming," a voice said.

"Oh shit."

The fighters flew around in space, and Falco followed one. "Watch it, Peppy. Three from above."

"Katt, pull in," Peppy said.

"Got it," Katt said, adjusting her course heading to match Peppy's and blasted the fighters off of Peppy's tail. "You're clear, Peppy," she said and rolled to the right as a fighter tried to tail her.

"How's Fox doing?" Falco asked.

Rob paused. "He's locked in."

Fox blasted the door until there was a hole big enough for him to fit through. He burned his arm on the melted door and grimaced. Two minutes. Maybe not enough time. He sprinted for all he was worth down the corridor when he felt sharp searing pains in his leg and his shoulder. He fell to the ground, seeing blood pour from holes that had been put there by laser blasts. He fired his blaster at guards and pulled himself along.

Katt pulled left and above the Great Fox, leading a fighter straight into another one. "Vaped two of 'em in one go," she said and pulled around to see Falco and Slippy plowing down more of the fighters.

"Rob?" asked Falco.

"Not good," Rob replied.

Fox pulled himself into the cockpit of his fighter and sealed the canopy and pressed the repulsorlifts, lifting his fighter off the ground. "Rob, target the nukes and fire," he said as he raked the SWAT Agents in the hangar with laser fire from his Arwing. He turned and blasted out of the hangar as two nukes smashed into the base.

With a huge flash, it exploded behind his Arwing as he blasted out. He whooped in joy as he flew away from the expanding fireball. "Rob, let's get outta here!" He shouted as the Great Fox diverted its course and moved up.

"Preparing to enter hyperspace," Rob said.

Fox flew in, followed shortly by Peppy, Falco and Slippy. Katt hung beside the ship for a moment then entered.

After the mission, a small quarters had been prepared for Katt to utilize in the time she would be staying with Star Fox. They had agreed to take her to MacBeth whereafter she would be able to get back to Zoness, more likely Coneria, on her own.

Fox grimaced as the medic pulled shrapnel from his shoulder and stitched up the wounds that he had received when she had finished fixing up the damage inside his body. She continued to stitch it when Slippy came in.

"Good news," he said. "The virus worked."

"It did?" Fox asked.

Slippy nodded as Peppy came in. "Peppy's theory was perfect. Andross will be hopping mad when he finds out all his records of experiments with Bio Technology have been destroyed," he said with a grin.

"They what?" Andross asked, barely believing his ears as Admiral Andy told him of what had happened. Andross had expected the mission to be a failure but couldn't believe exactly what the Admiral had just told him. "They did what?!" He stood so fast his chair slammed back into the wall and made Admiral Andy jump.

Andy swallowed. "They...uploaded a virus...and destroyed all of your records and research...on Bio Technology...My Lord," he said.

Andross sat back down and took not his glass, but the entire bottle of champagne and chugged it down. Andy grimaced as Andross did the same and gagged, but then he was under control again. "Kill them."

The Great Fox flew through space towards MacBeth, and Falco had locked himself in his quarters. Katt Monroe hovered outside the door and tried occasionally to enter the room, but Falco refused to open the doors for her. She finally gave up and left the corridor. Immediately after, the doors opened and Falco walked down the hall in the opposite direction.

"What are you doing?" said Fox McCloud as he stepped into the corridor behind Falco. The avian raced person whirled and faced Fox who stood there, his paws crossed over his chest as he stood there. "You locked yourself in your quarters and now you're sneaking away?"

Falco pointed a feather at him. "Fox, stay out of it."

"What is it about Katt that you don't like?" Fox asked, pushing himself off of the wall and coming straight up to Falco, who stood about a head taller then him. "Well? Remember, as commander I get straight answers, Falco. Don't beat around the bush."

"I don't like anything about her," Falco said. "I consider her a vulture. A buzzard in every sense of the word. Have you noticed that she clings around me like a parasite? I just don't like that, Fox," he said, shaking his head. "I never have and I never will."

Fox raised a brow. "Finished?"

"Yeah," Falco replied.

"I guess that's an adequate reason, but locking yourself up in your quarters and then slinking around the ship, trying to be invisible isn't the answer to it, Falco," he said. "So just step out in the open and tell her how you feel," Fox finished and turned down the corridor, striding away at a brisk pace. About a minute later, Katt was in front of him.

Falco swallowed as Katt stopped a few inches from him. "You finally came out," she said. "What are you doing tonight?" she asked, trying to sound sweet and Falco resisted the urge to shudder.

"I'm not interested, Monroe," he said. "I'm not interested in you. You're a parasite, and I'm not going for it," he said and saw the surprised expression on her face. "You must have been drooling over some romantic moment we never had, Monroe, and frankly, I think that's incredibly dumb. So just leave me alone. I know the only reason you're here is me."

Katt worked her mouth. "Is that what you think?"

"That's what I know. If anything, leave early and go back to your home," he said, brushing past her and walking down the hall. "So just leave me alone you little vulture," he said, turning the corner.

"God damn you, Falco Lombardi," Katt whispered.

Fox McCloud sighed and sat down across the table from Falco Lombardi who was sitting there, looking lost in his own thoughts until Fox sat down. Falco straightened and looked him in the eyes.

"What is it?" Falco asked.

Fox raised a brow. "You told her. I'm impressed how well you handled the situation," he said with a tight smile. "Falco, we've all had situations like this," he said then looked thoughtful for a moment. "Uh...except for Slippy, anyway. But I'm impressed. I've never handled any situation so well, which is why I have you as second-in-command."

"I already knew this," Falco sighed, pulling a soda from the box next to the table. "It's just that I've never been so tough about it before. I've never had such a problem with anyone," he said.

Fox looked at him tentatively. "So what is it about Katt?"

"I already told you that," said Falco. "She's a parasite, and I don't go for parasites, Fox," he said and stood, still drinking his soda. He looked down at Fox who remained seated. "I already explained. Excuse me," he said.

"I'd better prepare the Landmaster," Fox said and left.

The Landmaster tank had finally gotten its repairs and looked a lot better then it had on Titania, and of course on Titania, T.O. Pike had been alive and helping Fox by using the turrets. Now, another person was going to have to go in the Landmaster with Fox, and he had chosen the able technician Slippy Toad.

"Everything looks good," Slippy said, popping his head out of a vent in the ceiling to look at Fox who was sitting in the front of the tank. "There's still one power link which is giving me trouble but other than that it looks just fine," Slippy said. "I'm gonna try the link again, see if I can get this blasted piece of machinery to work."

Fox nodded. "I'll get the monitors working and see if there's any glitches in what we've done," he said as the hatch on top of the Landmaster opened and Peppy Hare slid inside, followed by Falco Lombardi.

"Fox, transmission from General Pepper with our orders," he said. "Where's Slippy?"

Slippy popped his head out of the vent and Falco's blaster nearly went off, he had it out so fast. Peppy looked as if to have a heart attack and Falco diverted his aim and holstered the blaster again. "Dammit, Slip-up," he said. "You were this close to getting your brains splattered all over the damned tank."

Fox stepped up and took the data pad from Peppy's hands before anything else could be said. He glanced it over. "Katt know about this yet?"

"Yes," Falco replied with a scowl.

Fox nodded. "Good," he said, reviewing it. "There's a pretty big weapons depot on MacBeth. It runs along a train track, and there's gonna be a train transporting some very important supplies to this depot. Supplies that could do a lot of damage against the Cornerian Fleet."

Peppy nodded. "We reviewed it," he said.

"Any plans? Suggestions?" Fox asked.

Peppy and Falco exchanged a glance and, Peppy being the best at it, took the floor. "Well, there is one," he said. "The train's ID is Forever Train, and its running on Track Four to its location. We're planning on having Rob drop the Landmaster a ways back and letting Falco and I fly air cover with them. We're going to destroy the train and hopefully set it on full speed straight into the weapons depot."

"We can do that?"

Peppy nodded. "Apparently," he said. "There are eight connector switches and then one big switch. They're pretty big so here's the plan; Katt will be flying low to supply you guys cover. She'll take on side of the track, you guys the other. You blast the switches with a carefully aimed laser bolt. These switches activate a change in the tracks which leads right into the depot, not in front.

"The doors will be closed and the high explosives will cause it to detonate," Peppy finished and waited as Fox nodded, a slow smile spreading across his youthful features as he looked at the datapad. "Well?" asked Peppy.

Fox smiled. "Very good," he said.

Slippy nodded his agreement as he lifted the dark goggles off his face. "I agree," he said.

"You agree to anything we say," Falco said, rolling his eyes and leaving the Landmaster. Peppy nodded and followed suit, while Slippy sighed and brought the goggles back down and slipped back into the vent.

Fox sighed and tapped at the keyboard.

Lord Andross sipped some champagne, leaning back in his chair as his lieutenant reported from MacBeth in his gruff, tough guy voice. "Suh, everything is ready, Suh," said the Lieutenant. "The train will be moving out tomorrow mornin', Suh," he continued. "Defense mechanisms will be movin' full powah, Suh," he finished.

"Good," Andross said. "Get to work." He disconnected the communicator as Admiral Andy came in, passing a datapad to Andross. "What is this?" Andross asked, taking the datapad and looking at it and accessing the data stored inside of it. He cocked a brow. "Well?"

"Sir," Andy said. "It's the coordinates of the Great Fox," said the admiral. "Apparently, they've set course to MacBeth," he said.

"Damn."

Fox flicked the switch and the hatch closed, locking down the Landmaster. He turned and exited the special bay used for the Landmaster, and formerly for the Blue Marine Submarine, which was now at the bottom of the oceans of Aquas. He sighed and walked down the corridor and nearly bumped into Katt Monroe.

"Hello, Katt," he said.

Monroe nodded. "Commander McCloud," she said. "I've decided to take an early leave," she continued. "I don't think I have what it takes to help you guys on your mission," she went on. "I also don't get along too well with some of your staff."

"Does this have anything to do with Falco?" Fox asked.

Monroe straightened. "No, Sir," she said.

"You're a horrible liar, Katt," Fox said, shaking his head and leaning on the wall of the corridor. "We've all had situations like this, and Falco just isn't interested in you. That still doesn't mean that you have any reason to stop fighting for us."

Monroe shook her head. "You're wrong," she said. "Captain Lombardi was my reason to fight."

"Everyone has a reason beyond someone who they like," Fox said angrily. "I'm fighting for my girlfriend, Fara. But that's not my only reason. I have plenty. My sister, my father, my anger at Andross for all the innocent lives he's taken, but mainly to save the other innocent lives of this system."

Monroe shook her head. "I don't have any of those reasons," she said.

"You don't want to save innocent lives? You wouldn't care if they made Corneria another Zoness like they did your own planet?"

Monroe grit her teeth. "Commander McCloud, I don't give a god damn about this system," she said. "I couldn't care less about Andross or you," she said, her voice a low growl. "I only cared about Falco. And he just took away my only reason for giving half a rats ass about anything."

Fox looked at her. "Finished?"

"Yes," she said. "With you." She turned and strode down the corridor to the hangar bay. "Get your friend Bill to help," she said. "But you really can't expect me to do anything about this. I'm not doing a thing for your stupid cause," she said as she entered the bay, Fox in tow.

Fox looked up at her as she sealed the cockpit down. "You know," he said. "Falco was right. You aren't really that great. You're a parasite."

"Same to you," she said and hit the repulsorlifts, flying out of the Great Fox.

Falco looked up as Fox came onto the bridge, where he and Peppy were talking to Rob 64. Fox looked angry, mostly, he was heading to communications station, but he looked angry at Falco as well.

"Call the Katina Air Defense Corps," Fox said. "Get in contact with Commander Bill Gray. Tell him to head to MacBeth in full lightspeed," he said and Falco moved forward to Fox's side.

"Fox?" he asked. "What's going on?"

Fox looked at him. "Katt just left," he said. "I'm calling in Bill."

"Commander?" a voice at the door asked and Bill Gray sat up in his bed with a groan. It was night on Katina, and they were still finishing off some of the fighters that were left from the mothership they had fought only a few days ago. Bill sighed and turned on the bedside light to see one of his first officers standing at the door. The officer straightened. "Commander," he said. "We have received a hyperspace communication from Commander Fox McCloud for you, Sir," he said.

Bill was up immediately, moving to his wall comm and activating the satellite link. "This is Bill. Fox, is that you?" he asked to the red fox on the other end of the link who smiled faintly at him.

"Hey, Bill," Fox said. "How's the hyper engines on the Gray1 upgrades coming along?" he asked, something else was underlying the tone in his voice, which was purely quizzical, but Bill knew Fox better then that.

Bill nodded. "They're okay...but what are you implying?"

"We need you at MacBeth within the day, Bill," Fox said. "Katt decided to head back before we could even start preparing for the mission, so we need an extra pilot since Slippy is in the Landmaster with me this time," he said.

Bill grimaced. "Within the day? I'm not sure, Fox. The new speeds being added to my fighter are still experimental..."

"Then don't use them," Fox said. "Just get here as fast as you can, all right?"

Bill nodded. "Since I owe you one, all right," he said. "If I'm not there on time, start without me and I'll be along, okay?" he said. "Bill out." The picture disappeared and Bill got into his pilot's uniform, putting his shades on.

As he walked down the hall, the officer came up to him again. "Sir? Where are you going?" he asked. "It's a little late to go for a patrol, Sir," he continued. "Shouldn't you continue getting rest?"

"Get the Gray1 ready for take off," Bill said. "I'm going to MacBeth to help Star Fox. Officer, I also want you to check the level routines of the new hyperspace motivator, understood?" he asked as they entered the hangar bay, technicians swarming over fighters, including Bill's.

The officer nodded. "I'll check the transmitter levels now, Sir," he said.

"Good," Bill said, climbing the ladder into the Gray1 as technicians got out of his way. "All right," he said. "Officer, hurry it up because I have to go," he said. The officer consulted his datapad and gave Bill a thumbs up as the rest of the techs hopped off of the Gray1. "This is Commander Bill Gray, requesting permission to leave, over," he said.

There was a crackle, then the communicator spat back: "Roger, Commander," the voice said. "Clearance granted. Good luck and god speed," he said as Bill turned the Gray1 as the doors opened. "Good luck," said the voice as Bill charged up the engines and blasted out of the hangar into the night skies of Katina.

"This is Commander Gray," Bill said. "Keep the home fires burning for when I come back," he said as he rose into the atmosphere. "See you all when I come back. Gray, out," he said as he cleared atmosphere and entered space. "Right," he said to himself. "See what this piece of junk can do." He pressed the hyperspace motivators and shot into light speed.

Fox sighed. Bill was on his way, Katt was gone. This was good, he guessed. They were all on the bridge, waiting there for some sign of movement or militaristic development on the planet MacBeth. He looked at the control panels.

"I'm going to the simulator," he said.

Fox started up the engines of the simulated Arwing Fighter. He gripped the throttle and activated the engines, with Slippy, Peppy and Falco flying his wings. It was a recreation of the battle of MacBeth four years ago, where it was lost to Andross's growing forces. Fox switched the communicator on. "Well," he said. "This is Fox, and I'm reporting startup success. I'm getting ready," he said, punching the accelerators. "All aircraft report."

"This is Falco, I'm fine."

"This is Peppy. All systems go."

"Slippy, here. I'm okay."

"This is Jeff. Hocked, clocked, and ready to rock," came the simulated voice of the long dead Jeff O'Neil. He had fought in this battle, but you could save him in the simulators though not in real life. Everything Jeff did was programmed, his questions, responses, and all that.

"This is Dean, A-OK," came the voice of now-retired Colonel Dean Donnelly, one of the only pilots to survive the mission. He was retired and taught at the Cornerian Flight Academy. A highly decorated officer, Colonel Donnelly. Not a pilot like him with the exception of James McCloud and Fox.

"This is John, I'm ready," came the voice of Captain Damien Flyr, brother of dead captain John Flyr. During Andross's rampage a long time back, about twenty years, he had destroyed Remus City. John Flyr and his wife Katherine had died, but the strange thing about Flyr's body was the fact that he had appeared to throw himself over a rock.

Careful analysis proved it was not a rock at all, but rather an egg. Flyr was having a child, but there would be no parents for it. The egg had hatched a long while back, and General Pepper had taken the hawk that had emerged into his care. It was the softer side to the General that only Fox and his father had known existed.

"Right," Fox said. "Let's break by two squads. Falco, you're with me. Peppy, with Slippy. Dean, you're with Jeff. Damien, can you handle yourself?"

Flyr responded immediately, as he was programmed to. "Okay, boss," he said. "My radar reads multiple signals. Let's rock and roll." As for Damien Flyr, he had disappeared and was apparently a free lance bounty hunter, taking jobs wherever he was needed. He had completely abandoned his life after the death of his brother. Damien and John had been close. Flyr hadn't known about the egg until long after it had hatched, and he hadn't come back.

"Let's do it," Fox said, switching his hyperlasers to dual fire. He looked at his radar. "Keep it tight," he said. "Now break." He and Falco broke to the side as the enemy fighters came into view, blasting and firing at the Arwing fighters that were coming. "Watch out. Three from above, twenty degrees," Fox said.

"Cut to the left, I'll take the leader," Falco said and Fox obeyed, pulling the throttle back and breaking to the left, drawing the fighters with him. Falco unleashed a hail of laserfire at them and they exploded, bits of pieces of shrapnel clanking against the hull of Falco's fighter as he flew through the bright light which was already fading.

Fox brought his fighter hard about and concentrated his laser fire on an inbound fighter. "Dean, Damien; how's it going over there?"

The automated responds, from Damien, came: "This is Flyr. We've engaged the fighters and we're having little difficulty," he said.

"Slippy, Peppy?"

"A-OK," Slippy reported.

Fox swallowed. "Jeff?"

"I'm pretty good, Fox," he said. Fox felt a pang of misery as he remembered the good days when he, Bill, Peppy and Jeff O'Neil used to be the closest friends in the galaxy. Jeff O'Neil had been a great friend and pilot. Now he was dead, at the hands of the murderous Andross. "Don't worry. I can handle these bastards."

That was the line that Fox would have expected the real Jeff O'Neil to use, but once more, he had to remind himself Jeff O'Neil was dead, and there wasn't much he could do about it, except for fulfill his need for revenge on Andross, who would be pissing his pants when Fox came for him. I hope, he thought as he juked to the left, Falco following quickly.

"Well? What have you found on this 'Bill Gray'?" asked Andross as Admiral Andy and Commander Caiman stood in front of him, placing an Intelligence file in front of Andross. "Excellent," he said, rubbing his hands together. "What are these?"

"Reports on Commander Gray," he said. "And do you remember one Captain Jeff O'Neil?"

Andross grimaced. "Yes," he said. "Not much of a better pilot than O'Neil if you were to minus that damned McCloud and his pals from the situation. O'Neil is no longer a problem, however."

"Apparently," Andy said. "Both Commander Gray and McCloud were his best friends."

Andross raised a brow. "Really?" he asked. "How interesting."

Fox came out of the simulator, soaked in the sweat as the hot steam rose from inside the boiling simulator. They needed air conditioners, that was for sure, as did the real Arwing Fighters. He sighed, shaking his head as he pulled the head mike off his head and dropped it on the seat of the cockpit, thinking about Jeff O'Neil again. And the others. His father, his mother, who he hadn't even gotten to know...

"Good job, Fox," Peppy said, clapping him on the shoulder. Fox smiled weakly at him when Rob came into the room, holding a datapad. They all looked at him as he strode up to Fox and handed him the pad.

"Sir," he said. "A fighter identified as the Gray1 is requesting landing permission in one of our hangars," he said.

"Of course. That'd be Bill," Fox said. "Let's go see him, shall we?"

Bill Gray lowered the Gray1 into the hangar of the Great Fox and sighed as he popped the canopy open. He climbed down the ladder to be greeted by the members of the Star Fox team. Fox McCloud, Falco Lombardi, Slippy Toad and Peppy Hare all greeted him warmly. He popped his helmet off, pulled his shades off his face and shook paws, webbed hands and feathers all around.

"Good to see you," Fox said. "We're in need of the help. Peppy can brief you," he said.

Bill groaned. "The endless Intelligence box is going to be the end of me," he groaned as he started off with Peppy. "So what's the scoop?"

"You know how MacBeth was taken," Peppy said. "We intend to take it back. What we're going to do is very simple..."

Katt Monroe piloted her ship, the Catspaw, towards the blue orb of MacBeth. She would take it out by herself, if need be, because she didn't need the help of those bogus idiots Star Fox. She let her paws dance over the controls, initiating the shields and weapons startups. She had lost Spear Squadron, Falco had had her out, and Star Fox had no particular use for her. She had nothing. But she would still liberate MacBeth for them, and maybe then Falco Lombardi would see that she was really worth it, a girl worth fighting for. She flew in towards the planet at full throttle, flying in low, as defense mechanisms clicked into place.

"Please enter your registration code, pilot," came a voice.

"My code is," Katt said. "Up yours." She concentrated laser fire on a small control tower and watched it explode into flames. While she would have preferred to have Spear Squadron or even Star Fox behind her, she decided to carry on. She flew in low to skimmer level, where the guns couldn't reach her, and activated her targeting system. She locked on and started firing with her lasers, blasting away at the small settlements of the planet.

She banked right, her right wing almost scraping the ground, it was so close. She fired her lasers and juked to the left, which rose her a bit off the ground, to avoid a small hill which threatened to catch the edge of her wing. She leveled out and opened fire again, raking lasers across a defense gun which exploded.

"Sir, an attack on MacBeth," came the voice of Admiral Andy, as Andross looked up from his massage to see the admiral standing there, holding a datapad out to him which he took.

"Star Fox?"

Andy shook his head. "No, Sir," he said. "Apparently, she is working alone, and her ship matches the profiles of the ships created on Zoness. Most likely, she is one of the rebels who escaped with Star Fox," he continued. "Commander Caiman is looking into it now, and trying to track down a profile on her."

"Good. Make sure she does nothing to our planetary systems. MacBeth must remain under my control at all times," Andross ordered, and Andy saluted.

"Yes, Sir," he said and left.

"Sir, MacBeth is already under attack," said Rob64 as Fox looked up from the console he was standing over. The others looked at Rob like he had cracked some incredibly stupid joke.

"Ship ID?" Fox asked.

Rob pressed some buttons on a datapad. "The fighter is a Catspaw model," he said.

"Katt's ship," Falco breathed. "She must be trying to take it by herself," he said. "Should we still take care of this mission?"

Bill nodded instead of Fox. "We can't leave this gal to do whatever it is she's gonna do by herself," he said.

"Right," Fox said. "We're gonna launch the mission early so we can go through with this." He turned to Slippy. "Slip, you go warm up the Landmaster. The rest of you get to your fighters and good luck," Fox said, then turned back to Slippy again. "I'll be down in a moment as soon as I'm done trying to establish contact with Commander Monroe."

Chapter Nine

The Landmaster Tank hit the ground with a crash and immediately, the wheels started turning and the tracks dug into the ground, tearing up the dirt as it drove along. At the controls, was Fox McCloud, piloting it by using the controls. The repulsorlifts were on standby as the rest of the team flew by along with him. The team went through the wreckage of defense systems, with Slippy in the turrets.

"Look at it," his voice came over the communicator. "It's been ruined. Katt must have really taken it to them," Slippy finished as Fox surveyed the damage that Katt Monroe had done to Andross's base on MacBeth. "I wonder if the Forever Train was taken in all this mayhem, as well?" he asked.

Fox shook his head. "The train tracks are untouched, and its not scheduled to come for a while." He watched, checking the sensors every now and then to make sure that there weren't any ambushes in mind for the Star Fox Team. Whatever it was Katt had done, she had done a very efficient job, probably in the hopes of catching Falco's attention.

Katt Monroe juked her fighter to the left, avoiding a laser blast. Star Fox was probably really far behind. Don't worry about it, guys...Falco. I'll take care of absolutely everything, she thought with a grin as she vaped a fighter out of existence. She then rolled to the right and took down a tower which had a Sentry Gun mounted on the top. Katt rolled to the left and blew another fighter to smithereens. This is actually fun, she thought with a wider grin as she brought the nose of her fighter about and rolled up on her starboard wing. She fired a laser blast and watched one of the many enemy fighters explode into space dust.

Katt looked at her sensor screens and saw a large blip, obviously Star Fox's ship. Around it, were a series of smaller ones. The Star Fox team was obviously coming up, surveying the damage she had done. She smiled. Maybe Falco would notice what a good fighter she was, and that she fought for a good cause, so she would be able to slip into his wings. Hey, it could happen.

"Surrender immediately, Cornerian Ally," a voice snarled.

Katt looked up and saw the small star fighter squadron flying in at her. "Go to hell," she snarled and launched a missile into the center of the group, causing a chain reaction which blew the other fighters apart. She flew through the receding explosion and the falling wreckage, which hit her fighter with small, muted tinks as she flew along. Wonder where they are, and how they're accepting the damage I've done, she thought.

"Fighters coming in," Falco reported over the communicator and Slippy looked up out of the see through dome of the turret. He brought the gunner systems online, turning on his head mike communicator. "At zero-four-two mark seven," he said. "They're approaching from an underground installation."

Fox replied from the cockpit of the Landmaster. "I copy," he said. "I'm charging the nova bombs. Slippy, have you got the laser turrets on line yet? Because it looks like we're really going to need them to take down these many fighters. Katt must've missed these few."

Slippy looked at the radar and his eyes widened. "I've got them on line," he said and looked down the targeting sensor. "I'm prepared to target and fire," he said as the specks blinked and came closer.

"I see them," Falco said.

Slippy looked up at the skies and saw them, an army of black specks in the distance, but rapidly getting larger. He brought his main targeting systems on line and sighted down the barrels. "I'm firing," he said and pulled down on the triggers and was rewarded with a few bursts of flames from the fighters in front of them, which scattered and started firing rapidly. Fox turned the Landmaster to the left and out of the line of fire as the Unlimited Nova Bomb supply started firing at the fighters.

"Nova bomb fire initiated," Fox said.

"I copy," Falco replied. "I'm targeting. Bill, Peppy and I are engaging, over," he said and Slippy looked up to see the three fighters accelerate past them and open fire, they're blue, dual hyperlasers raking through the enemies. "There's quite a lot of 'em, Fox. They're dropping to ground level."

Fox replied. "I got it," he said. "They see us as a threat to the train."

"Where's the train?" came the punkish voice to Bill Gray.

Slippy looked back and saw it, the Forever Train, moving along the tracks. "It's right behind us," he said, and saw it was moving faster then they were. "Fox, drop back a bit so I can blast this thing. I'll need you to supply Nova Bomb coverage for me while I take out its brakes."

"Not a great idea, Slip," Fox said. "Think about it. They have superior weaponry even to this craft. We can't take it on."

Slippy bit his lip and turned his small red 'S' cap backwards. "Then let's kick some Androssian ass."

"The train is encountering the Star Fox Team," Andy said.

"Well, shit."

Falco rolled to the right and up on his port side as the fighters fired at him. He came back level and launched a nova bomb quickly, making sure its trajectory was perfect before re aligning his fighter to match the speed of a retreating fighter. He fired three quick laser shots and the fighter exploded. Falco flew through the explosion.

Slippy watched from his viewport as he fired the lasers. He moved the controls of the guns around, tracking the fighters which exploded. The debris hit the ground, and sometimes the Landmaster itself as it trundled along. "Fox," Slippy keyed his comm. "How're we gonna do the brake unit?"

"I don't know," he replied.

Katt Monroe grimaced as the fighter behind her blasted at her. "Shit," she whispered as a laser blast hit her engine fuselage and she saw the ground getting closer. "Oh, SHIT!" She shouted and hit the eject button, which launched her entire cockpit from the rest of the Catspaw. She saw it hit the ground and explode, shortly before she hit.

"Katt is down," Falco said matter-of-factly.

Fox let his paws dance over the controls. "I copy," he said. "We'll pick her up on our way. Transferring to auto so I can open the hatch," he said as the Catspaw fighter came into view, with the hatch raising and Katt Monroe coming out with a laser pistol. Fox grabbed her and hauled her in, closing the hatch as laser blasts struck the fighter and blew it to pieces. "I've got her," he said.

"Is she all right?" Peppy asked.

Fox nodded as he walked back to the front of the ship with Katt, both of them sitting down at the controls. "She's fine," he said. "We're proceeding with the mission as planned," he continued. "You guys keep flying cover."

"Copy," Peppy and Falco said at the same time.

Fox flicked a switch as Katt, without saying a word, sat at the controls for the Unlimited Nova Bomb Supply. She opened fire, blasting fighters out of the sky as the train continued to gain on them.

Bill Gray swooped to the left, the Gray1 having higher maneuvering capabilities then any Arwing Fighter. He opened fire and blasted a fighter to pieces, watching the wreckage fall to the ground. He then came about and fired a nova bomb straight into the center of the fighters, which caused a tremendous explosion. The shockwave hit Bill's fighter and for a moment, his controls sparked, but he then got it back under control.

"This is Bill," he said. "I've got more fighters coming in from above. Sensors indicate that Andross has one of his cruisers up there," he reported and looked up to see the fighters coming down like the rain. "Peppy, Falco; you guys keep here. I'll engage," he said and pulled the throttle back and came up on his Y Axis. "Accelerating," he said and the force of the gravity pushed him back into his chair as he climbed. "Firing," he said and pulled the trigger, which let green lances of energy fly out from the lasers of his ship.

"Bill, you can't take them alone," Falco said.

Bill scoffed. "Says you, bird-boy," he said and fired a nova bomb. These fighters weren't so stupid, because they split off the attack and only a few of them exploded. "Or, maybe not," he said. "They're heading towards you guys. I'm coming down," he said. "For lunch." He pushed the throttle back away from him and stooped into a deep dive. "Yee-haw!" He shouted as he flew straight down, his fighter going incredibly fast. "This is so much fun! Firing lasers!" He pulled the trigger and was rewarded with three explosions from the fighters. "Okay, guys," he said. "We've got incoming. Can you take them?"

"Affirmative," was Peppy's reply.

Slippy fired his gun turrets up at the enemy fighters, raking them with lasers. He keyed his communicator. "How far to the weapons depot? Because I can't do this all day, and I don't wanna wind up like Pike."

"I see the switches now," he said. "Bill, to the left. Peppy and Falco, to the right. Each of you fire one laser blast at each switch, don't miss or we'll be doing this the hard way," Fox's voice came over the communicator. Suddenly, a blast blew the guns out of Slippy's hands. He cried out in dismay as he fell down the ladder and landed on the floor with a crash. "You all right?" Fox asked.

Slippy groaned and sat up as the turret was destroyed. "Guys, the turret was destroyed. I can't make the shot," he said.

"Is Slip-shot okay?" Falco asked.

Slippy came up to the communicator. "You aren't that lucky, fly-boy," he said. "I'm gonna kick your ass once I get out of this tank."

Falco shook his head. "Good for you, Slip-shot," he said. "Okay. I'm targeting the first three. Peppy, the second two, Bill, the last three. Then, I'll take the final controller switch."

Suddenly, the Forever Train's last compartment opened up to reveal an enemy robot. "I didn't expect ta have ta use dis," came a slang voice.

"Yowa vewy wucky," came another voice, obviously that of the enemy robot as it launched out and came at the Landmaster where Fox, Katt and Slippy were. "I'm gonna attack dem wit all I got," the bot said.

Falco fired and hit the first switch, then the second, and finally the third. "Where's the track connector?"

"Uh know what dere planning," the bot said.

Peppy cursed. "We've gotta do this fast. I'm firing," he said and blasted his two targets as Falco flew for the main connector switch, which the train was just two kilometers from.

"Got mine!" Bill shouted.

"Firing!" Falco said and fired the laser shot which hit the switch. The tracks changed straight towards the depot, and there were a series of brake stops on the tracks. "I got it! Yes!" He shouted, flying up and away. He looked over his shoulder and saw the train divert onto its new course.

"No!" The conductor shouted. "Hit the brakes!" The train squealed and hit the first few brake stops then hit the door of the depot. "No!" The conductor screamed as a few seconds later the depot exploded, catching several of Andross's Fighters with it.

"Yeeee-haw!" Bill shouted as he flew up and met Peppy and Falco. "We did it!" He said.

Fox keyed the hover controls and hovered up and into the docking bay designed specifically for the Landmaster Tank. He, Slippy and Katt undid their restraints and walked to the back, but Fox stopped Katt.

"What was that?" he asked.

Katt growled at him. "I'm catching the first transport out of here," she said. "I did it because I wanted to."

"You did it for Falco's attention," Fox said.

"For what?" came the familiar voice of Falco Lombardi as he stood at the door, his hands on his hips as he tapped one foot on the ground. "What are you two talking about? Nothing private, I assume," he said.

"We'll take you home afterwards," Fox said. "Until then, you can help on this ship, since you don't have a fighter to help us with," he continued. "Falco, you can take the liberty of assigning Katt a job."

Falco nodded. "All right," he said as Fox nodded to each of them and left the tank. Falco turned to Katt. "Don't ever do anything like that again."

"Is that concern in your voice?" Katt asked hopefully.

Falco raised a brow. "No," he said. "It's mild anger. I'm not very pleased with your fool-hardy mission."

Andross clenched his hands into fists and bit his lip so hard it bled with the metallic taste of blood into his mouth to keep from screaming. His voice was red, and his blood boiled with anger. Admiral Andy, Commander Caiman and Star Wolf was in the room as well as they watched the camera feed of the weapons Depot explode.

"Sir?" Andy asked.

Andross looked at him. "Where are they heading?"

"Bolse Defense Outpost," Commander Caiman said, consulting his datapad before looking up.

Andross looked to Star Wolf. "There's been a slight change in plans," he said. "Dawn the old Wolfen Class Fighters. Save the Kaywings for Venom. You're off to Bolse as fast as you can."

Wolf O'Donnel saluted. "Yes, Sir," he said. "We will attack as quickly as possible," he said and snapped his claws, snapping Leon Powalski, Pigma Dengar and Andrew Oikonny to attention. "We'll be off, now. Wish us luck."

Bill Gray shook his head, not liking his appointed part in the mission to the Bolse Defense Outpost. He wanted to be out there flying with Fox and the others, but Fox had made it abundantly clear that they could handle themselves, but they needed some expert gunners to do the cover for them from the controls of the Great Fox. Katt and Bill had been chosen for the job due to their participation and obvious skills. Bill still didn't like it, but Fox was in command, and these two weren't going anywhere.

Bill was standing by Fox's fighter, looking up at his friend as he climbed the ladder and slipped his head mike gear on, flicking a switch and the cockpit canopy started to come down with a hiss. "Don't worry about it," Fox said. "I can handle myself, and you know my friends are good pilots."

"Of course I do," Bill said. "See you when you get back."

Fox nodded and gave him the thumbs up as Bill backed away. Fox hit the repulsorlifts which glowed with blue energy. Fox slowly turned the pilot's yoke so he was facing the hangar bay doors, which opened. He gave Bill one last thumbs up before blasting out of the hangar. He immediately turned out of sight.

"I hate this," he said, turning and brushing past Katt. "Open the wings," Fox said and flicked the switch, carrying out his own orders and heard the metallic hum as the wings switched into All-Range mode. "We're three miles out from Bolse," he said. "Keep an eye on those sensor readings. We're gonna have to keep this tight, because they have good defenses."

"Copy," came the voice of his second-in-command Falco Lombardi. "I'll fly out ahead and take a closer look," he said.

Fox nodded to no one in particular as Falco flew on out, performing a sensor sweep. Slippy and Peppy remained on Fox's wings as he did so. Fox flicked a switch and a small Bionic Eye came down. "Right," he said. It was a mini telescope, so he could see forward in infra red. "Okay," he said, seeing the base. "Doesn't look like anything yet."

"Keep flying," Wolf O'Donnel ordered. Leon Powalski frowned down at his controls. "We've gotta fly around for a short while," he concluded the order and left Leon extremely confused, but Leon let none of it show on his face, much less in his voice.

"Sir, we can attack now," Leon said.

Wolf's response didn't come so quickly. "We're going to let them lull themselves into a false sense of security," he said. "We're going to ambush them as we did on Fortuna. Since they think we're still healing from our wounds, they won't expect us."

"I think we should just all out attack," Andrew said.

Wolf responded immediately, this time. "You're not in command, are you? We're waiting until I give the order to attack, not you," he said. "Is that all right with the rest of you?"

Leon and Pigma acknowledged, and finally came Andrew's grudgingly accepting growl of an affirmation. "So, what do we do until they start the attack?" Pigma asked in his high, squealing voice. "Just fly around until our brains ooze out?"

"Not enough brains in your head to do that, Piggy," Andrew chuckled at his own joke.

"Shut up, cry-baby," Pigma growled. As best as a pig could growl, anyway. "We're just gonna wait it out like Commander O'Donnel says."

Andrew muttered something.

"What was that? Sorry, I don't think I had the right frequency," Pigma said with a giggle.

"Knock it off, you doorknobs," Wolf's cool voice came over the communicator. "They can monitor communications levels, and the levels of radiation aren't going to cover us from a close inspection, so don't do anything that will give us away, like start a petty argument. Got that?"

Pigma and Andrew gave affirmatives.

"So what do we do?" Leon asked.

"We wait patiently, like wraiths," Wolf replied.

"Still nothing," Falco's voice was a bit chopped up by static. Fox still had no trouble making out the reply, but the static was getting steadily worse as they got closer to Bolse.

"They must have a communications jam on that station so they can trap fighters without letting a distress call get out," Fox deducted. "We're gonna have to tell Rob this so he doesn't worry if there's a communications blackout."

"Right," Slippy said. "Want me to do it?"

Fox nodded. "Yes," he replied.

Bill looked over his shoulder from the gun port at Rob who pulled a communicator from a side pack around his waist. "This is Rob64," he said. "Who is speaking?"

"Rob, it's Slippy," came the small, gentle voice of Slippy Toad. Bill pressed a key and it switched to his comlink as well. He listened carefully. "They have a communications jammer on that station. We're going to have to stay close to stay in contact."

"I copy," Rob said.

"Slippy out."

"It's done," Slippy said.

Fox sighed. "How much further, Peppy?"

Peppy Hare's reply was a bit clearer then Falco's, because he was a lot closer to Fox's ship then the other was. "About one mile," he said. "We should be able to see it on visual by now," he said.

Fox could see the grey speck against Venom in the distance. "Copy," he said. "I can see it," he finished, setting the Bionic Eye back into its home in the top of his cockpit as he leaned back in his pilot's seat to wait.

Wolf looked at the sensors with his one eye and squinted, seeing that the fighters seemed to be taking their time to get to Bolse. Come on. The sooner you get there and start to attack, the sooner you die by my hands, McCloud, he thought to himself.

"Hey Wolf," came Andrew's voice. "I've got other readings coming in. They're on our side, but that could mean they'll expect more fighters to come in."

"Tell them to stay put until I give the order," Wolf commanded.

"All right," Andrew replied.

"I'm engaging," Falco said as he flew low to the Bolse Station, skimming along. He fired a shot at the main dome and it stopped a short while away from the base. There was a rotation, and orbit to the base as well. "There's some kind of protective shield."

"I've spotted the generators," Fox said. "I'm gonna take 'em out. You fly one way, I'll take the other. Slippy, Peppy; fly straight for the base and take out any Sentry Guns you see along the way."

A chorus of "copy's" came from Falco, Slippy and Peppy as Fox accelerated and appeared on Falco's wing. "Okay," he said. "Let's do this. Hurry it up and meet on the last generator," he said and they broke off in separate directions.

"Sir, if the shield goes down we're prepared to launch fighters," Admiral Andy said to Andross, who was sipping his champagne neatly.

"Excellent," he purred.

Fox started locking on and received a lock. The first few blasts went wide of the target, but the homing system kicked in and they traced to the generator, which exploded. Fox flew by as shrapnel thudded against his canopy. "One down," he reported.

"Got one too," came Falco's reply.

Peppy and Slippy flew by overhead. "We're heading for the base as ordered," Peppy said. "We'll cover you if you need it, guys," he finished as they flew past, the plasma engines leaving no trace that they were there.

"Right," Fox said and engaged the Bionic Eye system again. He looked into it and saw the second generator in front of him. "I'm locking on," he said, putting his fingers over the laser trigger. "Firing." He blasted it and was rewarded with a reddened explosion. "I got another one. That's three of eight, we've hit."

"Make that five, 'cause I just got two," Falco reported.

Fox smiled. "Good work," he said. He was aiming for the next one when a laser blast came down from the Great Fox and hit it, blowing it to pieces. Sentry Guns started firing up at the huge flagship, but it bounced off the shields as the ship continued firing.

Bill took careful aim and fired, blowing another shield generator out. One more, he thought as he carefully aimed and fired. The reddish-pink flow of the shields died and Bolse stopped rotating.

"Hey, the shield's disappeared!" Slippy said.

"Launch the fighters," Andross ordered.

Andy nodded. "Yes, Sir," he said.

"Looks like we've got company," Falco cursed as fighters erupted from inside the base, coming out with their lasers blazing. Falco dipped below their line of fire, swooping along the ground and firing at the Sentry Guns that tried to hit him. He pulled up and fired, seeing a ship. "I'm taking him down the left side," he said as the fighter flew past. He threw the ship into a sharp kick-spin and came in behind it. "You're dead meat, pal!" He said and fired, but the fighter was good.

The pilot juked quickly and avoided Falco's laser blast, then dipped the nose down. Falco was about to follow when the fighter pulled sharply up in a maneuver meant to throw him off course. Falco pulled up after the fighter but the pilot pulled hard to the left and out of his sight. Falco followed suit and came in on his tail again, firing his lasers. The pilot juked once more and a laser blast flew startlingly inches from the wing of the fighter.

"Damn, this guy is good," Falco said, matching his speed. The pilot brought his ship into a barrel roll, evading the laser blasts that Falco fired at him. Then, the fighter pulled up steeply again and to the right, where more fighters were clustered and would mean Falco would have to break off his attack. "Oh, no you don't," Falco said, shifting his lock to Nova Bombs on the cluster. "Firing," he said and launched. The pilot realized it and banked away as the bomb hit the cluster and obliterated them. Falco stuck to the fighter. "Where you going now?"

Ratner Sly looked over his shoulder at the fighter behind him, juking desperately to avoid his lasers. The Arwing pilot was good, had already destroyed some of his friends. General Pepper's evil would be stopped. Seventeen-year-old Sly had grown up, his parents some of Andross's finest Intelligence officers.

According to briefings, Andross was a loving, peace keeping man who ruled the Lylat System, and the evil General Pepper was taking it over. But from what Sly had seen from Pepper's forces so far, it may have been lies to corrupt more people for Andross's Armies.

Sly banked right as laser blasts raked the area where he had been. He stooped his fighter down into a dive until he was inches from the ground of Bolse, then leveled out and banked left and around a Defense Tower. Sly then banked hard and came around the tower, quickly.

Damn. Where'd he go? Falco looked around. The pilot had disappeared behind a pillar, and Falco flew around it, looking for some sign of the pilot. Suddenly, a lock system blared in his ears. He looked back to see the pilot there. Damn! How the hell did he get back there? Better get the hell away from him, thought Falco as he banked hard left, lasers shooting through the area where he was.

"Bogey on my six," he reported.

The fighter stuck with him tight, and refused to let him have any room to maneuver. More lasers fired at him, but he managed to evade. He switched all shields to his aft and heard the hum of a laser blast striking the shields.

"Damn, he's on me tight," he said.

The fighter fired again, barely missing his fighter. Falco banked left then right, then left again before rolling and diving down, but the fighter mimicked his every move and stuck with him.

Sly looked at his targeting system. The pilot was doing a good job of evading him. Sly had graduated top of the class in his Academy on Venom, but this person apparently was an even match for his skills. Sly held his finger down on the trigger and fired.

The pilot bolted to the left seconds before the lasers sizzled through the space his fighter had occupied only minutes before. Damn, he's good, he thought. Sly followed him, firing all the while.

Falco looked back to see the fighter still behind him, firing the whole while. How the hell am I going to do this, he thought as he juked to the left, then rolled to the right and flew up. He looked back, but still saw the fighter behind him.

"I can't get him off my tail," Falco said.

Sly grimaced, bringing a paw up to wipe sweat off of his forehead. It was matting his fur to his forehead and it annoyed him. He finally got a lock. I will fulfill my duty now, scum, he thought as he let his finger hover over the trigger.

"He's got me," the pilot's voice said on his communicator. "Too bad...I thought that I could find someone..." the rest was lost in static. Sly stopped. His finger was still over the trigger, a lock on his fighter. He blinked. He looked at the enemy, hopelessly outnumbered, and remembered some of the stories.

"Computer, download that fighter's data," he said.

The computer did so in a few seconds.

"What's he waiting for...doesn't he just vape me..." the other pilot wondered aloud. Sly shook his head and pulled up, breaking off the attack. He accelerated away from Bolse. He had some interesting data to read.

Falco looked at the running fighter. What the hell was that all about, he wondered. "He's gone," he said. "He's chickened out. Wonder what that was," he said to himself as Fox appeared on his wing.

"Sorry I'm late," Fox said.

Falco looked at him. "Yeah," he said. "Let's take out some more fighters."

"The core has appeared," Peppy reported. "Slippy and I are preparing to attack. We're threw the main line."

"Attack," Wolf's voice came over the speaker. Leon punched his throttle and accelerated towards the planet. Wolf keyed the main communications system. "Can't let you do that, Star Fox," he said.

"The fun is only beginning," Leon said on a channel to Falco.

"Daddy screamed, REAL good, before he died!" Pigma said.

"Andross's enemy is my enemy!" Andrew cried.

Fox looked up as the four Wolfen fighters roared in at them. "Shit!" He shouted at the top of his lungs. "Just what I need to see! Star Wolf!" He said, staying on Falco's wing. "Slip, Pep; can you hurry that attack on the core up?"

"No," Peppy's reply came. "We're doing it as fast as we can and-shit! Pigma's on me tight!"

"You're gonna end up just like yer friend James!"

Fox felt his anger flare. Red coursed through his vision and he jammed the throttle to full and came in behind Pigma, ignoring the klaxons which screeched warnings of a fighter behind him, attempting a lock. It was probably Wolf, but Fox couldn't give a damn. He locked onto Pigma.

"No! No, no, no, no! NO!" Pigma screamed as laser blasts lanced through his fighter. He saw one of them flash past his armpit and hit his throttle. He screamed as his control console exploded. His fighter was falling towards the ground. He reached for the ejection seat. "My beautiful reward!" He screamed a crying wail as he ejected. Fox fired again and his fighter exploded.

Fox saw the red recede and heard the klaxon screaming at him to do something about Wolf, who had now locked onto him. Peppy was attempting to tell him something and he keyed the communications unit.

"Your father helped me like that too," Peppy said.

Fox looked back to see the Wolfen Fighter was sticking with him, matching his every move, and Fox didn't need to see who it was at the controls of that fighter to know it was Wolf O'Donnel. He rolled to the right and then dipped down and to the left, always keeping an eye on his shield gauge so he could keep as much shield power as possible for when Wolf hit him.

"Slippy's hit!" Slippy cried in dismay, and Fox looked on the scans. Peppy was racing around, trying to help people. Slippy had one on his tail, but Falco was chasing one. Slippy and I are in very big trouble, Fox thought as he rolled up then dove down.

"Damn," Wolf muttered to himself as he matched Fox's every move, but in doing so, he couldn't get a clear shot. "I'll get you, McCloud," he said under his breath. He saw the Med Team go down and pick Pigma up out of his cockpit and leave the vicinity of Bolse Immediately. Wolf shifted his gaze to the core for a moment and got an idea. He turned his ship slight and fired.

The laser blast bounced off the transparisteel and hit Fox's fighter. Wolf fired again and again, holding down on the trigger, hitting Fox's fighter.

Fox rolled down. Wolf was no longer on his tail, but he hadn't been expecting that. He turned around and was on Wolf's tail. "Now it's my turn," Fox said and opened fire. He knew what Wolf would do. He shifted his aim to the top right and, as expected, Wolf flew straight into it.

One shot hit the front, searing off the nose of his fighter. The second hit the back of the fighter, blowing pieces of shrapnel off. The third hit the engines, which exploded in a gush of brilliant green flame.

"No!" Wolf shouted as his fighter started to nose down towards the Bolse Defense Outpost. He tried to pull out but it was no use. He reached for the ejection button, pressed back into his seat by the G-Force of the dive. Finally he pushed it and was flying, the cockpit flying up and away from his fallen fighter.

Fox saw him eject and sagged back in his seat. He had beaten Wolf twice at his own game. Maybe third time would be the lucky and he would actually kill Wolf O'Donnel once and for all. Wolf was probably having those same thoughts.

Fox turned to see that a fighter was still chasing Slippy, and now Falco was being chased. Peppy was attacking the Core as he had been ordered, making sure not to hit the transparisteel or else he knew what would happen. Fox roared in behind the one who had to be Leon Powalski and fired several shots.

"Not yet, the party's just begun," Leon said, pulling up and then soaring down and away.

"Gee, I've been saved by Fox, how swell," Falco said, pulling around and chasing after Leon.

Slippy screamed. "I'm monkey food if I don't leave!" He shouted, pulling away from Andrew Oikonny's fighter. "Good luck!" He said.

"Hah! I have defeated you," Andrew's whiny voice cried.

"Shut up," Fox said, firing a dual laser blast into the rear of Andrew's ship. Andrew ejected as it exploded all around him and crashed into the core of Bolse, taking out two of the defense plasters that kept the bomb shot from reaching its epicenter.

"Damn," muttered Leon Powalski, who had Falco on his tail. "You may have won this time, Star Fox," he threatened. "But we will be back. We will be back," he said, pulling up and into space.

"We won!" Fox shouted.

"Not yet," Peppy said. "We've got fighters coming in," he said as fighters roared in from above, their lasers blazing. "I'll tell Bill and Katt on the ship to fire at the Core while we try to hold off those fighters."

Bill acknowledged the orders and nodded to Katt to do the same as Slippy Toad charged onto the bridge. "Is Star Wolf still there?" he asked breathlessly, moving quickly towards another gunport and throwing the officer out of his chair and taking it.

"No," Bill said. "They shot down three of them and the last one chickened out," he said.

Slippy nodded. "Good. What's our orders from Fox?"

"Attack the Core while they hold off the incoming fighters," Katt said for Bill as she pressed a few switches and yellow-white laser fire streaked down towards the Core of the Bolse Outpost.

Fox flew through the fighters, firing the whole while, trying to destroy whatever fighters he could. They split fast and groups clustered after the members of Star Fox as the lasers lanced down from above. Fox rolled to the right, behind a control tower as he'd seen a fighter do to Falco earlier, and came up behind the cluster.

Before they could register his maneuver, he launched a nova bomb into the fighter which was in the center of the group. The chain reaction that followed blew up the fighters in that cluster. Fox flew through the explosion and came out with smoke and debris clinging to his fighter. He grinned.

"I shook my guys," he said.

Peppy Hare and Falco Lombardi appeared on his wings. "So did we," he said. "But this place is gonna go sky high in a few minutes and we'd better be the hell done in that amount of time," Falco was the one talking, while Peppy simply nodded through his cockpit canopy in agreement to Falco's advice. "So? What do we do?" Falco asked.

Fox keyed his comm. "Rob, launch a nuke at the Core. Make that three. We want all the fighters destroyed, here. We'll be clear. Fire them in one minute," he said. "All right, guys. Let's move out," he said and punched up the accelerator as far as it would go. Peppy and Falco mimicked his maneuver. He pulled up and away.

"Twenty seconds," Rob64 reported to Bill, whose fingers hovered over the nuke launcher. "Fifteen," Rob64 said. "Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven..."

Fox was pulling away. "Six..." Rob64's voice reported.

The Med Teams carrying away the members of Star Wolf to Area 6 heard it over the open communicator channel. "Five..."

Ratner Sly was flying over the surface of Venom when he heard it again. "Four..."

"Three. Two. One. Fire."

Bill pressed the button down three times in rapid succession and they watched the nukes roar in. The fighters realized it and scattered, trying to get clear, but it was too late. The nukes hit dead on in the Core. The Bolse Defense Outpost exploded in a huge flash, which caused everyone on the bridge to look away.

Sly squinted as he saw the explosion from the surface of Venom, and couldn't stop a grin from spreading over his face as he headed for Andross's Fortress.

"We did it! Yeee-haw!" Fox whooped as he raised his arms as high as he could inside the cramped confines of his cockpit. He sobered up quickly, however. "Okay. Now we have to rendezvous with the fleet at Area 6," he said. "Get back in the Hangar Bay."

Slippy, Bill, Katt and Rob were all there to welcome the team back. They received handshakes. A communications officer came up to Fox and held out a communicator. "It's General Pepper," said the officer.

"Fox!" Pepper said before the McCloud could say anything. "We're under attack at Area 6! There's an entire fleet here! They were waiting for us! We need your help! Please hurry!"

The communicator cut.

"Full lightspeed," Fox ordered. "Get the techs to work on Slippy's fighter, and build up a fighter for Katt. Everyone is going this time." He turned to Bill and Katt. "That means you two can fly this time."

Katt and Bill noticeably lightened up.

"Rob, let's get there as fast as we can, huh?" Fox asked as they all strode away except for the techs who were already assembling Katt's fighter from spare parts and repairing Slippy's fighter.

Andross sighed. "Well, at least we have the Cornerian Fleet under out thumbs," he said with a grin as the Cornerian Fleet in front of them fought against his tremendous armies of darkness. "General Pepper, I will have my revenge," he said with a grin.

"Sir," came the voice of a captain behind him. "Sir, Star Wolf failed. They are now receiving medical attention."

Andross nodded. "Thank you," he said.

"We also have a notice of defection from one Lieutenant Ratner Sly. He said: 'I know the truth, parents. Don't try to hide your evil from me any longer. I defect from Andross's Forces. Sincerely, Ratner Sly, Lieutenant Second Class'."

Andross nodded. "Kill him immediately," he ordered. "Prepare my transport for Venom. I would like to be there if Star Fox gets through Area 6. Plus, there are some prisoners I would like to visit..." he said with a grin.

Chapter Ten

The fox looked up slowly, his brown flight jacket tattered and torn, the same went for his once white jeans, which were now spattered with dirt, mud and blood, most of it his own. The sunglasses he wore were the only thing that seemed to be mostly intact, but the left lens was cracked. The fox looked up to see a mouse in front of the cell, looking in at him. The fox had seen to much of this over the past five years to have any hope, but then, he was a legend and a father, so he had to do something.

He slowly stood, as he had done for the last five years in the cells in the bowls of Andross's Dungeons. The mouse was shorter then him, every guard they sent down here was. He grabbed the bars and immediately regretted it as an electric shock went up his arms, but he didn't let go, showing that the pain died down eventually. The mouse swallowed and produced a ring of keys from his pocket and made the fox frown.

"What are you doing?" asked the fox.

The mouse looked up. "Getting you out of here," he said as he opened the gates. "This place will be gone if what I know to happen actually happens," he said. "And I now know the truth of what the 'Emperor' does," he said with a snarl. "The hangar bay has a few experimental Arwings in it, prototypes of your fighters."

"Thank you," said the fox.

Ratner Sly nodded. "Oh, and Sir?" he asked, catching the fox's attention. He turned around. "Your son is a very good pilot. He'll succeed all the way," he said and turned, running down the corridor to his own hangar bay.

James McCloud stretched and ran for all he was worth down the corridor. If what he had heard was right, Andross was coming down to throw him in an incinerator, and he was not willing to get into a situation like that again after five years ago when his fighter had crashed into another one. Somehow, Andross had transported him out of there and kept him prisoner for all these years.

The same way he had done with Peppy Hare the first time, James came around the corner and found the guard there. He kicked him in the stomach before the guard could say anything. James elbowed him in the face and knocked him out, taking his blaster.

James opened the door to the hangar bay and hopped into and Arwing Fighter. It had been five years since he had sat at the controls of it, but it seemed like only yesterday. He hit the controls but saw there were no lasers on the ship, so he couldn't blow the hangar bay doors open as he and Peppy had done five years ago.

He hit the repulsorlifts and turned to Arwing so it faced a shaft which led into the great Andross's Bio Mutation Core. Andross had tried to corrupt him into one of his own fighters at one time, but James had never given in, even when Leon had tortured him to the point of death.

James flew into the shaft and turned the corners.

Fox McCloud, Peppy Hare, Slippy Toad, Falco Lombardi, Bill Gray and Katt Monroe all got into their fighters and hit the repulsorlifts. Fox turned his fighter. "I'm hot. Launching," he said and hit the launch button, flying out into space of Area 6 and saw the devastation in front of him. The Cornerian Fleet was still fighting against Andross's Forces. There was a patrol in front of Fox and his group.

"Caiman here, no sign of any problems," said a gruff voice.

"Nice try," Falco said and fired a laser blast, followed by a chorus of laser blasts from all the fighters, eliminating Commander Caiman's patrol.

"Do you copy? Emergency maneuvers!" Caiman shouted.

"Too late," Falco said as they flew in and engaged. "Game over, pal," he said.

Fox looked at his controls. "Fighters coming in fast," he reported. No sooner were the words out of his mouth when laser blasts from the incoming fighters struck down towards the Star Fox Team and its assistance. They flew by Cornerian Cruisers, firing their own lasers at the incoming enemy fighters, when the Androssian Cruisers came into view. "Damn, there's a lot of them."

"This is Falco, and I've got four of them on my tail," Falco said, flying in front of Fox, shortly followed by four fighters. Fox came in behind them. "Am I getting slow?" Falco asked, as if it were a rhetorical question. Fox fired eight shots with his hyperlasers and fired over and over.

The fighters exploded. "Mind your own business, Fox," Falco replied. Fox felt like scoffing at him, but decided against it as he flew on. He rolled underneath a Cornerian Cruiser and up above an Androssian Cruiser. Fox skimmed along at the ceiling level of the cruiser and fired, moving to the left and right blasting at the guns that shot at him.

Fox came up on his Y Axis and flew away from the cruiser and found himself facing a legion of Androssian Cruisers, which were deploying fighters and launching weapons. "Oh, shit..." he whispered as he nosed his fighter down to fly beneath them, but the fighters came after him.

"Split up and meet when you get to Venom," Fox said.

A chorus of "copy's" came over the communicator as Fox flew down. Laser fire raked the area and he juked left and right to avoid getting blown to shreds.

"Sir," said a lieutenant from the crew pit. "We're launching the fighters to attack the fighter squadron which had just arrived, identified as Star Fox," the lieutenant reported to Admiral Andy, who stood with General Tiger on the main bridge, looking out the viewport.

"Set up defense mechanisms and hold sector fire, I don't want anything to get through," Andy ordered and the lieutenant saluted and carried out his orders.

Bill Gray piloted his ship, the Gray1, through all the fighters of Venom's Air Force. "Damn," he said in his punkish voice. "Looks like we've got more of them inbound," he said looking at his radar.

Suddenly, there was a series of shots that were not from Star Fox, Katt or the Great Fox. Bill looked back to see Cornerian Air Force Fighters flying in. "This is Captain Puncher Doggy, Cornerian Air Force. We're here to give you a helping hand, guys," he said.

Bill looked forward again, feeling a bit bolder and more confident. "Let's take the new ball game to Andross," Bill said.

Puncher Doggy pulled back on the throttle and flew over the laser blasts of other fighters. "Danny, stay with me," he said to Danny "Bull" Dozer, who was coming along on his wing. Puncher flew in low along one of the cruisers. "Okay, let's plow the road," he said and held the trigger button down, firing at the guns.

"Yee-haw!" Dozer said as he flew along beside Puncher. He fired another shot and hit the Sentry Gun, blowing it to pieces. Puncher and Dozer pulled up and away from the cruiser as Cornerian Attack Frigates came in, their guns blazing as they fired at the other ships. "Looks like we may get the upper hand here, Captain," Dozer said.

"Maybe," Puncher said as they flew straight through a wing of fighters. "Cut back and take out those fighters with me, Danny," he said and they both pulled to a hard right and rounded so they were chasing the fighters. "Fire nova bombs," he ordered and they each fired one.

The fighters exploded and they flew through the explosion. Dozer whooped as they curved around and were back in the action. "Fox, this is Puncher. Where are you?"

"I'm in the lead," Fox said, flying left to right to avoid hitting anything or being hit by the same things. "I'm in the middle of the damned fleet."

"They're through the first line!" Shouted the voice of the alleged Commander Caiman.

A new voice responded, one which was gruff but obviously spoken by an ape, no other animal. "Open fire, Second Line Defenses," the voice said. "Prepare to feel the wrath of Andross, invaders!"

"Oh shit..."

Lasers erupted all around Fox.

General Pepper watched the battle in dismay as Star Fox tried to assist. "Get more of our fighters out there, Captain," he said to a bridge commander who nodded and carried out his orders. "We have to by those fighters more time. Concentrate all fire on the cruisers and let the fighters handle each other."

"Yes, Sir," the captain affirmated.

Falco and Slippy were flying side by side through the fighters. Slippy pressed a switch in his cockpit and saw the Bionic Eye come down. "Okay," he said. "We're about two clicks out from Venom. We're almost there."

"Good," Falco said. "I'll relay that to the others."

Ratner Sly got inside his fighter and started running through the startup checklists. He had no intentions of joining the battle in the stars for Andross' Side. Sly had been lied to all of his life, and the lies were going to end now. He was going to destroy as many of Andross's Forces to help Star Fox as he could.

He blasted out of the hangar bay and flew up towards the stars.

"Sir, they're still coming, and they have more assistance," the lieutenant from the crew pit shouted up to Tiger and Andy. Tiger looked at Andy. "Orders, Sir?" the lieutenant asked, and Andy nodded.

"Tell the gunners to aim for anything that moves."

"Yes, Sir," the lieutenant replied.

Tiger looked confused. "Including our own?"

"It's a plan. Watch."

Fox barrel rolled hard to the right as lasers from every ship around him tracked him. He accelerated, braked, cut, flew, rolled, pulled up, went down and did everything he could to evade the hits.

"They're through the second line!" Shouted the voice of Commander Caiman. Another laser blasts rocked Fox's shields and sent him spinning. He regained control under one of the cruisers.

"Did we get 'em?" asked one of the Fleet Commanders.

Fox came up firing, raking the gun ports with lasers. He saw them explode and people flew out into space.

"Not yet, Sir," Caiman replied.

Puncher Doggy and Danny "Bull" Dozer flew along side by side. They could see Fox McCloud's fighter ahead of them. They rolled carefully and flew, firing the whole while at fighters that were aiming to take them down.

"Damn," Puncher said. "General Pepper this is Captain Puncher Doggy," he said, keying his communicator. "We need more cover from the cruisers. They're picking our fighters down really fast."

"Affirmative, Captain," came Pepper's voice. "We're going to start covering...now!"

Laser fire raked down and a tremendous explosion destroyed one of the Androssian Cruisers. Three more of the cruisers exploded, making the fleet a valley of fire, which Fox, Puncher and Dozer flew straight through.

"You okay, Fox?" Puncher asked.

"I'm a little toasty, but I'm still functional."

Peppy Hare, Bill Gray and Katt Monroe flew along, brining up the rear. Peppy pressed a switch and he accelerated. Katt and Bill followed suit quickly as they came into formation with Falco and Slippy. "Hey, guys," said Bill as they did so.

"Nice of you to drop by," Falco said. "Fox and the others are up ahead. Rob is opening fire with the ship right now."

Yellow-white lasers flew down and a cruiser exploded. "Great Fox will cover you," Rob64's voice droned.

Sly opened up with his laser batteries and hit the cruiser from behind. He fired all his missiles at the bridge and was rewarded with a bright explosion. He flew in at a squad of fighters, firing his lasers. They scattered by too late as he fired the missiles. They exploded as Sly flew out from the drifting cruiser which he had destroyed.

Fox whooped. As the others landed in on his wings, they came through the end of the fleet. "The last line has been breached!" Shouted the voice of Commander Caiman. He sounded desperate.

"Damn! Deploy it now!" Shouted the admiral.

"Oh no!" Falco cried. "Not an IT! I don't like Its! Its are scary! Its are mean! It's evil....It's dead meat, PAL!"

Something happened to the space in front of them. A star flickered in and out of existence, and Fox gaped as a huge space craft appeared in front of them. "This one's different..." Slippy said.

"No shit, Sherlock," Falco mocked.

"Keep digging Watson," Slippy shot back.

"Shut up!" Peppy shouted.

"Spread out!" Puncher Doggy cried as the thing opened up and let loose a hail of fighters at them. Fox rolled hard to the right and fired a nova bomb, taking down four of the fighters. "Get us some data analysis on that thing, Toad!" Puncher said.

"Right," Slippy said. "Data analysis complete! Here it comes!" He said.

Fox looked at it. It had a very high shield gauge, but its weakness was when it opened up and revealed the core. "When it opens shoot at the core with everything you have," Fox ordered.

The chorus of "copy"s was even worse then normal.

"Oh SHIT!" A voice shouted and Fox saw it just in time to avoid. The huge radiation bomb laser blast shot out of the robot. Fox rolled down at just the right time, as did Puncher, Falco, Slippy, Peppy, Bill, Katt and Dozer avoided, but an Androssian Cruiser got in the way. It exploded immediately, the Core Shot kept on going. It hit another Androssian, then a Cornerian.

It continued to do this until it disappeared. It had destroyed eight Androssian Cruisers and three Cornerian Cruisers. "Whoa, shit is right..." Fox said, but he then realized the Core was open. "Fire all weapons!"

The bombs and the lasers streaked in and hit the Core. The thing made a strange sound.

"Get past it fast!" Peppy shouted. "It's gonna blow!"

They flew on past it just as it exploded. The shockwave hit them and Fox flew forward, his harness cutting his skin as his head hit the cockpit canopy. Every fighter momentarily spun out of control.

"That's it," Slippy shouted. "We DID it!"

A series of whoops and cheers came from the cruisers, Cornerian Fighters, and Star Fox alike as the Androssian Fleet jumped to lightspeed. "Okay," Fox said. "This is strictly a Star Fox mission from here. Puncher, Dozer, thanks for you help. Go back to the Fleet," he said.

"Will do," Puncher said.

"Good luck," Dozer chimed in as they broke off.

Bill came in on Fox's wing. "Sure you don't need any help?"

"Yes," Fox said. "Go to the fleet. Wait on Corneria for us. Katt, you go too," he said. "We'll tell them of your actions when we return."

"You have a communication from General Pepper," said Slippy as Bill and Katt bid farewell and flew back towards the battered Cornerian Fleet.

"This is Fox," Fox said.

"Fox, it's almost over! We are in your debt! Come back in one piece," Pepper said. Fox noticed that Pepper had a lollypop sticking out of his mouth. Pepper grinned.

"Will do, Sir," Fox said, restraining the urge to laugh.

Chapter Eleven

Star Fox flew through the atmosphere, which was filled with muddy brown clouds, and the Bio Activity used here for the last few years had destroyed what little life this planet had had. Venom was a horrible place, a barren, deserted planet. Andross had worked here for years since he had been exiled to this planet for trying to destroy his own home planet.

Fox squinted as he saw the shaft where the life reading that had to be Andross was. "Okay," he said. "Let's do this. Say your prayers, Andross," Fox said as they roared in. "All range mode," he ordered, flicking the switch as he did so. He could see the opening.

"Andross is gonna get it," Falco said.

"Time to die," Peppy hissed.

"Lemme at 'em, lemme at 'em!" Slippy shouted.

"Can't let you do that, Star Fox," a cold, commanding voice said over the communicator and Fox looked over to see four Kaywing Fighters roaring in towards them. This was the third time.

"Let's see how you handle our new ships," Leon said.

"That reward's as good as mine!" Pigma squealed.

"We'll make sure you never reach Andross!" Andrew chimed in as Star Wolf started to attack. They had to belay their attack on Andross to take care of Wolf, and that was going to be difficult.

"You're good, but I'm good, better and best!" Wolf chuckled as he settled in behind Fox. Fox curved to the right and came around a tower, but Wolf staid with him every inch of the way. "Trying to lose me? Not going to be that easy."

"Annoying bird," said Leon. Falco was right behind him, blasting away. "I am the great Leon!"

At least Falco was doing well.

"Stick to the pond, froggy!" Andrew said as he fired on Slippy, who banked left and right, flying with determination Fox never knew had existed in Slippy before.

"You betrayed us, Pigma," Peppy said as he flew in behind Dengar. "And you're gonna pay."

"Looks like you're the only one doing well, Wolf," Fox said.

"No problem. I will eliminate you and the team will fall apart without their fearless leader." Wolf cackled as he fired another shot which Fox managed to avoid, but he couldn't keep this up forever.

Falco fired several laser blasts, but somehow, Leon managed to juke and evade every shot he fired. Falco stuck right with him on a turn around one of the towers, and was reminded of the fighter on Bolse who had outsmarted him, had him in his sights...but let him live.

Concentrate on Leon or you're gonna die, he thought angrily to himself and once more tried to get a lock on Leon, but also the same as before, nothing happened. They must have some kind of lock evasion system built into that damned fighter, he deducted.

"I can't get a lock," Falco said.

"Help!" Slippy cried and Falco looked to see Andross was locking on. Falco accelerated away from Leon, almost immediately realizing it was a mistake, but he had to help. Slippy screamed as the laser blasts arced towards him.

"You're dead meat, pal!" Falco said and fired a series of shots into Andrew's ship.

"Uncle Andross!" Andrew screamed as his fighter careened into the ground, but not before the young ape ejected from it. Falco whooped as he flew in on Slippy's wing. He looked to see Slippy grinning.

"Nice shot," he said.

Peppy tried to lock onto Pigma Dengar, but he couldn't lock. Falco was right. You can't lock onto these bastards. Oh well, I'll just take them out the old fashioned way. Say your prayers. You'll wish you never turned against us you fat, ugly pig!

Peppy fired his guns, raking them around Pigma, who barrel rolled and deflected the shots. Damn! They have the same roll/deflect system equipped into Arwings! This is going to be tricky!

Fox swallowed. What the hell am I going to do? Wolf has a far better craft then me, there's practically nothing I can do about it. Unless...Fox slowly edged on the brakes, bringing Wolf in closer. "Prepare to die, McCloud," Wolf snarled.

"Oh yeah?" Fox hit the brakes and saw Wolf's fighter fly right beneath him. Fox targeted with his lasers as Wolf cried out in dismay. "Eat lasers, asshole!" Fox fired and Wolf ejected as his Kaywing Fighter exploded beneath him.

"Fox, this is Peppy. Leon and Pigma are bugging out," he said.

Fox, Falco, Slippy and Peppy whooped for joy as they heard the news. Fox grinned.

Wolf O'Donnel gasped for breath as he rolled over on the ground, pulling his parachute off. He rolled onto his back and spat a globule of blood as he watched the Arwings fly overhead, as Leon and Pigma ran away, leaving Andrew and Wolf on the ground.

"Damn...you, Star...Fox..." Wolf uttered as he climbed to his feet and pulled out his blaster, aiming for the Arwings. "Straight...to hell..." he finished as he fired at the Arwings, trying a last vain attempt to take them down, or to take down his rival, Fox.

Wolf flopped back down on the ground and crawled away, shortly joined by Andrew. "Come on," Andrew said, helping Wolf. "There's a ship bay on the other side of this planet. If we make good time we can get there. I told Leon and Pigma to head there and wait for us."

"Good...I guess..." Wolf uttered.

Fox looked down at the blazing wreckage of the two Kaywing Fighters. He then looked back up at the shaft. "I'll go it alone from here," he said, and before anyone could do anything, he flew into the shaft, which closed behind him. He heard the communicator scream in Slippy's voice:

"Fox!"

Fox flew down the shaft. It went straight for a short while, but then there was a split. One way was left, the other was right. One of which was the faster way to Andross. Fox hugged the wall to the left and tightly turned the corner, half-turning the Arwing into a kick spin, when the communicator sparked again.

"Ah, the son of James McCloud," came the booming, intimidating voice of the evil Lord Andross. Fox turned his fighter to the left. "Keep coming. Those tin cans are no match for me," he continued. Fox could see a huge chamber in front of him. "You'll die, just like your father."

"Shut up you ugly bastard," Fox breathed as he came into the big chamber and hit the repulsorlifts. There was something huge in front of him, with two other parts. It came into the light. A huge head with two hands, and it was the face of Andross.

And it was laughing.

God, was it laughing.

"Prepare to die, McCloud," Andross said and raised one of his hands and swatted at Fox. Fox shouted in dismay and rolled to the right, then to the left as he swatted at him with his other hand.

"Computer! Get me a weakness report!"

The computer sputtered the information. Apparently, there were two ports on his hands. The way to get him stunned, was shoot him in the eyes then hit the ports on his hands. So in other words, aim for the eyes, asshole! Fox fired several concentrated laser blasts and hit Andross dead-on in the eyeball.

Andross cried out in agony and threw his hands up. Fox could see the ports. They were pinkish-red things in the palms of Andross' hands. Fox fired several laser blasts and one of them exploded.

Fox's ship rocked as Andross screamed in agony again, causing an atomic wind to fly over Fox's fighter. "Damn!" Fox said, putting the shields to full front as he aimed for the other eye. The eye he had hit was now red, and it was going to stay that way as long as he kept up this work.

Instead of firing a laser at this eye, he fired a nova bomb. Andross screamed and his hand struck Fox's ship, knocking a wing off his fighter and sending him spinning. Fox got control and rolled up on his port wing, the one still intact, and launched another nova bomb into the port.

Andross looked menacingly at Fox.

Now, aim for the face! Fox opened fire with lasers and nova bombs and Andross screamed, the skin on his face melting and slurring in all different directions. Fox watched, mortified and disgusted, as all the skin came off his face in bundles of melted sludge.

When it was gone, all that was there was a brain with two eyeballs. "Only I have the brains to rule Lylat!" Andross's voice reverberated around the walls.

"So, Andross. You show your true form," Fox said and switched to all range mode.

Suddenly, two things were chasing him. It took him a few moments to realize they were Andross's eyeballs. Oh, gross, he thought as he rolled to the right and threw the Arwing into a kickspin which turned him to face the eyeballs, out on long stems to attack him. He engaged the laser lock system and painted one with laser fire.

There was a scream of pain and anger and the eyeball exploded into flames. Fox rolled to the left to avoid it, but lost sight of the other eyeball. Where'd it go, he thought. Suddenly, something hit the side of the ship and buckled the cockpit inward. Fox screamed as his left leg broke with a wet snap.

A crimson fury came over Fox again and he rolled to the left, ramming the eyeball. Andross screamed as Fox repeated the maneuver again and again. Finally, an explosion came. It rocked him away and he rolled until he came back up.

He could feel the wetness of blood on his broken leg as he turned to Andross, or the brain, was more like it. "You'll pay for that, McCloud," Andross said and was suddenly coming at him. Fox's eyes narrowed and he pulled the laser trigger.

"Computer, weakness!"

Okay. The something-something-bellum, located on the bottom of the brain. So all I do, is fly under and aim for the big grey thing. No problemo...I hope, he thought as he dipped down beneath the line of sight of the giant brain which was the evil Lord Andross.

Fox came up on his left wing, or what was left of it, and fired repeatedly into the grey matter. The brain started to distort in front of his eyes and then it disappeared. What the hell, Fox looked at the radar and saw it had materialized behind him.

He threw the fighter into a kickspin and came up firing. There was a huge explosion, and Andross's face returned. "If I go down, I'm taking you with me!" he shouted, and everything went white.

Fox screamed for all he was worth.

"Never give up, son," came a deep voice, and Fox looked at the communicator to see a familiar face there. The sunglasses with one cracked lens, and the face of the fox in front of him.

"Father?" Fox breathed.

As the white glow faded, explosions rocked the area. Smoke was everywhere and fire blazed from all around. Despite the incredible pain that Fox was feeling, he focussed his vision on the shape in front of him. An Arwing fighter, a very new-looking model.

"Follow me, Fox," James McCloud said and Fox hit the accelerators and came up close to the Arwing. "Stay tight on the turns. Don't lose sight of me, okay?" James asked. Fox didn't acknowledge, but did as ordered. There was a turn and Fox managed to stay tight, but the pain in his leg was starting to hurt more then it had before.

"Father, I..." Fox started.

"Later," James replied as he turned left. Fox did quickly, and the fire was starting to nibble around the sides of the cockpit. "Never give up. Trust your instincts," James said as they turned another corner. Fox looked up from the sensor screens and saw the end of the shaft, open once more.

Fox could see the fire clearly now and tried to accelerate further, but nothing happened. "You've become so strong," James said. "I'm proud, Fox," he said as he flew out. Fox came out after, followed by a fireball immediately afterward.

"Yee-haw!" Fox screamed as he came in on James's wing. The entire complex, empire and all, exploded with a vermillien flash behind the. "We did it! We killed Andross!" Fox whooped, the pain in his leg forgotten.

"That, we did," James said. "Key in a course for the ship, Fox. We're going home."

Peppy sighed. As they waited for the Great Fox to arrive from the Area 6 Battle Zone, he heard the sparks and fizzes from the communications unit. His sensor board jumped to life with two signals, both were Arwings. They came up between Peppy, Slippy and Falco.

"Fox! You're okay!" Peppy exclaimed.

"Yeah," Fox said distractedly.

Rob64's voice came over the communicator before anything else could be exchanged. "Come into the hangar bay."

Three medics helped Fox down from his fighter and onto a waiting stretcher. Falco, Slippy and Peppy stood beside it as the last Arwing came in, and landed in a slot which Bill had used during his time aboard the shop.

The cockpit canopy opened with a hiss of steam, which clouded their vision for a moment. When it cleared, there was a fox standing there, his red fur marked by his tattered clothes, his shades, and the white streak that ran from the top of his forehead to the end of his nose.

"James?" Peppy asked, uncertain.

James McCloud shrugged. "Depends on how you look at it. If you mean the same James as five years ago, then you've got yourself a ballgame, Peppy," he said with a grin as he enveloped his friend in a warm hug.

"The James McCloud?" Slippy and Falco both asked at the same time, and James nodded.

"You must be the new team," James said, extending his paw. "Yes, I am James McCloud. Where's Fox?" he asked, his tone suddenly dead serious. Slippy and Falco parted for the stretcher to show, with Fox sitting up on it. There was a cast wrapped around his left leg, and he was looking at James with tears in his eyes. "Fox?" James asked. He looked exactly like him.

Father?" Fox asked as the tears started to roll down his cheeks. James wrapped his arms around his son and hugged him, both of them laughing with joy. Fox pulled away first. "I thought you were dead."

James tried to look serious. "You think I'd let you have that luxury?"

"Shut up," Fox said with a grin and hugged his father again.

James McCloud wasn't dead.

He was very, very much alive.

Epilogue

The streets of Corneria were cluttered with citizens, throwing parties and cheering. Families rejoiced, friends hugged one another, as word spread of Star Fox's success. The jets of the Cornerian Air Force flew by overhead, leaving fireworks to explode in the skies. The cities were amuck with people cheering and celebrating the death of the hated Andross. Then, something huge and white appeared in the sky. It wore the symbol of the Star Fox team, and was marked as the Great Fox. The citizens cheered even louder as it came closer to the ground.

From his office window, General Pepper of the Cornerian Army watched the proceedings, a sense of pride in him as his two top pilots, Puncher Doggy and Danny "Bull" Dozer stood watching as well. They had neglected to fly, for they had wanted to see their friends, as had Bill Gray and Katt Monroe. Star McCloud and Fara Phoenix were waiting with Gray and Monroe at the reception ceremony where the Star Fox team would be commended for a job well done, paid, rewarded and thanked. The huge massive ship's hangar bay suddenly opened, and five Arwing Fighters flew out.

Five? Wasn't it four? Falco, Slippy, Peppy, Fox...

The people cheered as the Arwings flew on by and headed for the roof of the tower Pepper was in. He nodded. The roof, where the Arwings would land, was where the reception committee was, so the entire city could watch the congratulations of the Star Fox team. Pepper turned to Puncher and Dozer and nodded again. As three, they all left and clanked up the few stairs to the roof.

When they arrived, the Cornerian Forces there were all at attention, saluting Dozer, Doggy and Pepper as they went to the front of the committee. Applause from the entire city reached his ears as Puncher went to the front, where everyone was sitting behind him. The fifth Arwing landed and the cockpits started to open.

The last one didn't open. Odd, thought Pepper. The applause and the cheers increased ten fold as Slippy Toad, Peppy Hare, Falco Lombardi and Fox McCloud climbed down out of the ship. Pepper could see Star McCloud and Fara Phoenix were happy to see that Fox had come back in one piece. Pepper looked at his own foster daughter, Avia Flyr, who was staring at Falco. Pepper smiled as the team walked up, the trumpets from Pepper's Military Musicians ringing out as a hush fell over the city.

They stepped in front of him and Pepper took his eyes off the unopened Arwing and the crowds of Cornerians. "Star Fox," Pepper said. "We owe you a great debt of gratitude. Eight years ago," Pepper said, looking down at his speech. "Andross turned against his home planet, his homeworld, and orphaned many.

"Justice had to be brought down, and Andross was exiled to Venom. He threatened the Lylat System yet again, and you have saved us all," Pepper said, beaming at the people. "Therefore, I now give you your pay," he said, holding out a huge check which was handed to him. His eyes widened at the price, and there were laughs from the Cornerians around him. "Oh dear," he said aloud. "This is one steep bill. But, for the safety of so many, it was worth it.

"Star Fox," he continued, once more addressing the whole team as Fox accepted the check and they all held it, posing for the cameras of the media. Pepper cleared his throat and they looked at him again. "We are in your debt, as I stated earlier," he said. "I would be honored to have you as part of the Cornerian Army."

Fox shook his head. "Oh, no, Sir," he said. "We prefer to do things our own way. But, I would like to say something," he said, turning to face the people of Corneria. "You were all worth saving. Thank you all for coming, and you have my never ending service," he said and the cheers erupted. He turned back to Pepper and they silenced. "And, General? We have something for you. Star, would you come up here, and Fara too?" he asked.

Fara and Star looked at one another and came up. Star took one of her brother's hands as Fara took her boyfriend's other. Fox smiled at them, then turned serious and looked at Pepper. "I know you feel responsible for my father's death," he said, and General Pepper looked at the ground. "Which is why, it is my great honor, to produce..."

The cockpit snapped open and steam billowed out, set up by the Star Fox team to momentarily blind sight of the pilot. There was a light thud and when it cleared, a fox was standing there. Everyone around gasped. His crisp brown flight jacket with the name: 'JAMES' stenciled on it, and his blue jeans and black pants. His shades hid what everyone knew to be clear blue eyes, his red fur slightly darker then Fox's, except for the white streak.

"General," said James McCloud stepping forward. He turned to Star. "Hello, Star," he said to his daughter. "Fox," he said. "My children." He enveloped them both in a hug and Star looked more surprised then ever. Fox grinned at her and they both hugged her in turn again. James shook Fara's hand and then turned back to Pepper. "To hell with the handshake and the formalities, General," he said and hugged his friend. "How's it going? Still keeping things together without me?"

Pepper grinned, wiping tears from his eyes. He turned to the people of Corneria. "My people, friends," he said. "It has been sometime since this man disappeared," he said. "But it is my great honor, to produce Fox and Star McCloud's father: James McCloud."

Applause erupted, more thunderous then before. Everyone stood, as James McCloud made an actor-like bow before the audience. "Pleased to make your acquaintance," he said in his best gentlemanly voice, and stood. His bass voice reverberated through the towers of the city. "Thank you, General," he said.

"I thought you were dead," Pepper said.

James grinned. "You're not that lucky."

Fox McCloud came up and stood between the two of them, as the Star Fox team, along with Bill Gray, Katt Monroe, Star McCloud and Fara Phoenix all stood there to the applause of the entire city.

"I waited five years to see you all again," James said. "But you've all changed." The audience paused, and James grinned. "For the better? I'm not sure, but I'll tell you all tomorrow," he said with a grin as the laughter mixed with the applause.

Pepper turned to them. "We have suites in the Cornerian Palace Hotel waiting for you," he said. "It's on us. And, there's some people who wanted to see you."

Puncher Doggy and Danny "Bull" Dozer came up. "Puncher!" Fox exclaimed and pulled his friend into a back slapping hug as there were handshakes, back claps, and hugs all around.

"Thank you, Fox," Puncher said for both of them. "For saving us all."

Fox grinned. "Oh, it's my pleasure," he said as he shifted on his crutches. He turned to Fara, smiling down at her. "I missed you, too," he said as she wrapped her hands around his neck and clasped them at the back.

"I told you not to burn your tail," she said, looking at his leg.

"I didn't. That's a broken leg. There's a difference," Fox said with a lopsided grin.

"Shut up," Fara said and kissed him.

"I love touching moments like these," Bill said, wiping a fake tear from his eye. Fox pulled away and looked at him menacingly. Bill raised his hands in mock surrender and grinned at his friend. "Glad I could help, buddy," he said as Katt slipped up to his side and took his paw in hers.

"Me too," she said, shoving him to the side. "I'm glad I could help."

Fox nodded and turned back to Fara. Bill rolled his eyes and turned to James. "Long time, no see, Mr. McCloud," he said as he shook James's hand. "So, what took you so long? To help Fox I mean?"

"Shut your hole," James said with a friendly grin.

Falco Lombardi gave Slippy a friendly noogie. "We did it, Slip-shot!" he said with a broad grin. He stopped as he felt a feather light touch on his shoulder. He turned and found himself looking at an attractive purple hawk. She extended her wing.

"Hello," she said. "I'm Avia Flyr."

Falco nodded as he shook her wing. "General Pepper's daughter," he said. "I hear you're a pretty good pilot."

"I am," Avia said with a smile. "At least better then you."

Falco grinned at her. "We'll have to see about that Ms. Flyr. We really will have to see."

To be Continued...