Star Fox 1. Leaving

A new dawn: Chapter 1  
  
Buy Lucus Drakestone Jr.  
  
Dedication and copyright: All characters copyrighted to Nintendo, Rare, and myself. Permission to use my characters otherwise is forbidden without permission. This fiction does not reflect the views of Nintendo or Rare regarding the use of there characters. This fiction is dedicated to all the Falco Lombardi fans out there, which choose to honor him. Note: Thoughts are in '' while speech is in "" just to end some confusion.  
  
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The alarm started to buzz, which was promptly put our but a blue feathered fist. It felt around the table and picked up the lighter and pack of cigarettes. Falco popped one in to his beak and lit it. He laid there staring at the ceiling. 'Why do I even bother' He thought to himself. 'It's been 5 months, and all we do is patrol sector after sector.'  
  
Falco sat up and looked out the window at the expanse of stars. He was growing tired and restless on the Great Fox. They defeated Andross, and now it seemed like all they did was patrol sectors and stop would be smugglers and pirates. It was boring the hell out of him, and he needed a change of pace.  
  
After taking a shower, he looked around his room and started to pack up his belongings. There wasn't much, just some photos and a lot of clothing. It fit in to two duffle bags. He was a bit surprised by this, but on the Great Fox there was no real need for personal knickknacks. He looked at the framed medals he received during the war, 'those where the days'. He then put them in to the duffel bag. He picked up the bags and turned off the light to his room, starting down to the docking bay.  
  
Slippy was in the docking bay, working on the Arwings as usual. He spotted Falco walking over and putting duffel bags in to his Arwing, and hopped over to him. "Falco leaving us?" Falco looked over to him as he climbed in, "Yea got it squirt. I'm out of here, tell Fox that I'll be back, I just need a change of scenery for a while." Slippy was a bit confused, and this made Falco grin a bit. Outside of mechanics Slippy didn't think about a lot.  
  
Fox was on the bridge, tapping his fingers on the command chair console. 'Where is he, he was supposed to relive me from watch 20 minutes ago.' The ship's sensors then alerted him to a Arwing launching, as Slippy came in. "What the... who is that?"  
  
Slippy looked over, "Falco leaving, say needed a change of scenery." Fox grumbled, "Why that son of a...." He hit the comm. switch, "Falco you have duties here come back now!" There was some silence then the speaker came to life, "Sorry about that Fox, but you know me. I was going stir crazy with all these boring patrols we do...oh you'll find a leave request in with your morning paperwork, cya." Fox growled, and then shook his head. 'Typical of him... oh well, good luck my friend.'  
  
About a week latter the events in Starfox Adventures happened, but as you can guess this story isn't about that, now is it? 


	2. Monsters

A new dawn part 2  
  
Authors notes: thoughts in, speech in "", characters copyright Nintendo or myself. Chapters as long as I think are necessary. Enjoy...  
  
Previous chapter synopsis: Falco having grown bored with life on the Starfox left, what he will find, no one really knows.  
  
"Planet Dracshire. Arrival in t-minus 2 minutes." The computer intoned. Falco shook his head as he woke up. He had only left Starfox for a couple of days, and got his first call since he started as a bounty hunter. Apparently the natives here where having monster troubles.  
  
As he reviewed the data, on what happened, he couldn't help but wonder what kind of creature it could be. There where no bodies, only disappearances, all of which key Cornerian intelligence offers or military personnel. However since this was a backwater planet, the Cornerian military and government did little to investigate the matter. He could see the world was mostly an undeveloped jungle, although the central spaceport he was to dock with stuck out like a sore thumb among the scenery.  
  
'Typical,' he thought, 'modern civilization ruins another eco-structure.' He received a homing beacon and followed it to the landing pad. There he saw a tall female wolf. She was dressed in a simple grey uniform; the markings showed she was part of the Cornerian ground forces, and high ranking, probably the local garrison's second in command.  
  
"Falco Lombardi, my name is Lt. Malcha, also your employer on this assignment." Falco looked at her and nodded a bit, "Okay, so other then the report on disappearances, what makes you think it's some monster?" Malcha pulled out a old looking datapad and handed it to him, "Maybe this will convince you, it was taken by a surveillance camera."  
  
The imaged on the datapad, only showed glimpses of something taur like. It had a spider's body, but the head was reptilian. However other then general appearance there wasn't much to make out about it. Falco rubbed his beak in thought, "Alright you got me interested, I'll head over to where these pictures where shoot and start there." He then started to walk away.  
  
'Of all the...' thought Malcha, as she watched him strut off, 'at least our files on you are right; you are one confident son of a bitch.'  
  
The scene was a wreck. One of the walls had a hole in it, and there was blaster fire marks on the remaining walls. From what he could see of the camera position, the thing likely tore the hole with its bare hands, surprising those in the room. He stepped through the hole in the wall and looked around; he noted small holes that look like they might have been made with stilts in the ground. The pattern suggested that they might have come from the thing. Falco noted that if the pictures where accurate and if these marks where its foot prints then it must be ten feet tall at the least. 'Still,' he thought, 'I am the best of the best, and a job is a job.' He then headed in to the jungle to follow the footprints.  
  
Falco had his beak open slightly, as he vented out heat like his avian kind did, there beaks making it hard to pant, and there feathers prevented sweating. He was thankful that the tracks only when for about half a mile then in to a cool cave, getting him out of the jungle heat. He pulled out his blasters and checked the charges before continuing onward.  
  
It was dark and he cursed himself for no bringing a flashlight. He moved a hand along the cave wall when he felt a sudden change in texture. He also kicked something. He felt around a bit and found a long hard object and some what felt to be cloth. He remembered his lighter and made himself a torch. As the light lit up the cave he saw that the cave walls and floor turned in to something with a more organic look and feel to him, like he just stepped in to some large maw.  
  
He then noted that stick part of the torch was white and had a familiar feel to it he learned in the war. It was bone. This made him shudder, but he moved on, till he noted it getting brighter, so he put out the torch and moved to peek around the corner.  
  
The entire chamber looked organic in nature, it was large and a natural glow from several points provided light. Although there was also several large cocoons made out of what looked like spider web hanging around there and a large growth in the center with several crystals poking out of it. Falco moved over to the lowest of the cocoons first and started to pull away at the webbing. What he found made him jump back in horror.  
  
A lupine, rabbit, was in it. The poor soul's eyes where open, and the expression was one of pure fear. But the worst part was that it looked drained of all its bodily fluids. Falco managed to get up the nerve to touch the lupine's face which only confirmed that it was drained. He shuddered as he realized that the lupine must have been alive and aware of what was happening when it died. There was a sudden rustling sound and Falco turned around. An iris opened on a wall, and out stepped the thing he was sent to hunt. It smiled at him. The picture where accurate, although he could see it had large arms with claws on them. It's teeth where long and pointed. It approached him quietly and grinned down at him. What happened next caught him by surprise.  
  
"Hello there, you're the famous Falco Lombardi if I hear right." Falco gapped for a moment, 'This thing can speak and it knew him!' He then pulled out his blaster and pointed it at the things head, "Yea got that right tall and ugly, what are you one of Andross's creations?" It the laughed and moved to place a hand on one of the crystals which made the room shake for a moment. "Me, hardly... I just came here to learn, and well feed, but you, a member of the famous Starfox team, are a bonus, which I shall take home with me. Still I think I shall feed on you slowly though, so you don't die on our trip."  
  
'Great it's going to use me like a snack.' Falco grimaced at the thought then opened fire at the beast, "Sorry pal, but I have a date tonight." The shot hit the thing on the chest and did little more then scar it. It laughed at him, "Oh so you want to fight fine then, let's get this over with." It then moved faster then Falco could see and slapped him with the back of its hand sending Falco in to the leathery wall. Falco shook his head a bit, a bit dazed from the blow, and managed to see it coming slowly to him. He took more shoots at it, then soon realized that the blaster wasn't hurting it. Somehow this thing was armored and could withstand blaster fire.  
  
It the roared and charged him. Falco managed to leap out of the way as it crashed in to the wall. Falco ran over across the room and hid behind a cocoon. 'Think Falco; think there has to be a weak spot but where.' The thing then looks around a bit, as Falco studied it. The eyes where two small for him to get in a good shot and the joints seemed to be covered in the same blaster resistant flesh his body was in. It liked to talk though from what he could tell... Falco then got an idea in his head and shouted.  
  
"Hey there you. You ugly piece of shit!" It then looked over and growled at him, "Yea I'm talking to you! What are you going to do about it?" It then ran over and managed to pick up Falco by his head. Falco reached up with one of his feathered hands to take hold of the things wrist, so he wouldn't pass out. It sneered at him, "Your weapons are useless against me bird, what are you going to...umph..."  
  
Falco shoved his blaster in to it's mouth as it talked, "Yak, yak, yak, lets see if you can take a shoot from the inside." He then clicked the blaster in to auto fire mode and opened fire. The shots blew a hole in the things head and it fell over. It bleed a sickly black blood, and twitched a bit as he died. Falco then walked over to the console, "Now lets see what it was doing here and get the hell out of here." He then pressed a crystal at random.  
  
An image, like a projection flickered to life before him. It showed the planet like he was in orbit, which made him remember when the cave shuddered. 'Great, this is a space ship!' Falco cracked his knuckles and started to fiddle with the crystals.  
  
Lt. Malcha ran to the flight pads of the base and looked up. Some organic looking saucer shaped thing was coming in hard, and skidded along the runway. For some reason radar didn't detect it. Several tanks pointed there guns at it, as it was large, easily big enough to be a large shuttle. An iris opened up and out came Falco who coughed a bit as some smoke poured out of it, "Any landing you can walk away from." Lt. Malcha blinked a bit, as Falco walked past her, then stopped for a moment, "Oh the thing you want is in there, and there's its ship for you, consider it a bonus, but I would get a corner for your missing comrades within." He then whistled calmly and walked to the bar.  
  
Falco sat down at the table in the Lt.'s office. She showed him the autopsy reports on the thing, which he only turned upside down. Malcha coughed a bit, "Well we determined that it and most of its ship where genetically engineered, however it is centuries beyond anything Andross could come up with." She then held up a crystal, "This one seems to be like one of our data-disks, and has a log on it. Appears that thing was a scout and a spy for some unknown power." Falco hid his expression of surprise, as he thought what they where both thinking, 'if that thing is a scout, what the heck is going to follow it.' Falco then noted the look in her eyes, "Let me guess you managed to get a star chart and want me to backtrack its flight path?" Malcha nodded, "Yes, General Pepper already agreed to it. He also agrees with me in thinking that this should be a one man operation." Falco took out a cigarette, and lit it before popping it in to his beak, "Fine then, let's talk price."  
  
To be continued 


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