Star Fox 1. Chapter 1

Chp. 1

The Great Fox Carrier drifted through space, not really headed anywhere in particular, more like avoiding the crowd and press of Corneria and the other major population centers of Lylat. It wasn't that those worlds were overpopulated, per se, but wherever the current inhabitants of the ship went, they were often as not mobbed by crowds of adoring fans; and although celebrity had its perks, too much publicity made for very poor privacy. The carrier had become a sort of home away from home for its crew, a place where they could go for a while when the press of the crowd became too much to bear.

The ship's current owner-captain sat in the command chair, not doing much commanding at the moment but simply gazing out at the simply beauty of space. His name was Fox McCloud; he was currently in his early thirties, happily married to the love of his life and proud father of a two-year old boy. He wasn't quite alone on the bridge, although the silence in the room would suggest that he was. The only other person on the bridge at the moment was Fox's friend Falco Lombardi. The blue-feathered avian sat at the navigation console, pretending to check the ship's course but in actuality doing the same thing Fox was doing.

The vulpine's ear twitched as the sound of footsteps making their way down the hall heralded the approach of more of the ship's residents. There was one quiet and measured stride, and one that was a little faster and noticeably heavier. He smiled as the door slid open, and called back as the two others entered the bridge, "Hi Krystal, hi Slippy."

"How'd you know it was us?" Slippy asked as he trotted into the room. Krystal already knew, but she hid the answer behind a smile at Slippy's befuddlement.

"Being married to a telepath has begun to awaken my own latent abilities," Fox said in a deadpan voice. "I've been able to pick up thought patterns for a while, and Krystal has stated teaching me how to discern different people based on mental recognition alone."

"Really?" Slippy asked. "Hey… wait a second; you don't _have_ any latent psychic abilities! Krystal already checked when you two first met!" The other individuals on the bridge started snickering, and Fox turned the chair around to face the new arrivals for the first time.

"Just kidding, Slip, I only heard your footsteps. The ship is so quite these days they were easy to pick up." Krystal covered her mouth with one hand to hide her smile, but Fox could tell she was still giggling over his impromptu prank. His eyes shifted a little lower, and his smile grew wider as he saw who Krystal's passenger was. "Hey, Marcus! C'mere and give your papa a hug!"

"Daddy!" called the tiny kit as he squirmed out of his mother's arms and scampered as fast as he could across the room to his father. His top speed wasn't that fast, all things considered, but today he 

was able to make it unassisted without stumbling. Fox scooped the boy up into his arms as the kit threw his own arms around his father's neck.

"Marcus, how's my little boy today?" Fox asked, even though he didn't really expect a verbal answer. Marcus laughed as his father tickled his stomach, then Fox looked up again as Krystal approached. She smiled at him and put an arm around his shoulders while he leaned his head against her hip.

"What were you doing before we walked in?" she asked him.

He motioned towards the viewport. "Just looking out at the stars, thinking about how beautiful they look form here." There was a moment of silence, and then his wife cleared her throat meaningfully. Fox looked up at her with an abashed grin. "Of course, nothing is as beautiful as you are." Krystal chuckled at his quick recovery and rubbed his back along the level of his shoulders.

Falco snickered from where he was sitting. "She's got you trained good, Foxie."

"There's a lot to be said for this being married business, Falco," Fox replied. "You should try it sometime."

Falco made a face. "Being tied down? No thanks, not my thing."

"Oh?" Slippy said. "That's not what Katt told me." Falco shot the toad an incredulous stare, as though he couldn't believe what he'd just heard. Everyone else erupted in laughter again; it wasn't often that Slippy managed to get the better of Falco in their frequent verbal exchanges. While they were laughing, the doors hissed open again and the last member of the group walked in, a pink frog with blond pigtails. Slippy saw her first as she walked in, and jumped up to greet her with unbridled enthusiasm. "Amanda!" he cried.

"Slippikins!" she responded with equal enthusiasm. Falco put a finger in the back of his throat and made a gagging sound, while Fox and Krystal, who were married as well, simply let the two amphibians enjoy each other's presence without making snide remarks or gestures. Despite the fact that he was at least a foot and a half shorter than she was and regarded by most as a consummate geek, Amanda held nothing but the utmost regard and affection for her husband.

Falco was distracted from the mushy scene in front of him by a beep from the communications console. Happy for any sort of diversion, he keyed the "Accept" button, and the ship's main holographic projector hummed to life, displaying the image of an older, gray furred hare in a natty red dress uniform. "Hey guys, Peppy's on the comm," he called out.

Fox used one foot to spin himself around in his chair to face the hologram of his father's closest friend. "Afternoon, General, what can we do for you?"

Peppy winced a bit at the address used. "Fox, no need to be so formal between us. I haven't changed just because I put on this uniform."

The vulpine grinned abashedly. "Sorry, it just seems that recently whenever I open my mouth to say 'Peppy', 'General' comes out instead."

"How's Lucy dong?" Krystal asked. The blue vixen was very good friends with Peppy's only daughter.

"She's fine," the hare replied. "Still teaching at the Academy on Fichina, still dreaming of being a full-time fighter pilot." He cleared his throat and said, in a somewhat more somber tone, "Fox, I know you're semi-retired right now, but there's something I need you to do, something only you and your team can handle."

"All right," Fox agreed. "Um, not to argue, but why can't Star Wolf handle it?" Ever since they had helped the Cornerian government defeat the Anglar invasion almost three years ago, the three-man team that had been Star Fox's greatest rivals had become a bit more mainstream, abandoning the illegal businesses that had gotten them in trouble with the law before in favor of serving as a second group of commandos-for-hire. While Fox doubted that they had gone _completely_ legit, there was no denying that they were trying to reform.

Peppy sighed a little. "This mission requires a group that can be discreet and diplomatic, and-"

"Star Wolf is neither," Krystal and Fox said at the same time. They looked at each other for a moment, surprised at the stereo reply, but then Fox shrugged and returned his gaze to the hologram. "So, what do you need us to do?"

"If you could set your course to these coordinates, I'll try to explain along the way," Peppy said. He quoted a string of alphanumerics, and Fox looked over to Falco, who was already entering the coordinates into the navicomputer. The massive ship began to turn, coming about to the new destination and accelerating to two-thirds top speed. Krystal slid into an empty seat in front of a computer console, while little Marcus remained where he was, sitting in his father's lap.

"First off, let me ask if you've heard of a world called Nibiru?" Peppy began.

"No, can't say that I have," Fox answered. He looked over to his wife, who was tapping away on the keyboard to bring up any information the ship's computer had on the planet in question.

"Nibiru is a world on the far edge of the Lylat system," Peppy began. "There are indications that it's a gravitic capture, a world whose own sun fizzled out and set it loose to drift through space until it was caught by Solar's gravitational pull."

"You know, Gen- er, I mean, Peppy, this is starting to sound a little bit like General Pepper's briefing just before our first mission to Sauria."

Peppy chuckled a little bit at that remark, and replied, "At first, yes, but I don't think you'll be picking up any exotic vixens from Nibiru. For one thing, the one you already have might take great exception to it."

"You better believe it," Krystal's voice came from where she was sitting. "Um, on a more business-related note, there's nothing in the ship's computer about this Nibiru. Looks like you'll have to give us all the data you can, Peppy."

"Ah, well, get comfortable, then, because this may take a little while," Peppy said. He waited while everyone found places to sit, and then continued. "To our knowledge, Nibiru is a cold, dead world. Its atmosphere is a super-cold soup made up mostly of methane and ammonia, with traces of a few other gasses mixed in."

"Ick," Falco said. "Sounds pretty rough on the lungs."

"It is indeed," Peppy replied evenly. If he was annoyed by the interruption, he gave no sign. "There are indications that there was life on the planet once, long ago, but there doesn't appear to have been anything there for many, many years. The planet is a bit on the small side, but much denser than Corneria, so its gravity is actually significantly higher than any of you are probably used to. There is enough tectonic activity that the atmosphere is kept a few degrees above its freezing point, but it also makes for some rather unstable geology at times."

"If this place is so nasty, why is anyone even interested in it?" Slippy asked.

"I was just about to get to that," Peppy told him. "Nibiru was first surveyed just before the start of the Anglar War, but the findings could not be exploited right away due to the hostilities that arose immediately afterwards. Those findings, however, indicated the presence of a kind of metal never before seen in Lylat. Once we were finally able to send a follow-up team, they were able to confirm the findings. This metal, which they dubbed Mallidium, is something special indeed; you can make practically anything with it. Obviously, given the amount of destruction the Anglars caused before they were finally stopped, the existence of a universal building material is a very attractive commodity. Several companies have acquired permits to mine and process this ore and the products are shipped out across Lylat and are being used in the reconstruction efforts that are still going on."

"Sounds like wonderful stuff," Fox said. "So what's the problem that we need to solve?"

Peppy sighed. "We don't really know for sure. The only thing we have to go on is a cryptic message sent anonymously to Cornerian High Command. All it said was, 'The Legion is awakening'. What the Legion is, and why its awakening is so bad it didn't say, but there's something going on there that those present don't seem inclined to reveal."

"Who could have sent the message?" Fox asked. "I know, it's anonymous, so we can't really tell for sure who did, but is there any way we could narrow down the possibilities?"

"There are three companies that are actually on the planet in significant strength," Peppy told him. "The most conservative is MineCo, they control most of the southern ranges on the planet. They're a fairly well-balanced group, not a very big corporation but they handle what they do have very well. Next is StarTech Industries, a very big corporation that seems to have made the mistake of trying to be everywhere at once. They've spread themselves too thin, and are facing bankruptcy in the wake of the Anglar invasion. Lastly is Industrial Solar Resources or ISR for short. They are aggressive and competitive in the worst way, frequently resorting to violence to get what they want. Of those three, I would say the most likely prospect is that the message came from someone in MineCo."

"All right, then," Fox mused. "We'll start asking around there. Even if no one will actually own up to sending that message, perhaps someone will tell us what's going on."

"I think MineCo might be the only company that _is_ forthcoming," Krystal said. "StarTech stands to lose biog if this venture fails, and it seems to me that the people running ISR have a lot that they would want to hide."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Fox agreed. "So, it looks like we'll be paying the hardworking people of MineCo a visit when we arrive. Falco, what's out ETA?"

"We're still a day and a half out," the blue avian replied. "We've got lots of time to kill before we arrive."

"We'll contact you again when we arrive, Gen- sorry, Peppy," Fox said. "Take care until then."

"I will," the hare replied. "And I'll call you sooner if something changes in the meantime. All of you; take care." The hologram wavered and then vanished, leaving the bridge almost as dim and quiet as it was before.

"Looks like we have a day and a half until things get interesting," Fox said into the silence. "Let's get everything checked out, and make sure it's in good working order. I don't know what might be waiting for us down on Nibiru's surface, but we'll be better able to handle it with intact gear." As everyone got up tro check on their respective areas of responsibility, he caught Krystal staring out at the stars with an odd look on her face. "Krys?" he called softly. "Is something wrong?"

"I…don't really know," she replied. "It's nothing specific, just a vague sensation."

"We have a day and a half to work on it," Fox reassured her. "Let's see if we can find anything that will help allay your worries."

She gave him a quick kiss on the side of his muzzle. "You're sweet, Fox."

Even after being married to her for nearly three years, little things like that had the power to make him feel giddy and a little lightheaded. The two of them walked off the bridge hand in hand, headed for the equipment stores to check on all the gear stored there. Krystal felt better, but wasn't sure she wanted to voice the reason behind her unease; she had the feeling that this mission to Nibiru would be anything but simple or easy.

* * *

_A/N: First chapter of Dark Orbit. This story is loosely based on an old game published by WildTangent studios that I used to enjoy, until they stopped carrying the game and my computer crashed. I hope all readers enjoy the story! _


	2. Chapter 2

Star Fox: Dark Orbit

Chp. 2

Almost a day and a half after they received the request from Peppy, the Great Fox slid into orbit around the distant world of Nibiru. From space, the planet looked bleak and foreboding; the ground was obscured by clouds of condensed ammonia, and what little of the surface that the team could see was rugged and harsh-looking. They had spent their transit time making sure every bit of equipment was in good working order, and were as prepared as they could be for anything that might lie ahead. All the preparations did not completely alleviate Krystal's worry, however. She didn't voice it out loud again, but there was still a nagging sensation of imminent peril, and she wondered if it had anything to do with the message that Peppy had mentioned in his transmission.

Shortly after the ship had settled into orbit, they received a transmission from the ground. "Unidentified ship, this is Nibiru Central Control, please identify yourself and state your intentions."

Fox took the comm headset and replied, "Nibiru Control, this is Fox McCloud, on board the Great Fox. We are here at the request of General Peppy Hare of Cornerian High Command, to look into a report of unusual events on the planet's surface."

"Mr. McCloud!" the operator exclaimed. "I, ah, wasn't advised of your impending arrival."

"We wanted to keep things low-key," Fox said. "We'll be coming down to the MineCo region shortly; please advise on conditions."

"I'll, ah, transfer you to the traffic control coordinator for that region, Mr. McCloud, although I believe you would be better off coming down to the polar landing pads and taking a transfer from there. This planet's gravity is higher than what you're probably used to, and flying an aircraft around for any great length of time will burn up a great deal of fuel."

The comm system clicked off for a moment, and Fox turned to look at the rest of his team, assembled there on the bridge. "He's nervous," the orange-furred vulpine said. "I could tell that much in his voice."

"Ya think he's hiding somethin'?" Falco asked, with a cup of coffee held in his hands. It was still morning as far as the ship's clock was concerned, and Falco was most assuredly not a morning person.

"Of course he's hiding something," Krystal said. "The question is what? There could be any number of things they don't want us to know about."

"We'll just have to send a team down to the surface to find out," Amanda said. "But not a very big one or they might jump to the conclusion that we're here to take over the area."

Further conversation was cut off by the voice of the MineCo air/space traffic controller. "Great Fox, this is MineCo Traffic Control, please advise on your intentions."

Fox put the headset back on and replied, "MineCo Control, this is Fox McCloud. We've received a request from General Peppy to investigate an anonymous report of strange occurrences on this planet."

"Mr. McCloud, any such reports are the work of alarmists. There's nothing happening down here that would require outside intervention." The controller's voice was silent for a moment, but then he added, "However, if it will allay your worries, you are free to send a small delegation down to the surface to see for yourselves."

"Thank you, MineCo control, you're too kind," Fox said with only a trace of sarcasm in his voice. "We'll have a contingent on the ground in a couple of hours." He ended the transmission and turned back to the rest of the team. "So, who's going?"

"I am," Falco said. "I'm bored out of my skull just sitting here with nothing to do; I need a change of scenery, even if it's a boring, lifeless place like this."

Fox chuckled, even though he knew how Falco felt. Most days he was quite happy being semi-retired, but on some occasions he missed the action of previous years. Not that he'd ever wish anything like the Aparoid Invasion or the Anglar War on the citizens of Lylat, but sometimes he felt restless, full of energy that he didn't know how to channel into a productive activity. "That's one," he said. "Anyone else?"

"I think we ought to send two people, at most," Krystal suggested. "Like Amanda said, if there are too many people present on the ground, the miners may start thinking this is more than just an investigation, and panic."

"Looks like you're nominated for the post, Foxie," Falco commented.

"Now hold on," Krystal objected. "If we're trying to find out secrets, shouldn't we send a telepath along?"

"Actually, most of Lylat knows about your abilities, now," Fox said. "If you're along, they'll probably try that much harder to hide…whatever it is they're trying to hide. And both of us can't go; we still need someone to stay with Marcus."

Krystal wanted to argue about that, but knew he had a point. Her presence would likely send suspicions shooting through the roof, and Marcus was too young for both of his parents to be away on a mission at the same time. That knowledge didn't stop her from wanting to do her part, but sometimes she could better serve behind the scenes than out in front for all to see. "Are you two taking Arwings or something a little bigger?" she asked instead.

"The Arwings should be fine," Fox answered, relieved that she hadn't pressed the issue. There was another reason behind his argument against both of them going; if something bad did happen, Krystal would be much better at coordinating a response than he was. "That should give us enough firepower in case something happens, without spooking the miners too much. Also, the Arwings are much more fuel-efficient than the specialty fighters are." He waited a moment to see if anyone had something more to add. When no comments were forthcoming, he stood up and started moving to the exit door. The rest of the team joined him at the exit, and the whole group made their way down to the hangar bay.

Fox and Falco checked out a pair of Arwings and began pre-flight preparations. While they were doing that, Krystal climbed up the ladder next to Fox's Arwing and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "For luck." she said.

"Are you still worried?" Fox asked her. She didn't say anything out loud, but nodded. "I'll, be careful," he promised. "Keep an eye on things here while I'm gone?"

"You bet," she told him. She leapt down from the ladder and backed away as he engaged the anti-gravity thrusters that allowed the starfighter to hover. Falco followed suit, and the two pilots left the port side launch bay and began to head down to the surface of Nibiru. The rest of the team watched until they were lost to sight, and then turned to head back to their preferred stations. Krystal lingered a little longer than the rest, hoping that the uneasy feeling she had was just worry for her husband's safety and not a premonition of danger. She turned to head back to the bridge after about fifteen minutes. If there was something about to happen, she would be better able to deal with it by preparing instead of just fretting.

* * *

Fox and Falco guided their Arwings down though Nibiru's thick atmosphere, one eye on the view through their canopies and one eye on their instruments. The atmosphere pulled at the control surfaces in unpredictable ways, and there seemed to be some sort of electromagnetic interference that made the sensor readings a little unreliable. It wasn't enough to warrant turning the scanners off entirely, but it did necessitate keeping an eye on the outside to provide a second opinion. Fox checked the fuel gauge and realized that the control coordinator had a point; even on this short a flight, the Arwings were using far more fuel than they did normally. He and Falco would be wise to limit the amount of in-atmosphere flying they did, lest they burn up too much fuel and be unable to get back home.

They homed in on the landing beacon provided by the facility at the MineCo central headquarters, and bought their Arwings down without incident. Someone wearing a hazardous-environment suit waved a pair of light cones to direct them into the landing bay once they were down; they flew through an atmosphere containment field that kept the noxious air of the planet out without requiring an airlock, set down, and emerged from their cockpits once they had been given the all-clear signal by the ground director. The individual in the suit followed them into the main facility and pulled off his helmet, revealing the face of a badger getting a bit on in years, but still hale and healthy enough. He offered one hefty paw in greeting, and Fox accepted the proffered handshake.

"Mr. McCloud, it's an honor to meet you," the badger said earnestly. "My name is Kouna, I'll be your escort and guide during your stay here."

"That's awfully generous, but is it really necessary?" Fox asked. Truthfully, he was suspicious because if they were being saddled with a 'guide', it was probably to make sure they didn't go anywhere their hosts didn't want them to go. It could be perfectly innocent, or it might be to keep them from finding out secrets their hosts wanted to remain hidden.

"No offense, sir, but we can't have people wandering around wherever they wish," Kouna said. "Many areas are designated 'Authorized Personnel Only', for safety reasons, you understand. If you came to harm while on our property, it would make for a very problematic situation."

"Your concern for our safety is touching," Falco grumbled, "but how do we know you aren't hiding something that we need to know?"

"Not in public," the badger said quietly through stiff lips. "When we can find a private area to talk, I'll tell you everything I know, but in the meantime…"

"All right, we get it," Fox said. "For now, would you mind showing us around? I'm curious as to how exactly an operation like this works."

"Why, yes of course, I would be delighted to show you around," Kouna said, once again playing the ever-helpful guide. "The process of extracting the ore is really quite simple. If you'll follow me, I'll show you how it's done…"

As the badger moved ahead to guide them around the facility, Falco grabbed Fox by the arm and asked, "Since when were you so curious about mining?"

"Since it made a good cover to set whoever might be watching us at ease," Fox answered back. "I'll bet anything that whatever these people are trying to hide, they're probably afraid it will get the mining operation shut down. By all accounts this is a very lucrative job right now, and the company heads would be very reluctant to give it up without a very good reason, and possible a fight on top of that. We'll find out what's going on eventually, but in the meantime keep your beak shut and your eyes open for anything that seems out of place."

Falco resented being told what to do, but he recognized the necessity of Fox's order this time. He closed his beak without any further argument, and began pretending to be interested by the speech being given by the badger. They were currently passing by the ore processing and refinement area, and Kouna was expounding about the wonders of the. "The interesting thing about Mallidium is that in its raw form it's remarkably easy to smelt and forge. Once the ore had been processed, however, it becomes an alloy of both remarkable strength and very little weight, making it the ideal material for all sorts of construction. MineCo, StarTech, and ISR are the companies that have been granted licenses to actually mine the stuff, but there are other companies that receive the ore we ship out, and process it further into the finished products, which are then sent out across Lylat to be used in ongoing construction projects."

"Yeah, with the mess that the Anglars made, I can see how this stuff would be such a hot commodity," Falco commented. "So just how difficult is this stuff to dig out of the ground?"

"Actually, that isn't necessary right now," Kouna said. "The ore can be found in abundance on the surface; all that you need to collect it is a mining skiff and a tractor beam... and enough cargo space to hold a decent amount of the stuff, of course. Construction firms everywhere are paying top credit for this material, so despite the somewhat high operating costs associated with working in such a hostile environment as this one, all three mining companies are turning quite a tidy profit, even after factoring in overhead costs."

"What about the workers?" Fox asked. "How are they treated?" The most likely thing the corporations would try to hide would be workers' right violations, but all of the personnel he had seen so far seemed reasonably well-adjusted.

"Conditions here are of course rather hard, since we're so far away from any real center of civilization," Kouna answered. "This means that supply delivery for anything other than essential products and services is prohibitively expensive for anything not delivered in bulk quantities. We have to do without many luxuries that would be considered commonplace on planets like Corneria, Katina, or Fichina, but all essentials for life are taken care of."

The badger continued on, answering questions as his guests had them, and showing them around the facility. As they progressed, however, Fox began to notice that something wasn't quite right about his surroundings. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, until he took a closer look at the faces of the miners. There was something out of place about their bearing, and it took him a little while to pin it down: their expressions were remarkably similar to those found on soldiers who had been fighting for too long. The slightly vacant stares, the weary expressions, plus a whole assortment of other minuscule details, told him that there was a conflict going on that none of the companies wanted outsiders to know about.

For a moment, he regretted not bringing Krystal along; he could have probably dug the details out of the heads of the various passers-by without any of them being the wiser for it. However, their earlier argument about the subject came back into his mind; the presence of Lylat's only known telepath would have raised instant red flags in the minds of the senior supervisors here, and would have made finding the answers that much harder. In addition, Krystal's own ethical code prohibited scanning any deeper than a person's current thoughts without the subject's express permission, and asking for that would have definitely raised suspicions even if her mere presence did not.

Even if she wasn't here, though, he resolved to contact her and share his thoughts as soon as he was able to do so without reasonable fear of eavesdropping. Krystal was usually pretty good at getting past the smoke and mirrors people liked to put up when they had something to hide, even if she couldn't sense their thoughts directly. He wanted to get to the bottom of whatever was going on here quickly; he had a feeling that it was much bigger than anything he suspected.

* * *

_A/N: Okay, so this is the last "peaceful" chapter in the story. I apologize if this chapter seems a little vague: I wanted to give as much background as possible without giving away any plot spoilers. __From here on, things are going to be "interesting". _


	3. Chapter 3

Star Fox: Dark Orbit

Chp.3

Aboard the Great Fox, it was night time. All the people who were still on board had turned in for the night, and even ROB, the robot who was in essence the heart of the ship's computer system, was powered down to recharge. In the ship's captain's suite, where Fox and Krystal's quarters were, Marcus was asleep in his crib, and Krystal had turned in for the night. Her hand rested on the pillow where normally her husband would lay his head. She would have preferred that he be there with her; either that, or that she be down on Nibiru's surface with him. Both of them had realized that, even if they were in the bleakest environment imaginable together, if they were with the one they loved, all that mattered was that they were together. It was a lesson that both of them had learned the hard way during their separation over the course of the Anglar War.

In his crib, Marcus was becoming increasingly restless. His dreams were becoming increasingly frightening, filled with images of terrible creatures that were chasing something that fled before them. Just when his vision drew close enough to the figure for him to recognize its face, he jolted awake, wailing at the top of his lungs. "Daddy! No, _don't hurt my Daddy_!"

Krystal was awake in a heartbeat, rushing to the crib where her son lay and trying to calm him. He sat upright, eyes wide open yet not seeing the room around him, but something else, something much more horrifying. She picked him up in her arms and asked frantically, "Marcus what is it?! What's wrong?"

At first Krystal though he was having a night terror, although this would be the first time; but his mind was that of a fully awake child, not one that was asleep. Then he blinked and his eyes focused on her face, and he shouted, "They're gonna hurt Daddy!" before he collapsed against her shoulder and burst into tears.

Krystal felt a chill creep up her spine at the thought of a danger to Fox so great that her son could pick up on it. Without a second's hesitation she dove for the communicator that rested on her dresser. This was a special model that had a direct link to the one on Fox's PDA that he habitually wore when on missions. This one was much more difficult to jam, and would immediately open a communications link so she could check on him. She hit the power switch and paged his link, hoping she was in time to avert the impending disaster she felt coming.

* * *

Fox was walking through the MineCo central facility, after Kouna had finished giving him and Falco the guided tour of the area. He was just about to walk through the tunnel that separated the docking area from the rest of the facility when his PDA beeped to indicate an incoming call. The screen indicated it was coming from the counterpart that Krystal had, and that it was marked urgent. He brought the speaker up to his mouth and was about to answer when he caught a glimpse through a small viewport of something moving in the fog outside. He stared at it for a second before he realized it was going to ram the window, and then he took off running back the way he came.

The thing, whatever it was, slammed into the thick double-paned glass and shattered it, giving itself entry into the facility and triggering a breach alarm somewhere deeper in the complex. The creature let out an earsplitting screech and started after him, but Fox kept running as fast as he could, not wasting the time it would take to look over his shoulder and see what was chasing him. The blast doors at either end of the corridor began closing, and he increased his pace, knowing that if he was trapped in here his death would be a toss-up between being suffocated in Nibiru's caustic atmosphere being eaten by his pursuer. At the last moment he threw himself into a headlong dive and slid the rest of the way under the door, simultaneously rolling onto his back and drawing his blaster as he cleared the threshold.

Even as he was taking aim to blast it apart, the sight of the thing made his breath freeze in his throat. It looked vaguely insectoid, with six legs on a body shaped like a flattened cylinder. The first set of legs looked thick and muscular and ended in wicked looking, sickle shaped claws. The second pair was smaller and thinner, and looked to be best for holding onto crags and ledges. The third pair was flattened and broad, and looked to be used to propel it through the thick atmosphere of Nibiru. Its skin was obsidian black with dark brown highlights that reminded him eerily of dried blood. Two glassy eyes stared at him from the top of its head, and curved, serrated mandible snapped just beneath the middle of its face. The creature looked like something out of a nightmare.

There wasn't enough time for him to line up a shot as the thing charged under the door, so Fox rolled to the side as it shot past him. It took a swipe at him with one forelimb and scored a shallow gash on his right shoulder, but did no serious damage as it shot past him and alighted on the wall. Fox took careful aim and poured blaster fire into its hide. It screeched in pain as the bolts chewed into its flesh, but it didn't drop and started to reorient itself for another pass at the prone vulpine. The creature was about to spring after him, but suddenly a new line of blaster fire joined the stream that Fox was pouring into it, the bolts blasting craters into its flesh and mortally wounding the creature. It twisted and writhed in agony before finally falling to the ground with one last, dwindling wail.

Fox turned and saw Falco and Kouna racing towards him; Falco with blaster drawn and an intense look on his face, Kouna with a med pack in his hands and a worried look on his. Fox could feel a stinging sensation emanating from the wound on his shoulder, and hoped that the creature's claws weren't poisoned. He gingerly probed the cut with one finger, and found that it wasn't very deep, although it bled a fair deal still. It was only then that his ears registered the sound of Krystal's voice coming frantically from the comm speaker still attached to his wrist.

"Fox! Fox, are you all right?!"

Fox twisted the PDA around so that the holo-emitter was facing up, revealing his wife's face in a six-inch hologram, her eyes widened by concern. "I'm all right," he said a little breathlessly. "Just got a little scratch, that's all." He paused for a moment to collect his breath and his thoughts, and then a new question came to his mind. "Why did you call me in the first place?"

"Marcus had a nightmare about you being hurt, so I decided to call and check up on you," she answered. "What happened? What _was_ that thing?"

Fox felt a shiver pass through him at the thought of how narrowly he had avoided death. "If you hadn't called just then, I wouldn't have stopped to answer, wouldn't have seen that thing coming for me… It would have had me trapped against the blast doors. As for what it actually is, I don't know yet"- he paused to glance meaningfully at Kouna- "but I'm about to find out." He turned his attention to the badger, but didn't switch off the comm channel. Krystal, and anyone else who happened to be listening near her, had as much right to hear the explanation as he did. Fox waited until he was sure he'd caught Kouna's eye then said, "We need to have that talk. _Now_."

"Shouldn't we get you to the med center, first?" Kouna asked worriedly.

"It's just a scratch, nothing life-threatening," Fox said with a growl. "Start talking. Right here. Right now. What do you know about these things?" Falco took the med pack from the badger and began to clean and treat the cut as the two of them stared intently at the badger.

Kouna hesitated for a moment, uncertain about how much he should say. Then his shoulders slumped a hairsbreadth, and he sighed in resignation. "We call them the Legion of Abbadon," he stated simply. At the skeptical looks he got from the other two, he shrugged and said, "A lurid name, to be sure, but given what we've seen them do, it's hardly inappropriate. We had our first encounter with them a little less than two years ago, when a mining crew accidentally opened a cavern that contained a small horde of these creatures. All of them attacked without reservation, and much of the work crew was lost before the beasts could be put down. Since then, further incidents have been reported, all in a similar vein, and the frequency with which they have been occurring has increased dramatically in the past few months. That was why I sent that message to Cornerian High Command; I think the situation is escalating beyond our ability to contain it."

"You sent that message?" Krystal asked from the communicator. "Why did you have to give such a cryptic warning?"

"Most of the senior management of the consortiums is afraid that if Corneria found out about the Legion's presence here, they would pull the plug on this operation," Kouna answered her. "That would mean they'd be out several billion credits, in terms of both invested capital and lost future profits. The mineral resources on this planet are rich beyond imagination, and I think the corporations are willing to sacrifice some of the lowly laborers in order to keep a hold of this lucrative resource." Kouna sighed again and looked down at the floor. "At this point, though, I don't think they'll have a choice; if we don't leave, and soon, we'll all die here."

Fox opened his mouth to reply to that, but was cut off by Krystal. "Fox…you need to get out of there. _Right now_."

"We can't just leave…" his voice trailed off as he saw her face. Her pupils were dilated far beyond what they normally should be, and the fur on the nape of her neck was standing on end. "What is it?" he asked breathlessly.

"I…I don't know for sure," she said slowly, "but I can feel a wave of concentrated malice creeping across the planet, and it's heading your way."

"Give the order to evacuate," Fox told Kouna. The badger didn't give so much as a peep in argument, but instead moved to the nearest PA system and began issuing the order. He turned to Krystal's image and asked her, "How long until it gets here?"

"No- -ong, but I ca- ay –en -act-," was her reply.

"Say again, your signal's breaking up," Fox told her. She said something in reply, but the signal had gotten so bad that he couldn't make out anything she said. The connection fizzled with static for a little bit longer before it cut out completely and left him with only a steady crackle of background static. Fox swore vehemently and jumped to his feet. Fortunately, Falco had already finished bandaging his shoulder, so he was able to move his arm without too much difficulty. "Kouna, Falco and I need to get to our Arwings; we can help cover your efforts better from the air. The tunnel to the docking bay has been cut off, is there another way around?"

The bay should still have atmosphere integrity," the badger said. "We could get to a skiff and go around to the vehicle entrance." The three of them started down the corridor, but had only gone a few yards when the PA system began emitting a long, drawn-out wail. "Oh, no," Kouna groaned.

"What? What is it now?" Falco demanded.

"That's the general evacuation alarm," the badger informed him. "It means that the facility here is coming under direct attack." They sped up their pace, and started to feel the vibrations off impacts as more of the monsters began to attack the base. The halls, which had been packed with workers beforehand, were now almost eerily silent.

"Well, at least they can't blame you for blowing the whistle," Fox said as the group took a right turn and made for the area where the mining skiffs were berthed. Most of the plots were empty, but there were a few skiffs still left near the far side of the bay. The model used by the MineCo company were small, saucer-like craft, with an extension in the back for the engines and a cutout in the front for the cockpit, below which sat the barrel of a low-power energy weapon. Each of them climbed into the pilot's seat of one and started it up then Kouna led the trio out of the bay and into the open.

The skiffs hovered a few yards above the ground, allowing sufficient room to clear any low-level obstructions but still leaving them confined to the paths within the twisting canyons that crisscrossed much of Nibiru's surface. The facility was built into the wall of a long ridgeline, with the skiff bay on one side of the wall and the docking bay where the Arwings were berthed on the other, making it necessary to take a long route around the wall to get to the starfighters.

"Be alert," Kouna warned. "There are probably more of the Legion lurking about."

"If they're like that one that I took out inside the base, with the cannon on this thing, we should have no problem blasting them out of the air," Fox said confidently.

"I hate to burst your bubble, Mister McCloud, but the one you killed was only a baby," Kouna said. "Most of the Legion are much bigger than that." Kouna let Fox chew on that disturbing thought for a moment before continuing, "We've seen several different types of creatures here, but they all seem to move with one purpose. The ones like the kind you just killed are called Bruisers. They're fast and aggressive, but not very cunning or subtle."

"I certainly hope so," Falco said, "because there are three of them dead ahead!" His skiff's work lights illuminated a trio of creatures similar to the one they had already seen, except that they were each as large as the skiffs, and very aggressive indeed. They all oriented on the target closest to them, which happened to be Falco, and charged with an earsplitting screech. Falco hit the trigger for his weapons, and the cannon spat small pellets of energy out at the incoming Bruisers. Each shot was right on target but the gun's power was pathetically weak, as it took eight hits to send the first creature plummeting down to the valley floor.

The other two were almost on top of him, so he hit the lateral thrusters and sent the skiff in a hard left drift. One of them clipped the skiff with a clawed limb, but the attack was rebuffed by the skiff's basic shielding. Both creatures shot past Falco and tried to come about to make another pass at him, but their own momentum worked against them. They first had to stop their forward charge which left them open to Fox and Kouna, both of whom immediately opened up with their own weapons the second they knew they didn't risk a friendly fire incident. The Bruisers twisted and jerked as the energy bursts bit into their hides, and first one and then the other were sent down to join their companion in death.

Fox wiped sweat from his forehead and exhaled a relieved breath as they started moving again. He searched for the switch for the comm system and flicked it on, then asked Kouna, "Don't you have anything more powerful than this peashooter? What if we run into a horde of those things?"

"That's why I'm hoping we can get to your Arwings," the badger answered. "But until then, the skiffs also have secondary weapon systems installed; these are currently outfitted with Stinger rockets."

They turned the corner at the end of the wall and began heading back towards the base, carefully making their way through so as not to blunder into any great horde of enemies. They were almost to the Arwings when the external sound pickup on Fox's skiff began to pick up a stuttering, squeaky hiss that sounded disturbingly like evil snickering. He looked around and saw nothing, and was starting to wonder if he was getting paranoid when he glanced down towards the ground. A pair of large spheres rested on the ground, and the hiss seemed to be coming from them. Falco and Kouna edged past him and kept going, but Fox wanted to keep an eye on these things; his gut told him they were dangerous.

His suspicion was proven a moment after the other two passed by. Both spheres unfolded like an orange peel, the creature inside starting to drift upwards to the level the skiffs were at. Each of them had four legs that formed the outside of the shell, a central body core, and two thick tendrils that unfurled from inside the balls. As they came level with the other skiffs, Fox shouted, "Kouna! Falco! Look out behind you!"

Both skiffs whipped around at his warning. Kouna's was a bit behind, and that was the one that the two new creatures focused on. They lunged forward, and arcs of electricity leapt from the tendrils and played across the skiff's shields. Kouna shouted a wordless outcry of surprise and accidentally hit the button to launch a rocket; the projectile slammed into one of the creatures and blasted it apart in a shower of sparks and flash-frozen ichor. The other one continued zapping the skiff and punched through the shields, the bolts scorching the hull and cutting deeper and deeper into it before Fox finished the second one off with another rocket. This one hit off center and tore the left two appendages off the creature's body. It flipped end over end and plummeted back down to the ground, where it collapsed into a crumpled heap and lay still.

"Kouna! Are you all right?" Fox shouted.

"I'm… I am well," the badger replied shakily. "Just need to go change my pants, now," he murmured as an afterthought. Falco snickered at that comment, but Kouna's next question was directed at Fox: "Where did those things come from?"

"They were on the ground until you and Falco passed by, and then they came up and attacked," Fox answered. "What do you call those?"

"I've never seen anything like them before," Kouna answered. "I've never even heard of them."

"We need a name for them," Falco asserted.

"How about Hellseeds?" Fox offered.

"Nah," Falco said, although it was more because it wasn't his idea than any other reason.

"I think it sounds quite appropriate," Kouna said.

"Unless I hear a better name, we're going with Hellseeds, then," Fox declared. Falco harrumphed at that, but no other ideas were forthcoming, so they settled on that and set off again. They were almost to the docking bay when something foreboding registered in Fox's mind; where there were indicator lights beforehand, now everything was completely dark. Falco was the first to reach the bay, and abruptly the comm channel was blanketed by a stream of profanity as he saw what had happened inside.

The Arwings lay twisted and ruined inside, reduced to scrap so thoroughly that not even Slippy could have put them back together again. The glow of the containment field was gone, letting Nibiru's toxic atmosphere into the bay, and inside Fox thought he could see the bodies of several miners who had tried to flee the invasion… or at least, what was left of them. Fox bit back some choice expletives of his own and asked, "Now what?"

There was silence for a moment before Kouna finally answered, "There should be a small repair outpost further to the west. If we can get there, we should be able to at least repair the skiffs and take a short breather. The outpost has several automated turrets guarding it, so it should still be intact. There's also a comm booster there, so hopefully you can call your wife and let her know you're okay. The transport tube to the central hub should be just a little beyond that." The badger's voice was subdued; no doubt some of the dead had been people he'd known and worked alongside.

"How far is it?" Fox asked. He wouldn't put it past Krystal to be able to sense whether he was alive or dead with her telepathy, but he was certain that hearing his voice would do a lot to soothe jangled nerves.

"Several miles further east," Kouna answered. "Um, either you or Mister Lombardi should take the lead, I think." Falco edged up to the lead, and Fox took the rear guard position, with Kouna in between them to keep the badger as protected as possible. Together they set off towards the outpost, each of them hoping that they would get off this planet that had turned into a hellhole safely.

* * *

_A/N: Yes, the action starts now.  
_


	4. Chapter 4

Star Fox: Dark Orbit

Chp. 4

The trio made their way single file through the narrow, winding canyons that seemed to be the only geographical feature on this particular section of Nibiru's surface. They proceeded with the utmost caution, painfully aware that enemies could be lurking around the corner of every turn and twist that they encountered. Fox and Falco alternated leading the way and playing rear guard, making sure that Kouna, with his damaged craft, was always in the middle of their formation. The badger wasn't anywhere near as combat-experienced as the two Star Fox members, but he knew his way around the area much better than they did, and both of them knew that they would be hopelessly lost without him.

The work lights of each skiff illuminated the area in front of them, but couldn't pierce through Nibiru's thick atmosphere for any great distance. They served to keep the skiffs from running into the canyon walls, which was certainly necessary, but they couldn't provide much advance warning of approaching foes. At Kouna's suggestion, they kept the sound pickups turned up to maximum gain. Fox had observed that most of the creatures now rampaging across the surface of Nibiru made a fair amount of noise, and the sound would help alert them to the presence of potential enemies, even if they couldn't see them in Nibiru's dark and murky atmosphere. The noise of their enemies wasn't the only thing they could hear, though. Despite the fact that Nibiru had no real weather patterns, wind occasionally blew through the winding canyons, sounding like the moaning of some lost soul. That, plus the occasional rock fall that it triggered, happened on a regular basis – not so often that they grew accustomed to it as background, but often enough that it began to wear on their nerves after the first couple of hours.

They traveled in silence for a long time, until Fox finally thought to ask a question that had been nagging at him for the past few hours. "Kouna, how come these civilian mining corporations have all this military hardware here? I thought that amount of ordinance in non-military hands was illegal."

There was a dry chuckle from the badger as he replied, "The pulse lasers that are mounted on the mining skiffs are modified versions of common mining beams; we've just greatly boosted the power output to turn them into viable weapons. As for the Stingers and such, there are limitations on how much a civilian agency can _buy_ of those items, but no restrictions on how many we can _make_. Mallidium can be used to make more than just support beams and sheet metal. Oh, turn left up here."

"Wait a second," Falco said from up front, even as he turned to follow the badger's directions. "I didn't see any manufacturing facilities or industrial complexes anywhere. How could you possibly make any weapons at all here?"

There was another laugh from the badger at Falco's bewildered question. "When we get where we're going, Mr. Lombardi, perhaps I can show you. But in the meantime, keep your eyes open in case any more of the Legion happens to cross our paths."

Fox chuckled as he heard the avian grumbling about being ordered around like a grunt in the army. "I wouldn't mind an answer to that question myself, Kouna," he told the badger.

"The actual physics of the phenomenon are a bit beyond my education, Mr. McCloud," the badger answered. "And it really is something that has to be seen to be properly appreciated."

"And now that you mention that," Falco chimed in again, "where exactly are we going?"

"We're headed to a repair outpost that should still be intact… I hope," Kouna answered. "Any survivors of the MineCo base will probably assemble there, and it's the closest safe place to the transit tube that leads to the central mining complex."

"And what happens then?" Falco wanted to know.

"_Hopefully_, what happens next is we go from there to another transit tube that takes us to the launch facilities at the northern pole, and we all get off this God-forsaken rock," Kouna said a little heatedly. "But right now I have no idea of what to expect once we get there. What I do know is that we can't stay here or we'll eventually get killed." Falco had no reply for that comment, since he felt much the same way. He and Fox changed positions, and the vulpine pilot took point again.

He hadn't been up front for more than five minutes when he heard the ominous sounds of more creatures up ahead of them. "Guys, we've got incoming!" he called back to Falco and Kouna. Fox hit his lateral thrusters and drifted to the left as Falco sidled right, leaving all three of them with clear fields of fire. They moved forward carefully, fingers ready on the firing buttons of their controls and tensely anticipating the appearance of their foes.

They didn't have long to wait. One after another the silhouettes of four Bruisers materialized out of the thick mist that lay heavy in the canyons that crisscrossed this section of Nibiru. As the creatures sensed the lights from the skiffs, they screeched one after the other and accelerated sharply towards the vehicles, arms spread wide and mandibles gaping. Kouna flinched at the noise, the involuntary motion reflected in the sudden sideways twitch that his skiff made. Fox and Falco, on the other hand were a bit calmer in the face of the approaching enemies. Fox waited until the Bruisers had accelerated to their top speed and would be unable to turn very well, and then shouted "Fire!" He and Falco immediately launched a Stinger apiece; Kouna belatedly realized what was happening and fired his own a half-second after the others.

The three rockets zipped across the distance between the skiffs and the monsters in the blink of an eye. Fox's and Falco's hit their intended targets and detonated, ripping open the bodies of the creatures and dropping them to the ground below, dead before they had finished falling. Kouna's rocket missed its initial target but slammed into the creature behind it, tearing open its side and sending it to follow its brethren on the canyon floor. That left just one Bruiser still alive and well, and the three of them wasted no time in training their pulse beams on it and pummeling it with shots. On their own, the jury-rigged weapons would have done little damage, but the concentrated fire from three of them quickly riddled the Bruiser with a dozen burnt holes, and it dropped to the ground to join the other three.

Fox cautiously started forward again, keenly aware that there could easily be more of the monsters lurking just out of sight. As he passed over where the bodies of the four that had been slain lay, however, a hum from the console drew his attention. It took him a moment to find what had changed, but when he did he scratched his head in puzzlement and took a closer look. The cargo hold had been empty before, but now the gauge read as five percent full. Fox stared at the gauge for a couple more seconds, then an idle thought came to him and he inched the skiff sideways several yards to test his hypothesis. He confirmed it immediately afterwards when the gauge ticked up another couple of notches to indicate that the hold was now about eleven percent full. He thought about the possibilities and then clicked on the comm. "Kouna, Falco, I think these things have this Mallidium stuff in their bodies."

"_What?!_" Falco exclaimed.

"Are you certain, Mr. McCloud?" Kouna asked.

"Pretty darn sure," Fox answered. "You think maybe these things… I dunno, _eat_ the stuff or something?"

"Who knows?" Kouna said softly. "Maybe we should have been a little more thorough in surveying the planet before we set up operations on it, but at the time we were in a hurry to develop a vital resource." He was silent for a moment, and then added, "The outpost should be only a little further up ahead. Let's hurry up and get to it, so we can catch our breath and decide what to do from there."

The trio continued on, moving perhaps a little faster now that the prospect of a safe haven, however temporary, beckoned to them. Even at their greater pace, however, Fox was still keenly aware of the danger that might lurk around each corner or just beyond sight in the dark and thick atmosphere, and he made sure to keep a sharp eye and ear out for any signs of trouble.

The necessity of his caution was soon proved when he picked up the faint chitter of a Hellseed up ahead. Fox immediately started scanning the ground for the creature, and found one nestled in a crevice only a few yards ahead of him. By sheer bad luck, it was located in a narrow pass - too small for the skiffs to pass thorough more than one at a time, leaving him the only one who had a clear shot at the thing. He waited for it to uncurl and float up to his level, then opened fire as soon as he had a clear shot. The Hellseed lunged forward and sent a bolt of energy from its tendrils into the skiff's shields, but curled up again suddenly after only a few energy beams hit it. It sank back down to the bottom of the canyon and stayed there; Fox tried to tilt the skiff so he could try to finish the thing off, but the attitude controls wouldn't allow so steep an angle. He gritted his teeth and resigned himself to waiting for it to unfurl again, and then blasted it with a Stinger once it tried to attack him again. The creature took the rocket squarely in its center of mass and exploded in a mess of flash-frozen fluids and bits of shell, which pattered back down on Nibiru's dusty ground.

Fox checked his remaining loadout and mumbled an epithet. He clicked on the comm and asked, "Hey Falco, how many Stinger's you got left?"

"Three," the avian replied. "You?"

"Two."

"The same for me," Kouna added. "We need to get to that outpost soon, so we can restock our ammunition reserves and repair the skiffs. It should just be up ahead."

"That's what you said before," Falco grumbled.

"But this time I really mean it," Kouna answered. "I worked this area most often, so I'm pretty familiar with it, and the outpost is just around the corner and a little further ahead after that."

"Let's hope so," Fox said into the conversation, to keep Falco from dragging it out into an argument. He eased the throttle forward and started forward in the direction Kouna indicated that the outpost lay in. Just beyond the turn, the area widened out into a small clearing, beyond which Fox could see the welcome running lights of the installation. He breathed a sigh of relief, and started the skiff towards the outpost, and the promise of refuge that it offered. He was halfway across when he heard the sound of a new enemy approaching, and saw that there was a closed blast door blocking access to the base. Swearing under his breath, he spun the skiff around in the direction the sounds were coming from, and started searching for the new threat.

At first he couldn't see anything, but then a creature detached itself from the canyon wall and flew straight towards him, emitting a buzzing screech as it charged. It reminded the vulpine pilot most strongly of a wasp, and that association brought up bad memories of one summer in his youth when he'd been throwing rocks at a papery nest high up on the eaves of his house. Fox lined up a shot and launched a Stinger at it as it charged, but the creature neatly avoided the rocket and retaliated by spitting out pellets of energy at him. Fox put the skiff in a hard lateral drift to get out of the line of fire, but not before several shots splashed against his forward shield. He returned the fire with the skiff's pulse laser, the energy beams striking the flying creature and wounding it, but not killing it. The injuries only seemed to make it angrier, and it charged towards him at full speed as though it intended to ram him. Fox engaged the reverse thrusters and started gliding backwards, firing all the while. Each hit drew a pained squeal from the creature, but it kept coming. Fox waited until it had almost hit him, and then launched his last Stinger. The rocket crossed the distance between the two combatants in the blink of an eye and detonated against the monsters head, splitting it open and spilling gore across the landscape. The lifeless body fell to the ground, and Fox breathed a sigh of relief at the battle's conclusion.

Falco and Kouna made their way into the open area, a second before the blast door at the other end started to open. The comm system beeped for his attention, and Fox hit the button to let the transmission through. "Thanks, pilot," someone from the facility said over the channel. "That monster had us all bottled up in here, and we couldn't get any further. Now that that beast's out of the way, maybe we have a chance at actually getting to safety."

"I hope so," Kouna interjected.

"Boss! You made it out! Is there anyone else left back at the main base?"

"No," Kouna answered. "We were the last ones out, and I wouldn't have made it this far if it wasn't for the other two with me." The person on the other side of the comm started to ask a question, but Kouna interrupted him before he could ask. "Let us inside and I'll explain everything; we are in need of repairs and ammo."

"Acknowledged, sir," the operator replied. There was a creaking, grinding noise as the blast door opened the rest of the way, revealing an airlock that could easily accommodate something the size of their skiffs. They each entered one by one, and let it cycle to allow them into the interior of the base, where they could exit the skiffs and stretch their legs for a brief bit. As Fox popped the hatch on his and climbed out onto the gantry rigged up next to the landing zone, several of the MineCo survivors recognized him and began to whisper excitedly amongst each other. The susurrus of voices grew in volume as Falco stepped out of his own skiff. Normally, Fox disliked fawning crowds; but in this case, it seemed like people were celebrating less because he was a celebrity and more because they thought they had a solid chance of getting off the planet alive, now that he was there.

Kouna grabbed the shoulder of one of the techs that was rushing towards his own damaged craft. "Who's in charge here?" he asked the ferret.

"You are, now, sir," the tech replied. "Everyone else more senior is already dead, either from the initial attack or while trying to get to the transport tube to Central."

Kouna looked more than a little anxious at that pronouncement, but he gathered his composure back up and began taking charge of the situation. "Right then, the first order of business is to check and see how many people we have left and to see what kinds of supplies are available."

"Already did that sir," another tech, a female rabbit called out from the crowd. She pushed her way forward and handed him a datascreen that had the required information already listed on it. "I took the liberty of making a headcount and inventory checklist once we'd all gotten here. Though…" she paused for a moment to glance over to where Fox and Falco were looking at the interior of the repair bay area and added, "I suppose we'll need to add a few names to the roster."

"Hmm, yes, perhaps," Kouna replied absently.

"If you don't mind me asking, boss," a miner piped up, "what are two members of Star Fox doing here? I thought that they had retired."

"Semi-retired," Fox corrected the canine. "General Hare asked us to investigate an anonymous report of trouble starting on Nibiru, and it looks like we got here just in time." He stepped up next to Kouna and asked the badger, "Is there any way we could get a comm signal up to the Great Fox? I need to contact my wife and let her know we're okay, and also to see if there's any sort of assistance the rest of the team could give us."

"Right this way, sir," called a feline. "The comm station is over here." The cat led Fox over to a large console covered in buttons, lights and screens, most of which were dark at the moment. Fox gave the whole device a long and questioning look; the whole affair looked jury-rigged to the point of instability. The cat must have noticed his doubtful look, because he smiled and said reassuringly, "I know it looks like it's all about to fall apart, but this thing has the power you'll need to reach your ship through all this interference." Fox still had his doubts, but took a seat in front of the main screen and linked his PDA into the console to set up the link.

It took a few minutes for the system to establish a link to the Great Fox, but when it finally made the connection Fox was rewarded with the sight of Krystal's lovely face, staring into the viewer. She blinked as his face coalesced into view in front of her, and exclaimed in joyful relief, "Fox! Thank God you're alive and well! What's going on down there?"

Fox related the tale of what had happened after the transmission was cut off back at the MineCo base, trying to be as brief and to-the-point as he possibly could. While he narrated, he could see Slippy and Amanda appear in the viewer's display as well, listening intently to what he said. When he had finished, Fox concluded, "So it seems that the mission here has changed from investigation to rescue-and-evacuation. We need to get everyone we can out of here and to the polar launch pads so we can get them off the planet before these creatures kill them." He paused for a second and asked, "I don't suppose we have any sort of shuttlecraft or something that we could use to help expedite the evac?"

Krystal shook her head regretfully. "We don't have anything with near enough capacity to handle the task as you've described it. More so if you happen to find other survivors along the way."

"That's what I thought, but I wanted to make sure," Fox replied. He leaned back in the rickety chair and said softly, "Note to self; put a transport shuttle on the next purchase list we give to Peppy."

"Right," Krystal added wryly. "With all the money we _don't_ have at the moment. And I thought we were supposed to be retired."

"Semi-retired," Fox said airily. "With a proviso that the ranking Cornerian general can call us up for specialized tasks that the regular military can't handle. But I think the fee for this little side trip is about to go up quite steeply."

"Do you think that's why Peppy called us in the first place?" Krystal asked worriedly. "Do you think he knew that things were about to get really bad?"

"I wouldn't put it past him," Fox told her. "We've got as good a chance as any at pulling this off, and probably better than some. Though a little more in the way of weaponry would likely boost those odds." He was quiet for a moment, and then had an idea. "Do we have any sort of extra munitions in storage on the Great Fox?"

"I know! I've got just the thing!" Slippy exclaimed. He jumped out of the swivel chair he'd sat in to listen and began to rush off to the bridge's exit. Krystal nabbed him by the straps of his coveralls before he had taken more than a couple of steps, and pulled him back towards the main viewscreen. "Hold on, Slippy, let him finish before you go rushing off," she chided him.

"Oh, um… sorry" he mumbled as he slid back into the seat. "Go ahead, Fox."

Fox arched one eyebrow and inquired, "You have something you could send down?"

"Well…" Slippy began a little nervously, "Shortly after the Anglar War ended, I got to thinking about the munitions we carried on the Arwings and the other ships. Now, Nova Bombs are nice and pack a hefty punch, but they're big, expensive and a lot of overkill if used on only a few starfighters. So I started thinking, maybe I could make or find some other munitions that we could use that wouldn't strain the budget quite so much, and might have some other uses besides. I've got a couple of working cluster missiles down in the Great Fox's storage area; I've tentatively nicknamed them Swarmers. If you give me a little time I could have them down to your position shortly." He started to get back to his feet to go to the new weapons, but then a sobering thought occurred to him and he sat back down in his seat again. "Oh, but you'd need much more than just two rounds for what you're facing down there, wouldn't you?"

Fox half-turned to converse with a MineCo tech that had come up to him in excitement after Slippy mentioned the cluster missile. The two of them conversed for a moment in voices too low for the ones on the Great Fox to pick up, but Fox's eyebrows shot up at something the tech said, drawing the interest of all three of the Star Fox members on the orbiting ship. He nodded once after the tech concluded his speech, and then turned back to his wife and the other two members of the team. Fox opened his mouth to speak, but it was a couple of seconds before he could actually form words. "Okay, I'm pretty sure I have no idea how this works, but if you can get one working model, or even just a detailed blueprint, then we can make as many as we need – or at least as many as we have Mallidium for."

"How can you possibly turn raw ore directly into working munitions?" Krystal asked incredulously.

"Apparently there's a device in this place called a fabricator that can take this ore and make anything out of it. All we need is a detailed blueprint, or a working model to scan into the computer," Fox told her.

"I think I heard about something like that," Slippy mused. "My dad was working on a device that could take raw material and turn it into a finished product, but they could never get it to work on elaborate things. The best they could do was sheet metal or girders, though that all on its own was enough to really speed up the reconstruction efforts." He paused for a moment, and then asked, "So these mining companies have a fabricator that can produce fully operational weapons and components from scratch?"

"It's the Mallidium that makes it possible," Fox told him. "Unfortunately, this is the only place in Lylat known to harbor the stuff, and it's gotten far too dangerous to even try to mine the stuff commercially now. Bottom line is, we'll have enough to make the munitions we'll need down here, but once we're out, that's it for the stuff in Lylat."

"It doesn't matter," Krystal said. "All the Mallidium in the universe won't keep me from getting you and everyone else down there off planet."

"Thanks much," Fox said. "Have I ever told you how much I love you?"

"You have," she said, "but I never get tired of hearing it again. Once you're back up here safe and sound, you can tell me all you want."

"I'll do better than that," he replied with a smirk. "I'll _show_ you." That comment elicited an answering smirk from her, as well as coughs and snickers from most of the techs and crew who were within earshot of the conversation. Fox felt the tension in the room ease a bit, as people's minds were given something to think about other than the fact that they were under siege by a merciless, savage enemy. He let it go for a little longer, and then looked back to his wife and asked, "How's Marcus doing?"

She sobered up a bit at the question. "He's… better," she said cautiously. "Still worried about you, still knows that his Daddy's in danger, but since you're relatively safe for the moment, he seems to have settled down at least a little." She looked him in the eye for a moment, and then said, "Fox, _promise_ me you'll get out of there alive. The last thing I want is to be a single mother or Marcus to lose his father."

Fox opened his mouth to reply, but no sound came out for a second. He wanted to reassure Krystal that he'd be alright, but even more than that, he needed to be honest with her. "I can't really promise that," he said, "on the grounds that I have no idea what else maybe waiting for me out there. But I can promise you this: I will never give up, I won't leave anyone behind, and I'll do everything in my power to make it back to you."

Krystal was silent for a moment after that before she nodded in response. "That's good enough for me," she told him. "When you set your mind on a task, there's nothing you can't do."

Fox smiled at her comment. "I think that about wraps everything up. Let's let Slippy go and package up that cluster missile he mentioned, and I'll get this crowd mobilized and ready to evac once the way is clear."

"And I'll see what I can get accomplished on this end," Krystal said. She started to reach for the 'disconnect' button, but stayed her hand just above it and looked back up at the screen. "Fox… I love you," she said softly.

"I love you too," he replied with equal softness. These words were meant for their ears alone, a private affirmation by each of their devotion to the other. An almost imperceptible nod passed between the two of them, and Krystal hit the button that ended the communication. Fox took a deep breath and spun around in the chair to address everyone who was within earshot. "All right people, let's get loaded up and ready to go! We're about to ditch this place for good!" A ragged cheer rose from the assembled crowd, and then the techs and miners moved to their stations and began fixing up the retrofitted skiffs and mining transports for the (hopefully) final journey to freedom. To Central, and then to the polar launch pads to freedom… and try not to think of all the things that could go wrong between here and then.


End file.
