Shards of War [PG-13 for now]

[Guest Chiro-Chan]

Prologue: To War Again

It had been a long, boring day as usual. Wake up, eat, clean yourself up and get dressed, and mope around for the rest of the day. That was Fox's routine for about a year and month now. The vulpine's green eyes trailed up to the ceiling of his room, to the window. Outside, not a blue sky, but pitch black, star dotted space greeted him. Most people were inspired with awe when they first saw space. Fox simply thought of it as the scenery.

Fox McCloud himself could be quite the sight; or at least in a human crowd. He started out with his black tipped ears that faded into a ruddy orange, though instead of having a mostly orange forehead, the top of his head was fuzzy, and nearly pure white, having only a slight yellowish tint. His eyes were green in color, and where the eyebrows would be on a man, were distinct, short stokes of that same pale yellow, almost like someone had painted them on with a brush. His muzzle was this color, and tipped off by his jet black nose. This same color spilled down his neck, which on the sides, faded into the ruddy orange color, and vanished into his white t-shirt. He looked down at his dress, which consisted of the shirt, a black belt, a pair of old, faded jeans which obviously needed to be washed more often, and his feet sticking out the end covered in white and grey socks. His tail hung off to the side of himself, ruddy orange and yellowish white at the tip. His arms and paws were this color, from a top view, save for the very tip of them, which faded to that recurring manila color, and his black claws which jutted out the end of his fingers. This color dominated the under side of his arms and paws, and were only slightly offset by the orange, and his black pads.

"How boring.", the fox simply thought to himself.

His room was mostly a silvery metal that lined the entire ship, known to many as the Great Fox. This ended at the wall, where the floor turned to a slightly fuzzy, dark red carpet, though it was barely visible, since it was mostly covered with discarded clothes, wadded up papers, and a pizza box which inhabited a corner. How long had it been since he cleaned his room? A few weeks, perhaps? His eyes trailed to the walls where a few posters, one a strategic map of Lylat, a few others which were of rock bands, and a calendar by his desk. On this, his computer was mounted, as well as a desk calender, and an empty coffee mug which hadn't been touched for a few days, and was in need of a decent wash. On the other side of the computer's monitor, was a picture frame. It had an old photo of his father James, and his mother Lily on their wedding day. Pete 'Peppy' Hare, an old friend of his parents, and a good friend of his as well had given it to him shortly after James had went MIA. Behind the desk stood a bookshelf littered with books on aviation, novels, papers, maps and several photo albums.

Fox's moping was interrupted by a knock on his door. "'Ey Fox, you in there?" He instantly recognized the Manhattan-accented voice of Falco Lombardi, the avian pilot of his team. Falco was taller than Fox, a bit skinnier, and far more cocky when it came to flying. The vulpine looked over to see the hooked beak, dark blue and red feathers (The red feathers only circled his eyes), and his steely, dark blue eyes.

"Yea, whaddya want, Falco?" Fox replied, sitting up on his messy bed now.

"Fox, have you seen that one chick? You know, that one blue fox chick ya saved on Sauria? I 'aven't seen 'er all morning." The falcon crossed his arms, and leaned on the door frame.

"Falco, she left, remember? She said she had to keep searching..."

Krystal was an arctic fox that Fox had rescued on Sauria, a planet inhabited by dinosaurs and various ancient spirits. She had gone there, partially from telepathically sensing distress, partially out of curiosity, and partially to investigate on what had happened to her people, the Cerinians. She had unfortunately somehow ended up trapped in a large chunk of ice, and was badly dazed once Fox had rescued her. She mistook him as an enemy at first, but later came aboard their ship to thank Fox for her rescue. Fox offered her hospitality, and she gladly accepted. Peppy recognized her telepathic abilities immediately, and gave her insight on her powers. Krystal knew she had to keep traveling though, so while she was there, she and Slippy had built a ship for her, partially for deep space travel, and partially a fighter craft as well. The whole time, she was always trying to get to know the team members. Krystal herself didn't speak much, but always seemed to brighten up the place, always smiling, and listening to what others said. She loved Peppy's old war stories, was fascinated by Slippy's technobabble, and even liked to chat with Falco.

But what had she done for him? He didn't know. She always loved his stories about the Great War of Lylat between Venom and Corneria, and she loved to tell him of her people, and Cerinian culture in return. But there was something about her. She left when everyone was asleep because she hated seeing people cry and be sad, she had said. Fox had planned to stay up to give her one last goodbye, but he had fallen asleep, and had missed his chance. Krystal did promise she would visit again someday, though. She was a different one alright. Definitely something new.

Falco grumbled, and shuffled off down the hall, while Fox got up to go into the kitchen to find some breakfast. He gave a quick glance to his clock, which read '06:20', and went into the main lobby.

~~~~~

Peppy was sitting in his chair, reading the news on his computer, while sipping a cup of coffee. "Mornin' Fox." He mumbled in his usual Southern drawl.

"Hey Peppy." Fox shuffled over to the coffee-maker, and reached for a cup, and after picking it up, nearly dropped it on the floor, not realizing how tired he was. I need to get to sleep earlier..., he thought and filled his cup.

~~~~~

Elsewhere...:

The room was dark, pitch black even. In fact, it was so dark, you could hold your hand in front of your face open, and not even see it. But he could see. He could see everything. Lylat will truly pay this time, he thought, and although the room was dark, a vile grin crept across his face.

The only other thing visible besides his red eyes were 7 eyes in the room. 6 of them were two sets of eyes, one of them though was a single mahogany colored eye. "You know what to do... Kill them..." His voice boomed into the room. "Your wish is our command, my lord..." Another voice said, the single mahogany eye flickering with murderous glee.

~~~~~

The Great Fox:

It had been a long, boring day again for Fox. He was just drifting to sleep, lying on his bed, when suddenly, after a long, long month, the alarm finally sounded. Fox's eye's flew open, almost as if the alarm had given him new energy. He leaped up, still in his white tank top, and plaid sweatpants that passed as his pajamas. The other members of the team were there too, in their accustomed nightwear, Falco in a tank top and boxers, Slippy with a blue t-shirt, and baggy dark green pants, and Peppy in a button-up shirt, and a pair of sweatpants as well. The robot, ROB64 Model NUS (which stood for Robotic Operating Bot), or to them, simply known as 'ROB', stood attendant, its robotic voice saying "Incoming Message from General Pepper. Top Priority!" over and over.

"ROB, play the message." Peppy commanded, and the robot did so, flicking on the holoscreen. An image of a bloodhound with a red military hat appeared. "Star Fox, I have a new mission for you!"

Chapter 1: The General

"Andross has declared war again. I have no idea how he's even alive after apparantly being killed twice!" Pepper barked over the holoscreen. He cleared his throat. Fox recognised the old bloodhound easily, his red cap adjusted just right, dark sunglasses which hid his blue eyes, and his floppy brown ears hanging down to his wide shoulders. The hologram only showed a mugshot of the General as he spoke.

"Ahem. There are also reports indicating that he's created a device called a 'telekinetic amplifier'. We knew Andross was a powerful psychic as well as a mad, brilliant scientist, but this amplifier of his has had devastating effects on our troops. He must be using it to be able to reach into the depths of space and destroy fleets."

The holoscreen flicked to an image of ships that had seemingly been torn in half by a pair of giant hands, some having been obliterated to nothing but scraps of metal and shreds of dead soldiers. "It's horrifying..." The General said, his mugshot appearing back on the screen.

"I want you scoundrels to go find that device and destroy it, harass Andross' troops, and destroy the fellow himself if absolutely necessary. There's a few squadrons headed straight for Corneria, and I need someone to intercept. Do you accept this mission, Star Fox?" Pepper said, adjusting his sunglasses.

Fox turned to the members of the team, each who wore a grin on their face. The glow of the holophone illuminated each of their faces, as well as a few other blinking lights. Otherwise, the room was dark. "Alright General, you have yourself a deal. We'll need a decent payment though..." He crossed his arms, a sly grin creeping across his face. "150 credits per kill, and 300 credits if the kill is at least twice the size or more of a standard fighter, take it or leave it."

The bloodhound sighed. "Alright, I'll approve your fee. Good luck, men." The holophone switched off.

The vulpine turned towards his teammates, their eyes flickering off the dim LED and screen lights that twinkled out of the dark room. "Alright boys, you heard him. Let's go kick some Venomese ass!" The four of them nodded, and each ran to their room to fetch their flight suits.

[The Green Fox]

Very well written.  I look forward to finding out about where Krystal is, and

the upcoming fight against Andross. Please explain the identities of the other

bad guys in the room with the red eyed Andross  . I'm not sure what makes this PG-13 though. It's about PG level right now,

I'd say. In any case, you have talent, and it's noticeable. You do a good job helping the reader visualize

your scenes in the minds eye.

[ARWINGCOMMANDER 3987]

I like it too.  Except you made a small mistake. I don't think Krystal is an arctic fox. She's probably just a blue furred alien vixen. I used to think she was a silver fox.

Keep up the story though, and please make sure Krystal is okay.

[Guest Chiro-Chan]

I like it too.  Except you made a small mistake. I don't think Krystal is an arctic fox. She's probably just a blue furred alien vixen. I used to think she was a silver fox.

Keep up the story though, and please make sure Krystal is okay.

No I'm positive she's an arctic fox. There's a kind of arctic fox that lives below the arctic circle called a 'blue fox'. Plus Krystal has small ears, and I'm betting the reason she wears those scrunchies because of how poofy her tail would be, and arctic foxes have small ears (in order to keep a lot of heat escaping from their body) and really fluffy tails. Arctic foxes also have a 'blue phase'. Look for a picture of one, and try to find some similarities.

More chapters too!

Chapter 2: Blockade

"I hate this part..." was the single thought that ran through Samuel 'Slippy' Toad's mind. The little green frog, clad in his white bomber jacket, blue flight suit, combat boots, purple scarf, and his hat- which read 'SLIPPY' on the front- stared out the cockpit of his Arwing, the window closing down from the top as he strapped himself in. The window gave a soft hiss as it sealed itself off from the vacuum of space.

"Oh great, here it comes..." The 'part' he was thinking of was the takeoff. He hated the sudden feeling of positive G's being thrust in his face, before the G Diffuser kicked in. Fox and Falco said they loved it, and Peppy was used to it. Slippy hated the feeling, and squeezed his eyes shut as the plasma engine roared to a start.

*CHOOM*, the four ships shot out of the dock, each through the porthole, one after the other. Fox exited first, followed by Falco, then Peppy, and finally Slippy, who had his eyes squeezed shut. Almost immediately, the G Diffuser kicked in, and the G's vanished without a trace.

"Everyone, make sure your Diffuser is up and running. I don't want anyone's system going on the fritz in the middle of a dogfight" Peppy's voice sounded over the intercom.

"This is Falco, everything's fine."

"Fox here. Everything's in the green."

"Slippy here. I'm alright."

Fox looked around. "Weird, don't you think the squadron would have been here by now?"

Just then, a red blast of plasma flew by, grazing the nose of the Arwing. "Great, an ambush..." Fox pulled back on his controls, sending the Arwing upwards out of harm's way.

The fight soon began, a 12-versus-4 dogfight. "This isn't the entire squadron there's more coming." Peppy warned, using his telepathy to the team's advantage. He circled around, and chased after an enemy, firing at it, but it managed to break free.

Falco had just shot down one enemy, but looked up to see hundreds more, and three large fleet ships headed their way. "...Oh damn... Loo's like we got company!"

Slippy's blue eyes grew large. "Guys, I think we're in trouble... I'll do a data analysis on the fleet ships."

"Good idea Slip, Fox Falco and I will try to take out the fleet ships." The legomorph strategised over the intercom. The three other ships took off, as Slippy's Arwing's computer analyzed the 3 fleet ships. Slippy had created the program in order to help his teammates defeat Andross' forces back during the first war. The scan had nearly finished, when the smaller fighters focused their attention to Slippy. "Oh no..." He pulled back on a lever in the Arwing's cockpit, causing him to loop over the ships, and fly after them. "Data analysis complete, here it comes guys!"

A percentage appeared on the screens of the Arwings, each showing their target's shield percent. "Alright, let's take it to 'em!" Fox cried, throwing his thrusters on, sending the Arwing speeding towards its target.

Chapter 3: Telekinesis

Falco's steely blue eyes scanned the imaginary horizon, as his Arwing hurtled towards his target. The percentage on the screen read '300%', the amount of shielding on the flagship. The avian grinned, as he zipped over the top of his target, grazing it. The percentage went down to '299%' in an instant. 'This is too easy!' He thought to himself. After all, he was an avian, and flying was his niche.

"Hah! You rouges dare try to defy the Venomese?" An alligator's mugshot appeared on Falco's screen.

"Damn, tha's an UGLY mug!" The falcon retorted, snickering to himself. He flew around, shooting down a few fighters, and then sending the shields down to '294'%.

"Damn it, if he keeps this up, we'll be dead!" The commander said, glaring furiously at a group of underlings. "Don't just stand there, deploy some homing missiles already!" The two other soildiers nodded, and whirled around to the command board, and began punching in commands. Immediately, the flagship launched 8 missiles that took off after Falco.

"...I 'ate missiles." The falcon muttered to himself, looking for a way to break free from the homing missile's trail.

Fox was finishing off his target, practically dancing circles around the ship, and a continuously depleting group of Venomese fighters. The percentage count read "22%" on his screen. "Hah! 'Great Venomese Army' my furry ass, this is a piece of-AAAHG!" The vulpine's fire had destroyed the ship, but it had taken a good hit on the engine, causing the ship to spew hot plasma, white hot shrapnel and pieces of metal, and a large cloud of flame headed his way. The fox wheeled his ship around, throwing the thrusters on, speeding away from the curtain-like, billowing, deadly flames.

"FOX! GET OUTTA THERE NOW!" Peppy cried, turning his attention from his target, who was still holding out well against him to the vulpine fleeing for his life. Fox pulled back hard on the controls, sending him straight up, and out of harm's way.

The commander of the Orange Cloud- also known as Peppy's target- was not amused. "Alright men, it's time we used our best weapon against these bastards. Stand by." The commander, a brown and black simian, strode forward, and lifted his hand up, and gave it a violent wave.

Outside of the ship, Peppy was keeping an eye on Fox- who had went to help Slippy who had bogies on his six- and Falco, who had 'gotten back into his game', and had nearly destroyed his target, as well as four fighters, when his telepathy turned his attention to nine. A piece of scrap metal, being flung by the telekinesis of the captain of his target flagship. "Oh gods..." The legomorph's eyes widened.

Chapter 4: The Boys are Back

Peppy closed his eyes, trying to think. Damn, that's why! Telekinetics! I didn't know there were so many... Gotta think... I need to distract him before he gets a hold of any of us, but how?

The rabbit watched a spike of metal race after Falco's Arwing, which was trying desperately to flee away from it. Gotta think... Gotta think... I got it! He opened his eyes, and turned his attention to the telekinetic monkey.

"Hey ugly! Ever consider gettin' a face lift?" Peppy jeered over the intercom. The simian turned his attention to the rabbit's ship. He in turn closed his eyes, and opened them again, faintly glowing red.

Falco pulled back on his controls to try and twist his ship away from the spike, but eased back as he saw it lifelessly fly by him. "What the...?"

He pulled out of his loop, back to normal position, when he noted Slippy being tailed by an enemy fighter, Fox not far behind. Peppy's ship remained motionless, however, a group of fighters were headed towards it. "Hang on, old timer!" He threw the thrusters forward, and shot off, taking out the incoming fighters.

"...Guys... Shoot the flagship... NOW." The three pilots heard the rabbit mumble over the com-link. Fox obliterated Slippy's tailer, and the two, joined by the avian, headed for the Orange Cloud.

"DAMN RABBIT! I can't concentrate, if I try to, that damned rabbit interferes with my psychic abilities... Alright men, there's one more option we have. OPEN FIRE!" The captain commanded, pointing his finger out at the stationary Arwing.

Just as soon as the soldiers had manned their stations, they were being hammered by the Arwing's plasma guns. Falco grinned, and show-offingly lobbed a bomb at the engine, which exploded upon impact.

"Peppy! Snap outta it, we gotta get outta here!" Fox screamed over the com-link. Peppy's Arwing immediately whipped off, speeding away from the billowing flames, and flying shrapnel. The final oncoming wave of fighters was destroyed by the wreck of the Orange Cloud.

"ALRIGHT! Say Pep, what'd you do back there? To distract that guy?" Slippy questioned, as the four Arwings headed towards Corneria.

"It's called 'telepathy'..." He replied. "I'm gonna have to tell you guys what was going on back there with the commander on that ship, but it's a long story..."

[ARWINGCOMMANDER 3987]

Great chapters! Keep them coming!

[Guest Chiro-Chan]

Chapter 5: Lights

A small satellite disc turned its attention, noting 5 ships entering the atmosphere of Corneria, and sent its gathered information to the regulators at an air base at the outer reaches of Corneria City. The regulators recognized this information as four Arwings, and a large carrier craft/battleship. Fox was taught how this worked back in his days at the Corneria Air Force Academy; ships would enter the atmosphere, and the satellites would gather information on them, and the regulators would decide whether or not the ship should be allowed to land.

"Permission to land granted, welcome to Corneria!" a regulator's voice buzzed over Fox's intercom.

The Great Fox threw on its bottom thrusters, as it prepared for landing. The Arwings, however, all zipped in to the larger ship's docking bay. As the Arwings were re-latched into their launch pads, the hatch came open, and the four pilots began undoing their belts.

"Man, I swear, I dunno whether to be excited that we have a job again, or scared that I might die the next day." Fox stated, as he climbed out of his ship, landed on the floor, and brushed his pants off.

"Eh, you worry too much Fox." His avian cohort replied, who unstrapped his boot, re-tied the knot on it, and strapped it shut again. "Besides, if we get this mission done, imagine how filthy rich we'll be!"

Peppy slid out of his ship, stretched his arms, and walked over to the two youngsters. "It's not just about the cash, you know Falco... We're saving people, protecting the innocent..."

The vulpine walked off as the legomorph began to lecture the avian pilot. He had other things on his mind besides danger, justice, and money anyways. He also noted Slippy bounding over to join his other wingmates, chiming in the conversation with his squealy voice. His black tipped ears flinched a bit at the sounds, and he turned to leave the hangar. The Great Fox was huge, and took up most of the hangar, but there was still plenty of room for other things. In one corner, there was a small office with two glass windows, one looking into the short hallway that led out of the hangar, ending in a small, steel door. The walls were the same steel, and they emerged from the cement floor. The ceiling was a single panel, which slid back to allow ships to land inside it.

"Hey Fox, let's go get a place to stay at while we're here!" Slippy called, waving one of his little green webbed hands.

Fox turned and smiled. "Sure, let's go."

~~~~~

LATER

~~~~~

"Hey Fox, are you okay? You've been real quiet ever since we got here." Falco questioned, walking up to Fox.

"I'm okay... Seriously. I just have a lot on my mind, 's all..." He replied, letting out a little sigh.

Peppy joined them. "Fox if there's anything bugging you, you can tell any of us.-" He turned to Slippy, whom he yelled at for jumping on one of the four beds.

"I think I'm gonna go get something to eat, I'll see you guys later." Fox finally said, getting up, and walking out.

"Bye Fox!" Slippy called, before Falco tackled him off the bed, and started a whole ruckus. Fox snickered as he walked off.

~~~~~

The vulpine leaned on a railing, standing on a pier. He watched as the sun, which was a star known as 'Lylat' sink into the sky, though further off, you could see a fairly bright, reddish star, which was Lylat's second 'sun', known as 'Solar'. Solar gave off just enough heat combined with Lylat to make almost all of the planets in the Lylat System habitable. Fox, however, just thought of it as a sunset, this one being a bit pretty. Some Lylatians still walked around on the beach, mostly young couples, or other random folks talking their evening walk to get away from the city. A small field separated the bustling Corneria City from the beach, and even then, there were still a few buildings here and there scattering the field. Fox turned to look back and see the city glittering with lights, and the sunset's light, and far in the distance, the beginning of hills, which eventually would grow into a mountain range. He turned back to the sunset, which bathed the world in reddish orange light.

Hm, I should probably get back to the hotel room, and hang out with the other guys before we have briefing with Pepper tomorrow. Probably has a doozy of a job for here, still... Probably have to take out the waves of troops that made it through the defense lines, and make sure they stay out. He thought to himself, as he took a sip of his coffee from a cup he had bought at one of the pier's many stores, which had been built for tourists. He stood up, unzipping his red and dark grey jacket, threw the empty coffee cup in a trash can, and headed back towards the city.

~~~~~

When he returned, the room was as mess. Falco and Slippy had apparantly decided that the room was too clean, and had spread increments of food everywhere, and were plopped onto a bed eating ice cream, and laughing at the TV, which was showing some ridiculous comedy. Peppy came out of the bathroom, dressed in his pajamas, and sat down on one of the four beds.

"Hi Fox, have a nice walk? And will you two turn that confounded TV down?" He said, glaring at Falco and Slippy.

Falco grabbed the remote, and flicked the TV off, grumbling a silly imitation of Peppy's voice. "Alright, I'll turn it off. 'Sides, we gotta briefing tomorrow."

Fox smiled. "Eh, it was okay, not that many people out." he said, digging through his duffle bag, and pulling out his own pajamas. Falco and Slippy had theirs on, Falco, who had already fallen asleep on his bed, snoring loudly. Slippy was cuddled up in his, reading up on engineering before he hit the sack. Fox shuffled into the bathroom, took a quick shower, brushed the fur on his head and tail, brushed his teeth, and came out to find his other four teammates sound asleep, and curled up to sleep.

[ARWINGCOMMANDER 3987]

Interesting chapter. I bet I know what's bothering Fox. Krystal. She left so suddenly to learn more about Cerinia, and didn't even say goodbye, although she had a good reason not too.

Still, keep the story going.

[Guest Chiro-Chan]

It's done! Yay!

Chapter 6: Slide Zone

Fox wheeled around, pointing his plasma cannon at a group of Venomese soldiers that ran towards him, and opened fire, the loud blasts making his sensitive vulpine ears ring. Slippy was in the squadron's tank, the LandMaster, which was ravaging after enemy fighters and several tankers skittering across the ground. The other three of them were taking out the remains of enemies at a captured Cornerian base, though soon it'd be back in the Corneria Defense Force's paws.

Peppy was keeping the telekinetic and telepathic troops busy with his telepathy, apparantly which was driving them all crazy, while Falco stood nearby and picked them off with his plasma cannon. A blast tore through the final one when he flicked his com-link on.

"Alrigh' I think we got 'em all. We shoul' probably report back to Pepper, the ol' windbag..." Fox heard Falco's accented voice buzz over the com.

"I told yah not to fall asleep durin' the briefing, but do yah ever listen? No..." Peppy griped back at him. "Anyways, yea, let's get goin'."

Fox sighed, and finally let his tongue loll out of his mouth, trying not notice his avian teammate make a face and grumble something about 'nasty-ass canids and their tongues'. The vulpine in turn, rolled his eyes, and walked off to the LandMaster, which was rumbling towards them, and began to slow down as it approached the others.

Slippy popped out of the tank's hatch, and flashed a friendly smile as the tank rolled to a halt. "Hi guys! You need a lift?"

"Sure. We all hitched a ride on it anyways. Just don't drive like a maniac again, alright Slip?" Fox replied, rubbing the back of his head, which had been hit by a rock earlier that day, due to the treads kicking one up at his head after Slippy decided to take a 'detour'.

"K, I'll take the road this time. Hop on, guys!" The frog closed the tank's hatch, as the other 3 mercenaries clambered onto the tank, and it drove away from the base. They watched as it got smaller and smaller, until it was little more than a speck, and eventually vanished over the horizon. Falco reclined back on a G-Diffuser (a piece of machinery used to diffuse the gravity on a craft), and sighed.

"Wonder where we're 'eadin' to next..." He said, staring up at the sky.

"Probably Meteo, there's a lot of Venomese forces comin' through there." Peppy replied. "But we'll see when we talk to Pepper again."

~~~~~

"Alright boys, nice work." General Pepper said, taking off his sunglasses, and wiping them off with a kerchief. He then placed them back on his face.

"Our spies have indicated that the Venomese have been sneaking through the Meteo asteroid field to attack Corneria, but it's not the most strategic route for them, since it provides a natural blockade, and not to mention the pirates in there." The bloodhound said, pointing up at a screen which displayed a map of Meteo in the briefing room. The room was simple, a large table with rows of seats, dark blue carpet, silvery walls, and a screen on the northren end, which was used to display missions.

"...However, recently, the spies have also indicated that Andross has been trying to appeal to them, and is hiring them. Another one of the problems they've had to deal with are the Eladardians." The screen brought up another image, this one of a small planetoid.

"I've never known about that bunch... They mind their own usually, but they've seemed to taking a liking to attacking freighter ships, and stealing the cargo for themselves, so be careful!" The General warned. "The main clan of Eladard is a nasty bunch, particularly. The McCloud Clan was especially noted for starting nasty wars with the rest of Lylat years ag-oh..." Pepper cleared his throat as he noticed Fox crossing his arms, looking particularly annoyed.

"Thanks... It's nice to see you think so highly of my family name..." Fox sarcastically replied. "We won't have to worry about the Eladardians sir. I doubt they'd attack their own kin. We'll keep an eye out for the pirates and wipe the Venomese out."

Pepper pulled a cigar out of his left pocket, as well as a lighter, lit the cigar, and took a few puffs. "Alright men. Good luck, and report immediately upon arrival." The four mercenaries arose from their seats, Falco nearly falling over due to leaning back too far in his chair, and were about to leave.

"Oh, and one last thing. There's been rumors of a machine they've been making to destroy asteroids. If you see it, take it out!"

"Will do, sir." Fox said, and gave the General a quick salute before he and his wing-mates left the room.

~~~~~

2 DAYS LATER...

~~~~~

"So, the General tells us ta go into Meteo, and ta watch ou' fer pirates, and Fox's crazy relatives... But no, he never mentions ANYTHING about the GODSDAMNED ASTEROIDS!" Falco grumbled to himself as he flew his Arwing around, shooting rocks. The Great Fox did have its own guns, but they took hours to charge, and they'd be hammered by hundreds of asteroids by then.

"Oh come on Falco, this is kind of fun." Slippy optimistically stated, as he blasted an asteroid.

"Yea, for you maybeh, 'cause you can't ever 'it anythin'!" The avian jeered back. Slippy's response was making a face at Falco over the intercom's camera.

"Hey guys, incoming bogeys at 12!" Peppy warned, a group of fighters blasting out from the asteroid field.

"Alright boys, let's make some fireworks!" Fox commanded, as he stretched his arms, and switched out of autopilot, and took control of the Arwing. "And look! They brought their asteroid crushing machine."

"Way to state the obvious, McCloud-WHAT THE-?!" Falco gawked as a second group of fighters, all which were painted mostly black and green, swooped in from above, and began to hammer the Venomese with plasma and explosives.

"'Ey look! There's a freigh'r too!" Fox saw another vulpid's face pop up on his intercom, as the group of fighters headed towards them, leaving the Venomese troops and the rock crusher smoldering. The fox's face looked surprisingly like his own, save for his fur being more yellowish, and his eyes a bright yellow-amber. He also appeared a bit lanky as well.

"WAIT! STOP!" Fox cried over the intercom. "It's me! Y'know, Fox?"

"Hmmm? Fox...? ...James' boy?" Another face came up on the screen, this one belonging to a black vixen with a white muzzle, long hair, and ruby colored eyes. "Aye! Ah remember ya, whe' ya were jus' a wee li'l lad. Aw, look 'ow ya've grown!"

Falco rolled his eyes. "Great, Eladardians... Jus' the last t'ing we needed"

"'Ey! Shu' yah beak, or we'll blast ya ta bits ya feath'rbrained id'it!" The vixen snapped back at the avian.

"Don't mind him, he's... How should I put it... Stupid." Fox explained to the 8 Eladardians. "Hey, mind if we stop on Eladard for a while? We've been out here for two days, and plus you might know some about the Venomese... 'Sides, it'd be nice to visit my relatives again..."

"Neat! We get to meet Fox's family!" Slippy's voice chimed over the intercom, as Fox's ears flinched.

"'Ey, pipe down, ya squealeh frog! Yah'r makin' mah ears bleed!" Another fox snapped at him.

"Hey, any o' y'all remember me?" Peppy asked.

"Aye. James' frien'. Th' fun'neh smellin' one. 'E spoke 'ighly of yah." The vixen replied. "An'yways, le's ge' goin'." The Great Fox and the 12 fighters headed off towards Eladard.

[Rapidfire]

Fantastic work so far. I particularly like how you've managed to do a lot of characterisation of the crew without much lengthy description. I'm looking forward to seeing how you further develop this story.