When Worlds Collide: Part II: Fallen Heroes
By: Christopher S. (a.k.a. Captain CJS and John Robertson)
Note: It is suggested you know what the Star Fox game is about before you read this and that you also read Part 1: Macbeth’s Fall before reading this story: You may not understand if you don’t read Part 1. Also I suggest you read my glossary first at the bottom of this story to understand some of the terms I used. Also please forgive me for any typos in this story. I have done my best to weed them out. Also this book is very long- with the glossary it is 21 pages, without it is only 17 (although please still do read this- it is a quick and good read). Reading the glossary is not imperative to you understanding this story and some of the Glossary uses words that are not said in this story but will be said in the future (like the entire Earth and Lylatian Government sections)
AND NOW WITHOUT FURTHER ADU, I BRING YOU MAY PROUDEST ACHEIVMENT YET IN FAN FIC (and my 2nd Fan Fic), THE SEQUEL TO MACBETH"S FALL- FALLEN HEROES!
Captain John Robertson, Cornerian Air Force, sat in his office on Corneria, looking out of the large bay windows before him at the bustling metropolis below called Corneria City. Just sixteen hours ago his best friend, 1st Lieutenant Carl Jamanson, had become one of the many officers on the KIA lists. John always thought himself to be the resilient type ever since the death of his parents but now he realized just how easily he could get hurt, emotionally. He had cried the entire first two hours of the twelve-hour trip to Corneria. He still couldn’t quite…believe… his friend was dead. He couldn’t forget the look in his friend’s eyes when he turned his head to him in the last moments of his life.
When Husky, Bulldog, Talon, and Star Fox squadrons had returned from their loss at Macbeth the Cornerian Air Force had confiscated their ships for repairs and to scan the sensor logs. They needed to scan the sensor logs because Cornerian law required that an official report be made for each "downing" of an aircraft in service of the Cornerians to determine just what and who shot down the aircraft. According to Cornerian Intelligence’s report on the downing of Carl’s ship it was shot down due to the fact that he hadn’t yet put any shield strength to the back quadrant of his ship and it only took one hit from Leon in that quadrant to kill him. Robertson blamed himself for Jamanson’s death, thinking that if he had ordered the teams to stabilize their shields just a little bit earlier Jamanson (and some of the other dead and captured pilots- like his friends Lila and O’Brien) would still be alive. Robertson was pondering all of this when he heard his R.A.B (Room Admittance Bell) sound.
"Come in," he said. It was Fox. It looked as if he had been having a hard time with Falco’s capture on Macbeth just like John was having trouble with his loss. Fox’s fur on his face was matted together from water where you’d expect tears to fall when crying. However when he spoke his voice was as clear and normal as ever.
"May I come in, sir?" Fox asked. Robertson nodded and Fox took a seat at his desk. "I just thought I’d stop by to talk," he continued. "So are you ok, John?" This was the first time Fox had called Robertson by his first name.
"I was going to ask the same thing of you. I guess I’m ok. I’m not looking forward to our meeting with Pepper. He’s going to flip his lid when he finds out how many pilots we lost. I heard no one has told him about the fact that we almost lost ten pilots."
"No one has told him we lost one pilot!" Fox said, almost grimacing thinking of the lecture that awaited them in ten minutes. "Everyone is avoiding telling him so that we’ll have to tell him- they don’t wanna be around when the shit hits the fan. So," Fox said, changing the subject to something not about their dead and/or captured friends and the General, "why do you hate mercenaries so much?" Fox inquired, tilting his head sideways. He had not yet heard about John’s sad story.
"A mercenary killed my parents," John responded so evenly you could tell the only reason he was calm was from years of practice not to respond wrongly (as in crying and screaming) to Fox’s question. Fox’s face suddenly got more serious than before. John began telling his story. "When I was just a kit I learned how to fly an Arwing in a simulator. When I was ten Venom took over Fortuna, where I lived. My parents had lots of money and used almost all of it to start a small rebel movement on Fortuna. When I was 13 Star Wolf’s Leon came to my house, seized my parents and me and…" John stopped not being able to go any further.
"I think I get the idea, knowing Leon," Fox said letting John know he didn’t have to get detailed. "I know the rest of your story anyway," Fox said.
"You see this," John said pointing to his ear. Fox looked at the Captains right ear. At first glance it looked just like his ear only with white fur, Fox thought, but on closer inspection Fox noticed a large scar and a tear on his ear.
0
"Leon?" Fox asked. John only nodded.
"Anyway," John said, recovering his composure, "another reason I dislike Mercenary teams is because you work for money."
"Don’t you work for money," Fox interjected before he could continue.
"It’s not the same"
"Is it?" Fox snapped back. "We have to make a living somehow."
Both Fox and John calmed down and made small talk for another fifteen minutes, carefully avoiding talking about the battle at Macbeth.
After a time the PA sounded loudly, "Mr. Robertson, Mr. McCloud, would you please report to Debriefing room 144. You are late." Fox looked at his chronowatch to only confirm what the PA had just said; they were ten minutes late.
"We better hurry. Pepper’s gonna be even more mad now," Fox said. The two exited the office and headed for room 144 where all of the surviving people from Husky, Bulldog, Star Fox, and Talon squadrons were waiting.
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"What took you so long!?" Pepper said obviously upset McCloud and Robertson were late.
"Sorry, General," McCloud said, "we just lost track of time."
"Very well," said Pepper, willing to forgive. "Take a seat." The remaining members of the squadrons sat down in their chairs. The debriefing began. After fifteen minutes the General was informed on the situation and how many people they lost. After a long lecture from Pepper, Robertson signaled Fox to ask if they could send a rescue mission to Macbeth.
"Sir," Fox began, "I’d like to ask permission to send a rescue team to Macbeth so we can try and rescue Falco and O’Brien."
"Permission denied, Fox, we need every pilot available to defend the rest of our nation. Anyway, protocol states that we shouldn’t send in any marine rescue teams until we’re sure there still alive. It’s no use risking peoples lives just to find out when you arrive that Falco and O’Brien are dead."
"Sir," Robertson said, "with all due respect I object. If we can rescue O’Brien and Falco then we’d have two more pilots to help defend Corneria!"
"Stay out of it Captain, you have a personal vendetta here," the General said. "And so do you Fox. I’m sorry but we can’t rescue them."
"Sir," Fox cut in, "if we don’t rescue them now there as good as dead!"
"Fox I’m sorry but…" Fox nodded his head in cue. The Star Fox team walked out of the briefing room cutting off Pepper in mid-sentence. On their way out Peppy told Pepper just where he could stick his "protocol." Captain Robertson started to get up but was stopped by the next words Pepper said. "If you leave for Macbeth with them, which I suspect that’s what they’re doing, then you won’t be an officer when you come back."
"I’m sorry sir," Robertson said as he walked out of the room leaving the general shocked by his disobedience.
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The Star Fox team arrived at the docking bay at Corneria Air Force HQ where their fighters were parked. They had just started to suit up in their gear (team jackets, communication devices, etc.) When the Captain walked in.
"Mind if I join you guys?" he asked.
"Not at all. We could use a fourth pilot anyway," Fox said. "Did the General give you permission to come with us?"
"No," John said matter-of-factly. "I’ll be ok though, I’ve gotten out of worse trouble with the general."
"I’m not so sure. You’re a pretty loyal grunt," Peppy said, smiling as he used the word grunt. John looked around himself looking for any so-called grunts and then said, "Are you talkin’ to me?" The overused cliché made the team chuckle. Robertson began to suit up. By the time the general and the rest of Talon, Bulldog, and Husky, teams got their three Arwings and a souped-up Arwing called the "Star’s Fury" were missing.
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"Coming into Macbeth sector now," Fox said on the bridge of the
MSS Great Fox as the massive ship came out of hyperspace. The illegitimate rescue team had discussed earlier just how they’d get on Macbeth. They had decided to sneak onto the planet by dodging the sensor arrays posted around the planetoid and on it (many of the sensor arrays had been knocked out in the attack on Macbeth- the team knew which ones). They had decided that Peppy, John, and Slippy were nondescript enough to there own respective species’ not to be noticed as members of the infamous (to the Venomians, anyway) Star Fox squadron but Fox’s white makings on his head and tail were too un-nondescript. Fox would have to dye his head and tail fur the same color as the rest of his fur so that he would also look very nondescript. They would then infiltrate the military base on Macbeth with fake IDs Slippy had managed to produce and abduct Falco and O’Brien. If all went well they could get in and out of Macbeth with Falco and O’Brien in less than a day without anyone knowing they were there.
Slippy looked Fox over again. Fox looked strange. His typical white markings were now tinted a little redder than the rest of his fur. Slippy could hardly tell it was Fox anymore. ‘Amazing what a little hair-dye can do,’ he thought. Fox was still self-conscious about how he looked with his fur dyed strangely.
"How do I look?" He asked.
"You’re looking hot Fox." Slippy said reassuringly. He blushed the minute he said it knowing that saying ‘You look ok’ would have been a much better response. Fox, Peppy, and John gave him a strange look. "Hey just because I have a high pitch voice doesn’t mean I’m…" he trailed off knowing convincing them that he was only reassuring Fox would be pointless. He shut his mouth before he said anything more embarrassing.
"You are one weird duck, Slippy, I’ll give ya that. " was John’s only comment.
Fifteen minutes later they launched their Arwings and began to sneak into orbit.
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T-Minus 3 days till invasion…
A shadowy figure sat in front of the Admiral of the Human Republic’s fleet. Their ship, the UTSS Banshee, was currently in orbit over Macbeth, monitoring the Lylatian lifeforms. The Banshee was running under stealth mode and the Admiral was confident that the stealth mode would work to keep them hidden. But he was still confident that even if the creatures spotted them in this system that he could fool them into thinking he was their friend. He was even more confident than this that even if his ship and plan were found out by the Lylatians that his ship could easily take on any attacks against his ship until Republican reinforcements arrived to crush the weaklings in this system. This meeting, however, had been called to speak of just how safe they were.
"Admiral," the shadowy figure began in a low-pitched raspy voice, it reminded the Admiral of nails scratching against a chalkboard and he grimaced, "I would be very displeased, indeed, if our position was to be betrayed by a slip-up on your part."
"I assure you, my lord, our position has not been betrayed," The admiral of the Republican Fleet lied quickly.
"Do not take me for a fool, Admiral!" The figure said. "Exactly twenty-hours ago you had a malfunction in your cloaking device that revealed our flagship for a full fifteen minutes! You are lucky that a major battle was taking place between the pitiful beings of this system and that they were too busy fighting to notice our ship! You are also fortunate that some of their sensor relays were taken out during the battle so we could hide in the sensor-downed zones. If not for this that tachyon leak you were speaking of earlier would be very detectable right now. Why, if they noticed us they could have sent a ship here to investigate and even though we would have been re-cloaked by then we still would have been detected upon close-range scan!" It was true and the Admiral knew it. The cloaking device kept their ship hidden from all known types of sensors but anyone looking out of a window or performing very close range scans would have seen their massive three kilometer long, half-a-kilometer wide, flagship.
"I am sorry, my lord, but the malfunction, I’m afraid, was unavoidable. I apologize if we…" the admiral paused for a moment to make sure he chose the right word "inconvenienced you at all," he finished.
"Very well, I will forgive… this time admiral. I assure you your life depends on whether this mission is a success or not. The council would be quite displeased if you were to fail in this mission. Well, on to other matters. Are you aware-" The figure was interrupted by the first officer of the ship screaming into his Comm from the bridge.
"Unknown ships approaching! Repeat unknown ships approaching. Yellow alert! All hands to ready stations. Repeat all hands to ready stations. Captain to the bridge. Repeat captain to the bridge!"
"Well, that’s my cue sir," the admiral said. The two quickly ran to the bridge to find out what the heck was going on.
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"What the hell is that?" Fox said looking into what looked like a starship. But he knew it could not be a starship. It was much too large. According to his sensors it was nearly three kilometers long. Yet his sensors- and eyes- continued to tell him it was a starship. Not only a starship but also a warship. It was packed to the brim with weapons- many of which Fox did not recognize.
"That isn’t Cornerian!" Peppy said nervously.
"That isn’t even animal made! That thing is alien! Trust me I know almost every known planet’s general technology and I’ve never seen anything like this!" Slippy said. He sounded as if ready to faint as the large ship slowly turned to face the Star Fox team and the Great Fox.
"Ok, I think we should all stay calm," Robertson said, almost stuttering. "Fox you better hail them. Play this real cool, Fox. You’re making history."
"O-ok," Fox said nervously. After calming himself he hailed the ship. "This is the Lylatian mercenary team Star Fox. Unknown ship, please identify yourself and your allegiance. Are you Venomian, Cornerian, or Neutral? We wish no trouble unknown ship. Please allow us to pass."
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As Fox asked their allegiance he was tempted to say he was their worst nightmare but held himself back knowing the councilman was watching him in the shadows at the back of the spacious bridge.
"Star Fox team, we are neutral. Repeat we are neutral. However, you may not pass or retreat," he said. He then nodded his head cueing his Con officer to engage the tractor beams.
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The next thing Fox knew he was waking up inside a personal quarter’s room with Peppy, Slippy, and John. The other three were awake too now. It appeared they had all woken up around the same time.
"Are you guys ok?" Fox asked the others. They nodded their heads.
"You?" John asked. Fox nodded his head.
"Where are we?" Fox asked.
"I think we’ve been abducted," Peppy said, looking about himself, nervously, at his new surroundings.
"By who? Aliens or high-tech thugs?" Slippy asked.
"My guess?" John asked. "Aliens. Most thugs like the Cornerian Mob don’t have the resources to build such a ship as what we saw and are probably in. At least I hope they don’t have those kind of resources."
"He’s right," a voice said. The Star Fox team turned quickly to get their first look at an alien. Strangely enough they didn’t look strange. In fact they were human! The same race as the Rebel Alliance and Galactic Empire!
"Is this a Rebel or Imperial ship?" Fox asked.
"This is a republican ship. It is neither Imperial or Rebel." The figure responded. This was strange and very coincidental. Apparently these people spoke the same language as the standard Cornerian, and they looked just like the Rebels and Imperials. ‘This is weird,’ Fox thought.
"Consider yourselves," the being continued, "our- guests. We are an ambassadorial ship that has been monitoring your race for a time to see if we should reveal ourselves to you," the figure lied. Fox knew this was a lie as well. He knew not what world these beings come from but he knew no race in their right mind would create an ambassadorial ship that was bristling with weapons and marines like this one. "I apologize," the figure said as he realized he had not introduced himself, "I am Admiral Conway of the UTSS Banshee. I am leader of our fleet." Another figure stepped forward from the shadows. "And this," he continued, "is Councilman King." King nodded his head in greeting. "We extend our apologize for having to take you so violently but we were afraid of revealing ourselves to your race due to the fact that you are currently embroiled in a war and we wish no involvement in it. To show we mean you no harm we offer a gift. Two gifts in fact. When two of your ships had crashed in your previous battle we were able to beam out-" Slippy cocked his head. He had never heard of "beaming." Sounded like Star Trek to him. "Two of your pilots who had ejected to prevent their capture." The admiral snapped his fingers and Falco and O’Brien ran from the shadows. Fox could barely contain himself! Neither could John.
"Falco!" Fox screamed. The two hugged. "I missed you, man!" Fox said almost crying.
That night the Star Fox and two leading Talon team members slept on board the alien ship wondering what lay in store for them tomorrow.
On their way out King whispered to Conway, "Do you think they bought it?" The admiral responded, "I hope so."
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T-Minus 2 days till invasion
Fox had been missing for a day now and Star, on her secret base on Titania, was getting worried. She was, indeed connected with her brother but she could only sense pain and feelings at this long a distance from her sibling not any specific thoughts. All she sensed was a feeling of amazement, bewilderment, and a little fear and nervousness. She had also felt extreme joy from him at one point. She was guessing they had found Falco at that moment. Star knew exactly what was going on in the Cornerian system at all times through her sophisticated spying systems. She did not like not knowing what had happened to her brother for any period of time. She had installed videos inside the Great Fox of one of many places. But for some reason they had gone off-line yesterday. She had then tried to hack into the Great Fox’s internal security system but those cameras were off-line too. Whoever was in control of Great Fox- and she could only pray it was Fox- was being very careful and cautious as to not betray themselves to spies like herself.
She now paced in her room, very upset. She was as nervous as heck. ‘What should I do?’ she thought. She knew the answer. She had to find out for herself at all costs. The twin quickly ran to her docking bay and loaded into the MSF Arctic, her own personal, custom-built, beauty of a fighter. She then took off toward space. She set the ship to autopilot to Fox’s last known position and prepared to take a nap. It was nearly an eight-hour trip to Macbeth from the distant world of Titania so she set her in-ship alarm to go off in seven hours- the alarm was one of the custom built features of the ship. She then extended her seat back into a mini-bed (another feature other of the factory fighters lacked) and she fell asleep.
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"Help!" Fox said running down a corridor. Star and him were running away from Andross’s troops. They were firing laser cannons behind them. Star pulled out her laser gun as she ran down the corridor with Fox- Fox did the same. They both fired lasers behind them as they ran backwards away from the enemy troops. Suddenly a shot rang out. Not a laser shot but a gun shot coming from one of the troopers. It hit Fox in the chest and blasted through his heart. Tissue and blood flew everywhere as the shot burrowed all the way through his chest and out his back. He fell.
"Nooooo!!!!!!!" Star screamed. She stopped and quickly picked up Fox and started running. She gently cradled Fox as she ran but she could continue no longer. She felt the pain too and it was horrific. She could run no longer. She collapsed and lay her brother next to her.
"I love you, Star, my sister" Fox said. He then passed out. Star checked his pulse. It was gone. She felt no pulse. Star began to perform CPR and tried to resuscitate Fox. She bloodied her hands trying to save her brother. But no heart would beat when no heart was left. What was left of Fox’s heart was splattered along the walls. Star then picked up and cradled Fox in her arms, crying, knowing he was gone to her forever now. Suddenly a shot rang out and Fox’s head exploded sending tissue and blood on her. She screamed a horrible scream- one you only see in horror movies. Then Wolf O’Donnel, who was standing in front of her and the one with the projectile weapon walked up to her laughing. He chuckled to himself as he pointed the gun to her head. Wolf then said, "Well, I suppose the McCloud name will continue to no more generations." He then shot and Star ceased to exist as her head flew off.
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Star shot herself out of bed sitting upright quickly, hitting her head on her cockpit. She rubbed her head. She was sweating like a hog. ‘Bad dreams,’ she thought, recalling her gruesome and horrifying dream. Her alarm had just gone off. She shook her head to clear the last vapors of sleep and returned the pilot’s seat to flying position, ready to work. She scanned ahead of her and easily found a gap in Andross’ sensor net. She flew through the net without confrontation and arrived at Fox’s last location within an hour. She engaged her brand new cloaking device (which she had bought off of a Correlian smuggler) just in case however. She was safely hidden from long and short-range scans. The only way to ID her was to either enter visual range or for a ship to close to within 2.5 kilometers from her ship. She looked out of the canopy. Her sensors detected a massive and alien ship ahead of her. The Great Fox was docked with her and was dwarfed next to the behemoth.
"My God," she said to herself as she approached the mass of apocalyptic destruction in front of her. That thing carried enough missiles and weapons to burrow a five-hundred-mile hole into any planet. ‘Death Star eat your heart out,’ she thought. The ship may have been tiny compared to the Death Star class planet-destroyers the Empire had built two of (and was rumoring to build another) to terrorize the galaxy but it was still a very formidable ship. It would take an entire fleet of smaller Cornerian ships to take it on and even stand a small chance. She approached the ship cautiously ensuring to keep at least 2.5 kilometers from its sensor relay at all times. She was sure Fox was on-board that ship. She could feel it. She quietly docked with the underbelly of the ship (this area appeared to be a "blind spot" of the ship) and quietly torched her way through the hull into a corridor. She set her laser for "quiet mode" and stun and climbed into the corridor. Two human officers passing by happened to notice her. She stunned them before they could say anything. She was in luck, she thought as she hacked into a computer terminal nearby, Fox’s "holding cell" is right next door almost literally. She had to travel only about twenty meters to come to Fox’s door. She opened it- overriding the lock. Fox, Falco, Peppy, Slippy, a officer she didn’t recognize and another officer she did recognize looked to her startled as they watched the Cornerian News. The reporter was talking about how the SF team along with a military officer had gone missing.
"Star?" Fox asked. "Is that you?"
"In the flesh!" She said excitedly. John was obviously confused.
"She’s his twin sister," Peppy explained, "and they have a telepathic bond to each other. If they just sit somewhere staring at each other for a long time you can presume their talking telepathically."
"Umm," John said, still a bit confused, "ok." Star came up to him and O’Brien and shook their hands.
"Hi!" She said. "I’m Star McCloud! It’s nice to meet you captain. I’ve read much about you. You’re quite a promising pilot and I’ve been following your career over the years." Her eyes softened. "And I’m sorry about what Leon did to your parents. Fox and me hold a grudge against him as well since he tortured our father to death. But at least we didn’t have to watch. I’m sorry for your loss, John," she finished. Strangely enough John was not enraged but actually comforted by what Star had said. ‘But how does she know so much about me,’ he thought. Sure public records were one thing but the only account of his past was on a personal record file and those files were restricted to most people. As if reading his mind Peppy explained more about Star. John knew Peppy was a telepath and predicted he probably did in fact read his mind.
"She’s a spy, John," he said. "She always knows what’s going on in Lylat and often keeps an eye on certain military officers and mercenaries she finds promising- like yourself and us. Although she denies it I think she’s been spying on us aboard the Great Fox." Peppy smiled to Star.
She only shook her head and said jokingly, "Where’s the trust in this world today. Where is the trust! Actually, Peppy, I didn’t know about only one thing that’s been happening lately." Peppy cocked his head. "What’s going on here is beyond me. These humans got by my spying devices that’s all I know."
John looked Star over up and down. Star did the same. ‘He’s cute,’ thought Star. Fox heard this in his mind’s eye. ‘Don’t you start a relationship with him Star! You remember what happened with Falco,’ Fox thought to her as a warning. Star then turned to him and stared at him. ‘Let’s get some things straight here, Fox!’ She thought half-lecture-like and half-mad. ‘One- this is my life and I will do whatever I want to. If I want to go out with him when and if we get out of this I will. Two- always remember that you are only two minutes older than me and am not my boss. And finally- I have no interest in going out with him I was merely making an observation. Got it Fox! Don’t make me call you junior!’ Peppy, listening into their thoughts, thought to both of them, ‘She’s right, Fox. And stop fighting. If you’re going to fight do it out loud. Everyone hates it when you two just stare at each other talking telepathically.’ Fox fumed but kept quiet.
While this exchange of thoughts was happening John got a chance to look over Star. She was an obvious tomboy. She wore her hair short like a man, which made her look almost identical to Fox. With the exception of some of her womanly features (which you could hardly notice- she wore very baggy cloths to hide her figure) she was an exact replica of Fox. Her fur was slightly lighter tinted than Fox’s was about the only thing you would notice first-glance. She was attractive- although she did her best to hide it under all her baggy cloths and short hair. John thought for a fleeting moment of a possible relationship between him and her but ceased the thought quickly knowing that he didn’t even know her yet (although from first impressions he liked her a lot so far) and also knowing that Fox would beat the crap out of him if he went out with her. He could tell Fox was overly protective of his sister just by the way he acted around her. O’Brien nudged his boss.
"Whew!" He whispered to John. "Is she hot or what!"
"Shut up, O’Brien," John commanded quietly, "you’re being rude.
"Well look who’s all high and mighty today!" O’Brien whispered back, taunting his friend and boss friendlily. "You like her, don’t you. That’s why you’re being protective!" He whispered excitedly.
"I do not!" John screamed out loud. "Fox would beat me up if I did anyway!" John finished. He blushed as he realized he said that out loud.
"Twenty credits and I’ll play along," O’Brien whispered.
"I’ll get you one of these days O’Brien." John whispered from the corner of his mouth, then "Ok, I’ll pay."
"You do not what? Why would I beat you up?" Fox asked.
"Umm…" John said. "Save me here buddy." He whispered to his friend.
"If you found out John’s favorite meat is red fox meat!" O’Brien said, bailing his friend out of a worse fate. In Corneria when an animal died if the animal gave permission it would be used as meat to be bought on the market. The Cornerians did not consider this cannibalism because they were a mixing of races. However herbivores (like Peppy- a hare) still thought the carnivores (like fox’s- Star, Fox, and John, and dog’s- like O’Brien) were ruthless for eating meat of other beings and were always fighting in the Cornerian House of Lords to outlaw this practice. The only thing that was considered cannibalism was if you ate one of your exact same race. Since John was a white or arctic (whichever you preferred to call it) fox and his "favorite meat" was that of a red fox he was actually not considered a cannibal. White Fox’s and Red Fox’s had several key differences in their races and were not the exact same races. What Fox was expected to get upset for was because he was a red fox himself.
Fox then said, jokingly, "That’s ok, just don’t eat me or my sister!" Everyone chuckled. "You thought I’d get upset over that! Sheesh!" Peppy was the only one in the room that knew that both John and Star would go good with each other and they both liked each other. ‘What a cute couple they would make,’ Peppy thought beginning to scheme on how to bring them together.
"Well," Fox said, "introductions are done so a suggest we get onto business." Fox then brought Star up to date on what had happened.
"So these humans are from a planet called Earth?" She asked. Fox nodded his head.
"It’s somewhere on the outer rim near here. We haven’t discovered it yet because they’ve been using cloaking technologies to hide their entire system and other systems they control. No other race has discovered them yet and they know of no other races in this Galaxy other than our own. They know nothing of the Alliance or Empire. From what I gather they had a strange, little known of, and short-lived experience with some possible extra-terrestrials- what they call aliens. It was called the ‘black oil.’ It mysteriously disappeared though after a while- I don’t even think the humans know why. The database only says two people with the name’s Fox Mulder and Dana Scully somehow made it ‘go away.’ Strange."
"They cloaked entire systems!" Star said in surprise. Fox nodded.
"Don’t ask me how!" He said.
"So they claim peace do they? Well this ship sure as hell isn’t an ambassadorial ship, I can tell you that much Fox! This thing is a full-fledged warship." Star said.
"I know," Fox said. "We have to get out of here. The officers on board are holding us claiming it’s for our own safety against some rebel movement!"
"Ok, in the morning we’ll find a way to get out of here. In the meantime I’m gonna hide out with you guys. You boys wouldn’t mind me shattering this all-male-" she coughed-"pigs-" she said in the cough, "environment would you?" Fox merely shook his head.
"No we wouldn’t mind at all, Star," Fox said with a smile to his sister.
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T-Minus One Day Till Invasion
"Lay in a course to Corneria!" The admiral of the UTSS Banshee said. "Maximum capable hyperspeed."
"Aye sir!" The Con officer said. The ship entered the multi-colored realms of hyperspace. "ETA, twelve hours!"
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Star woke up to the sound of a clock alarm. She hit the snooze button but Fox was soon on top of her shaking her trying to wake her up.
"Wake up Star. Don’t be such a sleepyhead!" Fox said laughing. She had had a long night and was not in the mood for early awakenings. She had had more nightmares only this time in place of Andross’s troops chasing her and Fox it was the humans. It was still Wolf that killed her and Fox in her dreams however. She had gotten- at most- three hours of sleep through her constant awakenings. She had gotten out of bed at least ten times to make sure Fox was still in his bed and ok. She made sure not to wake anyone, though, so no one knew she had had a long night. Star opened her eyes and punched him right in his long nose. "Ow!" he said. "That hurt!" Now it was Star’s turn to laugh. She didn’t like being woken up when she didn’t want to get up- especially on long nights.
"I’ll get up when I want to, Junior," she said. Fox fumed. He hated the nickname junior. She was the only one who could get away with calling him that. However she was only friendly razzing him. Fox decided it had been to long since they had a good tussle. He got on all fours and as Star got up he pounced on her. They began a fight. Star and him were still wearing their clothes they had on yesterday and Star just happened to have worn her steel-toe boots to bed. Everyone but Peppy cheered the fight on calling bets to each other.
"I’ve got sixty credits and that loan I owe you, O’Brien on Star winning!" John said.
"You’re on," O’Brien said not being able to believe Fox could ever be beat. Slippy and Falco also made a hefty bet.
"So, still think you’re better than me Fox! In your dreams!" Star said. Fox bit her on the neck and she howled in mock pain. "OOOOHHHH THAT HURT!" She screamed mocking his play bite. She bit back for real. He screamed but Fox held on and remained on top of her. This is when the boots came in. She kicked him square in the crotch.
"OWWW! THAT’S DIRTY FIGHTING! UNFAIR, UNFAIR!" Fox screamed as he lost his hold on his sister and she turned him over.
"That had to hurt!" O’Brien screamed over the sounds of growls and moans coming from Fox. John nodded his head.
"You never declared any rules, junior!" She said in response. She was now on top of Fox instead of underneath him. She was better at two-leg combat while Fox’s advantage was fighting on all fours like their ancestors. He was quite good at it. She let him up and they begun a two-legged fight. Star lunged toward Fox trying to scratch his arm. Fox dodged sliding sideways and beyond her, turning around and delivering a punch to the back of her head and a kick to the back of her leg. She responded by doing a backward summersault over his head and landing on his face with her steel-toe boots. This broke Fox’s nose ending the fight merrily. Peppy shook his head muttering something about adolescent teenagers not knowing when to stop a fight and getting themselves hurt. However John, O’Brien, Slippy and Falco cheered the fight on throughout it. Fox got a tissue and held it to his nose as it bled while Peppy went to get a cast for his nose (since a Fox’s nose was something like a foot long it needed a bandage or cast) and his twin sister hacked into the ship’s main database. Everyone crowded around the screen. She hacked into the files and finally got into the database with the code "Invasion Lylat" backwards. She typed in "talyL noisavnI." The computer beeped and she was admitted. She went to the mission-briefing file in the database. They all saw a briefing screen appear with a pudgy admiral sitting in front of a small audience.
"Welcome all," the Admiral began, "this mission is top secret and is not to be spoken of outside of your respective ships, clear? Good. In a nutshell we will be attacking a system called Lylat where 500 years ago we inhabited it with an advanced race of animals. I’m sure you all studied that story in school so I feel no need to go into detail on it. The grand council has had a change of heart over the past 500 years and demands that we now re-capture this race to be our labor and fighting force. To do this we must remain and enter into the system quietly for a sneak attack on the enemy’s forces. Remaining a secret will be difficult, though, since the Rebel United States- now called the United Worlds- government will undoubtedly try to interfere with the United Terran’s invasion plans-" Star cut the feed for the briefing and asked the computer a question.
"Computer, display complete history of the Lylat system’s colonization" Star said clearly so the computer could understand her.
"Confirmed," it said in its tailored female voice. "I have 352 different historical files on that topic. Please specify."
"Narrow it down to factual sources with no testimonies and find the most unbiased source and display it to me on this panel." Star commanded.
"Confirmed, opening file on Project X-98 now." A large file opened before Star and she began reading. As she read she became more and more awed. If this was true then everything that had supposedly happened on their world before five hundred years ago actually happened on earth not by them but by these humans! WWI and II, Star Trek and Wars (her personal favorite movies- they had been remade with animal characters to assist the cover-up when they sent the ship up into space), and every piece of there history before then. Even her and Fox’s religion, Christianity, was from old Earth! This was, to say the least, demoralizing since she and the SF team and John now knew they existed because of a biological experiment gone wrong! ‘No!’ thought everyone at once.
"Interesting information, miss?" A being said from behind. It was King. They all turned and King clicked his fingers. Two big security officers approached. However there was one major advantage animals had over humans. Fox’s and Dog’s were designed to fight since they were carnivores back on earth, with their sharp claws and teeth. These security officers- armed or not- had to handle three Fox’s and one dog and other animals as well. Soon the security officers were a heap on the floor. King ran to the bridge.
The SF team, Star, O’Brien and John fought their way to their fighters. As they were running on board the ship the rest of the group got away and to their fighters in the docking bay. However, Fox needed to save his big ship- the Great Fox. They still had one problem- they had brought two starfighters less with them than the people who were know in the merged teams due to the rescue.
Originally, when they thought they would have the Great Fox at their disposal for abduction from Macbeth this was not a problem. The Great Fox held one entire small transport that was only barely twice the size of an Arwing and was almost as fast as an Arwing and even lightly armed with one single laser turret that could hold 8 people or 1 tank and 1 pilot. It was a recent "gift" from Star- Fox is suspected to have paid heftily for it. Star is very protective of and hates to give up any of her ships and/or creations. However, with the Great Fox now confiscated by the Earthers they would have to make due.
Hijacking one of the Earther ships was impossible- there technology was no better but they were unpilotable. Star had attempted to hijack one for the others but the control panel blew up in her face as it self-destructed when it asked for a code and she gave it the wrong one. After swearing she decided that two volunteers should give up their ships to accommodate the two extra pilots that they had rescued. So John and Fox gave up their ships and would retake the Great Fox. Star decided to come along too saying that "I’m not gonna let my big bro get himself into more trouble today, am I?" She set her ship on auto-pilot and gave it orders to get out of the system and to a docking bay on Corneria as fast a possible (yet another feature her fighter had unlike the factory bought fighters like the Arwings). They then said goodbye to their friends and teammates and headed for the Great Fox through the maze of corridors on the ship. Soon a security team was on their tails- almost literally.
They ran like they never ran before and Fox, Star, and John drew their blasters firing at the security posse following them as they ran backwards. ‘My dream,’ thought Star! ‘What dream’ Fox thought back listening to her thoughts. Star knew what she had to do. She jumped in front of Fox just as a projectile flew towards him. The bullet went through Star and out her back and into Fox, lodging into his stomach. Blood spewed the walls. John shot the last of the guards following them and then spotted Star Wolf. ‘What’s he doing here,’ he thought quickly. He was holding a smoking gun and lining up for another shot. John quickly shot the gun out of Wolf’s hand without another thought, burning Wolf’s hand badly. John then picked up Star and let Fox lean on his shoulder as they ran to Great Fox. They got onboard and set course for Corneria.
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"Admiral," King said as he arrived on the bridge. "Abort the mission. We cannot surprise attack the Cornerians. The prisoners have escaped and by the time we get to Corneria there Home Fleet will be organized enough to destroy us. The council will not be pleased but we must abort. We will come back another day to enslave this race conventionally."
"NOOOOOO!" The Admiral screamed. "Well, well, well, Fox McCloud, you have made another enemy today!" The admiral pressed the abort key and the ship turned back to Earth.
"INVASION ABORTED AT T-MINUS ELEVEN THIRTY HOURS!" The computer said.
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Fox and Star were in the Hospital. They were both in critical condition. They had been that way for the past two days since they had gotten back to Corneria. They were conscious and could feel each other’s pain. That was what sucked about being telepathic twins thought Star. Star hated hospitals and couldn’t wait until the doctors deemed her "stable" enough to leave the hospitable. On the third day, Star went into cardiac arrest. At the same time Fox did also (maybe because of their link). The doctors worked quickly to save the twins.
"Electrostatic chargers!" The doctor working on Fox said. He put the chargers to Fox’s bare chest and said "Clear!" Fox’s body jumped as the shock moved throughout him. No heartbeats still. "Raise to maximum level!" The doctor screamed. "Clear!" Still no luck. Meanwhile another doctor was working on bringing Star back across the room. He had given up on the Chargers and now tried CPR. "LIVE, DAMN YOU, LIVE!" He screamed at Star as he pounded her chest. Peppy, the rest of the team, O’Brien, and John watched, teary-eyed as they saw their friends and heroes dying. John would deny it under oath but he looked up to Fox. He was his hero perhaps for him more than for anyone else in Lylat. He always thought heroes couldn’t die easily and seeing this caused him to re-evaluate that. The doctors had five minutes to bring back Fox and Star before major brain damage occurred. In the next five minutes it would be decided whether their friends would live or die…
TO BE CONTINUED…
Terran Alliance, Talon Team, John Robertson and other members of Talon team, the starfighter Star’s Fury and the Warbird class fighters are all my characters and ships and can not be used without my permission. E-mail me at CaptCJS@aol.com if you wish to use any of them. Star McCloud is Kay Starr’s character and you may not use her without permission from her. I don't have her E-mail here with me but you should be able to find it easily. You MUST ask her before you use Star as a character in one of your stories. I am not the one who can give you permission to use Star so don’t E-mail me asking permission to because she IS NOT MY CHARACTER. Also all things in my Glossary (excluding Nintendo’s creations- Fox, Great Fox, etc.) are my ideas and may not be used without my permission. There are a few exceptions. They are the following: I got the idea for Corneria’s Gov. from several Fan Fics. However the only thing I read that is even similar to what I wrote on Corneria’s Gov. was that they are royal and that there is an elite squadron that defends them. Everything else in there about the Cornerian Gov. is my idea and if it is similar to someone else’s perception I apologize. It is a mere coincidence if things are similar. Also the MSF Arctic is Star’s idea so I give her full credit on that. Contact her if you want to use the Arctic in one of your stories. You may also use all my Ship Prefaces without my permission and may also use my Other Acronyms in your story without permission. No needs to even credit me on those. Oh, and the PA is a real modern day thing so that’s not my creation at all! I also KNOW cardiac arrest is a factual thing so that’s for wide use as well! DON’T even HESITATE to use that. Who am I to tell you not to use a common word(s) just because I used them in one of my books! J The US Gov. stuff that I mentioned that has already happened in real life is obviously not my idea either and same for the way the US Gov. works (if you didn’t know THAT you need help J ). However the stuff I predicted about the future of the Human race and our (for those of you living in the US) country should only be used with my permission! NOT without it. Fan Fic is also not my idea (of course). Also as I stated above Nintendo creations like the theme and main characters of Star Fox are copyright by them and are not my idea of course! Whew! I guess I would have been better off just listing what was in the Glossary that was my idea instead of saying everything in the Glossary is mine except… J . I smile too much J . There I go again! EEENYWAY, E-mail Kay or me if you wish to use any of our respective idea’s/craft/people. See’ya around! (P.S. I LOVE to get fan mail so if you have any comments or compliments please E-mail me at my address I gave above. Also feel free to e-mail me constructive criticism- I will appreciate that just as much as a compliment… honest!)
Chris Sponable (a.k.a.- CaptCJS- short for Captain CJS or John Robertson)
Special Thanks to: Avia Flyr for posting this on her web site
Kay Starr for making some darn good Fan Fics and creating the character Star
Anyone else who posts this on their website in the hopeful near future
And All you Fan Fic writers out there who keep Star Fox Fiction alive and well!
If you have questions about any of my terms I used above refer to my glossary below…
GLOSSARY
Ship Prefaces
MSS- Mercenary StarShip
UTSS- United Terran StarShip
MSF- Mercenary StarFighter
Other Acronyms
PA- Not sure of what it stands for… Basically a system that broadcasts messages throughout a base. Think of your speakers at school where the principle comes on each morning and such.
RAB (R.A.B.)- Room Admittance Bell (like a door bell- think of it as sounding like the Star Trek bells that ding when someone wants in a room on the USS Enterprise.
Medical Terms
Cardiac Arrest- when a person (or animals in this case) heart stops beating.
Earth History
Project X-98- A project to inhibit intelligence into most animals carried out on Earth 500 years ago. It went awry when the animals got too smart. If you didn’t know this that means you didn’t read Macbeth’s Fall. You should have read that one first. You should always read a series of books in order. Shame on you.
Earth Government
People’s Human Republic (PHR) (a.k.a.- Terran Alliance or the TA for short)- Founded in 2268 after WWVI (yes SIX) in hopes of fending off any more great wars. This government is an advanced version of Communism and hopes to better themselves by exploration and peace with all races. However when it was founded the United States refused to join it stating that "communism is the most ineffective government ever to be built and we will have no part in your government. We prefer Democracy." The president then spit on the Constitution of the Republic as he refused to sign it. The US and many off their allies then formed their own mega country led by the US. They called this country the United States after the leader country and the mega country is now run like the US (where I’m from by the way) is today. The US was then referred to as "traitors to the people" and "rebels." However open hostilities with the two mega-powers has not occurred until just recently in the Balmorra System engagement (a.k.a. the Battle Of Balmorra) three years ago when two massive fleets engaged in combat with each other. Although the US is slightly smaller than the TA (terran alliance) they are strong willed a determined. The UT has recently had a series of corrupt leaders rise to power and many say the once noble government has turned evil and belligerent. This has caused much support to go over to the US (recently renamed the UW) cause.
US- (a.k.a. "Rebels" and United Worlds or UW-recently renamed the UW- United Worlds). The United States of Earth (USE) is led by the US and has been recently renamed the United Worlds of the Milky Way (UWMW) but is often either called the United States or United Stateworlds or US, or the UW for short. Many of the Republics people also call them "the Rebels." See above entry for limited info on the UW (or USE for those traditionalists who wanted to keep the original name for sake of tradition). Currently the CA knows nothing of the US and little of the UT.
Lylat Government
Royal Government of Corneria- Although not mentioned in this story the Cornerian government (in my eyes) is made up of a royal house that leads the nation, an elite military squadron to protect the house, and a house of lords, made up of two groups who make laws- working much like the US’s congress. One group is not elected but automatically part of the house because of lineage. The other group is the House of Commoners. These government officials are led be the people. The King and Queen of Corneria have equal power (Author’s note: power to the women! - although I am male I don’t like sexist pigs and male chauvinist hogs. I also think the next president should be a woman! J ).
Katinan Republic- The Katinan republic is similar to the US’s democracy. Katina is closely linked with Corneria (much like modern day England and the US).
Fortuna Council- Fortuna’s government is actually made up of each cities leader on the planet. Each city population votes the leaders in. A city must have a population of one million to be a member of the council and must join with another city partner. The council votes on everything and a majority of one man is needed to win a debate. At first many thought this government would be doomed to failure and fall being too similar to the old US’s Articles of Confederation but amazingly the Fortunans have done quite well. They’re are- as of date- 389 members of the council. The council can only elect two new cities into the council at once to keep the number of members from becoming even so there may be tie breakers. Members are not allowed to abstain in this council to keep ties from forming.
Macbeth Province- Macbeth is (was) owned by Corneria and is ruled by a planetary governor assigned by the King and Queen.
Note: Titania has no form of government as it is mostly deserted. Zoness also has no government. Andross destroyed the old government and now no one in their right mind would reinstate another one on this wasteland of a planet.
The Cornerian Alliance (a.k.a. Lylat Alliance) - (symbol: Eagle flying to a sun (solar) above it’s head holding a sword with its forearms and holding an Olive branch by it’s feet as it flies- Symbolizes peace- but also symbolizes readiness to defend itself and destroy it’s enemies- sounds a bit like US symbol but actually looks quite different.) The Cornerian Alliance was officially formed when Corneria declared war on Andross. The Alliance will continue on even after the war to ensure safety among all Lylatians. A council of ten representatives per planet leads this alliance. Each planet gets ten representatives to send to the Lylat Alliance. These reps represent their planets opinion and needs. Works much like modern day UN. General Pepper is the leader of both the Cornerian Army and the leader of the Cornerian Alliance’s combined armies. He is the highest-ranking living officer among all the militaries of Lylat. The "top dog." (Pun intended)
Venomian Empire (a.k.a.- Androssian Empire)- Led by the maniacal genius, Andross, this nation was supposedly defeated by the CA (Cornerian Alliance) but has recently resurfaced and taken the planet of Macbeth. Although their army is currently small due to the war they are quickly building up a sizable fleet and with the recent addition of Macbeth- the systems lead producer of all products from tooth paste to Warships- to their Empire it is likely the Venom Empire will soon be able to mount another assault on Corneria. However, they will not be able to do this alone and are looking for help from other nations like the Empire. (Note: Andross is rumored to have survived the destruction of his headquarters as well. If this is true this could prove to be a great threat to the Cornerian Alliance)
The Ships
UTSS Banshee- The flagship of the UT’s fleet. Massing nearly 3 kilometers in length, ½ a kilometer wide and ¼ of a kilometer high it is not only the largest terran ship on record but owes itself an award for being one of the largest ships made in the galaxy during the time it served. Only the Empire managed to build bigger ships at this time, the Super Star Destroyer and the Death Star.
MSS Great Fox- although dwarfed next to the Banshee the Great Fox packs a punch and is a medium-sized warship and is a Cornerian Dreadnought-Designated vessel. It’s does not have an exact class. It was custom built in a joint operation between the Cornerian Military, Arspace (led by Beltino Toad), and James McCloud.
MSF Arctic- Star’s custom-made fighter craft. Although Star is not a mercenary per say her ship is still marked with the MSF of a Mercenary craft. She is like a neutral but works for the Cornerians quietly- although she usually does this for no money. The Arctic is one of the most advanced fighters in the galaxy. It is said (among the few that know of it’s existence) to be able to take on an entire squadron of Heavy Cruisers and Dreadnoughts (Heavy Cruiser/Dreadnought Squadrons are usually made up of about 10 heavy cruisers and 10 dreadnoughts with light support craft). It uses many legal and illegal technologies bought, borrowed, fought for, given, custom built, and stolen from many planets and races across the galaxy. Nicknamed by the Star Wolf team as the MSF Hand of Death.
Miscellaneous
Fan Fic- Stands for Fan Fiction. Just what it sounds like. Fan Fic (as I’m sure you all know) is simply unpublished fan made fiction on a certain story. There are Star Wars Fan Fic’s, Star Trek’s, and even Star Fox fan fics. My story happens to be a Star Fox Fan Fic.
You should know this… J
Fox- if you don’t know this stuff why are you reading this? J
The Cornerian Officer Ranking System (In my eyes at least):
FROM LOWEST TO HIGHEST:
2nd Lt.
1st Lt.
Captain (John Robertson’s rank)
Major (A.K.A.- Commander)
Lt. Col.
Col.
1-star General
2-star General
3-star General
4-star General
5-star General (Pepper’s rank)
*** I won’t tell you anymore at this point… More will be added to my Glossaries in each book I make. I’ll add a "what’s new" section so that those of you who have already read this will have to read the whole thing over again!