The completed ship sat in dry-dock as the entire new Star Fox team stared at it; it was shaped much like the old Great Fox but more than twice the mass with six main guns on the front and multiple gun ports across the ship. Fara smiled as she went over the last checklist she had to fulfil. “After four months the ship is spaceworthy, all we need to do is transfer the foundry, manufacturing center and a couple of the simulators over and the ship will be complete.”
“So what are we gonna call it? The Great Fox 2?” Falco turned his head to face Fara.
Fara held her chin for a moment then shook her head, “I thought about that but no, I’ve decided to name it Fox McCloud. He’s the reason we made it here alive,” Fara wiped her eyes.
Tenderheart, who was next to Fara, put a hand on her shoulder, “I know he’d appreciate that and we know you’ll be a great leader.”
“No, not me.” Fara turned to face Tenderheart, “I can’t, at least I can’t be the leader. You need to,” she pressed a finger against Tenderheart’s chest.
Tenderheart was taken aback, “Me? But I… I don’t know how to leader an army.”
“You know how to lead us.” Cheer Bear walked around and gave Tenderheart a sweet smile, “And you’re the one whose kept us going through all this tragedy so we can be here to fight.”
Defender nodded, “Fox may have saved our lives, Tenderheart, but you are the one who has kept us going through the despair that followed. Without you we would most likely be sitting in a refugee shelter on Corneria right now.”
Tenderheart took a few steps forwards then turned to face everyone, “Do you all feel the same way.” A chorus of yesses and nods followed. Tenderheart smiled then placed his right clenched fist over his heart, “I guess I can’t refuse that. I accept the position of leader of Star Fox.”
There followed a hearty “congratulations” with back slapping, hand shaking, hugs and even a kiss on the cheek from Cheer Bear. After a quick hand shake, Cassandra disengaged from the group and marched off towards the simulators. Hope Bear was the only one who noticed and snuck after her.
Fara cleared her throat to get their attention, “Now then, the Fox McCloud is different than the old Great Fox. Rob can’t run all of the autonomous systems because he has to stay focused on piloting the ship; he can control other systems if necessary but we will need a full crew to operate the ship.”
Tenderheart clapped his hands together, “OK. Tomorrow, those of you who aren’t pilots find a system and start training on them. Now is there anything else to report?”
Slippy spoke up, “We have the experimental model for the Arwing Mk V ready for testing. If you can Falco can come with us we’ll start the tests.”
“Finally, lead the way,” Falco nodded and he and Tenderheart followed Slippy and Bright Heart across the hangar.
OoOoO
“Confidence Heart wait!” Hope Bear’s shout caused Confidence to stop at the entrance to the land battle simulator. She turned around, her mask betraying no emotion, as she watched the pale teal bear run up to her.
“Don’t call me that, Hope. My name is Cassandra Avalon.”
Like the rest of the Star Fox Team, Hope Bear was wearing a white flight jacket and boots with a jumpsuit underneath that was colored to compliment or match her fur, pale blue in her case, and like the other Care Bears her tummy symbol had been magically added to her uniform’s stomach area.
Cassandra’s outfit instead was all black including the jacket and boots and she had refused to allow her tummy symbol to appear on the uniform. It had brought some concern about her but then again the clothes could be tailored and replicated in any color the wearer wished.
Cassandra continued to speak, “Confidence Heart Fennec died on earth with the rest of her family, I am simply all that is left of her.”
“Confidence, please don’t do this. You still have a family that loves and care for you, you can’t just give up,” Hope Bear pleaded, both her hands raised in front of her chest, “I can still see it in you, the real you hidden behind that mask and the injuries.”
Cassandra turned to the glass wall that allowed people to see into the simulator chamber and stared at her reflection. Aside from the mask and the missing top third of her left ear she still did look like Confidence Heart Fennec. She ran her left hand through the long hair that still extended from behind her head and winced as she caught a tangle. The hair that had once been so carefully groomed and cared for with nary a split end in sight was now a tangled mess, barely kept clean and hadn’t been combed in ages. “You’re right, Hope, I can see it too.”
Hope Bear brightened up, “You can?”
“Yes, and I need to do something.” Cassandra gathered up her hair in her left hand then raised her right hand up behind her head. Hope’s expression turned from elation to shock as a blade of yellow light extended from Cassandra’s clenched fist, much like a punching dagger.
*SHRRRRRNK*
In one swift motion, Cassandra severed most of her hair. She was left with a very short cut as she dropped the severed tangles from her left hand into a matter recycler next to the training room entrance then stepped in.
Hope barely noticed the two soldiers, a male cat and donkey who passed by. One pointed after Cassandra, “Look, isn’t that her, the one who finished the flight training program in only two months?”
The other nodded, “Yeah, almost beat Falco and Fox’s academy records, just a couple days short. What’s she doing now.” They watched as Cassandra set the training simulator to scenario 45.
“Wait, that’s for whole squads, what is she doing?” the cat walked up to get a closer look.
Cassandra was only armed with half a dozen training grenades as she stepped into the training arena. The blank walls disappeared as the battle begun and a dozen training holograms appeared. In a flash, Cassandra leapt into the air on a burst of wind from her feet and behind the enemies, long light blades appearing on her arms like before as she sliced and diced the targets into pieces while skillfully avoiding their attacks. More appeared and she fired off a blast of wind from her left hand to knock them off their feet before she skewered them each with a barrage of yellow lasers fired from her right fingers. Another squad appeared and she tossed a grenade at them, dropping for a moment to avoid the shrapnel, then she was up again as the simulation moved onwards.
Hope turned away from the sight walked away.
The two soldiers were awestruck as a giant battle robot appeared and Cassandra jumped up, avoiding its claw and plasma laser attacks, running right up to it’s head and driving both light blades into its eyes. She sliced into the machine as she dropped down farther then sliced through where it was connected to its treads and shoved another of her grenades into the chassis before she ran for cover. Another large robot appeared and this time she didn’t bother to get close. She stood up and put her hands together as electrified light gathered in between her hands. “First time for this,” she drew her hands back to her sides, still cupping the energy, then let out a cry and fired off the beam of yellow light covered in blue lightning. The blast tore a hole clean through the robot’s midsection and it teetered for a moment before collapsing.
“SIMULATION OVER. PLEASE EXIT THE HOLOGRAPHIC TRAINING CHAMBER.”
Cassandra stumbled out of the chamber only to be caught by the two soldiers before she collapsed. “Whoa, are you alright?” the donkey asked.
Cassandra shook her head, “No. Whole body’s on fire, especially my tail. Wait…” she paused in thought for a moment. She carefully pushed the two away so she could stand on her own, only to stumble over to the wall. She was panting profusely then grit her teeth. “ERRRRRRGGGGGHHH! Feels like…giving birth!” She panted as the pain in her tail intensified.
“I’ll call sick bay, just a sec,” the cat reached for his communicator but Cassandra held up a hand in protest.
She turned her masked face back to the two and gave a slight grin, “Just watch, you’ll see something coAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!” Cassandra screamed aloud and both soldiers watched in amazement as her tail suddenly split in two, forming two identical tails next to each other.
Cassandra stood back and looked over her shoulder, “Not surprised, with all the magic training I’ve been up to.”
“What are you?” The cat’s communicator was forgotten as he walked over to check the two tails, prodding both to check if they were real.
Cassandra panted then smiled, “I’m a kitsune, multi-tailed fox from earth.”
“A Black Kitsune, or sand kitsune?” the donkey quirked his head.
“Black Kitsune sounds better. Excuse me, I’m going to lie down.” Cassandra carefully extracted herself from the two and walked towards her quarters on the station, twin tails swishing behind her. “Now I don’t look like her at all.”
OoOoO
The experimental Arwing Mk V was at least 50% larger than the Mk IV but overall retained the same shape with the conical main body, thin swept back wings and four G-diffuser fins surrounding the back of the main G-Diffuser engine at the back. It wasn’t painted at all, leaving it the standard pale silver of laminate titanium.
Falco gave the machine a once over and frowned. “OK, so where the heck in the cockpit.” Indeed, there wasn’t a canopy on the fighter or any indication of where he could enter.
“Right here,” Bright Heart walked over to a panel on the side of the Arwing and pressed a button. The panel opened and folded down to a small ramp, “Step in.”
Falco had to duck slightly to step up the ramp to find the cockpit inside. He sat down in the chair and checked the main stick and other controls feeling the familiarity of the old Arwing’s cockpit around him, then frowned in the pale red emergency lighting of the cockpit, “OK so how am I supposed to see out of this?”
“Just start it up, here,” Bright Heart pressed the start up switch and instantly the cockpit came alight as video screens light up the entire interior of the machine. Falco stared around as he was able to see the entire hangar bay as though he were seated in a cockpit chair that floated in the middle of the room; he could even see the deck plating under his feet.
“What do you think?” Bright Heart smiled as he looked around, “360-degree linear cockpit. Now you can see the entire battlefield no matter where you are.”
“And putting the cockpit in the middle of the fighter allows for greater survivability,” Slippy chimed in as he walked up to peer inside.
“Gotta say, Slip, I’m impressed,” Falco leaned back in his seat.
“Actually, the cockpit design was Bright Heart’s idea. Said he based it on an old cartoon he used to watch.” Slippy clapped Bright Heart on the back.
Bright Heart chuckled, “Something Confidence showed me, also the cockpit pod is a safer ejection seat that just floating around on a sealed chair in space. But let’s get you up and out into space.” Both he and Slippy backed off as Falco closed the hatch and strapped in.
Tenderheart stood nearby and watched the Arwing’s engines flare up briefly then the g-diffusers bend back and forth. Bright Heart and Slippy retreated as the engine fired up again and the fight lifted off the deck. Slippy held up his communicator and Falco’s face appeared on the screen. “Alright, Falco, take off and tell me how it handles.”
“OK, so far so good.” Falco adjusted the G-diffusers and pushed the throttle forwards. The Arwing flew out of side hangar out into space. “Feels good, turns tighter.”
Slippy nodded, “Alright, now go through the standard fighter warm up routine.”
“Pssh!” Falco smirked, “Just let me see what this ship can really do!”
Slippy and Bright Heart cringed as they wanted the Arwing take off at a shot, pulling off tight turns and summersaults. They heard Falco’s shout through the communicator, “WOOOHOOO This handles like a dream, Slip, I think you can call it a rousing success.”
“So far.” Bright Heart moved to a console and turned on the communicator to the Arwing and looked over to a hexagonal object that was about as tall as he was with six rockets attached, “Standby, Falco, I’m launching the target buoy.”
“OK.”
Once Falco had pulled the ship to a near stop, Bright Heart launched the buoy and remotely piloted it out near to the Arwing and pulled it to a stop. Bright Heart pulled the buoy to a stop. “OK. The buoy is stationary. Try to hit it with the plasma lasers.”
“No problem.” Falco spun the ship around and took several shots at the buoy. Most of his shot scored hits but barely made a dent. “Damn, what’s that made of?”
“Durabillum, we want to see how well the new weapons work on it,” Bright Heart took the readings from the sensor he had planted in the buoy, “so far the effects are consistent with earlier testing. Alright now can you try the beam gun?”
“Let me see, you mean this?” Falco flipped up a button cover on the side of the control stick.
“Yes, it’s not linked to the lasers because the firing rate and energy speed are lower.” Bright Heart checked the screen one more time, “Fire at will.”
“Here goes!” Falco lined up the new weapon and opened fire. The first two shots missed, as Falco adjusted to the beam gun’s new firing technique, but the third shot stuck true, putting a sizeable dent in the buoy. “How’s that?”
“Less penetration than expected, we may need to boost the power with further tests.” Bright Heart nodded, “Alright, bring it back in Falco.”
“So short?” Falco rolled his eyes as he turned back towards the side hangar and hit the accelerator, “Alright, let’s bring it home.”
Falco stepped down the ramp and back onto the hangar’s floor. “So how did I do?”
“Perfect, now we just have one more thing to test.” Slippy slipped past Falco and into the cockpit while Bright Heart opened a panel on the front and retrieved a box from near the nose, the flight recorder.
“So how does it handle?” Tenderheart asked.
Falco gave a thumb’s up, “Perfect, a whole lot better than the Mk IV. Let’s get this thing into production already.”
“Not just yet,” Slippy emerged romt he cockpit, “We still have to test the buckle points on the armor.”
“I’m sorry, what? Buckle points?” Falco raised an eyebrow to Slippy.
Bright Heart nodded as he plugged the flight recorder into a console to copy the data, “Yes, you see the problem with laminate titanium is that it spreads the impact of energy weapons out across the hull and into the connected joints. We haven’t fully tested what this means for the superstructure of a fighter built out of interlocking pieces. So now we need to see what happens when it takes damage from lasers.”
“I got the remote pilot hooked up, let’s see.” Slippy plugged the remote pilot controls into the computer console and turned it on. Tenderheart turned to watch as the Arwing took off again, more shakily than before, and flew out into space.
Two plasma lasers shot out from one of the station’s defensive turrets and struck the Arwing which sent it in a spin.
“What the hell! How do two lasers do that?” Falco stared at the Arwing as it limped back into the hangar, parts of the hull buckled along the interlocking lines.
“That’s the hazard of laminate titanium,” Bright Heart stepped towards the fighter as it landed, “We need to figure out how to compensate for or prevent this.”
“I’m with Falco, we can’t fly in that kind of death trap,” Tenderheart folded his arms and looked from Slippy to Bright Heart.
“Don’t worry, Tenderheart,” Slippy said, “We’ll get this fixed up in no time.”
OoOoO
“Alright, is everyone here?” Tenderheart did a quick headcount of the Star Fox Team as they stood in front of the shuttle on Space Dynamics’ hangar deck.
“I’m here!” Cassandra’s voice called out. “Sorry, slept in.”
“Alright, everyone onboard,” Tenderheart turned and gestured for them to follow him, “We’re moving in.”
One cramped shuttle ride later and the new Star Fox team were onboard their new home ship: The Fox McCloud. There were already half-a-dozen Arwing Mk IVs in the docking bay as they stepped off.
Cassandra broke off from the group and touched one of the fighters. “Can we paint these?”
Fara nodded, “Yes, but later…Cassandra, you have two tails.”
Cassandra turned her head to look at the twin tails behind her, “My tail split a while ago after a training session. So where do we stay?”
Tenderheart took a deep breath and led the group along, “This way, I studied the maps.” The Care Bear Family members gave the masked fennec worried looks, but they set their worries aside for now as they explored their new home.
“The crew quarters are near the center of the ship, with every member having their own private room,” Tenderheart said, “Falco and Kat have a larger cabin because of Kalico, but every room is otherwise the same. The only exceptions are for Take Care, Get Well, Amanda and Patient Heart, who have their quarters near the sickbay, near the flight deck.”
“Why’re you down there?” Connie turned to Pace, whose green flight suit had a nurse’s scrubs over it. Connie’s was light blue.
“I offered to be a nurse for Take Care and Get Well.” Pace replied.
Connie patted her younger brother on the back, “Good luck, Pace.”
“…and here is the command bridge.” Tenderheart led the group onto the much larger command bridge with a command chair and five control terminals around the edges of the room with a wide view screen at the front that showed the exit of the dry dock.
Fara walked over to the command chair and drew a hand over the arm as Falco spoke up, “Aren’t we still in the middle of the ship? What about the old command station at the front of the ship?”
“That’s just the forward observation deck,” Slippy piped up, “There’s one at the front and back so some of us can have more privacy when we’re relaxing or eating.”
Bright Heart walked over to one console then nodded, “It makes more sense to have the nerve center in the middle of the ship instead of in the front where it’s easy to shoot out if the shields fail.” He turned back to the group, “The whole ship is better designed than the Great Fox, four main generators and two emergency power generators, plus engineering is right below here.” Bright Heart pointed straight down.
“So what do each of these consoles do?” Perfect asked.
Fara sat in the command chair and pointed to each of the consoles, starting at her back left and going clockwise around the bridge, “That’s the intelligence station, then communications, navigation, gunnery control and damage control and engineering. I’ll need one of you at each of those stations while I coordinate from here.”
“Wait, I thought you were going to be a pilot, shouldn’t I be here since I’m the leader?” Tenderheart walked up next to Fara.
Fara shook her head, “No. I Can’t…they need you out there, your skills are good enough to be at the head of the attacks, like fox was…” She shook her head. “So you each of you should try to find a niche here. ROB is at navigation,” she pointed to where the robot stood at navigation. “We’ll need to go back to the station to finish moving things over, but for now we can settle in.”
Tenderheart squeezed Fara’s shoulder and gave her a sympathetic look. She looked up at him with tears in her eyes then he turned to leave.
“Tenderheart.” Fara’s voice made the bear stop after everyone else had left. “Meet me in an hour on the training deck with Defender Bear, we need to get finish your psionic training.”
Tenderheart nodded, “OK.”
OoOoO
Tenderheart parried Defender Bear’s assault with the training sword he had received from the foundry, panting as he endured the assault. Defender disarmed him with an expert flick and knocked him back then lowered his sword. “You’re getting better,” Defender offered his hand to Tenderheart.
“Thanks,” Tenderheart pulled himself up.
“You need to work on your senses, Tenderheart.” Fara walked over to him from the side of the room.
“Do I need to wear something that covers my eyes?” Tenderheart asked.
“That would help, just a moment.” Fara turned to walk to the replicator.
“No need,” Tenderheart conjured a length of cloth from his tummy symbol and tied it around his eyes.
Defender chuckled, “Use the force, Tenderheart.”
Fara quirked an eyebrow, “The force?”
“Star Wars reference,” Tenderheart said as he raised the sword again. “So just try to rely on my psionic senses right?”
“Exactly.” Fara walked over and took off the pendant she always wore around her neck the draped it around Tenderheart’s.
Tenderheart felt his mental senses sharpen as the thin chain settled around him, “What’s this?”
“It’s Psychonite, an element that enhances psionic powers,” Fara took a deep breath, “it’s made from the mental energy of dead psychics. I’ll explain more later but it should help you get started.”
Tenderheart’s sparring continued with his vision blocked. Defender was always careful with each strike and Tenderheart eventually began to catch the rhythm. Finally, the session was over for the day. Tenderheart ached all over as he sat down with Defender Bear after pulling the wrap from his eyes and handing Fara’s psychonite pendant back to her.
“You’re getting better,” Defender gave Tenderheart a smiled.
“He’s right, Tenderheart,” Fara nodded, “You just need to keep at it.”
Tenderheart sighed, “I just don’t feel right about any of this. Fighting, piloting, war…It’s just too much.”
Defender nodded, “I know how you feel. I never thought I’d be part of something like this, or learning how to use so many weapons. Truth and I had our old magic guns we kept locked away but this is something else.” He held up a hand a conjured a small flame that hovered over his finger, “I have adjusted as best as I can. I still ask why she did it.”
“I think it’s because she thought you could protect your daughter better than she could, and because she wanted to repay you for saving her life so many times,” Tenderheart put a hand on Defender’s shoulder.
“I know. Thank you Tenderheart.” Defender smiled.
“Anytime. I’m going to lie down for a while.” Tenderheart stood up and exited the training room.
Tenderheart was about to enter his quarters when a voice stopped him.
“Hi Tenderheart.” Cheer walked up to him as his hand was on the door panel.
Tenderheart turned to face Cheer, she was smiling brilliantly and rocked on her feet with her hands behind her back; her personal flight suit was pink like her fur. “It’s good to see you smiling again, Cheer. How’s the new arm and leg?”
Cheer brought her right arm forwards and twisted it back and forth, “Amanda just looked at it and everything great, still feels like a glove though. How are you?”
“Nervous, but I’m adjusting.”
Cheer smirked, “I thought you’d be thrilled to be made leader. Don’t worry, you’ll do fine. You kept me going even after I lost everything.” She brought her right hand up to his head and ran her hand through his hair, “You’ve let it grow out.”
“What?” Tenderheart ran his hand through his hair, which was almost down to his neck, “It’s never grown before.”
“I can tell. Here I’ll help you fix it up.” Cheer took Tenderheart’s hand and pulled him along to her quarters. Tenderheart didn’t resist even as she plonked him down on the floor next to her bed.
“Just a moment, aha!” She pulled out a small bag full of hair care products. She saw Tenderheart’s perplexed expression, “I replicated these. I can’t stand just using the military soap we had. Don’t worry, I asked Bright Heart and Slippy and they said we won’t have to worry about reactor shortages for years. Now to your hair.” Cheer sat down on her bed behind Tenderheart and started to brush his hair.
Tenderheart winced as her brush caught a tangle, “OW!”
“Sorry, I guess you’re not used to having any real hair. So many tangles, just hold still please.” Cheer clucked somewhat as she attended what she saw was a rat’s nest of hair. She took out a pair of scissors and started to cut some tips off, “Gotta make something that stays out of your way.” She separated Tenderheart’s hair into three strands and wove them together, “Just make sure you wash it and I’ll help you keep it done up. Aaaaand done!” She tied off his hair, “take a look,” she conjured a hand mirror from her tummy symbol and passed it to him.
Tenderheart took the mirror and turned his head sideways. His hair had been done up in a short braid at the back of his head. He smiled as he stood up, “Thanks, Cheer, it looks great.”
Cheer stood up, “Anytime,” She leaned forwards and gave Tenderheart a kiss on the cheek.
Tendheart blushed and saw the cheerful smile on the pink bear’s face. Then turned and hurried out of the room, leaving her giggling behind him. He smiled in spite of himself as he got to his headquarters.
OoOoO
Two months later, Falco and Tenderheart dove and spun around each other in the new Arwing MK Vs, an intricate dance of G-Diffusers around target rings.
“Not bad for someone so green,” Falco snarked over the communicator.
“I learn fast,” Tenderheart spun the fighter into a ‘barrel roll’ (which was not an actual barrel roll but an aileron roll, however the name had stuck after being called that for so long) then stopped and dove into another holographic target ring.
Slippy’s voice came over both their communications, “How do they handle?”
“Like a dream, more responsive than the simulator,” Tenderheart said.
“Better than the test model. What about the armor?” Falco asked.
“We tested that already. Land in the Fox McCloud and we’ll tell you how.” Slippy said.
Both fighters easily landed in the wider hangar, where six Arwing Mk IVs were waiting for launch. Falco and Tenderheart exited the new ships from the sides and took a step back to look at them. Both Arwing Mk Vs were painted in the standard colors, white main fuselage with a cockpit decal painted over where the cockpit would have been on the older models and blue G-Diffuser fins above and below the backward swept white wings. The main fuselage was completely seamless and there was a notable glimmer where the wings joined the body at the back.
“The prototype and the first test model are fully combat ready,” Bright Heart said, nodding first to Tenderheart’s then Falco’s fighters.
“So how did you solve the buckle points issue?” Tenderheart looked over the fighters.
Slippy pointed to the ships, “First we constructed the main bodies out of one solid piece of shaped laminate titanium, then the wings and the g-diffusers are also solid constructions. We also got some outside help.” Slippy brought up a digital notepad, “A new pilot in the Cornerian military named Faye Spaniel sent us a formula for a heat dispersing gel she created and joints using ceramic titanium she developed before she joined up and we used that for the joints. The buckle points are minimal enough that the gel can disperse the heat from plasma lasers without burning off, after a few trials at least.”
“With any luck we can start mass production before too long,” Bright Heart scratched the back of his head and stared at the deck plating, “I never thought I’d be proud of building fighters like this.”
Tenderheart patted Bright Heart on the back, “Don’t worry, we’ve all had to do things we’re not comfortable with. On that topic, can you give me an update on the crew manifest?”
Bright Heart shook his head to clear it and looked at his digital checklist as they walked out of the docking bay, “Other than you and Falco the pilot roster consists of: Slippy, Defender Bear, Perfect Panda, Hugs Bear, Contrary Heart Liger and Conf…Cassandra Avalon.” Bright Heart cleared his throat, “Cassandra and Defender are also geared up for boarding and ground assaults.”
“I’m working on that too, but I need more practise,” Tenderheart cut in.
Bright Heart nodded then continued, “Take Care is the Chief Medical Officer with Get Well and Amanda as additional doctors, and Pace as their nurse. Though Amanda is more there to help Cheer and do any limb replacement if we need that. With Fara on the bridge: Cheer is working communications, Katt is on gunnery controls, Soulful’s on intelligence and science and Hope’s damage control and engineering. Lastly Slippy and I are on engineering and mechanics.” Their conversation had taken them to the lifts.
“So how long until we can have a full squadron of Mk Vs?” Tenderheart pushed the button for the bridge.
“Depends on when we can get the resources,” Bright Heart pulled out his electronic notepad, “Almost everything was used up in building the Fox McCloud and all the tests we did to solve the Laminate Titanium’s buckling problems and making working beam guns. We’ll need a couple months at least to requisition the materials let alone the time they’ll take to arrive and the time to get the foundry and factory on the ship online.” Bright Heart sighed as the door to the bridge opened, “We should probably replace the manufacturing facilities on Space Dynamics first.”
“They can requisition that just fine themselves,” Fara spoke from the command chair. She smiled and tented her fingers, “But now that you’re done your test flight it’s time for the Fox McCloud’s official shakedown cruise,” she looked over to Hope Bear, “Hope is everything ready.”
Hope Bear gave the console a once over, “Everything’s ready, Commander.”
Fara nodded then looked to Tenderheart. Tenderheart nodded, “Alright then, let’s take her out.”
Fara looked straight ahead out the main view screen, “ROB, take us out.”
“AFFIRMATIVE.”
They felt the ship’s engines hum to life as the Fox McCloud edged out of the dry dock. They felt the ship shake for a moment as the last of the docking clamps disengaged as they pushed out into space.
Fara let go of a breath she had been holding, but smiled as they cleared the station, “We’re away. Now we just-”
“Tenderheart, Fara!” Cheer’s voice cut through the bridge, “Priority one message from General Pepper on Corneria!”
“Patch it through,” Tenderheart and Fara spoke at once.
General Pepper’s face appeared in a small box on the view screen. “Star Fox! At 1200 hours today Andross’ fleet emerged from warp new Corneria and declared war on us with his allies Quenos and No-Heart. We’re under at-” his voice was cut off by an explosion.
“ENEMY FLEET DETECTED. APPROACHING FROM THE FRONT.” ROB’s voice spoke out from ahead.
“I can confirm,” Soulful spoke, “One carrier class ship deploying fighters, at least 50 so far and deploying more.”
“Combat Alert!” Tenderheart turned to Cheer, “Scramble all Arwings and prepare for combat.” He was halfway to the lift as Cheer’s voice rang throughout the ship.
“Combat alert! All Arwings Scramble for combat! Combat alert! All Arwings Scramble for combat!”
Fara started barking orders as the alert sirens went off, “Alright, Cheer, contact Space Dynamics and warn them to evacuate. Katt, arm the beam cannons and prepare the laser arrays to repel attackers. ROB, keep the engines primed and be ready to jump to warp once we’re clear. Hope, keep an eye on the shields, and warn me if any section starts to go down.”
OoOoO
Tenderheart grabbed the communications headset from the wall as he ran into the hangar, a head-harness that held speakers to his ears, a microphone to his mouth and a green lens over his left eye. He heard the pounding of feet behind him as the rest of the pilots sped into the bay and got into their fighters.
No times for nerves as Tenderheart started the MK V prototype, “Alright, first real combat.” He turned on the communicator as he gripped the controls. “Tenderheart Bear, launching in Arwing Mk V!” The fighter shot forwards and into space as the rest of the pilots gave their launch phrases.
“Hugs Bear, launching!”
“Contrary Heart Liger, launching!”
“Falco Lobardi, Arwing MK V taking off!”
“Cassandra Avalon, Arwing launching.”
“Defender Bear, lauching!”
“Slippy Toad, here I go!”
“Perfect Panda, launching!”
Tenderheart watched the radar as they got into formation. “Alright, break and attack all targets until the Fox can take out the carrier.” He hit the boost as the first wave of fighters swarmed in on them. It was chaos, Tenderheart felt his whole body sweat as he fired off his first laser blasts and shot down one of the fighters then spun sideways to avoid a blast of lasers. AS if to show him up, Falco pulled ahead and blasted ten fighters apart without needing to spiral sideways.
“Just stay alive!” Tenderheart shouted into the headset.
“They won’t.” Cassandra’s flat voice was followed by her Arwing speeding past Tenderheart, her fuselage had been painted completely black as she spun into multiple barrel rolls, the g-diffuser’s energy wake dispersing laser fire that rained in on her. Tenderheart could only gawk as she destroyed over two-dozen fighters with just her lasers.
“Not bad for a rookie!” Falco’s voice came over the radio.
“I need help over here!” Hugs’ voice called out!
Tenderheart didn’t even see her on the radar as he spun to follow her voice, a sense in his head directing him to destroy the fighter that was on Hugs tail.
“Thanks Tenderheart,” Hugs pulled up and took out another fighter overhead.
“This is Katt, beam cannons fully charged and ready to fire.”
“Alright, Katt, target the carrier and fire on my mark!” Tenderheart spun sideways as he got close to the carrier.
“Oh no you don’t!” a new voice came over the radio as the front of the carrier unfolded four long arms that deployed a large energy shield between them. “You can’t get through this!” the voice was from the carrier’s commander.
“Analayzing…” Slippy spoke up, “That barrier’s too strong to pierce with one volley.”
“So now what?! AH!” Connie shouted as she took a hit, her shields absorbing the blow.
“We have to destroy that barrier. Perfect, Hugs, pull back to defend the Fox while we break through the squadrons,” Tenderheart ordered, destroying three more fighters that came his way.
“Well now, let’s see if you can do anything without Fox!” The commander said. “Fire barrier blaster!” four spiraling green triangles shot off, forcing the Arwings to scatter.
“What kind of weapon is that?” Defender Bear asked.
“I’m going in,” Cassandra rocketed ahead and fired off several shots at the shield, which only impacted the energy shield and caused the energy triangles to fire off again.
“The shield’s absorbing the laser, Cassandra,” the new voice came from Soulful Heart. “Take out the tips of pylons to disrupt the shield.”
“Got it Peppy,” Falco said on reflex, “I mean Soulful.” Falco sped ahead, “Let’s see how you handle the new Mk V.” He spun around another salvo of green triangles then took aim and fired off the beam gun of his nose and shattered the pylon. “One down.”
“Defenses analyzed, sending target data now!” Slippy said. “Cover me on this one.”
“I’m on it!” Defender said. He took out two fighters that got on Slippy’s tail as the frog’s ship dove in and fired off half-a-dozen shots. The pylon remained intact until Defender finished it off with two more shots. “Two to go.”
“On it.” Cassandra dove forwards and fired off eight more shots to destroy the pylon.
“Buzz off!” the command fired off another salvo of green triangles, one of which clipped Cassandra’s wing.
“Last one,” Tenderheart held his breath as he dodged around and took aim with the beam gun. “Got it!” he shouted as the beam flew off and shattered the pylon tip. “Fire the full salvo Katt.”
“No noooo!” The commander shouted as the six beam cannons on the Fox McCloud fired and perforated the ship, “You won’t stop the new empiireeee!” his shout was drowned out as the ship exploded.
Tenderheart wheeled around just in time to see the last of the fighters being destroyed by Hugs and Perfect. “Return to dock all ships report.”
“This new ship handles like a dream,” Falco said.
“New empire, that’s worrying,” Slippy said.
“Is the first time always this bad?” Hugs asked.
“It was for me. We’ll have to get used to it,” Perfect said.
“The ship isn’t damaged at least,” Defender said.
“So this is space combat,” Cassandra said.
“Let’s get out of here,” Connie said.
As they landed in the docking back, Tenderheart saw a large screen on the wall flashed and displayed their names with their kill count. He would worry about the kill board later as he spoke into the communicator, “Alright, we’re onboard, Fara, jump us to warp.”
“Affirmative. Hold on everyone!” Fara’s voice was followed by the charging of the warp engines as the Fox McCloud vanished into warp space.
