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Chapter 4: Small Progress

"Tenderheart, please report to the docking bay. Tenderheart, please report to the docking bay."

Tenderheart stirred in bed and grumbled, "Do I have to go?"

"You are in charge," Cheer reached around Tenderheart.

Tenderheart turned around to face Cheers's smiling face. He rested his hand under her head, "It's cold out there, I wanna stay warm in here with you."

Cheer gave him a kiss, "Just get the day over with and we'll be back here before you know it."

Tenderheart chuckled and kissed her back, "OK." He stood up and trudged to the sonic shower, a cleaning stall that used sonic pulses to remove dirt and grime from the occupant's body without using water. There was a traditional water shower for when they had the time or didn't feel that the sonic shower was appropriate. Tenderheart's mind wandered as the sonic pulses cleansed his body, he dressed in his blue flight suit and headed for the docking bay.

Five years.

_ _

And we've been fighting this war for five years.

_ _

The escape from Space Dynamics was just the start. With Quenos' nano-manufacturing technology, Andross' experience in space combat and No-Heart's power they overran Corneria in under a week. Barely any of the fleet escaped as they set up and enslaved the whole world. Now they call themselves the "Trinity Empire".

_ _

With Quenos working on new technology and No-Heart running everything it fell to Andross to do the job of hunting us down, but we fought back. Under Peppy's command the resistant fleet has done their best to keep the pressure on the Empire, but they are essentially in a fighting retreat unless we call them in. I have to thank Soulful Heart and Bright Heart for that, if it weren't for their skills we'd never be able to communicate without being tracked down.

_ _

As for the Star Fox Team, we are technically still part of the resistance fleet, but we operate on our own, running around and disrupting or destroying Andross' forces, liberating enslaved people, stealing supplies. We keep the pressure on them so they can't focus on tracking down the resistance bases. They can never catch us for long and when they do we beat them back and continue onwards.

_ _

Amidst all the pain and horror of war, there has been some joy. About a year after we ran from Space Dynamics, Hugs and Pace were married. It was an awkward ceremony but nothing we couldn't handle, and in it's own way it was beautiful. They can't have kids, Pace can't, but they aren't bothered by that. I think we all agree we shouldn't bring children into this war if we can avoid it. Same with me and Cheer.

_ _

She was always there, keeping me going, reassuring me that I was doing the right thing no matter how hard it was. Both of us felt guilty when we kissed for real the first time, until Fara said that Champ and Love-a-Lot would want us to be happy. It's unavoidable but Cheer, she helps me through the rough days and the cold nights. It's easy to forget that two of her limbs aren't real, but they feel real to both of us, during the day when we sit together for meals, and a night when we snuggle up together in bed. She helps me to keep going.

Tenderheart stood in Bright Heart and Slippy's workshop and lab in the docking bay. "What did you drag me out of bed for? I thought we were done testing the Mk V."

"This." Bright Heart gestured to a pair of two-meter long pods that sat on their large work table, "A new weapon system we've created, psi-pods. Small remote weapons controlled by a psionic pilot that will let you attack targets remotely."

"Here," Slippy stuck a communicator headset on Tenderheart's head, "This is the interface for our Psi-link system. We need your help to calibrate it."

"You should have asked first, Slippy," Tenderheart glared at the frog, then rolled his eyes. "So what do I do and how does this work?"

"Just think and try to project your psionics into the interface while we take readings," Slippy walked over to the console next to the work table.

Bright Heart gave a thumbs up and Tenderheart took a deep breath then focused his energy into the helmet. For five minutes it felt like nothing was happening as her tried his best to get some response out of the system, but nothing happened.

Tenderheart sighed, "I don't see or feel anything happening. Is something wrong?"

"No, not with you or the pods, the interface isn't quite right." Slippy said. "But the psionic readings I'm getting are going to be a huge help."

"We'll need Amanda's help with the neural interface." Bright Heart walked over to Tenderheart, "OK, that's all we need for now."

"Good," Tenderheart removed the headset and handed it to Bright Heart.

"Tenderheart, please report to Sick Bay. Tenderheart, please report to Sick Bay." Take Care's voice sounded over the speakers.

"I'm needed elsewhere then. Good luck," Tenderheart nodded to the two engineers as he left the docking bay.

OoOoO

No matter how many times she saw it, Get Well Bear would never find the sight of Cassandra's face when she removed her mask. Get Well wasted no time in disposing of the gore-stained mask in the recycler and pulling out a mask filled with the hydrator and sterilizer needed to keep her face safe. Cassandra held still as the mask was set on her face and the straps were pulled behind and locked behind her head, holding the mask securely on her face.

Cassandra shook his head to make sure it was secure then stood up from the exam table answering in the same flat tone she used for almost everything these days, "Thank you. I need to go." She turned to leave, her two tails swishing behind her.

Cassandra passed right by Tenderheart as he entered the sick bay and he made a beeline for Take Care, who had sat aside while Get Well attended to Cassandra. "Is there something urgent or is this same conversation we've had two-hundred and sixty times already."

Take Care answered the sharp tone in Tenderheart's voice with one of her own. "Yes, Tenderheart. Confidence Heart needs therapy, you need to order her off the flight roster and put her in my care until we can get her back in her right mind before she gets herself killed!"

Tenderheart pressed his right index and middle fingers to his forehead and closed his eyes. He lowered his arm and gave Take Care a serious glare, "This is the last time I'm going to have this conversation with you, Take Care. I can't take Cassandra off the flight roster. I agree that, yes, she needs help. But right now we're fighting a war where we can't afford to lose anyone on the front lines. Cassandra is constantly vying for the top spot on the kill board with Falco and if I pull her out that's a huge loss in our combat strength and it could get us all killed."

"But-!"

"But nothing!" Tenderheart's shout caused Take Care to jump slightly. "This isn't like back home, Take Care. I'm sorry but I can't defer to you in this, I'm the leader of Star Fox. We need Cassandra out there, end of discussion!" Tenderheart turned and walked away, the long braid he now wore swinging slightly near the middle of his back.

"Tenderheart!" Take Care's shout went unheeded as Tenderheart exited the sick bay. She sighed and walked over to slump down in a chair.

"Want to talk about it, mom?" Get Well sat down next to her.

"Not right now. But thanks," Take Care tried to smile, but couldn't and sighed.

Get Well gave her mom a hug, "It's alright. I'm going to read OK?"

"OK." Take Care hugged back until Get Well stood up and left.

OoOoO

Tenderheart leaned up against the bulkhead next to the sick bay entrance. Even after five years it wasn't easy talking back to Take Care like that. Even if she had lived with the cousins during their formative years she was still the older sister they all looked up to and respected, even when she was stern and strict with them; technically her authority had been higher than his and Brave Heart's even though she rarely exercised it, and they always listened. But now? Now Tenderheart was in command over her and even if he should have deferred to his chief medical officer about Confidence... Cassandra's mental state he was right, he needed her to get them through the fights they were having every other day.

"Tenderheart to the training room. Tenderheart to the training room." Defender's voice rang out over the speakers

"I'm a popular guy today," Tenderheart sighed and headed for the training room.

OoOoO

"Alright, what are we working on today?" Tenderheart asked as he entered the training room.

"Just getting in some exercise," Defender whirled a training sword in his hands, "We haven't had ground combat in weeks and we need to get sure we're not rusty."

Tenderheart chuckled as he picked up another training sword from the rack on the wall. "Alright, let's get going!" He charged at Defender and struck down, only blocked a moment before impact by the white bear's sword. Defender dodged back and shot a bolt of fire at Tenderheart. A disc-shaped transparent purple barrier flashed up in front of Tenderheart and dissipated the fireball before Tenderheart charged in again and struck down at Defender's word, only for a shockwave generated from the impact to knock Tenderheart flying onto his back.

"Getting better," Tenderheart picked himself up and resumed their sparring.

OoOoO

Thankfully the day was otherwise uneventful. A rare moment of tranquility in the lives of the Star Fox team. Tenderheart returned to his shared quarters exhausted and sweaty from running around the ship all day. He heard sound from the bathroom, smiled then knocked on the door.

"Are you in there, Cheer?"

"I am. Just getting out the shower." The door slid open to reveal Cheer wearing nothing but her still damp fur.

"Aww," Tenderheart chuckled and they kissed briefly, "I'll clean up and see you soon." He hung up his flight jacket before stepping into the bathroom.

"Please use the water shower, Tenderheart. Your hair needs to be redone," Cheer sat down to do her hair up in a ponytail. Like Tenderheart her hair had been growing out over the last five years though she kept it shorter than Tenderheart had been.

She smirked when Tenderheart emerged, having left his towel in the bathroom, and with his now very long hair hanging down almost to his waist. "Need my help again?"

"Yes, please." Tenderheart sat down on the bed and Cheer set to work on his hair. Brushing, combing and finally tying it back into the long braid he wore constantly.

Tenderheart chuckled, "What would I do without you, Cheer?"

"Probably just keep hacking it off." Cheer kissed him, "But enough of that. Let's just get some sleep while Soulful handles the night shift, OK?"

"OK." They kissed again then lay down to sleep.

OoOoO

"Could you repeat that: you want us to go into Corneria's asteroid field?" Fara stared at Slippy and Bright Heart on the view screen, which showed them in the docking bay.

Bright Heart nodded, "We need more raw materials to build a test model for our psi-link system, and the asteroid field is the closest place to get the resources we need."

Fara sat back and folded her arms, "Yesterday, Tenderheart said the interface didn't work and I know he's no amateur psion."

"Well-" Slippy was cut off when Amanda pushed her pink face into the picture.

"I helped them update the neutral interface. If you come down now we can show you the updated tests."

"She's right," Slippy chuckled and leaned his head up against his wife's, "But we still need materials for a test model and the asteroid field is the best source. With the radar dampening effects of Durabillum and Laminate Titanium we'll be invisible once Soulful finds a good spot to harvest."

"I'll start searching, just in case Tenderheart approves this crazy idea," Soulful snarked from where he sat at the intelligence station.

Five minutes later, Tenderheart was in the command bridge and reviewing Soulful Heart's choices. "Alright so those are the five best spots?"

"The five with the highest concentration of good resource deposits that will also shield us from any sensors," Soulful said.

Tenderheart looked at the data, "They all look the same, so where do we go?"

"This one." Soulful Heart pointed to the second location from the left on the screen.

Tenderheart gave Soulful an inquisitive look, then turned back to the location, "Alright. I trust your judgement., Soulful. ROB." Tenderheart turned to face the view screen, "Head to the coordinates that Soulful Heart sends you and avoid any scans in the area."

"AFFIRMATIVE. CHANGING COURSE."

Tenderheart turned to Cheer, "Cheer, call Cassandra, Falco, Defender, Perfect and Slippy to the docking bay."

"Right away," Cheer flipped on the speakers, "Cassandra, Falco, Defender, Perfect and Slippy, please report to the docking bay. Cassandra, Falco, Defender, Perfect and Slippy, please report to the docking bay."

It was a little over an hour later that the Fox McCloud was navigating the asteroid field. From this location one could see Corneria about the size of quarter, too far to see the empire's ships that constantly orbited the planet but close enough to distinguish it against the background of blackness and stars.

Falco grumbled as he and Defender were forced to pull on mining space suits. "Why am I on mining duty for this mission?"

"Because Tenderheart ordered us, that's why." Defender finished securing the suit's gloves and grabbed his helmet.

"Alright," Falco grumbled as he finished securing his own space suit.

Tenderheart stood with Cassandra, Perfect Panda and Slippy all in flight suits with communications headsets and eyepieces strapped to their heads, save for Cassandra who had her headset integrated into her mask. "Alright. This is a simple resource retrieval mission; we're only going to launch if fighters or capital ships are spotted." Tenderheart turned to Falco and Defender, "Listen to Bright Heart as he guides you to each asteroid and tether it for retrieval but don't get careless."

"Yes, Tenderheart," Defender said. Falco just nodded.

Tenderheart nodded then turned to face his fighter, "Good. Now let's just hope things go as planned."

Falco grumbled as he dragged a collection of wire tether on his suit's jets as Bright Heart guided him and Defender around the asteroid field. "Falco, that one right ahead of you is rich in titanium, just stick the anchor in and get out of the way."

"Alright," Falco stuck the tether's anchor spike into the surface of the rock and pushed off it to get out of the way. "One down."

"OK, not on to the next one, up and to your right," Bright Heart said as the first asteroid reeled in.

Tenderheart sat in the cockpit of his Arwing, powered up and ready to launch at a moment's notice. He watched the small asteroids get pulled into the docking bay and Bright Heart used the cranes to lift them over to where the foundry and manufacturing station for parts were. Despite the current calm Tenderheart was tense as he waited for something to happen, or for the mining operation to finish so they could get farther away from Corneria.

Then an alarm bell went off in the back of his head.

Tenderheart sat forwards right as Fara's face appeared on the fighter's comm, "Tenderheart! We're about to have company!"

"I'm on it," Soulful's voice joined Fara's, "One large ship with about a hundred fighters approaching bearing 240 and 50."

"Damn, alright team let's launch," Tenderheart gripped the accelerator as Bright Heart cleared the flight deck and the alarms went off, "Bright Heart, get Defender and Falco inside and be ready to receive us at a moment's notice."

"Got it! You heard him, Falco, Defender get back inside!" Bright Heart's shout was heard through the still open comm on his control panel.

The four arwings took off as the bay was cleared for them and Tenderheart spoke to his team, "Alright, our objective is to destroy every ship in this fleet. Don't let anyone know we were here."

"Confirmed," Cassandra said.

"Alright," Slippy said.

"Let's go!" Perfect grinned.

"Keep your eyes open," Tenderheart came within meters of striking a small metal asteroid. "They should be nearby."

They flew between the asteroids without contact for a full minute.

"It's too quiet out here," Perfect said.

"Behind the asteroids!" Slippy's warning came almost too late as several moth-shaped combat drones popped up from behind the floating rocks. Cassandra was the first to open fired, blasting two of them away but Tenderheart was quick on the draw and dispatched four more as Slippy and Perfect dodged their energy bolts.

"More incoming watch out!" Perfect shouted, taking a nose dive to avoid a hail of fire from numerous v-wing ships. A well placed nova bomb from Slippy shattered the ships as Cassandra rocketed ahead to destroy six ships that were retreating.

"How many is that?" Tenderheart spun into a shield roll and fired off his beam gun at a long snake-like space dragon attack ship, shattering all of it's segments with the shot.

"Twenty or more, lost track," Perfect's next laser barrage destroyed another space dragon. "Where's the big ship."

"It should be on the sensors, where is it?" Slippy was momentarily distracted and took a direct hit, thankfully absorbed by his shields. He retaliated and destroyed the orange v-ship that had shot him.

"Watch out, big rocks ahead!" Perfect shouted as several massive asteroids loomed into view.

"Don't leave the field or the scanners from Corneria will detect you," Tenderheart said as he dove down under a large rock. "Why are they moving so much."

"Gravity disruption from the larger ship's engines. Normally they're not so agitated," Slippy answered as he dove under one that hurtled towards him.

"Look out, enemies from behind!" Soulful's voice came over the radio just in time as seven fighters opened fire on them from behind. Each of them were struck by the lasers, nearly depleting Tenderheart's shields.

"They're mine!" Cassandra pulled into a summersault and sprayed the fighters with bright blue twin lasers, vaporising them.

"More incoming!" Perfect shouted as several ships spiraled towards them leaving trails of energy in their wake.

"Shoot them time before we're penned in!" Tenderheart shouted the order as he fired his lasers to destroy two of the ships.

"I got them!" Slippy shouted as he destroyed the last two of the ships.

"What's that up ahead?" Perfect asked as several blue rings composed of triangles came into view.

"Warp gates. Leftovers from Andross' experiments," Slippy said. "Don't hit too many of them or you'll be hurled away from the Fox."

"Looks like they set up here already," Perfect saw a cluster of moth-shaped ships and fired off a nova bomb, obliterating them.

"More of them." Cassandra locked on, "I'll take them down in one shot." Another nova bomb shot from Cassandra's Arwing and vaporized the cluster.

"Don't waste nova bombs," Soulful's voice came over the comm.

"I don't waste shots." Cassandra shot another bomb at a cluster of moth-drones and destroyed them.

"That's one's fast, careful!" Slippy's warning came almost too late as a single moth-drone appeared and fired off a salvo of flashing energy rings that spiraled towards them, striking Tenderheart's wing.

"It's mine!" Perfect barraged the moth-drone with his lasers, striking it over a dozen times before it was destroyed.

"I think that's the last of them." Perfect looked around as the asteroids seemed to calm down.

"I cannot allow you to go any further," a new cocky voice chimed in, accompanied by the image of a monkey in a tall hat with a large red A on the front on the comm screen.

The large ship seemed to materialize out of the asteroids and overtook the four Arwings. It had four fins in an X shape with an engine to the top and bottom of the ship and a three quarter circle plate rotating in the middle.

"Meteo Crusher shield analyzed." Slippy's voice was followed by a meter appearing on all of they eye-pieces, which showed the ship's rough durability.

"Let's see what you've got!" the crusher's captain boasted as a salvo of missiles shot from the front of the ship then turned around to strike at the fighters.

"Aim for the exhaust ports behind that rotating laser absorbing shield." Souful's voice chimed in.

Perfect was the first to fire as the three quarter-circle barrier revealed the target, illuminated yellow in their HUD. "Why is that exposed?" Perfect dodged aside but gave a satisfied look as his lasers collapsed the exhaust port.

Soulful glared as he appeared on the comm screen. "You can't completely cover exhaust ports, if you did then the exhaust would build up inside the ship and either suffocate the occupants or explode. It'll have to rotate to compensate for each one you destroy."

"Just shoot!" Tenderheart shouted, striking the second port down as it was exposed by the rotating shield.

Slippy tried to shoot the third but missed as he was forced to dodge a missile attack and accidentally hit the shield which fired off three diamonds of green energy at them. "Missed!"

"I got it." Cassandra destroyed the port and held her position as the last port was exposed. Her laser fired destroyed the last port, only to take a direct missile hit which dropped her shields to critical levels.

"You're more cunning than I thought." The monkey chuckled as the shield was ejected, which forced the four Arwings to dodge out of its way. "How about this!" Energy gathered at the tips of the fins then streamed together into a ball of energy.

"Look out!" Tenderheart's warning came just as several bolts of energy lanced out from the energy ball, missing all of the fighters but striking a huge asteroid behind them and fracturing it into a dozen pieces.

"Why does a mining ship have that much firepower?" Perfect was forced to pull a summersault to dodge a chunk of the rock.

"For just the reason you saw, break up huge asteroids to harvest the smaller chunks," Slippy answered, "And Andross wants all his ships to be battle ready for just this situation."

"Take out the main exhaust in the middle," Soulful said through the comm, "Once that's down he should be dead in the water."

"Got it." Tenderheart shot several blasts into the target but was forced to dodge away as another salvo of energy lanced out, barely missing him.

"It's mine." Perfect pulled a shield roll and fired off the last shots needed to destroy the ship's exhaust port. The four Arwings dove around the ship as it came to a halt.

The monkey captain's voice spoke up again. "I'm no match for you. I admit defeat."

"I don't believe you." Cassandra said as they all slowed to a stop and turned around. They could all see that the ship had a wing to either side with a drill-shaped mount facing forwards.

The monkey chuckled as the drills lit up with purple energy, "You're not as stupid as you look!" rings of purple energy shot forwards, each seeking to strike one of the Arwings, barely giving them time to dodge as the ship's engines on the front lit up and it started shooting missiles again.

"I thought you said he'd be dead in the water, Soulful!" Perfect shouted.

"Hold on...I got it. He's added exhaust vents to the missile launchers for this kind of emergency. You have to take them out when he's not launching missiles," Soulful replied.

"Watch out! Those guns strip rocks away from metal asteroids," Slippy said as he took a dive to avoid another stream.

"I got this." Cassandra boosted in as the ship flew backwards away from them and unleashed a barrage of lasers at the lower turrets, spinning away as the turret collapsed.

"Too many shots," Tenderheart had to fly in a corkscrew to avoid the last salvo of energy rings. "Just need one target."

"AHH!" Perfect shouted as he was struck by a missile, "I can't take another hit!"

Tenderheart focused as he aimed the beam gun, "There!" he fired off the single shot that lanced down the port right as the exhaust opened, shattering the entire port. The ship started to go critical from the hit as the monkey captain's voice was heard one last time.

"I can't believe I lost to this scum!!"

"You lost, sounds like you're the scum," Perfect quipped as they turned to fly back towards the Great Fox. The lights from the explosion of the ship illuminating the field behind them.

"All wings report." Tenderheart ordered.

"I need some serious repairs," Perfect said.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Slippy said.

"I think I might take the top kill spot," Cassandra said.

Falco and Defender were still in their space suits when the Arwings landed. Cassandra was the first out and to the kill board in the hangar wall that updated as the flight recorders connected to the systems. She started with the same grimness she did everything as her kill count increased to 5372, just below Falco's score of 5375.

"Close, but you still can't beat me." Falco clapped her on the shoulder.

Cassandra removed his hand and turned to face him, her mask still betraying no emotion. "If I had a Mk V I'd keep the top spot with no issues."

Falco chuckled, "just keep telling yourself that. Now can you please help me out of this giant oven mitt."

"Hold on!" Bright Heart came jogging over, "Part of the Meteo Crusher survived. I need you and Defender to go out and tether it in."

"What!? I just spent an hour dragging in space rocks!" Falco turned to Bright Heart.

"Good idea," Slippy chimed in as he walked over, "Processed titanium is better for reforging and if we're lucky we'll get some intact technology out of it."

"Then I approve. You heard them, Falco," Tenderheart gestured to Defender, who had already pulled his helmet back on.

"Fine..." Falco resigned to his fate and pulled the helmet back on.

OoOoO

Bright Heart stared in awe as Slippy used the crane to set the section of the ship next to the foundry. "This is incredible! It looks like the entire cargo bay survived!"

"Not surprised," Slippy hopped out of the crane and over to the section, "No-Heart and Andross would put priority on the cargo over the crew. Now I just need to cut it open and see what we got."

It was the work of a moment to use a plasma torch to shear off the cargo bay doors and start hauling out the contents.

"Well it looks like he did a lot of the work for us. Titanium and other materials harvested from the field like we were, and these." He picked up a cylindrical canister, about the size of a football, "what are these?"

"Only one way to find out." Slippy grabbed the second of the two canisters and hauled it over to their work station.

Both of them waited with baited breath until the computer finished its analysis, then they both gawked.

"Inert nanites!" they spoke simultaneously.

Bright Heart grabbed the canister, "If these don't have a program yet, or they're inactive."

Slippy picked up his sentence, "then we can reverse engineer or even make more." Slippy walked over to the other canister, "This...we have their secrets now!"

"As long as we get away, this will change everything," Bright Heart smiled, "Our first real victory in five years."