The Lylat System had seen better days. It had seen worse, too, but there weren’t many left alive who remembered them. And now, in the wake of the Aparoid War, there weren’t many left alive at all. The outpost and staging center at Katina was annihilated early in the fighting. Beautiful, cosmopolitan Corneria was in smoking ruins, and the countless deep space stations and platforms that connected the planets of the system were nothing but space debris, now.
Piracy had seen an explosive growth, with almost no long range space transportation left and the peacekeeping forces devastated and scattered, bands of rogues and mercenaries plundered what few colonies and transports still existed. There was no way to reach them with the limited space transport available, and the great Orbital Gate at Corneria had been disabled since the Aparoids swarmed it just after the Star Fox Team passed through on their fateful mission to the Aparoid Homeworld. Now, three months after the end of the war, the Lylat Sytem seemed to be a silent and dead place.
But that was about to change.
“Relay Three-Seven-Five checks out. You get that, bridge?” the static voice of a young man came in over the command center of the Orbital Gate. It had been refurbished and repaired, at least partly; there were still panels missing from the floor and the walls, tools lay scattered about, and some of the burn marks hadn’t been scrubbed away yet, but it was now at least serviceable.
“Reading you loud and clear, John.” “A young tiger sat in a chair at one of the numerous computer terminals on the bridge, listening intently into his headset with a faint smile. “That leaves five more to go, sound ‘em off...”
The voice came in over his headset again, from deep within the rings of the gate generators themselves. Three months of repairs to the massive orbital platform had taken them this far; the individual relay points for the warp field were all online now, or at least all but five, so far. The skeleton crew on the bridge held their breath as the Tiger relayed the words to them from his chair. “John says Three-Seven-Six is a go… Three-Double-Sevens is a go. Three-Seven-Eight… is in the yellow, but she’s transmitting strong, go. Three-Seven-Nine looks like a go.”
Time hung for them all, for what seemed like forever, until a smile crept over the tiger’s tired face. “Three-Eighty is a go!” A weary, but excited cheer swept through the bridge, the crew throwing their hands up and shouting happily, the long hours every day of every week had come to fruition.
The only one silent on the bridge was seated in the captain’s chair. He was a white wolf, about forty years old from the look of him, dressed in a slightly tattered bright red military dress suit. After the happy clamor died down, he arose slowly, the worn chair creaking slightly. “Sinclair, how’s your end?”
A skunk towards the head of the bridge stood up, saluting and smiling. “Sir! PowerTrans is showing green clear across the board! All I need is the order!”
A faint smile crept across the captain’s rough features, and he folded his hands behind his back, after slicking his hair back and replacing his red and black officer’s hat. “Open the viewing window, and begin gate sequence.”
Sinclair nodded and sat back down with a “Yes, sir!” A few button presses later and the top panel of the massive viewing window at the front of the bridge began to slide up. The bottom panel hung and shook for a few moments before it, too, slid away, leaving faint scratches in the already chipped window surface but revealing the great rings of their orbital station’s warp gate generator. “Gate Sequence engaged.” The first of the three overlaid rings began to slowly rotate, as it turned, picking up speed and briefly shaking the station for a few frightening moments, a faint blue glow began to surround it, exciting the bridge crew further.
“Ring One reporting success. All clear. Ring Two engaged.” Sinclair looked up from his station and watched with the others as the outer ring locked into place, and the middle ring began its own turns. Slowly they saw the glow expand and focus, filling the flat space inside the gateway with ambient, brilliant hues of blue and white. “Ring Two says all clear. Engaging Ring Three.”
The captain nodded a little, biting his lip in stressed anticipation as the middle ring slid to a stop and locked in place, sending the smaller inner ring moving along it, slowly at first. A minute passed and it picked up the proper speed, generating the last field and making the gate flare with blue brilliance, along its rippling and pulsing surface.
Sinclair’s smile burst into a full grin and he rose from his station, saluting. “Ring Three says all clear! The portal is open!”
The Captain looked back over his shoulder. “Stability Monitoring?”
“They say she’s as stable as they come, sir!” A female voice came from behind several large terminals behind him. “We have a stable portal!”
Turning back to view the brilliant blue gateway to anywhere, the Captain nodded again, saluting his crew. “Well done! Let’s give our friends on the planet a call and let them know.”
There were many massive structures on Corneria visible from space, though not many had made it through the war; but the Orbital Gate had the distinction of being the only structure in space that was visible from Corneria. Its brilliant blue gate lit up the night sky to choruses of cheers in the remnants of the capitol, and the Cornerian Anthem played proudly. Today was the day.
Back on the station, the tiger at Communications laughed as he replaced his headset. “I think they know, sir, they’re calling US.” He had a brief conversation with someone thorough his headset. “Yes, General, I’ll tell him. Very stable, yes. Okay, over and out.” Taking off the communications headset he swiveled around in his chair to face the white wolf. “General Pepper sends his regards ‘on a job well done’ sir. He says we can begin the mission as soon as possible.”
With a relaxed sigh, the captain sat back in his chair, smiling as he looked into the radiance of the warp portal. “Give McCloud and his people on the Vissago a shout, then. Tell them we’re ready to send them through now.”
The beginning of a short Starfox fanfic, set after the events in Starfox Assault. It will consist of a prologue, Epilogue, and five chapters.
With the war against the Aparoids over, ruined Corneria sets about rebuilding itself. To again reach the other planets in the Lylat System, however, Corneria must first finish repairing the Orbital Gate, left crippled in the aftermath of the war.
(Fox McCloud and related characters are the property of Nintendo. Thumbnail icon graciously made by
Well, thank you for the input. Maybe I better scrap this and give it a rewrite if that's the case. I certainly wasn't going for a balanced feeling with any edge-of-your seat mechanics.
I'd been trying for a dialogue-heavy introduction, that implies and infers most of the state of the setting, leaving little to be guessed and nothing int he way of edge-of your seat drama. I'm rereading this and I'm just not sure where I've gone wrong, though. Any ideas on specific parts that evoked these feelings?
Well, thank you for the input. Maybe I better scrap this and give it a rewrite if that's the case. I
