When space and time folded back into normalcy, the Vissago was in orbit around a dead world. The desert planet Katina was always a bit inhospitable, but now it was positively horrific. The Aparoids had altered the atmosphere to suit them, and after they all ceased to be, the planet had run amok. The ship dropped into orbit over an endless globe of storms and flashes of lightning; the only distinguishable feature of the planet was the remnants of the Aparoid hive spire, jutting up through the clouds like a great pointed monolith.
The Aparoids connected entire planets to the hive mind with these massive spires. They served as foci for the queen’s powerful psychic presence. Their structure was important, rather than their composition, and so they were often cobbled together from anything present on the planet.
Fox had been prepared for a devastated world, but he hadn’t imagined the sheer chaos the Aparoid race had left behind. If Katina had been called a dead world when it was a settled desert planet, it was an angry ghost of a world now. “What… happened?” Fox shook his head, watching the displays on his chair’s screen. The Aparoids didn’t ravage worlds like this, they were… orderly.”
“Maybe they were in the middle of terraforming it when they all...” Slippy searched for the word. “Well… disintegrated.” He looked over readouts from the ship’s dilapidated sensor array, listing off important facts. “Breathable atmosphere… mostly. REALLY heavy moisture content in the air. Looks like the storms don’t end, either. No life at all.”
Falco pointed at the tip of the spire, poking from the clouds on the main screen of the bridge. “What the heck is that thing? Doesn’t look like the spires we saw back on the homeworld. Zoom in on that thing.”
As soon as Slippy zoomed in on the structure, the entire team regretted the curiosity. The spire didn’t look the same because it was unfinished and no longer coated in the connective substances that went away with the Aparoids themselves. For the first time, the underlying structure of the spires was understood. The top that poked through the clouds contained anything and everything. Fox noted parts from a blasted-out Landmaster Tank, pieces of the Katina military base, cloth from uniforms, and most macabre of all, a skeletal hand near the top, reaching up into empty space. With the Aparoids went the connective tissues holding it all together, and occasionally, a tiny part would fall off as the tower came undone. The spire made a disturbingly fitting monument to the war. “Turn it off.” But it wasn’t one he cared to stare at.
Krystal seemed the most upset by the sight, turning away from it and holding her head with a groan. “I… I’m sorry. Excuse me.” She stepped back and turned, leaving the bridge.
Fox followed her before the doors closed. “It’s okay Krystal… I’m kind of disturbed at it too.”
“No… no it’s not just that. “ She shook her head, obviously suffering from a headache. “It’s the Aparoids. There were so many, so loud… It’s disorienting.”
“Aparoids?!” Fox blinked. “You hear them again? Are they still out there?” He placed a hand on her shoulder to steady her. “Maybe you should lay down, huh? You look like you’re really sick.”
“No… no there aren’t any left, Fox.” She looked up at him, shaking her head woozily. “It’s just that spire… so many echoes from it, so much noise… I guess I’m just picking up the old signals still bouncing around. Those spires are like… hotspots for anything psychic. Even you are doing it now.”
It was then that Fox realized neither of them had said a word during their whole conversation; it had all been telepathic. “Wow…”
“I… really want to talk to you, Fox… I’ve been meaning to for a while now.” Krystal looked at him and sighed, obviously upset.
“Why now, all of a sudden?”
“Well…” She began, “I just have this terrible feeling about all this, and I wanted to tell you, while we were alone together, before we go out there, Fox. I… I-”
“Hey!” Falco’s shout startled Fox and he spun around just in time to catch his flightsuit and helmet as it flew at him. “Quit standin’ around, hot shot! We got a job to do out there! A PAYING job.”
“…Yeah.” Fox gritted his teeth at the bird, narrowing his eyes a little. “I’ll be right there, Falco…” He turned back to his blue-furred companion and sighed. “Sorry Krystal. What did you want to tell me?”
She smiled a little. “It will wait until we get back. We do have a job to do.” She patted him on the shoulder and walked away to get suited for their flight.
--- --- ---
“Okay, you guys,” Slippy’s voice crackled over the comm. “My Arwing’s still out of commission. Krystal, yours SHOULD be working now, and the other two checked out fine. ROB, is the hangar checking out okay?”
ROB had suffered system-wide infection and severe damage in the escape from the Great Fox, and rather than lay inoperable while an overworked Slippy tried to make time to fix him, the A.I. had opted to be uploaded to the Vissago’s computer, where he carried out his usual duties.
“The hangar bay is operational. I will perform a full ship-wide status check after the flight mission has completed.” His monotone mechanical voice droned from the flight control area’s speakers. “Diverting power from all unrelated-nonessential ship systems until completion.”
“Okay Star Fox,” Slippy returned to the comm. channel, “are you all ready for launch?”
“Falco here. Everything shows green.”
“Fox. Born ready, just let me out there.”
“This is Krystal. I’m reading… some sort of discrepancy with my position. I think there may be a problem with my navicomputer or the… wait, no, it’s working again. I’m ready for launch.”
“Good luck out there, guys. I’m depressurizing the hangar now. A loud rushing permeated the hangar as the air vented from the hangar doors as they slid apart, opening space to the three sealed fighter craft. One by one, their engines hummed to life and they shot out of their launch gantries, out into the cold silence of space, high above the stormy planet below.
“Yaaaahooooo!!” Fox did a barrel roll in his Arwing, laughing like a young boy at the thrill of being back in the cockpit after so long stuck aboard the hated Vissago. “I thought I’d NEVER get off that thing!”
“For once, I agree with ya, Fox.” Falco joked through the comm. “Been so long, I actually need a sec to get used to the handling again.”
“Slippy did a good job with mine…” Krystal pulled into formation behind them. “I think everything is fully repaired. I’m ready for maneuvers when you...” her communication went static.
“Krystal, I think you have a communications problem. Are you reading?” Fox tried to hand signal her, but she couldn’t see around to his cockpit. “Whoa! Pull back a little!”
“H-hey!” Falco gestured at her, but she was tapping her control console and not looking, obviously trying to get communications back with them. “Your navicomputer must still be screwy, you’re too close to us! Hey, do you read?”
“Nega…ve cop… …omething’s wron…. the G Dif…ser…” Krystal’s Arwing was slowly lurching downward towards Fox’s, and she was completely unaware of her misplaced position on her navigation.
“Pull UP girl!” Falco fumbled with the flightstick to bring his weapon online; he wanted to fire a shot into space to catch her attention. “Pull up! You’re coming down right on his nose! PULL UP!”
Fox tried to swing down, but his hand scarcely gripped the control before Krystal’s right wing sheared off the nose of his ship and his dashboard exploded in his face. He screamed, and everything went black.
