Broken Lines - Take II

[Ranger One]

Okay, It's been a long time, but I'm finnaly ready to begin reposting some of Broken Lines (title pending a possible change, but sticking with what some folks will recognize for now). Putting up the pages containing a quick background summary, Dramatis Personnel, and the Prologue with these first few posts. I'll review the first chapter and hopefully have it up soon too. For now, tho, here's what I think is ready to post on SF-O. 

Author’s Notes: The various timelines for this story are set roughly around the events after Star Trek: Nemesis, and the current three books in the Star Trek: Titan, book series; sometime after the events of Star Fox: Assault and before Star Fox: Command, and shortly before the events of the novel Star Wars: Legacy of the Force: Betrayal. Due to there being several different calendars in use, dates may or may not match up exactly to one another, but events will be presented in as close to chronological occurrence as possible.

It is a time of great conflict in the galaxy…

Having recently survived the onslaught of the horrific Aparoid invasion, the Lylat system struggles to recover. Corneria, in it’s weakened state, is vulnerable. With few choices available to them, the fate of the Cornerian people and their foes, the Androssian rebels, as well as the remaining Venomians and other races of the system, find themselves with an uncertain future. And find themselves questioning the true cost of their victory...

Elsewhere, the United Federation of Planets attempts to recover from it’s own recent cataclysms. With events such as the Dominion War still having lingering effects on the Federation’s stability, as well as the stability of the surrounding powers, the empires of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants have found themselves in an uneasy situation, were each needs the other to survive, but few can bring themselves to fully trust one another. Starfleet has begun a new wave of exploration, bringing with it hope that the Federation may yet return to it’s peaceful goals of exploration and science… but even these goals may yet lead to further conflict...

And still elsewhere, far, far away from the events of the Lylat system and the Federation, another galaxy lies shattered amidst the ruins of galactic war. The Galactic Alliance of Federations, having survived its trial by fire and defeated the Yuuzhan Vong invaders, and has begun to rebuild. Having relocated its headquarters to Coruscant at last, the Alliance hopes to prove that it’s possible to rebuild from the ruins of the war. Yet peace seems to be a goal the galaxy shall be denied – having recently fought off the Killiks and their Dark Nest, and prevented acts of genocide on this insectoid species by the Chiss, the Alliance now faces renewed threats from elsewhere. While the Corellian system plays a dangerous game of politics, walking along fine lines to receive the benefits of membership in the Alliance without the cost of contributing a thing, a new Warlord, known as High Lord Zrajeis, has unified several lesser self-proclaimed warlords beneath his banner, and supports his claims to sovereignty with armies of Imperial-style soldiers and equipment, left over Clone-Wars technology, and battle droids from that chaotic era. With factories to produce his own ships and mechanized troops, Zrajeis has the power to hold his own systems easily… and may have plans to expand his own kingdom into a third Galactic Empire.

And in the midst of all this, other forces are at work… and a war that has been fought for untold millennia now comes to a head in the midst of these times, while other dark powers move behind the shadows, furthering their own sinister agendas.

And whatever the outcome, all will soon change, for good or ill… forever.

[Ranger One]

Dramatis Personnel:

Red Squadron’s “heroic trio.”

Jod Nar’itus – Cerinan male (vulpine), Orange furred, Red Two, Shield trio 2 leader.

Aile “Ace” Lixo – Cerinan male (vulpine), Red/Orange and Tan furred, Red Five, Shield trio 2 right guard.

Gauge Trassel – Halini male (canine), Golden furred, Red Six, Shield Trio 2 left guard

The Galactic Alliance

Captain Whiteman – Human male, Red Squadron Leader

Aries Iyama - Kaithi female (feline), Naritus assistant chief of medical staff.

Astra – Bothan Female, Red Ten

Commander Arlin – human male, Captain of the Naritus

Whiff Azhi – Bothan male, Red Eleven

Ervii Azhi – Bothan male, Red Twelve

Conner McCloud – Human (Corellian) male, Red Three

The Jedi Order

Zrajeis’s Forces

Former Star Fox Team members

Fox McCloud – Red/Tan furred Fox, Captain of the Star Fox Team

Falco Lombardi – Blue feathered Falcon, some red plumage, Ace Pilot on the Star Fox Team

Slippy Toad – Toad, Mechanic for the Star Fox Team

Krystal – Blue-Furred Fox, Telepath/Psychic, Member of the Star Fox Team

Peppy Hare – Hare, Retired Pilot, Senior Member of the Star Fox Team

NU64 (ROB) – Robot, Member of the Star Fox Team

Star Wolf Team

Wolf O’Donnell – Grey Wolf, Pirate Lord, head of the Star Wolf Team

Leon Powalski - *Unspecified species of lizard, possibly a chameleon or the like, green skinned* Pilot on the Star Wolf team, “Professional Sadist*”

Panther Corroso – Pilot on the Star Wolf Team

Todd McNeill – Red/Tan furred Fox, Pilot on the Star Wolf team, sniper

Folral – Wolf/Husky hybrid, grey furred, Officer on board the Stalker.

Cornerian Military

General Pepper – canine, bulldog, General in the Cornerian Armed Forces, Contact for the Star Fox team.

Grand General Willock – canine, bulldog, Commander of the Cornerian Armed Forces.

Colonel Bill Grey – Husky, Commander of Bravo Wing, containing Husky and Bulldog Squadrons.

Venomians

Androssian Rebels

Civilians

Starfleet Personnel

Additional personnel

**Note - While some of the tabs may currently be empty, I'll be updating this page as new characters appear in the story - so make sure to check back here once in a while for updates (i'll try to make notes at the start of each chapter when I update)**

[Ranger One]

Prologue: Ghosts from the Past. (Section One of Four)

“Red Two, pull up, now!”

The young pilot twisted the control stick violently, sending his craft into a roll that carried it upwards – relatively speaking! – from it’s location in space. Brilliant red and orange bolts of plasma flashed by beneath the craft, with only a few small meters separating the pilot from a lucky escape and a fiery death.

Jod let out a gasp of relief. “Whew! That was close! Thanks for the warning Three…”

The young vulpine was shivering, his flight suit drenched with sweat, and his breathing almost erratic. His T-65 X-wing fighter was showing signs of stress as well, with several panels on the control board dark, and a few showering him with sparks whenever a near-miss shot past him. His astromech droid, a replacement for his own, which had been damaged in an earlier battle and unable to accompany him this time, had been severed from the main computer hub in his fighter by a hit earlier, leaving the orange furred fox on his own, save for the constant battle chatter.

This was the Battle for Yuzhan’tar – Coruscant. Capital of both the Republic’s and the Empire, it had seen no less than three governments rise and fall in it’s recent history. Then, more recently, captured by the Yuuzhan Vong and terra-formed into an image of their ancient home world, and scared by the devastation caused by countless orbital strikes and falling stations, their orbits decayed to the point they became fiery missiles, pummeling the worlds surface without mercy.

Coruscant, the bright center of the galaxy, some had called it.

Then the New Republic lost Coruscant to the Invaders.

That bright light had gone out.

But that was about to change.

The Alliance was taking Coruscant back.

But the enemy wasn’t going down without a fight. All across the skies of the scared world, airships and star fighters pinwheeled in a deadly display of aerial maneuvers punctuated by bursts of scarlet, viridian, or sapphire laser and ion cannon blasts or fiery missiles of red-hot plasma and magma. Higher up in orbit, and farther out in the system, star fighters swarmed between opposing capital ships, each trying to out-maneuver the other, while the larger vessels exchanged devastating barrages with one another. In mere seconds, devastating turbolaser and plasma exchanges reduced yorik-coral hulls and tritanium armor plates into charred and molten slag.

From outside, it may have looked beautiful in some sense, but inside, it was chaos and confusion. It was beings you had lived with, slept with, bickered with, and joked with dying around you with every chrisom flare of fire. It was blood, sweat, tears, and the gut-wrenching certainty the whole damn universe was trying to kill you.

For Jod, the fight had only been going on for twenty minutes – still an eternity in star fighter combat – yet it felt like a lifetime. Two lifetimes, in fact.

But for one brief moment, nothing was shooting at him, giving him time to think. A rare commodity in battles like this one.

Jod glanced at his ships Heads-Up Display, or HUD, and saw no immediate threats – but plenty of targets. Ever since this fight had started, there’d been plenty of targets. Coral skippers, Yuzzhan Vong starfighters, swarmed the skies of Coruscant and space in the thousands, along numerous Vong capital and support ships as well.

There were lots of friendly ships too. X-wings, A-wings, E-wings, and other Republic model ships, Imperial TIE craft, even old craft from the Clone Wars, including a few old ARC-180’s, and other ships from the Clone Wars and before.  Starfighters and capital ships from as recent as five years ago to as old as five decades ago, and even older still, elsewhere in the system!

Outside the view port, an old Acclimator class lander/frigate erupted into a ball of flame. Not to far from it, a Vong matalok – the invaders version of a corvette – collided with a larger Vong ship, destroying the smaller vessel and sending a gout of rapidly-freezing fluids and yorrik coral off into space. And all around the larger ships, several smaller flares marked the deaths of friendly fighters, and small bursts of red plasma marked the deaths of Vong coral skippers as their plasma emitters ruptured.

All around him, ships flashed out of existence as the damage they suffered grew too great. From the invaders Miid Roik battle cruisers to Imperator and Republic class Star Destroyers, ships ruptured and vented into the vacuum of space in brilliant balls of flame and frozen atmosphere, while smaller fighters fell prey to fiery deaths by the hundreds.

And lives were lost by the thousands.

Jod couldn't repress a shiver. Just surviving this fight would be a miracle.

But the odds of survival for a starfighter jock were rather low to begin with. This was just on a larger scale.

Throwing his craft into a shallow dive to starboard, Jod slipped in behind a coral skipper. Lining the craft up in his sights, the young fox flipped a switch, waited a brief moment for the tell-tale hum that indicated a lock, and opened fire. In response, his craft launched hundreds of laser bolts – far more than an X-wing could possibly shoot – at the enemy vessel… and as they drew close, were sucked into nothingness.

While the starfighters Jod was familiar with (or had been, before the war) had deflector shields for defense, Vong craft used dovin basals – creatures that created mini-singularities, or black holes, to suck up enemy fire and propel the craft. When the ships were defending themselves, they lost some maneuverability, but their defense was difficult to penetrate.

Difficult, but not impossible. Not anymore, at least.

Unless it was overwhelmed with too much to handle, the singularities could hold for hours. Stutter-fire, a tactic invented mid-way through the war, caused a fighter to fire hundreds of small, low power shots in a very short time-span, exhausting the dovin basals as they tried to absorb as much as possible. While the bolts were mostly harmless, they still packed a little punch of their own. And absorbing a bolt that was mostly light exhausted a dovin basal just as much as a fully charged bolt did.

Leaving the coral skipper vulnerable. Jod tracked his sights away from the skip, and the singularities moved to cover more of his fire… Leaving them out of position to stop a killing shot. Flipping the switch back, Jod snapped off a quick quad blast, and four red energy bolts tore towards the skip. One disappeared as the singularity moved back to intercept, but the other three found their mark. The lasers tore three jagged holes deep into the aft of the craft, and drilled deep into the ship. Alien fluids seeped out of the wound, rapidly freezing in the void of space  – skips didn’t simply explode unless their plasma launchers were breached – and the ship drifted off uncontrolled into the battle.

Jod let the fighter go – that shot had penetrated up to the “cockpit” of the craft, were a Vong warrior had sat wearing a hood that let him communicate directly with the skip. Without a pilot, and with such damage, the skip was effectively “destroyed.”

One more down… who knows how many more to go… he thought.

That was when his comm. unit squawked. “Red group, this is Omicron One,” a voice called over his headset. “ Three reports heavy interference from skips, they require immediate assistance, over.”

“Omicron One, this is Red Leader. We copy, we’re on our way. Red group, Form up by trios and meet at Omicron Three!”

“Copy, One,” Jod replied, training keeping his voice steady... barely. “Red Five, Red Six, form up on my wing!”

“Copy, Two.”

“On it, Two, lets hurry it up and vape some more scarfaces already!”

Jod grinned. Scarfaces was a now common nickname among the armed forces of both the Alliance and Empire for the Vong – their ritual implants tended to leave fierce scars on them. And on top of that, the invaders didn’t believe in anesthetics or anything that would dull pain – in fact, they were quite the opposite. “Don’t get cocky, Five. They’re new to the defensive, but they’re still nasty enough as it is.”

“Spoilsport. You’re just scared we won’t leave any for ya.”

That was enough to make Jod laugh. Five’s banter was a badly needed relief from the stress of this battle, and they both needed all the relief they could get right now. “Hey, if you guys vaped them all, I’d be hard pressed to thank you properly! This fights getting crazy out here.”

“No kidding… heard it’s worse down on the ground even, the Shamed Ones really have revolted and have made a mess for the Vong down there. But making sure to shoot the right ones is insane… who expects a scarface to offer to HELP!?”

Jod had to agree with that remark privately – To most outsiders, all Vong looked pretty similar, but in truth, the xenophobic invaders were divided into several castes. The lowest of these, the Shamed Ones, were Vong who’s bodies had rejected their implants – a sign they had been rejected by their gods according to their beliefs.

Personnaly, Jod thought it meant that nature was trying to tell them that they were crazy.

“Not our problem, Five.” He replied out loud. “Lets just make sure that lander gets down their to add it’s troops to the fight.”

Even as he said that, though, Jod’s hopes faded. The lander, a huge Venator class cruiser, larger than the Acclimators near it even, was swarming with Vong fighters and small corvettes. While being an older Clone Wars craft, the Venator still qualified as a mid-sized cruiser today, and was putting up a sound fight. Their more modern Ranger class gunship escorts, craft roughly the size of a YT-1300, and sporting about six to eight gun turrets and concussion missiles, were also providing decent cover. But there were just too many skips – the A-Wings in the vicinity were already hard pressed to hold them off, and only three E-Wings from the group over here were left. Surprisingly, the TIEs were doing better – at least two-thirds of their numbers had survived and were holding strong! There were also a few Z95s, T-wings, and even some old V-wing fighters in the fight – craft better suited to providing ground cover than dogfights!

But the Vong had a heavy hitter coming to join in. Showing up about 100 clicks away from their position, one of the larger battle cruisers – the name escaped Jod, not that he wanted to remember it anyways – was moving to intercept the landing force in this sector of the battle.

Acclimators and Venators would normally have stood a good chance of fighting one off. But with frigates and corvettes attacking their flanks, and fighters swarming them, the Vong cruiser would be able to pick each ship off one by one.

“Control, this is Red Two, Vong have sent a hammer to join the party.” And Coruscant’s the anvil – if the two meet with us in the middle, there won’t be much left!

“Acknowledge. Support is on the way – just keep the skips and their friends off the landers.”

“Control, this is Red Leader. We hear you. Red Squadron, lets mix things up, Pick your targets and go!!”

“Copy, Red Leader! Gold, lock on to the nearest group of skips and flag them as top priority! Ace, Gauge, follow me in – and feel free to shoot any rocks that start shooting back!”

“Got it, Two, I’m on your wing.”

“I copy, Jod! Lets blast ‘em!”

Pulling up tight on the control stick, Jod brought his X-wing up into a tight climb, approaching the skips from below. Flanking him from the left and right, Ace and Gauge matched the maneuver, their X-wings flying in close formation to his. Elsewhere, other pilots in Red squadron would be approaching from other angles, hitting the Vong from multiple points at once. With luck, it’d confuse them long enough for the X-wings and remaining fighters in the dogfight to regroup and fight off the skips, buying the Venator enough time to deal with the larger vessels harassing it.

Luck hasn’t been on our side so far in this war, though. In fact, I don’t think we’ve even had any breaks until recently at Mon Calamari – and that was a lucky fluke.

Jod took one more glance at the dogfight before switching his attention to his ship’s controls. Guess we’ll have to hope we get lucky a few more times then… here goes!

As the trio of X-wings screamed into the fray from below, Jod and his wing mates opened fire with all the armaments at their disposal. Dual and quad linked scarlet laser blasts tore into the fray, catching several coral skippers’ dovin basals off guard and tearing into the unprotected craft. Proton torpedoes flew into the midst of tight formations of skips as well, the blasts created by each vaporizing several fighters and charring the hulls of others as their own defenses tried to protect them from laser energy from other angles, leaving them exposed.

Then they were in the middle of the fray, and they hadn’t gone unnoticed. Plasma bolts streaked mere meters from their fighters, each one promising a quick, fiery death if it should hit.

And in close formation, it’d only be a short time till one of them did take such a hit. Okay, time to change tactics, Jod thought, keying his comm. unit on. “Five, Six, lets loosen up a little. Pick whatever rock you prefer and blast it.”

“Roger, Two.”

“Already on it boss!”

Acting on impulse, Jod threw his fighter into a quick dive, barely avoiding a plasma projectile that’d have punched right into the nose of his fighter if he hadn’t. Before he could comment on his close call, a second gut feeling prompted him to send his ship into a tight roll to port, moving him right out of the path of a smaller magma blast a skip had fired at something else.

Then he realized he had a steady stream of small plasma bolts peppering his aft shields. Great, avoided one skip just to have another drop in behind. Better move fast, or he’ll be shooting plasma right up my tail – litteraly!

Trying not to panic, Jod continued his roll for another second, then pulled up hard on the stick, sending his craft into a sudden climb. Bolts of hot plasma flashed behind his ship, still tracking him (Dang, didn’t think Vong craft could perform such maneuvers!) and getting closer to hitting each time. But at least he’d bought himself some time...

[Ranger One]

Chapter One: Ghosts from the Past (Section Two of Four)

A bright flare from behind blinded Jod for a moment, and he had to rely on instinct alone to fly. Unfortunately, several billion years of evolution had hardly prepared a vulpine species for flight to begin with, let alone space combat. So it wasn’t much surprise that he hit something…

A startled yelp escaped the young fox as his ship shuddered. Stang it! Come on, don’t give up on me now… just a bit more!...

“What’s that?” Jod asked – a bit too loudly – in response to something his astromech had just twittered at him – when had the little guy managed to reroute his link to the cockpit? Heck, did it matter even right now? “Can you repeat that? I didn’t…”

Whump! A loud thud on the hull quickly answered his question. Jod had heard that sound far more times than he liked, and knew what it meant.

Great… grutchins. Just what I needed.

Large, vicious insects, grutchins were bio-engineered creations of the Vong. Deployed in large swarms, or fired individually at a target, the insects launched a frenzied attack and could chew thru tritanium starship halls and yorrik coral, the main component of the hulls of Vong craft, in moments. In fact, the bugs were so dangerous they couldn’t even be recovered after a fight – the Vong had to destroy them.

And having one on the back of your fighter was about the worst thing that could happen in the middle of a fierce dogfight like this one. And even with that battle cruiser moving to intercept, Coruscant’s surface was coming up fast…

A loud tearing noise coming from the starboard caused Jod to jump. “Kriff… not good… not good…” Got to get that bug off before it tears my ship apart!

Throwing the ship into a tight spin, Jod had to close his eyes to keep from getting sick – the image of ships, flares, stars, and Coruscant spinning wildly in front of him so fast was more than he could take right now…

“Red Two, come in! Red two!”

Sorry Five, can’t talk right now… busy! Three… Two… One… Hope this works!

And with that, Jod aborted his spin.

But the grutchin, lacking a secure hold still, didn’t. Flailing helplessly in anger, the large bug spun off into the void… where it was moments later struck by a burst of turbo-laser fire, and instantly vaporized!

“Whew,” he gasped. “that was… whoa!”

Jod had been about to say close, when he realized how far the battle had moved already while we was dealing with his grutchin problem. Coruscant now filled the view port and was growing fast, and the swarms of skips were growing thicker by the moment.

Sithspawn! If that battle cruiser hits us here, it’ll…

That’s when Jod realized that the cruiser should have already hit them. But the Venator was still in one piece and heading to ground, with far less skips harassing it than before. So what…

Then he saw it - and it was enough to make his jaw drop open in shock. Right in the cruisers path, and flanking it from both sides, were three Imperator class Star Destroyers. Impstars. Three of them. Unleashing their firepower on a single target. Right as Jod spotted the four ships, the cruiser began to buckle and break up under the pummeling it was taking, its dovin basals overloaded or dead, and its hull breached in multiple locations.

Wow… glad the Empire is on our side now, I’d hate to think what it was like to fight against those things…

“You okay over there Two!?”

“Uh, yeah, I’m okay, Six. Didn’t realize how fast the fight was moving…”

“Well, glad to hear you’re still with us. Try not to pull anything like that again if you can help it.”

Jod smiled. “I can’t make any promises, Gauge, but I’ll try.”

“Heads up, people, we’ve got new orders… " came Red Leader's voice over the comm.link. "We’re heading groundside to give the Venator some cover.”

“What? Are you serious, Lead?”

“I’m serious, Four. Now everyone form up with the rest of the escorts! Red Two, your trio will take point with Green Four’s and Alpha Nine’s groups.”

Jod grimaced. Flying point for a lander that was quite literally the predecessor to the Star Destroyer series wasn’t a job anyone would want. Doing that while flying head first into a swarm of Vong coral skippers… well, they might as well shoot themselves and save everyone the trouble. Not that we have a choice really either way…

“Understood, Lead,” Jod replied. “Red Five, Red Six, on my wing…”

“Copy Two,” Gauge replied, his voice calm as usual.

“Uh, roger that, Two… here goes nothing…” Ace said, his own voice showing some of his nervousness.

With that, the X-wings settled into formation with the A-wings and TIE craft also on point… and then the wait began.

Or rather, it should have. But if one thing could be said about the Vong, it was that they didn’t like to wait.

Only moments after they reached the Upper reaches of Coruscant’s atmosphere, skips began to swarm the Venator again from all angles. Two blips representing TIEs on Jod’s radar faded out instantly, and an A-wing blip soon faded as well. Sithspawn, three ships down and we haven’t even fired a shot back yet! Then a gunship exploded. Four now… that’s it!

“All ships, engage at will! A-wings, TIEs, get the skips attacking our fighters and gun ships! X-wings, take care of the rest – the Venator can take care of itself for now.”

“Copy that, Red Leader! Five, Six, stay on my wing, lets vape some skips!”

“Got it, Two. Let’s blast em!”

“Lead on, Two. I’ve got your back.”

Pulling up into a sharp climb, Jod looped his fighter into a half-loop, then rolled his ship over so it was flying “upright” in relation to the planet’s gravity. Locking onto a skip, Jod brought his X-wing in behind, then opened up with a barrage of stutter-fire to disrupt the skips dovin basals. Holding down the trigger, he drew a path of laser fire away from the skip, slowly pulling the singularities farther and farther from the enemy craft.

Then Ace and Gauge both opened fire with their quad-linked cannons. Eight bolts of scarlet energy and light tore into the unprotected aft of the skip, shredding its internal systems (Organs, Jod thought with disgust. Those ships are alive after all).

As the three fighters broke off in search of a new target, the skip tore apart into several fragments that plummeted to the ground below.

The X-wings repeated this strategy again and again, moving from skip to skip, pulling the singularities away from them, then drilling the fighters with linked fire, and moving on. But it was a strategy that only worked for a short while. And sure enough, the Vong changed tactics.

Some of the skips began to form up into trios of their own – their singularities covering each other, making it harder to destroy them. It also made the skips even more deadly – while they weren’t everyplace now, if a trio settled in behind an Alliance shield trio, the fighters had to break off and evade, disrupting their formation, or be blasted from behind by the skips.

“Sithspit, they’re adapting.”

“You’re surprised, Five? Even the Vong know a strategy that’s not working is only going to kriff them if they stick with it.”

Five didn’t answer, but Jod knew they were in trouble – the best strategy they had to go against this sudden switch was the same one they were already using. And that wouldn’t last very long… But what…

“Red group, pull back towards the Venator. Skips are ours.”

What?!? Jod thought, drilling a skip in the aft with a lucky snap shot as he broke off towards the ageing lander. Who’s going after the skips? … !

He got his answer less than a moment later as the gun ships – Ranger class gun ships – launched their attack. Larger than fighters, the gun ships sported twin Dual-laser gun turrets both fore and aft, giving them a huge field of fire. And their rapid fire easily matched that of the stutter-fire an X-wing could produce.

But their cannon fire still packed the punch of a quad blast in each shot.

Cheers erupted across the comm. channel as the gun ships tore into the skips with a vengeance, and Jod joined in with an excited howl of his own. All right! Maybe we’ll get through this fight after all…

Then his ship shuddered violently as the port engine exploded.

“Sithspawn!” Jod yelled. “Not good, not good at all!” Who knew what had caused the engine to blow – a plasma blast, damage that grutchin had inflicted earlier, heck, who cared, he had a bigger problem right now, he was falling into the planets gravity well!

Ignoring the chatter on the comm., Jod struggled with his failing ships controls, trying to keep every bit of altitude he could… and failing. Despite his best efforts, his fighter continued to plummet in free fall. He only had moments left at best!

Spast… oh, kriffkriffkriffKriffKRIFF! But the computer continued to count down the altitude remaining… he had maybe six second’s left.… five seconds…. Four seconds… Three seconds… Two…

* * *

Well... there's section Two of Four - Will work on the 2nd half later, after reviewing it, I feel it needs more editing in one section. (probably fine, but i'd rather get it right the first time.) More to come  :lol:

[Ranger One]

Here's section 3 - Bout as polished as I think it'll get, pushes it a bit by my standards (which are a whole lot stricter than the Fanfic guides for SF-O), but as I'm sick of letting it stall again on something this early on and can't find anything else to improve it, here it is. This section diverts off for a bit to cover some background information about Jod's race, much of which becomes important in later chapters.

Chapter One: Ghosts from the Past (Section Three of Four)

… Jod let out a yelp of pain as he hit the ground. Then let out a quiet moan as he sat up, rubbing his head where he’d banged it against the side of the bed.

It’d just been a dream… one of many he’d had since the war ended.

But sithspawn, it’d felt so… so real.

The war against the Yuuzhan Vong had cost billions in weapons, vehicles, credits… and lives. Especially lives. Few had made it through the war without loosing a friend or loved one, and almost every veteran of the conflict felt some sort of survivor’s guilt, or had recurring nightmares – midnight horror’s inspired by the savagery of war.

Jod was familiar with these dreams by now – the war had ended only a few years ago. But the nightmares still plagued him every night, despite counseling, therapy, and just about every other treatment available to veteran pilots. Not one had helped.

Then again, Jod had gone through a lot more than most pilots, in fact, than most soldiers from any field in the war had. Few could claim to match the experiences he’d had during the war – and survived them. And no one would want to either.

Jod had been a prisoner of the Vong during the war for months – if prisoner was the correct term for it. He had no way of figuring how long they’d held him, and he didn’t really want to know. But during that time, he’d been striped to the fur, beaten within an inch of his life, and treated like nothing more than a common animal on a daily basis for months. When he’d finally been rescued during a chance-raid on a Vong slave convoy – the invaders had taken living captives to use as slaves and for sacrifices to their twisted gods – no one had been brave enough to ask just what he’d been through.

Well, save for two – His room mate, Aile. Red Five in the squadron, and Jod’s best friend, and Gauge, Red Six. They’d both reacted differently to it – Ace by turning a shade of green beneath his fur and excusing himself, while Gauge had simply listened to the whole thing.

But Gauge was hard to read sometimes anyways, so who knew what he’d thought. Aile, or “Ace” as everyone called him, had always been a bit more emotional. Yet either way, they’d been the only ones brave enough to even consider asking what Jod had managed to endure.

“More nightmares again, Jod?”

Jod let out a sigh as he looked up at the top bunk. “Yeah… again…”

Ace sat up in his bunk and looked down at Jod, a worried expression on his face. “You okay? You were whimpering and tossing around so much it woke me up well before you knocked yourself out of bed.”

“Well… this one was a bit different from the others.”

Ace grimaced. “Not…”

“No, not one of those!” Thank the Force that never happened for real, even though it could have! “More of a warped falling-dream… only it was my fighter over Coruscant. The second time,” he added upon seeing Ace’s expression grow more concerned. “Only this time my ship was headed for a terminal crash… instead of the mess I really got in.”

“Okay,” Ace said, but his voice told that he didn’t really think it was. “You sure you’re alright, though? You hit your head pretty hard.”

“I’m fine Ace, Thanks,” Jod replied. He started to stand up, then wondered if that was really a good idea in his current state. Meh, he thought, blushing under his fur. Which was all he had on right now. Maybe I should talk to some techie about getting the atmosphere controls in here fixed – Mon Calamari standards are way to warm for Cerinans, and I can’t keep sleeping in my bare fur if I’m going to fall out of bed every time I have a nightmare!

Ace rolled his eyes in exasperation as he saw Jod hesitate. “Give it a rest already, Jod. It’s not like our fur’s letting anything show to begin with.” An impish grin spread across the other fox’s face. “Didn’t you prove you could stand going in the buff not to long ago anyways?”

“Don’t remind me,” Jod groaned. He was still trying to live that down – even if it had been part of an assignment. Well, it was my own fault for having mentioned my fur would work as camouflage in a pinch. He went ahead and stood up anyways, since it beat lying on the floor all night in his bare fur. At least he’s right - the fur does give me a lot of modesty, if you compare it to a human or a Bothan anyways…heck, even compared to a Wookiee!

Jod and Ace were both Cerinans – a vulpine species from one of the many inhabitable worlds in the Vularis system. Located far from any of the major trade routes established in the time of the Old Republic, Vularis just barely qualified as an Inner-Rim system, yet had been overlooked for centuries during the initial exploration and mapping of the galaxy and the establishment of safe hyperspace lanes. In fact, much of the Mid-Rim had been explored long before the discovery of Vularis, and there had been significant exploration into the Outer Rim as well, making the Cerinans late-comers into intergalactic affairs.

While the systems star was named Vularis in Galactic Standard, or Basic as it was more commonly called, the various planets in the system had all received different names rather than numbered designations. Cerina, the fourth world from the local sun, was widely regarded as the primary world, but it was the fifth planet, Induria, that housed all the technological development made by the various species that called Vularis’s satellites home. The remaining inhabitable worlds, totaling four, were almost untouched.

Even more bizzare was how similar the lifestyles were of each species in the system. Comming from a mix of candid and feline species, as well as several others, most of the various races in the Vularis system lived in a semi-technological society – the largest cities on any of the planets were rather small by most standards, only a few thousand inhabitants at best. The majority lived in small villages, primitive at a glance, but with several technological advancements as well.

Cerinans in particular lived in this manner – there were only five “cities” on the entire planet, with most of the population in small villages and towns, or even living in nomadic tribes. And while Cerina had a wide range of climates for a world of it’s classification, Cerinan culture had started largely in the tropical and temperate climates… where fur was all the protection they needed. Since their fur naturally grew long enough to also be considered modest as well, most Cerinan’s simply treated clothes as a frivolous accessory at best. They’d wear the stuff if they absolutely had to, but with only a few small desserts, and artic climates confined largely to the continents located at the planets poles, they rarely had any real need for it.

Ace had grown up in one of the larger “cities,” and was well aware of the embarrassment this attitude caused for other races – most Cerinan’s who ventured offworld were, and made varying concessions to this simple fact, but would quickly "go natural" if given a choice.

Jod, however, was unique in that regard: while he was still “comfortable” in the buff, so to speak, he found it and many other of his race's customs a bit awkward. And for good reasons.

Jod’s parents had been human.

[Ranger One]

Chapter One: Ghosts of the Past (Section Four of Four)

Or to be exact, his foster parents. Abandoned as a pup – something unheard of before in Cerinan culture, as even orphaned pups would be cared for by other families, regardless of which village or tribe they’d come from – Jod had somehow been offworld at the time of his abandonment... and been picked up as a stray animal in the Theed Spaceport after escaping the cargo ship he’d been on.

It was ironic – despite the fact that Naboo and Cerina's neighbors had developed high demands for goods from each others systems, especially in space-technology, none of the customs officials had ever seen a Cerinan before – and only a few had heard of them even. Not quite sure just what he was, Jod’s captors – in the loosest of terms – had locked him in a kennel, given him food and water, and tried to find someone who either knew what he was or would take him off their hands.

In the end, that someone had turned out to be his adoptive father – and to think his family had first thought they were adopting an exotic pet. Imagine their shock learning they’d adopted a baby from another sentient species!

Jod felt a faint grin tug at the corners of his mouth at those memories – for all rights concerned, he’d turned out alright, if a bit modest by his own kinds standards.

Something that had made him the target of pranks by his friends and squad mates on occasion, when he thought about it. “… and don’t go giving the Azhi brothers any ideas, Ace,” Jod added quickly.

Ace displayed an over exaggerated look of hurt on his face. “What? Me!? I’d never help those two pull a prank on my friends!”

“Right,” Jod shot back. “Just like you didn’t help them last time with that itch powder prank… I couldn’t leave med-bay for a week.”

“I said I was sorry.” Ace mumbled sheepishly.

That caused Jod to smile. “Yeah, you did, but I’m not about to forget.”

“Just don’t go trying to get even for that one please – the stunts you'd try to pull would be too humiliating or dangerous for you.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence!” Jod replied sarcasticly.

“No problem!” Ace quipped, a grin spreading to cover his face.

Gad… I should have seen that coming… Jod shook his head in disbelief and chuckled. “Okay, you win. And thanks, for real this time.”

“Huh?”

“For getting my mind off that dream I just had… hopefully I’ll get some sleep now.”

Ace smiled. “Oh. Good, you could use some of that.”

Jod didn’t bother to respond – Ace was far to correct for his liking on that one, even if he was joking. Instead, he simply crawled back into bed, on top of the sheets – roasting in the humidity in their quarters would keep him awake for sure if he tried to sleep under them – and stared at the underside of the top bunk in silence.

It didn't last long. “Hey Jod?”

Jod sighed. “What, Ace?”

“You awake still?”

“No, I’m fast asleep and having a wonderful dream involving a vixen I knew back home.”

“Liar. You’ve only met one vixen ever, and she was a spec-ops gal, so she was out of your league.”

“You asked a dumb question, you get a dumb answer,” Jod shot back.

“Ha, ha,” Ace replied. “Funny.”

“Was there a reason to this, or are you just trying to drive me crazy?”

“When am I not? Seriously, though, I do have a question – a real one.”

“Can it wait till morning, Ace?”

“Don’t think so.”

Jod sighed. Great, midnight interrogations from my own room-mate and best friend… what’s next? “Alright, Ace, shoot.”

“Bang!”

“Ace…”

“Okay, okay, shesh.” Ace said, catching the warning in Jod’s tone. “Just wondering, can’t you just, you know, block out those nightmares?”

“And how am I supposed to do that, pray tell?” Jod answered.

Ace’s response caught him completely off guard. “I mean, can’t you just use the Force or something?”

Jod groaned and rubbed at his eyes. Oh Ace… of all the questions to ask… why now?

“No, I can’t.”

“Why in the galaxy not?” Ace asked, his head appearing over the side of the bunk. “I mean, you…”

“… probably have more Force potential than any Jedi to date, including Skywalker and Duron. I know, I know, you think the Jedi let me just fluff that off and forget about it? Ace, the truth is, I can’t. So maybe our race does have an inbreed affinity to the Force, you still have to learn how to control it and feel it, right? I never really did, everything I’ve learned was on my own, and I messed up… a lot. I’m lucky I never hurt anyone.”

“Oh… have you considered asking someone in the Jedi order to teach you?”

What’s up with you and the touchy questions tonight? Jod thought. “Yes, I have. But I won’t.”

“What?!”

“Ace, the truth is, I don’t want anything to do with the Jedi order right now… just looking at the direction this new philosophy of theirs is taking them stands my fur on end… all of it. Even the hair’s I’ve been shedding. I don’t like it.”

“Wow… um… guess I asked the wrong questions, huh?” Ace replied sheepishly.

“It’s not your fault… you’re the first person I’ve told about this outside the Jedi… and the only Jedi I’ve mentioned this to is Vallo so far.”

“You don’t even trust him?”

“He’s a Jedi… and while I do trust him for now, I don’t want anything to do with the Jedi, so I have to say no even to him. I… I’m kind of at an impasse here. I can’t learn anything about the Force without going to the Jedi, and the Force could probably help me out a bit with getting over these nightmares, but I can’t go to the Jedi because the only way they’ll teach me is if I become a Jedi. Which I refuse to do. Ever.”

“I see… Sorry bout bothering you, I had no idea…”

“… that it was a touchy subject.” How could you have known, I never mentioned it to anyone…? “Don’t worry about it, Ace. Just get some sleep, okay?” Let me fight my own demons, please…

“Right… g’night Jod.”

“Night, Ace”

But while Ace was asleep after only a few moments, Jod was still lying there hours later… and while no one else was there to see it, tears fell freely from his eyes as he cried…

-----------------

And that's the first chapter. Chapter Two is pretty well ironed out already, so it should be going up a bit sooner than this did. More to come.  o_O

[Ranger One]

Gah... been hard to find the time to get this updated, hopefully I'll have more time soon than I've had recently. Anyways, here's the first, long overdue section of the Chapter Two:

Chapter Two: Hidden Agenda (Section One)

“No, for the last time, we’re looking for a Mid sized transport that could carry a few starfighters, not a Supernova class battle carrier!” the vulpine growled with annoyance.

Good luck telling him that. I highly doubt the salesman feels a Hyper class transport will suit your needs. The black furred wolf grinned. Especially after the hefty bribe I gave him to ensure that.

Nixo’s grin only grew larger as he watched the fox in question grow more heated in the argument – yes, a transport couldn’t repel a heavy assault from a larger ship, but it could outrun it. No, they didn’t need hangar space for an entire wing of ships. Yes, a Supernova did have better shields and weapons, but it was out of date by about six years. Yes, they were still formidable, but they were huge. No, they didn’t need a huge ship. And so on.

All in all, it was working out just as he’d hoped. The younger fox and his avian companion were both showing obvious signs of disgust at the direction these negotiations were heading, so it was unlikely they’d last much longer.

And even with a hefty pocketbook, you still can’t talk this sales rep into selling you a small cargo ship at a grossly inflated price even… It appears Fox McCloud really has met his match… and in a salesman of all people. Truly worth a few laughs.

Those laughs would have to wait for later unfortunately. While the panel he was behind did permit him to see into the room, with all anyone else would see was a mirror from the other side, it didn’t soundproof the room he was in.

Still, it took all his will to resist laughing as the arguments grew even more heated. Fox McCloud was up on his feet now, and clearly “ticked off.” It appeared his efforts to buy a ship from CSI were over.

And sure enough, at that moment, the vulpine and his friend stormed out of the office, McCloud’s tail twitching with built up frustration.

And indeed, it must be frustrating. How does it feel, McCloud, to know that your team is without a ship, down a member at last, and falling apart? Is it even worth saving?

Nixo’s grin grew even larger at the thought. No… but you don’t know that yet. It’s my job to help convince you that’s true…

* * *

#@$%! Sales reps!!! Fox thought, storming out of the office building CSI owned in Corneria’s mountain district. That’s four, FOUR $%^#ing hours I’d like back of my life!

To think he and Falco had just spent four hours trying to purchase a ship that CSI suddenly had no interest in selling – what the heck did they want with an old Venomian Hyper class transport anyways?! – was nothing short of infuriating. And he’d even offered triple the going price – triple – that those ships went for.

I don’t see why he didn’t jump that offer, I was willing to pay almost as much as that blasted cruiser for the ship we needed, but he wouldn’t take it! Just what the heck would we do with a Supernova class ship anyways, the damn things take a crew of almost nine hundred! Even ROB couldn’t control a ship like that on his own if he plugged in, and there’s no way we can afford to buy a Supernova ship and the five new AI unit’s we’d need to automate it…

“Hey, Fox, I know you’re a little ticked about what just happened…”

“… that’s putting it mildly, Falco. I haven’t been this angry in years… I could have spent those four hours we wasted doing something way more productive than that!”

“I’m sure you could have… but how ‘bout stepping here under the awning at least, wet fur and feathers don’t help a bad mood any,” Falco replied. “Unless you want to get soaked?”

Huh? Fox finally realized at this moment that it was raining – and he was already completely soaked. Whoops… this’ll be fun to clean up later… after I’ve endured all the “wet Fox” jokes.

He couldn’t hold back a chuckle, though. “Whoops. Guess I should have paid more attention, huh?”

Falco grinned back at him. “Yep… I thought you were going to march right out into the middle of the street at the rate you were going.”

“Hey, I wasn’t that…”

“Yes, you were. And I don’t blame ya, I’m still fuming about … that.”

Fox managed to grin. “I know, Falco. You don’t have to say it.”

“Yeah. Hey, you think we should hail a cab?”

“Nah… I’d rather walk right now myself.”

Falco blinked. “In this weather?”

Fox couldn’t help it. Upon seeing Falco’s puzzled expression, he burst out laughing. “Yeah, I don’t really care right now. I just need to walk some of this off, and a cab won’t let me do that...” Suddenly, Fox remembered another errand he’d planned to do while they were here. “Besides, I, uh, have another errand to take care of first.”

“Huh? What do you mean ‘another errand”… ?”

“I’ll tell you later. You can go ahead and catch a cab back if you want, I’ll meet you back at the apartment.”

Falco’s expression showed that he was still confused, but he was willing to play along for now. “Alright. I’ll see you there, Fox.”

“Alright.” Fox couldn’t resist the urge to tease Falco over a past event at least once, though. “And stay away from any bars this time on the way back, last thing we need you doing is taking a blaster to a couch or a chair again.”

“Hey, I didn’t…”

“Yes, you did.”

“Nu uh,” Falco said, trying not to grin.

“Uh huh,” Fox shot back, barely keeping his own smile under control.

“Did not.”

“Did to. And before you call me a liar again, remember that vid of it?”

“That’s playing dirty, Fox.”

“No it’s not,” Fox said, unable to hide his grin any longer. “And I’m still team leader, so I can make that whole thing an order if I have to.”

Falco threw Fox a mock-glare. “Spoil sport.”

* * *

[Ranger One]

Okay, FINNALY, here's section two... things are going to slow down for a bit here probably, I've been reviewing the next few chapters a lot, and there's a part there i'm not sure about yet - going to review it some more. So if don't be surprised if i stall after this chapter again. 

Chapter Two: Hidden Agenda (Section Two)

Hmm… perhaps command will have to work harder to split McCloud and Lombardi up, Nixo thought. Having watched the whole exchange, he was well aware of the friendship that lay beneath such a childish display. Splitting the members of the Star Fox team up wouldn’t be too difficult – Peppy Hare had already retired for real this time, and with an offer to work in the Engineering corps and R&D department, Slippy wouldn’t take much prodding either. Plus, there were… other distractions… already pulling him away from the team on their own that the others didn’t know about.

Krystal and Lombardi would be the troublesome ones. While Lombardi was a bit of a “lone wolf” pilot, his friendship with Fox was still holding him to the team, despite the problems they’d been facing – some of which were of Nixo’s own design, he was proud to say. But he’d been getting restless, so if the team did break up, chances were Lombardi would only stick around for a short while, then head off solo again as he had years before. And if it takes a little nudging, I’ll do it. That bird has to go.

Krystal, on the other hand… there’s a girl who’s nothing but trouble for us. The fact that she’d made it this far after previous attempts made by the… prior administration over a decade ago, only added to command’s frustration.

But in Nixo’s opinion, her survival had saved their plans, not damned them. After all, they’d never have come across the next great threat to command’s scheme if she hadn’t fled to the Lylat system eventually. And even Nixo could see McCloud was a bigger threat… if not dealt with promptly.

The fact that she was romantically involved with McCloud only made the problem worse – any move on their part while they were still together was asking for disaster.

But I still have one card left to play to draw her off… and once she’s gone, we can act. But first, I have to set the stage for everything… so I’d best get started…

* * *

Fox let out a sigh as he reached the nearest shuttle hub. The whole way, he’d had to put up with people staring at him, double takes, and the usual stuff he had to put up with whenever he went out in public.

“There goes Fox McCloud, hero of the Lylat system.” “Oh my gosh, did you see that, it’s Fox McCloud!” “Hey, look, isn’t that Fox McCloud? The guy who’s saved the Lylat System more times than we can count?” Baloney. All I did was what I had to do, I’m not some champion or anything like that. I was in the right places at the right time… Just once I’d like to go out in public and not have to put up with all of this…

Fat chance of that ever happening, though. He had the reputation, and he was stuck with it for now. Only way I ever will get rid of it is if I get shot down… and I’m sure not going to let that happen. Ever.

Thankfully, the shuttle hub wasn’t his destination – yet, anyways. It was the office right across the street from it he was interested in.

During the Aparoid invasion, the insectoids had proved themselves to be highly intelligent in their attacks. Besides utilizing jamming technology and highly advanced bio-tech, they’d also figured out what targets to hit first during their assault on Corneria. The first targets had been government and military centers, which had thrown everything into disarray. If we hadn’t shown up when we did, things would have been a lot worse… and they almost were anyways. If it weren’t for Wolf, we’d never have pulled those last few battles off… kind of ironic we owe our lives to someone who’s still at the top of Corneria’s “Most wanted” list. Even if it is out of date.

After the war had ended, however, reconstruction had begun at once. Setting up both district and “federal” governments on all allied worlds that had been decimated by the assault, the Interim Counsel had worked quickly to rebuild some sense of order. Important offices had been established all over the place, including records recovery and retention offices.

It was one of those offices Fox was heading to.

While it was unlikely that anyone would lay claim to something the Star Fox team did, the prospect of the teams dissolution was prompting Fox to ensure that they were well aware of what they really did own still before that happened. It hurt to even think about it, but if they went their separate ways, they’d have to divide everything up…

Well, my next stop after this is to ensure we don’t break up… if that’s possible still.

Stepping through the door, Fox had to stop for a moment to adjust to the bright lighting inside. While most buildings were using Glow-panels still, buildings like this one, which had been hastily converted for their new uses, were set up with just about whatever was available. In this case, a mix of Glow-panels and newer bright-strips. And with white walls and ceiling against a blue carpeted floor, one went blind for a moment after stepping inside. Especially if the weather outside was drab and grey as it was today.

“Fox! Great to see ya!,” A clerk called to him.

Fox smiled. “Nice to see you too, Trev. I see they found a job for ya.”

The canine, a labrador about two years older than Fox, shrugged. “Yeah… after that injury I suffered during the initial assault, I figured I wasn’t going to be doing much activity any more for a while. Those bugs were enough excitement to last me a lifetime anyways.”

“I heard… sorry to hear about the leg,” Fox offered.

Trev smiled. “It’s no big deal… while the prosthetic won’t let me work with the security forces any more, I can walk and run just as well as you can.”

“Even though you couldn’t before? Wow.”

“Hey, you know what I mean… Quin’s waiting for you down the hall buddy, he’s been working like crazy since you called him.”

“Thanks, Trev. Hey, do you still watch the prices on starships like you did at the academy by any chance?”

“Yeah… not much going on in the small one and two man ship department nowadays tho.. why?”

“Cause I just had CSI shoot down a generous offer for a Hyper class cargo carrier.”

A puzzled look crossed Trev’s face. “Huh? How generous are we talking here?”

“At least three times the going price.”

Trev’s eyes grew almost as large as Slippys… as if that was even possible for any mammal. “Three times? And they said no!?”

Fox shrugged. “Yeah. Any idea why they might do that?”

“Not a clue, buddy. But last I knew, CSI was clearing out those old Hyper class vessels for newer Lightspeed class ones.”

“Weird… Thanks, Trev I owe you one.”

Trev smiled. “You don’t owe me anything, Fox… after that one-man assault you launched to retake the capitol district, everyone on Corneria owes you more than they could imagine. Including me – you pulled a whole platoon of bugs off of this area that had us pinned down.”

Fox grinned. “Well, what can I say? I just did my job as usual.”

“I’m sure you did… hope Quin has some good news for you,” Trev replied. “Oh, and stay to the left of the hall till you get there, or we’ll be digging you out of those heaps of paper, the ones that go up to the ceiling, when they fall over.”

“Thanks for the warning,” Fox laughed, taking a step down the hall…

… and he yelped as a stack of paper fell on top of him, knocking him over. While not as bad as Trev had said, it still hurt!

Even as he sat back up and shook his head in disbelief, Fox could hear Trev laughing behind him. “I warned you…”

* * *

[Ranger One]

Oh man, way way WAY too long since the last update... been caught up in schoolwork and World of Warcraft (got drafted to lead groups recently, never liked the bloody job to begin with, but...), and then had to format my computer to install Adobe Illustrator CS3, and Corel Painter X - was worth it tho. I managed to save everything to another PC as well, but getting it back was a hassel. But for all that, here's (finnaly) the next section - more to come, will shoot for another update tommorow if I can. 

Chapter Two: Hidden Agenda (Section 3)

Nixo growled in annoyance as he stood by the corner to the shuttle port, waiting for McCloud to emerge from the Deeds and Records recovery center across the street. In truth, the building was little more than a converted office, but the employees had to go through years of records in an attempt to recover information that had been lost during the recent Aparoid assault.

A pitty the plan didn’t work quite as we had hoped… then again, the Aparoids were a bit too wild for anyone to control, so re-introducing them to the Lylat system with that data-plant was probably a mistake. But it did cripple it.

And there had been the unseen consequences of the Aparoid invasion as well. Those white-skinned drones now probing the edge of the system… supposedly attracted by the psychic death-scream of the Aparoid queen. Sooner or later, they could become a threat to their plans, but for now, they seemed content to stand back and watch, satisfied gathering scraps of what the Aparoids had left behind. Leaving Corneria alone, despite it’s weakened state.

Which had been their goal to begin with. Corneria and its allies were too weak now to stand on their own. But so far, pride had made them too stubborn to turn to outsiders for help.

And as long as they have their mighty “Star Fox Team” to protect them, they won’t think anything can hurt them again until it’s too late… and there's some minor truth to that, which is why they have to go. Both for our plans and, unfortunately, her’s as well… but it’s too late for her to change what’s begun…

And so Nixo continued to wait, unaware that he was not the only one…

* * *

“Well, Fox, here it is,” said Quin, an older, male tabby cat with over-large glasses and orange fur, dropping a huge binder on the desk.

If Fox had thought the hallway and Trev’s office were a mess, Quin’s office was a disaster zone. There were heaps of paper everyplace, and drawers and cabinets overflowing with hard and digital copies of records.

This place isn’t an office, it’s an unlit bonfire. Fox thought. No wonder they’ve got a no smoking sign on every door. “Thanks, Quin,” Fox said. “But… is it really that big!?”

The elder feline laughed. “Fox, half of these records are still under your father’s name, they haven’t been updated in years. In fact, I only found a few under the teams name itself, and that was the Arwings and ROB. Even the Great Fox was under his, and subsequently, your, name.

Solar! Not exactly what I was looking forward to hearing. “You’re sure about that?”

“Sure as I’m alive, Fox. In fact, there’s some stuff in here I don’t think you were even aware of…” Quin opened the binder and began to flip pages. “Let’s see… ah, here we go! About five acres of property located directly south of the spaceport district… hmm, looks like it’s been unused in some time… the last two important events were it’s transfer to your name and… eh?”

Oh no… “Uh, Quin, that’s alright, I think I know what…”

“… one report from police records attached to it… ah…” Quin grinned. “That incident… I suppose you do know about the place then.”

“Yes, I do! Can we drop that subject, please?” Fox asked, his voice rising in pitch.

“Don’t fret, Fox, I’m willing to let bygones be bygones… heck, I’m almost a bygone myself” he replied, smiling.. Opening a drawer on his desk – what looked like the only one that was not filled with papers – the feline pulled out a data card and handed it to Fox. “All the records in this binder are also copied digitally onto that disk… not an easy feat.”

“No kidding… must have taken you forever, that thing looks like it even includes the power cells to the Arwings in it.”

“It does.”

Fox rolled his eyes. “Shesh… I’m guessing those are under my name too?”

“Read the disk yourself, Fox. If I go scrolling through that binder again, I’ll fall asleep.”

“Okay, okay, I get the message,” Fox replied, laughing. “Thanks Quin, this will be a huge help.”

“You’re welcome, Fox. Good luck.”

“Thanks!” Fox replied as he stood up, grabbing the data disk off the desk before heading out the door.

Quin suddenly looked up. “Oh, McCloud, watch out for…!”

A loud yelp from the hallway answered him, followed by the sound of stacks of paper falling over.

“…that third stack from the door… it’s been leaning pretty badly recently…”

* * *

Finally, Nixo thought as Fox walked out the door, calling something back to an employee before it closed behind him. It certainly took him long enough… but this won’t be easy to pull off, as I need to make it look casual…

Watching as McCloud ran across the street, trying to avoid getting more soaked than he already was, Nixo slowly started to walk towards the shuttle terminal as well…

No doubt he’ll take a shuttle back to the far side of the mountain district, as it’s too late to hail a cab… and hardly anyone will be willing to sit next to Fox McCloud... so this shouldn’t be too difficult to set up… pulling it off will be the hard part.

* * *

Fox let out a sigh of relief as he boarded the shuttle, resisting the urge to shake himself off. Taking a quick glance around the shuttle, he choose a seat near the far back that was empty, then hurried as fast as he could and sat down. The whole way, other Cornerians glanced at him, with more than a fair number of them performing double takes to see if it really was him. Never fails… too bad the cabs have to shut down during the evening now, I’d rather have just one person do a double take than a whole shuttle full…

Bah… I’ve got bigger things to worry about than that… how is the team going to take this? I mean, just about everything is supposedly titled under my name, not the Team’s… aw, forget it, maybe I should…

“Mind if I sit here?”

Huh!? Fox looked up to see a black furred lupine looking down at him curiously. “Uh, no, not at all!” he stammered, to shocked to say anything else. Most of the time he ever took the shuttle to head anyplace on Corneria, he was stuck with a seat to himself, even on a crowded one!

The lupine sat down on the edge of the seat, giving Fox plenty of room to himself. “Thanks… can’t believe how fast these things fill up, you know?”

“Uh… yeah.”

“Sometimes makes you wish you could have a seat to yourself, huh?”

“Uh…”

The lupine suddenly glanced over at him again. “Wait a second… you look familiar…”

I should… the news vids have only been showing my face once a day ever since the war ended, half the system probably recognizes me by now at just a glance…

Sure enough, the lupine figured it out too. “I don’t believe this, you, you’re…”

”Shh!” Fox interrupted. “Please! The last thing I need is someone shouting it out here, I get too much attention as it is!”

The lupine grinned. “Too much? Seriously, most folks would give anything to be even half like you…”

“Don’t believe everything you hear,” Fox replied. “Half of that stuff’s exaggerated, most of what else is reported is lies – there’s only a little truth to the stuff after the media gets a hold of it.”

“I can believe it.”

Fox let out a sigh, leaned back, and closed his eyes. So much for planning how to deal with this mess… he’s probably going to ask me over a million questions before we get even halfway…

Surprisingly, though, the lupine didn’t, but leaned back and relaxed instead. What the hey… well, this is a nice surprise… still, doesn’t do anything about the problem I’ve got to sort out before the team falls apart… and this data disk isn’t going to help any…

“Something wrong?”

Fox opened an eye and glanced at the lupine. “Huh? Oh… no, nothing.”

The wolf stared Fox right in the eye. Dang… this is new, Fox thought.

“It sure doesn’t sound like it,” the wolf said.

Fox sat back up with a sigh. “Okay, okay… I guess it’s not much of a secret anyways, is it?

“Let me guess… just about everything is a problem?”

“Score one for you… but it’s a bit more specific than that…”

“Trying to hold the team together?”

Fox shot the lupine a glare. “Whoa, hold it. This is way to convenient, how do I know you’re not some reporter or something?”

“How many of them try to hit you up for stories?”

Fox relaxed a bit. “Okay, so most of them are too scared to try. Still…”

“Hey, you don’t have to answer anything… I’m just trying to help.”

That caused Fox to break out in a grin. “You know, you must be the first person I’ve ever met on the street who’s said that.”

The wolf shrugged. “There’s a first time for everything.”

“I guess so… fine. If any of this appears in a news feed tho…”

“It won’t.” The wolf broke out in a grin. “Lupines tend to make poor reporters as far as the media cares.”

“Heh… I guess so. Yeah, you’re right, about trying to hold the team together I mean. It’s just… well, we’re all needed in so many locations at once, that having us all deal with only one problem at a time seems nearly criminal – it’s just slowing things down. Besides that… ah… oh, what the heck. Truth is, the whole thing’s getting a bit old.”

“Old?” the wolf asked, a bit incredulously.

Fox nodded. “Yeah… I bet you never expected to hear that, but put yourself in my shoes… can anyone accurately track how many times I’ve ‘Saved the Lylat system’ as everyone says?”

The wolf frowned. “I guess not.”

“Right… well, it just gets tiring after a while… I mean, I get the feeling the whole system keeps expecting the Star Fox team to just swoop in and save the day when something goes wrong every time… but we can’t be everyplace at once. It’s… it’s a lot of pressure for anyone, and even more since I have to worry about the rest of my team as well as myself.”

“Have you considered taking a vacation?”

Fox grinned. “Trust me, I deserve one, but I can’t do that without feeling guilty till after things calm down a bit. Oh… dang it, I guess I’m blowing some frustration here telling you all this when I shouldn’t have…”

The wolf shook his head. “It’s alright. I’m used to it. The less you talk, the more people tell you… you kinda end up being a sounding board for them.”

“I see…” Fox replied. Would I have said half that stuff to the team? Just what the heck am I doing?

“Have you thought of anything else?”

Fox shrugged. “Only the obvious… letting the team go, but I’m not sure if that’s a good idea yet either.”

“Maybe you should ask them.”

“Huh?”

The wolf nodded. “Ask your teammates, you know. Let them decide. If anyone deserves the right to choose, it’s them. At least, that’s how I see it.”

“Hmm…” Makes sense… heck, this guy’s right in a way, I shouldn’t be taking this all upon myself. We’re a team; my friends deserve to have some say in this too…

Fox looked back at the wolf questioningly. “Do you do this for a living or something?”

The lupine laughed. “Nah… just one of those things that happens. I just try to put it to good use.”

“I see…” On impulse, Fox glanced out the window, and realized the shuttle was setting down. “Guess this is my stop… I… Thanks, really. I needed that.”

The wolf smiled. “Not a problem… even the best of us need help sometimes.”

That went over better than I expected. Nixo thought, watching Fox step off the shuttle. Not only did McCloud accept what I said, I do believe I took a load of his shoulders… and placed the fate of the Star Fox team is his companions hands rather than his. In a few days, the Star Fox team should dissolve without much fuss at all now, once I play my next card… And the irony is a good deed will set our plans in motion…

and no one involved will ever see what’s coming…

[Ranger One]

O.O .....

okay, i've been gone from SF-O for a while i guess, lol... college classes took all my freetime for a while. Finnaly have the time to start uploading more segments to this story now, so hopefully i'll get things rolling again...

here's the first portion of the next chapter for now... more to come soon.

Chapter 2:

Battleplans

In an update on one of our earlier stories, police forces are continuing their investigation of the vandalism of the Corellian Sanctuary here on Coruscant. The domed building, a resting place for Corellian dead, was daubed with paint two nights ago, and marble plagues were smashed. Inside the building, numerous diamonds – formed from the compressed carbon of cremated Corellians – were hacked out of the ceiling. The act is believed to have been retaliation for the bombing of the Elite Hotel, located on skyline four-four-six-seven, which left six hundred and thirty-four dead, and approximately seven hundred injured according to the latest reports. No one has as yet come forward and claimed credit for either the bombing or for the vandalism, but investigators have confirmed that the explosion was caused by commercial grade detonate, apparently via remote detonation.

Exscript from an HNE news broadcast.

* * *

“Does anyone else have a problem with how convenient this is? Because it stinks to me.”

“With a nose like yours, Nar’itus, you could just be smelling that stink-bomb the Azhi brothers are going to plant later today.”

Two Bothans stood up in mock-indignation. “Hey! We’re not planting any stink bombs!”

“Yeah! The very idea of even suggesting we’d do such a thing!”

“Alright everyone, that’s enough.” At once, everyone settled down. Captain Whiteman, a short human with white hair that was slowly beginning to bald, glanced around the room one last time before continuing. “Thank you. Nar’itus, could you tell us what you dislike about the mission we’ve been given?”

“Yes, sir. It’s just too convenient – here we are, looking for a military convoy belonging to Zrajes to disrupt, possibly even capture if we can, and we just now have one drop in on our lap with minimal escort? This close to the front lines? And someone just happens to leak that information to us? It smells like a trap to me.”

“I agree with Jod… this is way to convenient. We’d be better off hitting another convoy that had a bit more guard than this… really, who sends a Carrack class cruiser as the only escort to a convoy out here!?” Ace said.

Red squadron and the other squadrons on board the Naritus had been in planning sessions for the past two hours. After receiving a sudden, anonymous and untraceable transmission, the whole crew had been on yellow alert. The fact that the message had come on an old Rebel frequency, one they hadn’t used in years now, and had detailed the flight paths of several convoys, had only been more disturbing. The whole thing had the scent of a trap to it to just about everyone.

But a chance to hit as many as five military convoys at once was too good a chance to pass up, especially at the rate this war was going.

During the first few years after the Yuuzhan Vong were finally defeated at Coruscant, the Galactic Alliance had begun to show the first signs of stress without a common enemy to unite it. Renegade warlords seizing systems to set up their own kingdoms. Pirates overrunning whole sectors and bringing trade to a low not seen since the height of the invasion, if not a complete halt. And worse, rumors of new threats spawning in the Unknown regions only added to the situation. The war between the Chiss and the Kiliks, a race of insectoids, had only fanned the flames, and the star's alone knew what chaos was brewing back home now.

Be it charisma, sheer force, cunning, or just plain dumb luck, Zrajes had unified a rather good sized area of the galaxy under his banner – spanning from a small corner in the Inner Rim to a large wedge of the Outer Rim territories, the territory Zrajes’s controlled was probably the third largest power in the known galaxy today, topped only by the Alliance and Chiss governments. And Zrajes’s was well aware of this.

But despite his control over a large variety of resources, Zrajes’s had resorted to piracy and hijacking of Alliance shipments of resources meant for other worlds recovery efforts for some unknown reason. While there wasn’t really an exact list of what type’s of cargo his raids had preferred, the general buzz in the fleet was that his preferred targets had been shipments that could be used for the construction of orbital facilities, factories, and starships, as well as the shipyards to produce them.

Stranger yet, the raids had all been bloodless – Zrajes and his forces preferred to use surgical strikes to disable their targets, or, when available, craft equipped with ion cannons to simply overload their quarry’s electrical systems and disable them. Stun weapons and knockout gasses were also common tactics – and even more bizzar, after raiding a convoy, the attackers would drop a distress beacon transmitting on open frequencies to summon help for the convoy as they left, ensuring that the crew’s from the various freighters would survive.

Despite this, the Alliance was not a power to accept such behavior. Even with larger threats such as the Chiss/Kilik war, and the double/sided stance that had been adopted by the Corellian system, a small task force had been allocated to put an end to Zrajes’s piracy once and for all.

Unfortunately, it turned out Zrajes had a much larger fleet than anticipated – the first true combat engagement had been a disaster, as Zrajes showed a strategic talent not seen since Grand Admiral Thrawn’s bid for domination decades ago. And proved he had the firepower to fight as well. Fielding large, black-hulled ships reminiscent of Imperial class Star Destroyers, albeit smaller, Zrajes’s forces had repelled an Alliance strike force that had them both out-numbered and out-gunned – and Zrajes had only deployed a fraction of his fleet!

Since then, the whole thing had become a stalemate, with the Naritus being the fleet’s one ship capable of striking real blows to Zrajes while the others were deployed in distracting tactics along the front lines. In short, the whole war was now one big game of cat and mouse, being played by a handful of ships.

The only question was how long the game would last.

So far, the Nairtus had been a pretty vicious mouse, and done plenty of damage. But not enough, and there had been plenty of close calls. But this recent development gave them a golden opportunity to inflict a debilitating wound to Zrajes’s forces, one they might not recover from.

And if this does prove to be genuine, we’ll stand a very good chance… but it’s still risky. We could loose the only ships we have capable of slipping behind Zrajes’s lines right now, and if we loose the Naritus and her prototype EMC systems, we’ve lost the only edge we’ve still got.

“I understand your concerns, but we also have to see this from Command’s viewpoint,” Whiteman replied. “We’ve been loosing this war until a few months ago, and now, for the first time in almost a full year of combat, we have a chance to take the fight to them. Without those supplies, Zrajes will have to make do with what he has on the front lines until he can replace it. And if we capture any of those vessels, we can slip back to our side, and use those same munitions against him. Both sides are in the position where neither can commit to a heavy push - the Alliance doesn't have the firepower to spare, and Zrajes's fleet is too depleted right now to make any sudden moves. If Zrajes can build up, he’ll resume his advance, and we’ll start retreating again.”

“And we sure can’t allow that.” Someone chimed in.

“Exactly. If we loose any more ground, we’re finished, and Zrajes can snap up the entire Outer Rim at his leisure.”

“I can understand that, sir… but hitting these convoys with a Republic strategy is too risky in my opinion,” Jod replied. “We’d probably be better off with a hit-and-fade.”

“Except that wouldn’t let us capture any enemy vessels.” A canine said.

Dang it, Gauge… Jod thought. He’s right, though… we can’t pull this one off without a huge gamble and praying we don’t pay for it…

Gauge, a golden retriever, was a Canarusian – a canine species that lived on one of the neighboring worlds to Cerina – the home world of Jod’s and Ace’s race. Well, Ace’s home world literally – to Jod, Cerina was just another planet. Having been raised on Naboo by his human foster parents, he didn’t really consider anyplace else home. Yet the Vularis system did prove to be a curiosity to him – having always had an interest in biology, Jod was always trying to puzzle out how one system had given rise to over ten sentient species that were so similar on three different planets (or moons, if one wanted to get specific), considering how hostile some of those same worlds were.

Gauge was also Red Six – the other member of Jod’s shield trio, and a senior pilot on the Naritus, second only to Whiteman in terms of experience. “And we desperately need those supplies… how long have the humidity regulator that ties into your quarters been on the fritz? We’re low on supplies for even star fighter repairs, never mind basic maintenance.”

“I’d be the last one to deny that, believe me. But it just seems a bit risky… if we’d found out about one of these on our own, I don’t think we’d have much trouble, but five convoys who’s flight paths are leaked to us anonymously from inside? A bit too convenient.”

“I fought back during the Galactic Civil War, Nar’itus,” Whiteman said. “And for a while, I severed on the Liberty up until a few years before Endor. We had something similar to this pay off immensely.”

“Sir, with all due respect, that was then,” Jod replied. “And I wouldn’t be surprised if Zrajes was aware of that too, and is hoping we’ll fall for it when it really is a trap.”

“Been pitting yourself against the Thrawn simulator again, Jod?”

Jod grimaced. “Very fun, Conner, at least the one time I did it, I managed to save the fleet at Bilbringi.”

“At the cost of your mission, though. Heard there’s some new Bothan admiral in the fleet that’s beat it with perfect scores every time so far.”

“Well, the sooner they send him out here, the better. I still say this stinks.”

“Noted,” Whiteman said, his tone implying that this session was over. “But despite the risks, Command will probably give us the green light on this mission, so expect to be recalled later for a briefing session… I’ll make sure to give them all of your input; we don’t want to take a chance like this on a whim. As soon as we recieve our next coded transmission - and the results - you'll be informed. Untill then, dismissed…”

* * *