Part I:

Macbeth’s fall

Part I:

Macbeth’s fall

Note: It is suggested that you know what Star Fox is about before reading this story- you may get confused.

(P.S.- please excuse any typos in this story- it’s hard to weed them all out. J )

The president of the United States of America- Mr. John F. Kennedy- had been called to this emergency meeting of his chiefs of staffs during his dinner. He was not in a good mood.

"This had better be pretty darn important!" the President said, obviously upset from being dragged from dinner.

"Sir, I assure you it is. Do you remember Project X-98." The president nodded his head. Project X-98 was a top-secret project designed to see if intelligence could be somehow instilled into animals. Everyone thought it was a joke but some believed it could be done and if it could be done then we could have the animals fight the wars for us, eliminating human deaths in wars. Many people (of the few who knew about it) thought that even if you could make an animal intelligent and modify it to walk on two legs and speak English it would still be unethical. After all the animals would be thinking and intelligent beings- just like humans. But the scientists working on the project insisted they could make the animals just ENOUGH intelligent to fight and use weapons. Still many thought it was barbaric research.

"Well, sir," the General said, "it worked!"

"What? You’re kidding!"

" ‘Fraid not sir. It looks as if we were able to stimulate the brain tissue of all of the animals in the experiment." The general said, smiling. "They currently have IQs of about 50 and the numbers are rising fast!" For a moment Kennedy panicked. The IQs of the animals was only supposed to rise to 30… just enough to learn how to use a gun and who to shoot at and who to protect. As if reading his mind the general spoke again. "Sir, the IQs are indeed going up to fast. We believe they’ll reach human level intelligence within the hour. We think they’ll stop getting smarter at that rate."

"General, when we started this project you assured me that these animals- if this would work- would not be intelligent enough to feel and understand pain or feelings-or for that matter, caring whether they lived or died. I’m sorry General but I’m not going to put innocent lives at risk. Find a way to get rid of the animals… DON’T kill them."

"But, sir, the Tactical advantage here is too great," the Secretary of Defense started to say. The President cut him off before the fool could continue.

"I want you to dig up that ship at Area 51 and then I want you to launch it into space toward a habitable planet with those animals on board. Pack enough rations and supplies for them to start their own civilization…OK."

"But SIR, the Roswell alien freighter is the only alien technology we have. We only just understood how to set a course and activate its hyper engines!!! If we send it off now to a habitable planet then we won’t find out how to build the hyper engine. Sir, you can’t do this. Your denying mankind the stars," the secretary of defense finished her statement.

"I’m sorry Linda but someone else on our planet will find a way to travel FTL," (Faster than Light), "Now which planets do we know of that are habitable."

"Only one system that we know of has habitable planets sir," Kennedy raised his eyebrows at the word planets. "The system’s called Lylat. It has several habitable planets the most habitable of which is Corneria."

"Good," the president said, "I’ll talk to you in the morning gentlemen."

Fox McCloud threw his fist to his desk- hitting it hard and startling his nervous Star Fox team. He almost swore but remembered the General was still on the Com-link.

"So general," the young Lylatian red fox said to General Pepper, an older Lylatian hound dog, "They’ve captured Macbeth?"

"I’m afraid so Fox. It looks as if Andross is back- with a vengeance. His forces overran Macbeth just 2 hours ago. He took the planet without a casualty. Probably due to the fact that we didn’t know he was still alive. He jumped us Fox."

"I thought we killed him a month ago," said Slippy in his whiny voice. Slippy was a Lylatian frog and one great Engineer.

"Apparently you didn’t quite get the job done." The General said. Peppy, the oldest member of the team, almost flinched at hearing in not so many words that they had failed. Peppy was a telepathic Lylatian Hare. He could sense over the link that the General was mad. He didn’t show it, but he was mad. Peppy couldn’t tell if he was mad at them for "not finishing the job", at the Androssians for their attack on Macbeth, or just mad at the world in general. He guessed all three.

Suddenly Falco, a Lylatian falcon spoke up, taking what the general said as an insult. "I can’t believe you General! What, do you think we turned around and said, ‘Well, duhhh, I guess we’ll let Andross live, duhhh.’ Gimme a break!!! It’s not our fault he’s still alive. We thought he died in the explosion! If anything it your fault for not sending a warship there to make sure he was dead! Fox told you to do that!" Peppy sensed a peak in both the Generals and Falco’s tension and hostility. You didn’t need to be telepathic to sense that.

"I’ll keep you updated Star Fox!!! General Pepper OUT!" The Com-screen went blank.

"Nice job bird-brain, now you got us in trouble with the General," Fox said coolly.

"He had it comin’," Falco said. Everyone else just shook their heads. Falco was known for being a hot head and by now the rest of the Star Fox team and the Cornerian Air Force general, Pepper, were used to it.

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Meanwhile on Macbeth one fighter squadron remains:

"This is the Cornerian fighter Squadron Talon. Unknown Venomian ships, you are not welcome on this world," Captain John Robertson of the Cornerian air force spat into his com-link. Repeat, retreat off of this planet immediately or we will open fire."

"Doesn’t look like their listnen to reason Cap," said the Second in command of the team, 1^st Lt. Jamanson. "Should we blast their ships to kingdom come, sir."

"Negative on that Jamanson," John told his teammate and friend, "we’re out-numbered, we’ll have to wait for backup from Corneria." The team headed back to their hidden base under Macbeth’s surface. When they got there they opened a com link to Pepper saying that they had escaped capture and were currently out-numbered 3 to 1- including the light cruiser in orbit. Pepper said he would send 2 or 3 of his best squadrons immediately.

Talon squad was an Elite Fighter Squadron of 6 aircraft and 8 animals. The extra personnel were 1 engineering officer, said to be almost as good at his job as the famous Slippy Toad, and 1 computer hacker for spying purposes. Robertson was a 6 foot tall Arctic Fox from the planet of Fortuna. He was leader of the Talon Squad and surprisingly young for a team leader, being only 16- two years younger than even the famous Fox McCloud. His story of how he became an officer was a long and sad tale.

He was born on the planet Fortuna sixteen years ago. At the age of 6 he began to take an interest in computers and in the newly developed (at the time) Arwings. When he was 10 Venom secretly took over Fortuna and enslaved its people to help build the "great" Venomian fleet. He grew up to the age of 12 and flew in an actual Arwing (a present from his wealthy father). His parents were refusing the new government to the point of leading a small rebel movement and to make a long story short… were executed by Leon when John was 13. John was forced to watch as his parents were tortured to death by Leon and was left for dead after being beaten up by Leon and his division of troopers. He later bought a fake I.D. on Corneria (having moved there after his parents deaths) and joined the air force at the age of 18 (the card said that- he was really only 13). After committing a very heroic act on the carrier Bastion (that’s another story entirely), he was offered a commission as an officer with only one-year of training. He accepted. Pepper recently found out about the fake I.D. and almost kicked Robertson out of the Air Force… but didn’t using the excuse that he was Fox McCloud’s near equal in combat. Both he and Pepper knew this was not true but Pepper did know that if he could get a little more experience he had the potential to become Fox’s equal in combat and maybe his superior in strategy.

Talon Squad was known as the Cornerian Militaries version of the Star Fox team. They were a group of 6 hot shots whose home base was on Macbeth. However not even their "hot shot" team could take on the threat now on Macbeth.

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"You want us to go to Macbeth?" Fox said, once again looking into the COM screen at Pepper.

"Yes, there is still a team there- the Talon team," Falco made a gagging noise (obviously he didn’t like Star Fox’s rivals),"-and they’d like to retake the planet. They can’t do it alone Fox."

"Ok, General, We’ll be right on it!"

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"I can’t believe we have to sit here like a bunch of mindless, quacking, ducks!" Talon Team’s third officer , 1^st Lt. O’Brien, was getting upset. "No offence Lila," O’Brien said to the teams Lylatian Duck.

"None taken O’Brien," Lila said, seemingly unfazed by O’Brien’s use of comparisons.

"Well, I’m sorry," a young Black Panther walked up to the teams sofa in the Living Room holding a soda, "but we have to wait for backup to do anything. We’ll be killed if we act know." It was Jamanson, Robertson’s best friend, confidante, and second officer. He was also 16. He walked over to the Living Room’s couch and sat down, turning on the Cornerian News.

"And latest reports say," the newscaster started to say, "that Macbeth was taken in a daring raid by the Venomian forces. Apparently the mad ape, Andross, is still alive.

"Duh," the entire team said in unison.

"Why do they always state the obvious," Jamanson said. "Everyone knows that without Andross to hold the Venomian army together it would fall apart into a bunch of warring factions- each not strong enough to take a whole planet." Everyone else nodded in agreement.

"In other news-" Suddenly they all heard a noise. It sounded like a ship overhead. "That sounds like a ship," Robertson said he heard more go overhead "No, wait, Two ships, three, four. It must be the Reinforcements!" They quickly asked for a docking code and the ships sent them the correct code. "Open the docking bay!" Jamanson ordered. The team’s computer specialist, a raccoon named Cindy Carson, then put in a 6-digit code to open the lock on the doors and open them.

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‘Woah,’ thought Fox looking down into the docking bay of Talon Squad, ‘isn’t this quite the base!’ Fox was looking at and referring to the two heavy particle beam turrets and six dual missile launchers stationed inside the hanger. ‘Is this place heavily armed or what.’

"Better armed than your sorry excuse for a ship, the Great FOX!" said Robertson over the COM link and saying the title Great Fox with mock horror. Fox heard the rest of Talon squad snickering in the background. Fox blushed as he realized he had said that last thought out loud. Robertson was notorious for despising mercenaries. In his eyes mercenaries were no more than assassins for hire. He thought this way undoubtedly because of what a mercenary, Leon, did to his parents. He also thought this way because of the fact that mercenaries were for hire, and often worked for both sides of a war behind a general’s back. Even Robertson realized, though, that Star Fox wouldn’t do that. He was still tense toward the team though- keeping his turrets tracking the ships all the way into the docking bay. The second squadron with the Star Fox team were a squad called Husky Squadron (led by the highly respected commander Bill Grey) and another squad called Bulldog. The jets landed in the docking bay and the teams got out of their cramped aircraft, glad to be able to stretch again after a 14-hour trip.

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The four squadrons were in the air, comprising of 32 aircraft. Star Fox had made up four of those ships and the Talons made up another 6. Twelve aircraft made up Husky Squadron and the other ten were that of the Bulldogs. After for what seemed like a day but was actually only one hour of briefing the squadrons had decided their manner of attack. They would attack the Capitol City’s main power plant and it’s neighboring back-up plant. Without these power sources the Venomians would lose their automated turrets on the surface of Macbeth (they needed power to run) which they had set-up quickly when they arrived and would only have twelve fighters and a light cruiser to defend Macbeth. The enemy would then have to retreat back to Venom due to the fact of being out-numbered. As long as those turrets were on-line however, no one would be able to take back Macbeth any time soon. Normally this kind of attack would not have been carried out because civilian casualties would have been too high but Cindy had been able to hack into the Venomian data base and found out that the power generators were being manned entirely by enemy military personnel.

(Authors note: Think of Star Wars IV when Luke is piloting down the trench with laser guns firing on him when you read this battle only on flat ground and on a planet not in a trench of the Death Star).

"All squadrons report," Robertson said through his COM.

"Star Fox here," Fox said crisply, surprising Robertson at how military Fox could sound and act like at times.

"Husky here," Bill Grey said almost crisper than Fox.

"Bulldog ready to go," Another officer said over the COM.

"This is Talon, we are ready and going in," said Jamanson looking carefully at his radar, "Stay tight and low, guys, to avoid the particle beams. Switch to full front shields until the enemy fighters come."

"Roger," voices crackled over the com-link.

"Okay everybody," Fox said, the example of calmness under pressure. "I see ‘em up ahead! Lets Rock and Roll!" Fox finished his Cliché and the battle was on. Five minutes soon past and they had already lost two aircraft from Husky Squadron.

"Okay everyone, hold together, the power generators are 2 clicks," (Clicks = military for kilometers), "away! We still got another 2 minutes of this." Robertson’s voice crackled over the COM.

Suddenly four fighters, escorted by twelve more, came storming down like Hell’s Fury from above the squadron. They fired unmercifully taking out two more of Husky Squadron’s ships, 3 out of Bulldog, and took out Lila. Lila didn’t eject in time- none of them did.

"Lila!" Robertson screamed. "Shoot! Everybody balance out your shields but stay on target! Do NOT deviate from your present course to engage or evade!"

"Darn, I’m hit! Systems failing, losing power" Someone else shouted and an explosion appeared to Robertson’s left. Robertson knew that voice… that was Jamanson he realized! Robertson looked over just in time to see his friend’s face look to him in horror as his ship blew apart around him. He also saw the ship that had killed his dearest friend fly by him- the words "STAR WOLF: LEON" were painted on the side.

"Jamanson, NOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Robertson said in complete and total horror and grief for his now dead friend. He remembered when he was younger hearing a young commander named Avia Flyr saying that your friends are caused to suffer, killed, or captured, you deal with it and so on. He never really understood just what that meant until now. He almost opened a channel to Leon to threaten him with life and begin a ship-on-ship fight but he held back knowing that Leon would only take pleasure in knowing he hadn’t hurt Robertson this bad since the death of his parents.

"My God," someone said as they saw what used to be Jamansons fighter fall to the ground. Robertson pushed the grief to the back of his mind. ‘I’m an officer, I should be able to handle this’ he thought, ‘Anyway I’ve got a job to do. Grieving can be saved for after the battle’

"Okay, coming up on the power generators now," Robertson screamed out. "All wings cover me while I go in for the power generators!" The teams began a dogfight with the Star Wolf team and their escorts. Robertson looked straight ahead, focusing. He fired three nova bombs at the first generator. It exploded in a mask of fiery fury. "That was for Lila and the people you just killed in Husky and Bulldog squadrons," Robertson said over an all points COM so that both his team and any enemies could hear him. "And this is for my friend!" he said as he released five bombs on the other facility. It exploded in a similar fashion as the other generator.

The particle guns stopped firing- for a moment. Then they started again, hitting Falco’s ship and destroying it in a blaze of light. Fox panicked but saw the engine trail of an escape pod head up and then down to the ground as the parachute deployed. O’Brien was next to go but he also ejected in time. Suddenly the orbiting Venomian cruiser started to enter the atmosphere to attack the teams. Robertson knew they couldn’t fight the guns, the fighters, and the cruiser.

"All wings, retreat! Retreat! They must have more generators hidden!" Robertson said over his COM. All the wings obediently turned to the sky so they could get to space and hyper to Corneria. All except Star Fox.

"Fox, get out of there!!!!!" Robertson screamed.

"No, I’m not leaving Falco behind to be captured!" Fox screamed.

"Listen, Fox, I give you my word as an officer we will return to this planet to get Falco back as soon as we regroup on Corneria," Robertson said. He knew Fox knew that he took his rank rather seriously and wouldn’t say that unless he really meant it. "Plus, Fox, I’m leaving a friend here to- O’Brian- and I’ll be darned if I loose three friends today."

"Okay," fox said reluctantly, tears filling his eyes for his best friend. "I swear to you Andross, though," he said in a shaky voice over his COM on his way out of the planets atmosphere, "I will return and rescue Falco and shortly after that I will destroy you once and for all," Fox said menacingly. No one noticed in the excitement, the strange and alien looking ship in orbit over Macbeth that had been watching this entire ordeal.

• If you wish to use any of my characters in your own stories, (Jamanson, Robertson and the other members of the Talon team and the team itself) you are welcome to- but ask me first. E-mail me at CaptCJS@aol.com with your story clipped to the E-mail (so I can be sure you don’t disgrace or change my characters). Avia Flyr is the only exception. You cannot use that character unless you ask me and then I’ll ask her (I have her E-mail).

Special thanks to Avia Flyr for being gracious enough to put this on her Fan Fic section of her web site and letting me join her sim and therefore inadvertently getting me to write this story. Thanks Avia! Also special thanks to anyone in the future I send this to for posting! I am a new author as of December of ’98 and need to spread my stories around! Also thanks to all the Fan Fic writers out there for keeping the Star Fox story alive and strong! Keep it up!

Note: It is suggested that you know what Star Fox is about before reading this story- you may get confused.

(P.S.- please excuse any typos in this story- it’s hard to weed them all out. J )

The president of the United States of America- Mr. John F. Kennedy- had been called to this emergency meeting of his chiefs of staffs during his dinner. He was not in a good mood.

"This had better be pretty darn important!" the President said, obviously upset from being dragged from dinner.

"Sir, I assure you it is. Do you remember Project X-98." The president nodded his head. Project X-98 was a top-secret project designed to see if intelligence could be somehow instilled into animals. Everyone thought it was a joke but some believed it could be done and if it could be done then we could have the animals fight the wars for us, eliminating human deaths in wars. Many people (of the few who knew about it) thought that even if you could make an animal intelligent and modify it to walk on two legs and speak English it would still be unethical. After all the animals would be thinking and intelligent beings- just like humans. But the scientists working on the project insisted they could make the animals just ENOUGH intelligent to fight and use weapons. Still many thought it was barbaric research.

"Well, sir," the General said, "it worked!"

"What? You’re kidding!"

" ‘Fraid not sir. It looks as if we were able to stimulate the brain tissue of all of the animals in the experiment." The general said, smiling. "They currently have IQs of about 50 and the numbers are rising fast!" For a moment Kennedy panicked. The IQs of the animals was only supposed to rise to 30… just enough to learn how to use a gun and who to shoot at and who to protect. As if reading his mind the general spoke again. "Sir, the IQs are indeed going up to fast. We believe they’ll reach human level intelligence within the hour. We think they’ll stop getting smarter at that rate."

"General, when we started this project you assured me that these animals- if this would work- would not be intelligent enough to feel and understand pain or feelings-or for that matter, caring whether they lived or died. I’m sorry General but I’m not going to put innocent lives at risk. Find a way to get rid of the animals… DON’T kill them."

"But, sir, the Tactical advantage here is too great," the Secretary of Defense started to say. The President cut him off before the fool could continue.

"I want you to dig up that ship at Area 51 and then I want you to launch it into space toward a habitable planet with those animals on board. Pack enough rations and supplies for them to start their own civilization…OK."

"But SIR, the Roswell alien freighter is the only alien technology we have. We only just understood how to set a course and activate its hyper engines!!! If we send it off now to a habitable planet then we won’t find out how to build the hyper engine. Sir, you can’t do this. Your denying mankind the stars," the secretary of defense finished her statement.

"I’m sorry Linda but someone else on our planet will find a way to travel FTL," (Faster than Light), "Now which planets do we know of that are habitable."

"Only one system that we know of has habitable planets sir," Kennedy raised his eyebrows at the word planets. "The system’s called Lylat. It has several habitable planets the most habitable of which is Corneria."

"Good," the president said, "I’ll talk to you in the morning gentlemen."

Fox McCloud threw his fist to his desk- hitting it hard and startling his nervous Star Fox team. He almost swore but remembered the General was still on the Com-link.

"So general," the young Lylatian red fox said to General Pepper, an older Lylatian hound dog, "They’ve captured Macbeth?"

"I’m afraid so Fox. It looks as if Andross is back- with a vengeance. His forces overran Macbeth just 2 hours ago. He took the planet without a casualty. Probably due to the fact that we didn’t know he was still alive. He jumped us Fox."

"I thought we killed him a month ago," said Slippy in his whiny voice. Slippy was a Lylatian frog and one great Engineer.

"Apparently you didn’t quite get the job done." The General said. Peppy, the oldest member of the team, almost flinched at hearing in not so many words that they had failed. Peppy was a telepathic Lylatian Hare. He could sense over the link that the General was mad. He didn’t show it, but he was mad. Peppy couldn’t tell if he was mad at them for "not finishing the job", at the Androssians for their attack on Macbeth, or just mad at the world in general. He guessed all three.

Suddenly Falco, a Lylatian falcon spoke up, taking what the general said as an insult. "I can’t believe you General! What, do you think we turned around and said, ‘Well, duhhh, I guess we’ll let Andross live, duhhh.’ Gimme a break!!! It’s not our fault he’s still alive. We thought he died in the explosion! If anything it your fault for not sending a warship there to make sure he was dead! Fox told you to do that!" Peppy sensed a peak in both the Generals and Falco’s tension and hostility. You didn’t need to be telepathic to sense that.

"I’ll keep you updated Star Fox!!! General Pepper OUT!" The Com-screen went blank.

"Nice job bird-brain, now you got us in trouble with the General," Fox said coolly.

"He had it comin’," Falco said. Everyone else just shook their heads. Falco was known for being a hot head and by now the rest of the Star Fox team and the Cornerian Air Force general, Pepper, were used to it.

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Meanwhile on Macbeth one fighter squadron remains:

"This is the Cornerian fighter Squadron Talon. Unknown Venomian ships, you are not welcome on this world," Captain John Robertson of the Cornerian air force spat into his com-link. Repeat, retreat off of this planet immediately or we will open fire."

"Doesn’t look like their listnen to reason Cap," said the Second in command of the team, 1^st Lt. Jamanson. "Should we blast their ships to kingdom come, sir."

"Negative on that Jamanson," John told his teammate and friend, "we’re out-numbered, we’ll have to wait for backup from Corneria." The team headed back to their hidden base under Macbeth’s surface. When they got there they opened a com link to Pepper saying that they had escaped capture and were currently out-numbered 3 to 1- including the light cruiser in orbit. Pepper said he would send 2 or 3 of his best squadrons immediately.

Talon squad was an Elite Fighter Squadron of 6 aircraft and 8 animals. The extra personnel were 1 engineering officer, said to be almost as good at his job as the famous Slippy Toad, and 1 computer hacker for spying purposes. Robertson was a 6 foot tall Arctic Fox from the planet of Fortuna. He was leader of the Talon Squad and surprisingly young for a team leader, being only 16- two years younger than even the famous Fox McCloud. His story of how he became an officer was a long and sad tale.

He was born on the planet Fortuna sixteen years ago. At the age of 6 he began to take an interest in computers and in the newly developed (at the time) Arwings. When he was 10 Venom secretly took over Fortuna and enslaved its people to help build the "great" Venomian fleet. He grew up to the age of 12 and flew in an actual Arwing (a present from his wealthy father). His parents were refusing the new government to the point of leading a small rebel movement and to make a long story short… were executed by Leon when John was 13. John was forced to watch as his parents were tortured to death by Leon and was left for dead after being beaten up by Leon and his division of troopers. He later bought a fake I.D. on Corneria (having moved there after his parents deaths) and joined the air force at the age of 18 (the card said that- he was really only 13). After committing a very heroic act on the carrier Bastion (that’s another story entirely), he was offered a commission as an officer with only one-year of training. He accepted. Pepper recently found out about the fake I.D. and almost kicked Robertson out of the Air Force… but didn’t using the excuse that he was Fox McCloud’s near equal in combat. Both he and Pepper knew this was not true but Pepper did know that if he could get a little more experience he had the potential to become Fox’s equal in combat and maybe his superior in strategy.

Talon Squad was known as the Cornerian Militaries version of the Star Fox team. They were a group of 6 hot shots whose home base was on Macbeth. However not even their "hot shot" team could take on the threat now on Macbeth.

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"You want us to go to Macbeth?" Fox said, once again looking into the COM screen at Pepper.

"Yes, there is still a team there- the Talon team," Falco made a gagging noise (obviously he didn’t like Star Fox’s rivals),"-and they’d like to retake the planet. They can’t do it alone Fox."

"Ok, General, We’ll be right on it!"

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"I can’t believe we have to sit here like a bunch of mindless, quacking, ducks!" Talon Team’s third officer , 1^st Lt. O’Brien, was getting upset. "No offence Lila," O’Brien said to the teams Lylatian Duck.

"None taken O’Brien," Lila said, seemingly unfazed by O’Brien’s use of comparisons.

"Well, I’m sorry," a young Black Panther walked up to the teams sofa in the Living Room holding a soda, "but we have to wait for backup to do anything. We’ll be killed if we act know." It was Jamanson, Robertson’s best friend, confidante, and second officer. He was also 16. He walked over to the Living Room’s couch and sat down, turning on the Cornerian News.

"And latest reports say," the newscaster started to say, "that Macbeth was taken in a daring raid by the Venomian forces. Apparently the mad ape, Andross, is still alive.

"Duh," the entire team said in unison.

"Why do they always state the obvious," Jamanson said. "Everyone knows that without Andross to hold the Venomian army together it would fall apart into a bunch of warring factions- each not strong enough to take a whole planet." Everyone else nodded in agreement.

"In other news-" Suddenly they all heard a noise. It sounded like a ship overhead. "That sounds like a ship," Robertson said he heard more go overhead "No, wait, Two ships, three, four. It must be the Reinforcements!" They quickly asked for a docking code and the ships sent them the correct code. "Open the docking bay!" Jamanson ordered. The team’s computer specialist, a raccoon named Cindy Carson, then put in a 6-digit code to open the lock on the doors and open them.

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‘Woah,’ thought Fox looking down into the docking bay of Talon Squad, ‘isn’t this quite the base!’ Fox was looking at and referring to the two heavy particle beam turrets and six dual missile launchers stationed inside the hanger. ‘Is this place heavily armed or what.’

"Better armed than your sorry excuse for a ship, the Great FOX!" said Robertson over the COM link and saying the title Great Fox with mock horror. Fox heard the rest of Talon squad snickering in the background. Fox blushed as he realized he had said that last thought out loud. Robertson was notorious for despising mercenaries. In his eyes mercenaries were no more than assassins for hire. He thought this way undoubtedly because of what a mercenary, Leon, did to his parents. He also thought this way because of the fact that mercenaries were for hire, and often worked for both sides of a war behind a general’s back. Even Robertson realized, though, that Star Fox wouldn’t do that. He was still tense toward the team though- keeping his turrets tracking the ships all the way into the docking bay. The second squadron with the Star Fox team were a squad called Husky Squadron (led by the highly respected commander Bill Grey) and another squad called Bulldog. The jets landed in the docking bay and the teams got out of their cramped aircraft, glad to be able to stretch again after a 14-hour trip.

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The four squadrons were in the air, comprising of 32 aircraft. Star Fox had made up four of those ships and the Talons made up another 6. Twelve aircraft made up Husky Squadron and the other ten were that of the Bulldogs. After for what seemed like a day but was actually only one hour of briefing the squadrons had decided their manner of attack. They would attack the Capitol City’s main power plant and it’s neighboring back-up plant. Without these power sources the Venomians would lose their automated turrets on the surface of Macbeth (they needed power to run) which they had set-up quickly when they arrived and would only have twelve fighters and a light cruiser to defend Macbeth. The enemy would then have to retreat back to Venom due to the fact of being out-numbered. As long as those turrets were on-line however, no one would be able to take back Macbeth any time soon. Normally this kind of attack would not have been carried out because civilian casualties would have been too high but Cindy had been able to hack into the Venomian data base and found out that the power generators were being manned entirely by enemy military personnel.

(Authors note: Think of Star Wars IV when Luke is piloting down the trench with laser guns firing on him when you read this battle only on flat ground and on a planet not in a trench of the Death Star).

"All squadrons report," Robertson said through his COM.

"Star Fox here," Fox said crisply, surprising Robertson at how military Fox could sound and act like at times.

"Husky here," Bill Grey said almost crisper than Fox.

"Bulldog ready to go," Another officer said over the COM.

"This is Talon, we are ready and going in," said Jamanson looking carefully at his radar, "Stay tight and low, guys, to avoid the particle beams. Switch to full front shields until the enemy fighters come."

"Roger," voices crackled over the com-link.

"Okay everybody," Fox said, the example of calmness under pressure. "I see ‘em up ahead! Lets Rock and Roll!" Fox finished his Cliché and the battle was on. Five minutes soon past and they had already lost two aircraft from Husky Squadron.

"Okay everyone, hold together, the power generators are 2 clicks," (Clicks = military for kilometers), "away! We still got another 2 minutes of this." Robertson’s voice crackled over the COM.

Suddenly four fighters, escorted by twelve more, came storming down like Hell’s Fury from above the squadron. They fired unmercifully taking out two more of Husky Squadron’s ships, 3 out of Bulldog, and took out Lila. Lila didn’t eject in time- none of them did.

"Lila!" Robertson screamed. "Shoot! Everybody balance out your shields but stay on target! Do NOT deviate from your present course to engage or evade!"

"Darn, I’m hit! Systems failing, losing power" Someone else shouted and an explosion appeared to Robertson’s left. Robertson knew that voice… that was Jamanson he realized! Robertson looked over just in time to see his friend’s face look to him in horror as his ship blew apart around him. He also saw the ship that had killed his dearest friend fly by him- the words "STAR WOLF: LEON" were painted on the side.

"Jamanson, NOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Robertson said in complete and total horror and grief for his now dead friend. He remembered when he was younger hearing a young commander named Avia Flyr saying that your friends are caused to suffer, killed, or captured, you deal with it and so on. He never really understood just what that meant until now. He almost opened a channel to Leon to threaten him with life and begin a ship-on-ship fight but he held back knowing that Leon would only take pleasure in knowing he hadn’t hurt Robertson this bad since the death of his parents.

"My God," someone said as they saw what used to be Jamansons fighter fall to the ground. Robertson pushed the grief to the back of his mind. ‘I’m an officer, I should be able to handle this’ he thought, ‘Anyway I’ve got a job to do. Grieving can be saved for after the battle’

"Okay, coming up on the power generators now," Robertson screamed out. "All wings cover me while I go in for the power generators!" The teams began a dogfight with the Star Wolf team and their escorts. Robertson looked straight ahead, focusing. He fired three nova bombs at the first generator. It exploded in a mask of fiery fury. "That was for Lila and the people you just killed in Husky and Bulldog squadrons," Robertson said over an all points COM so that both his team and any enemies could hear him. "And this is for my friend!" he said as he released five bombs on the other facility. It exploded in a similar fashion as the other generator.

The particle guns stopped firing- for a moment. Then they started again, hitting Falco’s ship and destroying it in a blaze of light. Fox panicked but saw the engine trail of an escape pod head up and then down to the ground as the parachute deployed. O’Brien was next to go but he also ejected in time. Suddenly the orbiting Venomian cruiser started to enter the atmosphere to attack the teams. Robertson knew they couldn’t fight the guns, the fighters, and the cruiser.

"All wings, retreat! Retreat! They must have more generators hidden!" Robertson said over his COM. All the wings obediently turned to the sky so they could get to space and hyper to Corneria. All except Star Fox.

"Fox, get out of there!!!!!" Robertson screamed.

"No, I’m not leaving Falco behind to be captured!" Fox screamed.

"Listen, Fox, I give you my word as an officer we will return to this planet to get Falco back as soon as we regroup on Corneria," Robertson said. He knew Fox knew that he took his rank rather seriously and wouldn’t say that unless he really meant it. "Plus, Fox, I’m leaving a friend here to- O’Brian- and I’ll be darned if I loose three friends today."

"Okay," fox said reluctantly, tears filling his eyes for his best friend. "I swear to you Andross, though," he said in a shaky voice over his COM on his way out of the planets atmosphere, "I will return and rescue Falco and shortly after that I will destroy you once and for all," Fox said menacingly. No one noticed in the excitement, the strange and alien looking ship in orbit over Macbeth that had been watching this entire ordeal.

• If you wish to use any of my characters in your own stories, (Jamanson, Robertson and the other members of the Talon team and the team itself) you are welcome to- but ask me first. E-mail me at CaptCJS@aol.com with your story clipped to the E-mail (so I can be sure you don’t disgrace or change my characters). Avia Flyr is the only exception. You cannot use that character unless you ask me and then I’ll ask her (I have her E-mail).

Special thanks to Avia Flyr for being gracious enough to put this on her Fan Fic section of her web site and letting me join her sim and therefore inadvertently getting me to write this story. Thanks Avia! Also special thanks to anyone in the future I send this to for posting! I am a new author as of December of ’98 and need to spread my stories around! Also thanks to all the Fan Fic writers out there for keeping the Star Fox story alive and strong! Keep it up!