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Author's Note: _Okay, so, I was asked to write this by a friend. He gave me guidelines for things he wanted to see happen in the story, including a sex scene (starting in chapter 7). For everything else, I was given leeway to tie the story up in a lead-in to the events of Star Fox Command.

So, I got a little in-depth with Krazoa Lore, and I got a little dark in showing the kind of things taking place in Lylat after the Aparoid Assault.

I also had to find ways to tie all this to the other Reflections Stories. That would make this story take place about a year after Book 4, Reflections of the Future, but it starts roughly one year before the Anglar Empire rises to power. It'll end the day of the initial invasion of Zazan's forces against Corneria.

There was a request for a scene that I can't post on FanFiction dot net. That'd be Krystal's first time with Fox, and then Krystal's first time with Panther, in order to show a juxtaposition in her love life. So, I'll include these scenes, but not in full detail, so as not to break FFnet's terms of service.

I mean, then again, this website launched the career of Snowqueens Icedragon on a story that was notorious for explicit sex, so ... there's that. But, hey, I'm not Erika Leonard, and I'm not here to write erotica. I'm here to tell a fan fiction that's part of a decade-old space opera, which has a little bit of sex in it. It's hard to believe I started the first story FIFTEEN YEARS AGO.

But, hey, here it is, 2020, and I haven't touched any of them since 2012. Eight years ago. Wild, huh?

So, I was strapped for cash a few months ago, my buddy asked me to write this, and he gave me some cash under the table. Guess you could call this a commission, lol. But, really, it was more of a favor for a favor. I wrote the entire story all in one sitting.

And, now? I'll go back to my original series that I'm preparing to publish. I need to re-read it and get it ready to go before a publishing house. And if they don't contract it? I'll self-publish starting in 2021. So, whatever. Anyhow, I still eventually plan to finish Book2, Book 5, and Book7.

Although, I guess THIS will now technically become book 5, and everything after that number will get bumped up, lol. Still, I plan to finish Reflections of Star Fox, Reflections of Regret, and Reflections of Marcus.

But, hey, THIS ONE is already finished. I'll just post new chapters a little at a time to spread things out, so that it brings in readership. Because, let's face it, all of those readers I used to have? They've long-since grown up and moved on from reading Fan Fiction about Star Fox, Sly Cooper, and whatever else. Ah well. Maybe I'll make some new fans, maybe this story won't get many reads at all. I just enjoy writing, so it's all good. This story will start off a little slow, but please give it a chance. It picks up. It just took me a few chapters to get back into the groove of writing Star Fox, y'know?

It also gave me the chance to tie up some stuff leading to Reflections of a New Generation (which is one of my favorites to reread. I like the pacing). Like, why Bill Grey is only a Major at retirement, and why Krystal remembers working with Andross in Reflections of Marcus (the last book), in a tent on the Krazoa Palace, after she and Fox broke up the first time, but why she didn't remember those events until she was a grandmother. It was nice to tie up a lot of those moments. Okay, enough rambling. I'll keep the Author's Notes scarce going forward.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy 2020. Oh, and to those asking me to finish DÉTENTE? You know I will. Eventually. OH!

And to those of you who find this story, that used to read my old work? Well... Hopefully my writing style improved since last you've read my work, eight years ago. Lmao

Check out ChronoReaper's art here on SoFurry. I'll have favorited his work. _

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Reflections of Fate by Kit Karamak

Chapter -1- The Great Fox Carrier

Space Dynamics' canopy & dashboard factory Roughly one year BEFORE the events of Star Fox Command ...

Krystal placed a paw firmly on Fox's shoulder to comfort him.

They stood together in a massive warehouse. On the far walls, the 'Space Dynamics' logo dominated the bulkheads.

At the center of the warehouse, Fox and Krystal stood in front of the salvaged remains of the original Great Fox dreadnaught, which had been crashed into the core of the Aparoid homeworld.

The wreckage was somewhat difficult to discern.

A random piece of plumbing jutted up between bent rebar mesh. A piece of ablative armor with paint from the original logo. A large bent metal cylinder that was likely one of the main twin canons. There was a piece of deck plating with an arrow painted on it, likely from the hanger.

And, yet, there was so much debris that held no shape or form, just twisted metal pieces, and pieces that resembled a crushed tin can on a macro scale.

Krystal's eye caught sight of a strange boxy-looking object covered in random detritus. "Fox...?" She pointed to it.

Fox's eyes widened. "Oh my God. Is that...?" He climbed up into the pile, pushing a few struts and beams aside. The pile shifted but Fox was careful to maintain his balance. He slid down a curved piece of bulkhead, and landed in his old captain's chair at the bottom of the ramp-like wall.

A waft of dust plumed out of the singed backrest.

Fox groaned, because there was no more cushioning in the seat.

Krystal cringed. "I sensed that pain right down between my thighs. Are you okay?"

"Yup," he grunted. After a moment to catch his breath, he lifted a paw and gave her the 'thumbs up' gesture. He climbed out of the chair and bent his knees, then leapt up onto the boxy object at the heart of the pile.

"Oi! Be careful, won't you?"

"I will!" Fox worked to pushed off charred metal bits, followed by a serrated piece of metal labeled as a junction crawlspace tube for 'trained maintenance personnel only.' He had to be careful of the sharp edges where the metal was torn , creating sharp jagged edges in some sections.

"This thing hit the core of a hollow planet. You'd think it would have collapsed flat like a can of Fizzy Pop! I can't believe how much of this thing still looks like ship parts."

Krystal remained quiet, her eyes locked on the dark grey box in front of her fiancé.

Fox carefully cleared off the boxy object, uncovering the dented remains of Krystal's Cerinian shuttle. It still had damage on the top from the time it was used on Meteo.

Fox put his paws against a section of twisted deck plating with a corrugated staircase half-mounted to it. He put his back against the deck plate and heaved it away from her shuttle. The large chunk of metal crashed down atop other debris, resulting in a waft of silica and metallic dust.

Fox turned away, gasped in fresh air, and gestured for Krystal to cover her muzzle with her paws. He pulled a red piece of cloth up from his neck and did the same until after the dust settled.

The weighed metallic dust fell to the floor quickly, and the cloud dissipated after only a moment.

Fox looked around the large warehouse. "Okay, maybe you were right - I was too hasty in telling the staff I wanted time to go through the wreckage 'alone.' I should've asked for help, or at least a water hose so we wouldn't have to breathe in this crap."

Krystal feigned a slight grin, but refrained from saying that she told him so. Instead, she resorted to pleasantries. "Shall I fetch someone?"

Fox smirked. "In a moment. C'mere. Let me show you what it is that you found."

Krystal nodded. She carefully climbed up onto the pile from the far left side, where a piece of GreatFox's lower left wing made an easily accessible ramp. She lowered to all fours, crawled across a pylon, and dropped down onto the deck plating, adjacent to where a twisted metal staircase was still partially attached.

"You good?"

"Good," she confirmed. She reached her paws up.

Fox took her by the forearms and lifted her up onto the old shuttle. "We salvaged the damaged remains of this from ... Meteo I think?"

Krystal feigned a slight smile. "I remember. Slippy had been working on trying to restore it. Now, Space Dynamics will want to reverse engineer the design and metallurgy work. Just as well, at least Cerinian technology will live on to some degree."

"I can't believe this survived Great Fox's destruction."

"It was hooked up to the power grid in the hanger deck storage shed. As soon as the power cut, it would have caused the shuttle's computer to come out of standby. The 'aggro-sense' program would have activated the shields and supplied power from the ship's core to the armored hull. Plus, the hanger deck would have collapsed around it, protecting it like the shell of an egg, while the ship collapsed during the impact. Since Great Fox's initial impact was to the main bridge, the crash energy would have been lessened by the time it reached the hanger."

Fox offered her a wry grin. "And Falco says you're just a pretty girl who survives in a cockpit with your telepathy. I sure as hell didn't know how any of that stuff works - that was all you."

Krystal held up her paw and gestured to the engagement ring he'd given her some time ago. "Isn't that why you want to marry me? For my mind?"

Fox nodded emphatically. "Exactly! For your mind!"

Krystal mirrored Fox's grin from a moment ago. "I figured as much." She knelt down and reached along the backside of the shuttle. Her fingers met the access panel. It scanned her palm pad. A hydraulic hiss came from within, and the back hatch pushed itself open, forcing some of the debris away from the door panel.

"Well, that and because you laugh at my puns."

With a smile, Krystal turned about on all fours, slid her legs down, and dropped to the partially open hatch.

Unable to open all the way, it was about forty-five degrees, which made it act like a ramp to the deck at the heart of the partially-reconstructed shuttle. Once the computer recognized that there was too much in the way, it stopped opening the rear ramp panel and remained only partly open.

She put her paw on a bulkhead and sighed. "Slippy did such a good job reassembling it. It would have been flight-ready in another year, if not sooner."

Fox hit the angled hatch with a grunt, slid down to the deck, and managed to stay on his feet. He ambled forward, careful not to stumble, and braced himself on the bulkhead next to Krystal, so that his arm was along her shoulders.

She looked back at him with a slight grin.

"Meant to do that, actually," said Fox with his own grin.

"You know ... you can always put your arm around me."

"Like I said. I meant to do that."

She grinned again. "The core still has power. The sensor opened the hatch after all. Let's see if we can call someone in the front office and have them lift this out with a crane."

Fox nodded in agreement. "That sounds like a smart idea." A pause, then, "See? Like I said. I'm going to marry you for your mind."

She faced him with a wry smile tugging at the corners of her muzzle. She shook her head with a chuckle and patted his chest with her paw. "Oh. Well, I'm totally going to marry you_for your _body, Fox."

McCloud felt his face tighten. He swallowed back a brief bit of shyness at the way she flirted with him. He took a deep breath, to get at himself, and said, "Oh, well, good. I guess paying to have a gym installed in the replacement Great Fox was worth the cost."

She replied with a brilliant smile of amusement, winked at him in a playful manner, then sauntered to the front of the shuttle.

The windshield was cracked and scorched so badly that the warehouse lighting couldn't illuminate the controls through the glass.

Krystal removed her current-model Cornerian communicator. She activated a simple flashlight feature, part of the built-in camera's flash, and held it up in her left paw, while using her right paw to boot the computer.

Some of the small screens in the dash were too dark to read.

Fox stood behind her with a grimace. "Only heat could damage a monitor like that. But this shuttle was shielded. What caused it?"

"The shields were designed to de-energize the kinetic energy released by an exploding planet, which is why my parents made sure I received this model ... they knew. Anyhow, the hull is mostly intact, thanks to Slippy's rebuilding of the shuttle, but ... the shuttle's life support was offline, because it was in storage in the hanger. So, there was no air conditioning. It likely became very hot in here while the Great Fox exploded at the core of the Aparoid home world."

"Makes sense," said Fox. "Can we use this thing to make a call, then?"

"Excuse me!" called a voice from behind the two.

Fox and Krystal whirled around. A man in a suit slid down into the back of the shuttle. He dropped to a crouch on the deck plate, adjusted the lay of his sport blazer, and stood up.

Fox blinked. "We were just about to call you."

A collie, as well groomed as he was dressed, held his paws outward with a bright, toothy smile. He had splotches of brown and white on his fur, and his eyes were bright like gold. "Yes, well, we heard the sound of a large chunk of debris crashing over. We scanned to make sure the two of you were all right. We saw you'd climbed inside the shuttle, and my boss said it was time to talk to you about the remains."

Fox frowned. "Yeah..."

The man laughed softly and held his hands out. "Don't be so ... lachrymose!"

Fox tilted his head a bit.

Krystal whispered to her beau. "It means 'sad.'"

The man fixed the lay of his tie from the way he dropped down to the shuttle deck. He made a slow approach to the couple and said, "Don't get me wrong. I'm here to make you an offer, Mr. McCloud. First, let me introduce myself. I'm John Salt. For the last few years, I was General Pepper's direct liaison to Space Dynamics. We worked really well together. So well, in fact, that people called us 'Salt and Pepper.' But, please, call me John."

"You both have the same first name, huh?" Fox smirked. "That's kind of funny."

John crossed the shuttle to the front, with his paw thrust out in offering to Fox. "Isn't it, though? And, now, I'd like to think of myself as the official liaison for team Star Fox. If that would be all right with you, of course!"

Fox took the collie's paw and shook it.

John turned to Krystal and offered his paw to her for another handshake. "All right! Pleasantries aside, I would love to talk to you about this shuttle. It's nothing our engineers have seen before. It's nothing our mechanics or R&D people have ever seen. The molecular structure of the armored layer is technology that no one in Lylat has seen before." He kept his hand extended, waiting for her to receive it.

Krystal grinned a bit. "Mm-hmm." She took his paw and shook it firmly.

John continued, "When we first brought this shuttle in, we cut out a small piece from the port, and we analyzed it. We thought it was really fascinating." He met her firm handshake, impressed by the young woman's grip.

Krystal held the man's paw for a moment, tilted her head a bit, and finally released it. "You've already reverse-engineered it?"

John opened his muzzle, paused, then frowned. "Please don't tell me this technology is patented. We tried to research it with the patent clerks, but we couldn't find anything like it."

Krystal replied with a smirk. Her ears laid back, briefly, with a soft sigh, followed by a headshake. "It's not patented in Lylat."

John chuckled nervously and clapped his paws together. "Well, um, I'm not sure what that means, but at least..."

She interrupted him, adding, "It was Cerinian technology. May I be blunt with you, sir?"

"I, uh, of course!"

She held her paws forward, showing him the fur a bit closer. "My pelt isn't dyed. I'm from a planet that is no longer habitable. This shuttle is all that remains, that I am aware of. Feel free to study it as you see fit."

"We ... already have," said John in a tone of reverence. "Quite extensively. We found traces of Cornerian technology used in reconstructing this shuttle. Whoever put it back together ... we'd love to offer them a job."

Fox shook his head. "Slippy Toad isn't looking for a job until he retires from the team."

John chuckled inwardly. "Well, yes, but engineers don't do their job for money - they do it for the chance to invent something amazing, and they..."

"Right now, we are living off the money we made when we stopped an invasion from an alien race. You might have heard of them ... the Aparoids. Of course, they're not around anymore, because this little mercenary team was responsible for genocide of their race in order to protect Lylat from the genocide of our race."

John face faulted. He offered Fox a blank expression, unsure as how to broach such a sensitive polarizing issue, which, for a while, had been an intensely hot-button topic in the media of Corneria and neighboring worlds. "Um ... so, about Mr. Toad. He's the son of Beltino Toad, right?"

Fox chuckled and gave John's shoulder a firm 'macho' pat. "You go ahead and ask Slippy, some time, and see what he says. Maybe, one day, he'll join your Research and Development team. But I doubt he'll leave this team anytime soon."

"I'll have my people reach out to him," said John. "But back to the topic at hand ... when we started studying this shuttle, along with all the wreckage of your old ship, last year ... well, we knew we could learn from all this stuff, and we wanted your permission to do some PR work."

Fox stole a glance at Krystal, followed by arching his brows at John Salt. "Not sure I follow."

"Well, let me start by saying that the Great Fox was a very old dreadnaught."

Fox chuckled. "Your company said it was just slightly used ... a Lylat War dreadnaught that had been altered to have a 'familiar' raised bridge design like our old one."

"Mr. McCloud, I'm not talking about the used one that you bought last year. Let me come back to this topic, and just ask you, real quick, are you happy with the used ship you bought from us?"

"It will serve its purpose. It's got a few neat features that my father's ship didn't have, but it's not designed to take the same amount of punishment as my father's ship."

"Yes, that was ... they don't build'em like they used to, that's for sure, Mr. McCloud."

"Yeah ... a shame, really."

"Metal costs skyrocketed during the Lylat War, for one." Salt gestured back to the wreckage just outside of the shuttle's rear hatch ramp. "Your father bought this model back when we were just Arspace Dynamics, the maker of the M-Class Cornerian Standard Fighter. After we became Space Dynamics, and after we restructured the company, we became known for the Arwing. And, Mr. McCloud, our company's success story is your story."

"Yeah, how do you figure?"

John held his arms outward. "Son, when your father's team took the first-generation prototype Arwing to Venom, and never came back, our stocks plummeted. Our company was on the verge of collapse. That's the reason why Arspace Dynamics had to change its name to Space Dynamics ... we suffered right along with you, at the loss of your father. It wasn't personal, like your loss was, but it nearly closed our doors..."

Fox's ears laid back and he opened his mouth to argue...

Krystal reached over and grasped Fox's forearm. "He's not wrong, love. Think about it. A company of people with livelihoods. Pigma's betrayal of your father nearly ruined so many lives. They didn't mourn your father's death - he would never suggest that. He merely meant that Pigma's actions hurt many people."

John nodded in agreement to Krystal's explanation. "Pigma Dengar's betrayal of your father brought about the closing of our doors as Arspace Dynamics. Hardworking breadwinners' families went hungry because of the layoffs."

Fox shook his head. "Well, if it makes you feel better, I'm pretty sure Pigma is dead, now. The Aparoids got him. Whatever was left of him, well, let's just say I put him out of his misery."

"Music to my ears, for sure. Mr. McCloud, when your team successfully won in a campaign against Venom in the Lylat Wars, our company became the massive corporate entity it is, today. All because of you. But we're known for building fighter ships, drones, recon gear ... we're not known for our larger ships. And our competitor supplies Corneria, Papetoon, and Katina with its capital ships."

"What's your point," asked Fox.

"The Great Fox dreadnaught, a single ship, destroyed a planet, and its pilot survived. This is after a refit, because we're talking about a war ship that was used in the Lylat Wars, and it was used for years with virtually zero maintenance, until the armor refitting and the bridge refit, just before the Aparoid invasion. There it is - that is proof that we built quality ships that would last for decades."

Fox's ears perked back up. He arched his brows and eyed the collie. "So ... what? You want us to endorse your ships by buying another, so you guys can use that endorsement to get contracts for building more Cap Ships? We bought a used one. It wasn't built with the 'personal touch' like my father's dreadnaught ... probably made on a fast-track assembly line for the war, but it's still a solid little dreadnaught for all intents and purposes."

John held his paws outward again. "The original CEO of Arspace Dynamics came back to us after the Lylat War, because we didn't know how to survive without a war to fund us."

Fox crossed his arms over his chest. "Yeah, I know Yaru de Pon. I'm on a first-name basis with him. He was the CEO of Arspace Dynamics, and he's currently the President of Space Dynamics. Richest mechanic in Lylat. Good guy, decent trainer ... bit of a schemer. And?"

"And ... we put the personal touch back into our machines, Mr. McCloud."

Krystal eyed the collie for a moment. "Mr. Salt, just tell him - be blunt with your big reveal."

"I..." He cleared his throat, eyed her in return, then opened his arms again. "The truth is, Mr. McCloud, we built another Great Fox using the reverse engineered tech from this shuttle. And it's like nothing we have ever built before."

Krystal feigned a very slight smile. "We'll talk about my one percent stake in your company, since I am the sole surviving member, that I know of, who would own the patents on the technology."

John Salt's jaw dropped a bit.

Krystal chuckled. "I am kidding. I would never ask more than a quarter of one percent." She cut her grin at Fox, adding, "Plus free ordinance for life."

Fox snickered in amusement. He cleared his throat and met the collie's gaze. "Mr. Salt, I'm sorry, we make jokes at the expense of others because it's who we've become ... a coping mechanism to handle the wars we've survived. Please, sir, continue with your sale speech."

There was a brief silence.

John swallowed with a nod. "All right, well, we call our new ship the Great Fox Carrier. It's almost like an interstellar mansion that would put a Phoenix Industries yacht to shame, and it operates at a fraction of the operational costs of anything else in its class. In fact, the operational costs will be less than a ship half the size of your old dreadnaught."

Fox's eyes widened. "You made a new Great Fox, bigger than before, with better armor, that costs less to operate than my old ship?"

"With new technology that will allow it to survive possibly three times the punishment, with the maintenance record that your old ship was known for."

Krystal tilted her head and studied the collie's face. "How did you manage that?"

"The technology from the shuttle ... your shuttle. It's far stronger, it flexes on a molecular level, so to speak, to absorb the stress of maneuvering in atmosphere, in water, and against attacks. Also, it's lighter, so the engines don't have to work as hard. Then, when we learned that we could make the engines with the new metallurgy techniques, we discovered we could make engines that can be stressed and not breakdown. Less fuel cells are consumed. Overall, this ship that we made for Star Fox ... it will save your team approximatley ten thousand credits per month in operation costs. Roughly."

Fox looked at Krystal, eyes still wide, and said, "They made us a ship out of Cerinian tech!"

Krystal bit back a tearful smile. "That is ... a worthy legacy for Cerinian technology. Thank you, Mr. Salt."

"Please, the two of you, call me John. Pepper did. And, Mr. McCloud..." John trailed off and licked his lips.

Krystal cut her gaze to John.

John cleared his throat, then said, "I ... knew your father."

"Wait, what?" Fox stared at the man with a look of disbelief.

"My uncle is the one that sold James the original Great Fox dreadnaught. I, um, discovered that while we were researching the wreckage from the vin number. I had no idea until recently."

Fox blinked. "Seriously? That's..."

"Yeah, I know, right? Small galaxy." John chuckled a bit. "I was an impressionable fifteen-year-old when your team won the Lylat Wars for Corneria. I was un_officially interning for Arspace Dynamics, bringing coffee to Mr. de Pon, my uncle, and others, when I was just nine years old. I offered all our clients coffee or tea, or any other refreshments. Your father said he had a son a little older than myself. I believe he took his coffee 'black with sugar.' I could be wrong - it was a _long time ago."

"Yeah, black with sugar. So, wait, you're three years younger than me? Yet ... you're some 'higher-up' at a company like Space Dynamics?"

"Yes, sir. And I owe my success to your success. Like I said, our legacies are tied together."

"And, you really built us a ship? How much?"

John lifted his paws with a shake of his head. "You saved the system. Again. The ship is free; a tax write-off for us. We'll do it in 'trade' for the one that you bought last year, so you won't have to worry about making payments anymore."

Fox gaped in shock.

"And no 'scheming' on Yaru de Pon's part." John chuckled at his own joke.

Fox was still speechless.

John added, "We asked you to come here and look through the wreckage so we could officially give you the carrier. I know you probably thought I was a salesman, here to make a pitch, but, well, no. I'm here to take you over to where the carrier is docked and give you a tour."

Fox lit up. He reached for Krystal's hand, beaming. "When?"

"Now ... if you'd like."

Krystal sensed Fox's emotions and whispered to him. "You look like a boy in a candy store with a fistful of Holiday money from his grandparents. Go on."

Fox laughed at her analogy. "I feel like one," he said at normal volume.

John cut his gaze to Krystal. "Ma'am, it's equipped with the latest and most modern luxury amenities. I understand that most mercenary teams are a bunch of bachelors, but we wanted to treat Star Fox differently. Not just because there's a woman on the team, but because Star Fox saved Lylat with our company's fighters. Twice. We're hoping your team will do the same in one of our mini-carriers, if something ever threatens Lylat again in the future."

Krystal replied with a wry smile. "You want our team to endorse your company by putting bumper stickers on our sedans?"

"Well, we want you to use our newest ship just to show the high-ranking officers of the military that a state room can be more than a cot or a box spring and cheap mattress, with a dumbbell set in the corner. We're also competing with Phoenix Enterprises for luxury. So, we spared no expense on the new Great Fox, if, of course, you want to keep that name. This ship will be a gamechanger and we want your team to show Lylat that it makes you happy."

Krystal shrugged. "All right." She turned to Fox and said, "You should go with him, hon."

"Miss, you're a member of the team. We're extending you the same courtesies. We'd also like to personalize your Arwings for each pilot."

Krystal shrugged. "I like the Arwing, but it's not something that can be personalized very much, beyond colors. I wish there was a way to combine the utility and versatility of my shuttle with the power and security of the Arwing."

John replied with a sly smile. "Do you have any ideas?"

"For?"

"A body-style? A name?"

"You mean, like, if I wanted to make my own ship and call it the Cloudrunner?"

"Exactly like that."

"Wait, you mean ... I can make a fighter that has the utility of a small shuttle?"

"That is exactly what I mean." John smiled brightly, never prouder of his company than right now. "You want it shaped like one of those flying creatures on Sauria? The Cloud Runners? We can do that. The technology behind the Arwing is now understood well enough to allow us to build a compact shuttle that operates the same way. A Sport Utility Shuttle fighter. Let us prove it to you."

As an afterthought, John said, "We made Acting General Hare the same offer, because he was part of the team at the time of the Aparoid Assault. He wanted an older-model style Arwing but with all the new amenities. He already knows about the Great Fox Carrier, because we had to pull some strings with the Prime Minister of Corneria. I mean, we're giving a warship to citizens, after all. But, yes, every member of Star Fox during the Aparoid Assault, whether retired or not, will be given a personalized ship free of charge."

Krystal grinned. "We'll be in touch on that, for sure. For now, let's see this new Great Fox carrier. It seems you're excited about it, and Fox seems to be, as well."

Fox nodded emphatically. "I look forward to seeing this thing. Let's see if we can get it to interface with Rob64, while we're at it."

John Salt waved his paws, gesturing for both foxes to come closer. "Let me show you something we've been working on."

Fox and Krystal moved a bit closer.

"Don't be shy. I don't have fleas."

Fox and Krystal exchanged glances and took a step closer.

John reached out and took Fox and Krystal's forearms. He leaned his head down and touched his nose to a device on his wrist, beneath the sleeve of his sport jacket.

And without warning, the setting of the shuttle changed to a hanger bay, brightly colored with silver, white, and orange trim.

Fox blinked. "Did we just ... teleport? Like when Great F--when our old ship would use the transmission system to send down a Landmaster for me to use?"

"Andross invented the Dimension Transport System using ancient technology he found on Venom from some forgotten culture. They were made in a factory on Macbeth, and that's the basis of the transmission system we installed during the refit of your old dreadnaught, and that's how you were able to send a tank to your location in the field at will..."

Fox smirked. "The Transmission System's targeting system left a bit to be desired."

"Yes, there were ... times ... when it would place objects a bit further from the intended subject than desirable, but the technology is constantly being upgraded and updated. And, on that note, we can now teleport biological matter, intact, without injury, and without being inside of an Arwing."

Fox rubbed his forehead. "How am I only just hearing about this?"

John shrugged. "Not sure. Heh. I mean ... your teammate's father, Beltino, was part of the project that invented these for the use of mass population evacuation to the tunnels beneath Corneria's capital city in case of bombardment. It saved a lot of people from being turned into Aparoids..."

"So that's how Corneria's streets were so empty so quickly last year..."

"And now that we know they work on people, we bought the rights to make newer, faster, smaller devices, which are being implemented all around the city. They will send citizens through the large emitters in the evacuation tunnels beneath the Cap City. The project started a few months ago, but ... Space Dynamics has installed one in your new carrier."

Fox looked around the hanger in wonder. "You made a ship that can teleport a person, and you shrank it down to the size of the thing on your wrist?"

John chuckled. "No, no. It's not that small. But, instead of flying an Arwing through one, now you can fit it inside of a hanger. The other emitter was installed in my briefcase, which is back on the shuttle. My device simply activated it. Presentation is everything, after all."

"Oh." Fox looked down at the deck plates. "Well, where is the emitter, here?"

John pointed to the ceiling, where a large circular device was built flush in the bulkhead above. "It's not in the floor, because if someone were to crash land on the flight deck, the device would be damaged and useless. But think of the applications - if your fighter was about to explode, you could teleport yourself to the carrier ship, board a new fighter, and launch without losing time ... or losing a battle."

Fox lit up. "Now that is handy!"

Krystal looked up at the blue disc in the ceiling, above. "Pretty shade. Does it always glow like that?"

"It adds to the ambiance of the hanger deck lighting," said John. "It also kills viruses and most bacteria outside the body, so the hanger becomes one of the cleanest places to enter and exit from the ship."

Krystal smiled a bit. "That's fascinating."

Salt nodded. "Let's give you both a tour of your new home, shall we?"

The ship shook violently.

Fox put his paws outwards to keep himself balanced.

Krystal went to all fours, as did John.

Fox took Krystal beneath the elbow and helped her to her feet. "What was that?"

John grimaced. "That ... was not part of the presentation." He pushed his jacket sleeve up his forearm and interfaced with the device on his wrist. His eyes widened.

Krystal cut her gaze to Salt. "Wait, what?"

"The entire facility is under attack!? Who would attack a research and development lab, let alone a plant that makes cockpits and dashboards?"

Fox brought his paw to his forehead. "And that's all you guys make here? That's it?"

"That's literally it. We wanted to have you meet us in a facility that doesn't get a lot of attention, so that the press wouldn't get wind of your visit. We use that warehouse you saw, earlier, for studying wreckage, salvage, or ... spreading out parts in a prototype crash, so we can identify all the parts by ... by spreading them out."

Krystal put a paw on John's shoulder. "Take a deep breath. We need to get to the bridge and get this ship off the ground."

"That's ... not going to be a problem. Part of the presentation was to use a massive Transmission System to put the ship into orbit, and then launch it from there without the media getting involved."

"Do you have something against the media, suddenly?" Fox asked incredulously. "Take us to the bridge. Quickly. And, yeah, let's get this thing into space."

John hurried across the flight deck with them. "No, Mr. McCloud, it is our understanding that you have something against the media. Space Dynamics would love media attention, but we understand that you, as the leader of your team, have never been cozy with the media, or the way they sometimes present your tactics during interviews." He took the lead in running through the ship. "This way!"

Fox followed Salt with Krystal behind. "Well, yeah, that's true. So, you guys were willing to forego a media press release for the sake of my weirdness about being on camera?"

John stepped onto a lift, waited until the two foxes were aboard, and he slapped his palm against the 'operations' button on the control panel.

The lift began to rise up from the deck.

"Well, err, yes." John feigned a weak smile. "We respect our clients' needs and wishes. We want to make them comfortable."

The ship shook again.

Krystal stumbled and felt something solid against the side of the lift. She pressed her paw against an unseen field. "Wait ... you made this lift so that you cannot fall off of it?"

"Safety first," said Salt with a sheepish grin. "The energy field acts like walls for the elevator. You've heard of solid light, right? We used a light spectrum that your eyes cannot see, so we see right through it."

The lift disappeared into a shaft, which was polished smooth and well lit. The platform stopped on the command deck.

The hallway was short and led straight to the bridge entrance.

John gestured around himself. "We knew that being a mercenary squadron meant needing immediate access from the bridge to the hanger deck, so we made the two as accessible to one another as possible. No more running a long way to your fighters."

Fox gave John's shoulder a firm pat. "Enough with the sales speech and tour. We'll do a ribbon cutting ceremony for you, press and all, because you've earned it. Just help us get Rob 64 to interface with the bridge from where he's at on Corneria. Then he can keep the ship moving while Krystal and I figure out who we're up against."

"Perhaps we should pick up your crew, Mr. McCloud. Corneria isn't terribly far." John walked to the helm control panel and accessed the viewscreen. It showed the inside of an enormous warehouse. John pressed his thumb into the screen of his watch.

All at once, the viewscreen displayed space ... and an advancing fleet of fighters in the distance.

Fox's back straightened. "Those are Venom fighters."

Krystal moved around John. "Impressive you could Instant Transmission an entire carrier."

"Yeah, it was part of the demonstration," he said, sounding a bit dismayed.

Krystal approached the helm controls and sat down at a piloting chair. She put her paws on the flat touchscreen controls with a smile.

John, standing beside her, pointed out the basics. "Take us out. I hope you're as good at piloting big ships as you are with small ones."

Krystal smirked. "It was quite a learning curve. But I can evade any enemy that has a brain. Aparoids were a different story, because their thinking patterns made me more of an empath than a telepath with them."

"Wait, you're ... telepathic?" A pause, then, "Seriously?"

"Seriously. And your secrets are none of my business." She gave the Great Fox Carrier some throttle and it responded by smoothly moving forward.

"Give it some power," John encouraged. "Go ahead. Test the inertial dampeners and punch it."

Krystal shrugged. "You asked for it." She pushed the throttle bar up to full.

The carrier ship lurched forward, approaching the Venom forces at a high rate of speed, but, on the bridge, no one felt anything.

Fox settled in a chair at the center of the bridge. "Can we open a line to the guys on Corneria?"

John touched a panel on the helm controls and glanced back at Fox. "Check your personal communicator and press 'accept.'"

Fox withdrew his communicator and looked at the screen. It had a message flashing, which read, 'Pair your contacts to Great Fox Command?' He pressed 'YES,' and cleared his throat. "Okay, how about now? Put whoever you can get up on the viewscreen."

John touched the control screens on the helm panel and dialed Falco, Slippy, Peppy, and General Pepper up onto the viewscreen. Their faces lined the top, above the image of the incoming Venom forces.

After a moment, live feed of each populated the communications bar above the viewer.

Fox stood up in front of the command chair. "Hey, everybody! Andrew Oikonny is up to old tricks. I'm sending you coordinates of their location." As an afterthought, Fox asked, "How's your health, General?"

"It's just ... John, now, Fox." As a pause of his own, Pepper said, "Is that John Salt with you? I'm using a wristwatch communicator, so the image is quite small."

"It's me, John," said Salt.

Pepper smiled a bit. "I, uh, retired, Fox. But I still have all my contacts in central command, and I'll forward you to the Prime Minister, because we don't have an official Fleet General to replace me. I, uh, haven't made my retirement official to the press, yet. And we're not at war, so we probably don't need a five star General anytime soon."

"Noted. Well, you're still General Pepper as far as I'm concerned. I'll handle Andrew's crap, I just wanted to let you know."

"Thanks for keeping me in the loop, but I'm on pain killers and I can't do much of anything but forward you to the Prime Minister."

Peppy Hare cleared his throat and said, "John, we should talk some time."

The hound smiled at the rabbit's words. He swiped on his wrist-comm, bringing Peppy's image to full size. "Hey, Hare. Talk, huh? To catch up?"

"No, about your situation. I might have a solution we can discuss at a later time."

Falco scoffed. "Good Goddess, John, Peppy is already acting General already. Just make him permanent. He's the reason Star Fox always wins - he is a tactician. He reads fleets as well as he reads maps, and that's saying something because the guy is a cartographer."

"You're in this conversation, too, Lombardi? Sorry, not a lot of screen real estate on a watch communicator, but I'm a bit too weak for the added weight of a holo-comm gauntlet."

"Yeah, yeah," Falco said in a snarky tone. "We know you're made of tougher stuff than that, old man. Now, let's get down to business for Goddess' sake."

Fox laughed. "Falco, the only time you're 'down to business' is when it involves cashing your paycheck."

"Look, Fox, all I'm saying is that we got robbed of a chance to shut down Andrew for good, back when the Aparoids invaded. Now we'll get our chance!"

Pepper said, "Look, boys, Peppy was the acting General for a short time. He's not officially acting anymore. As of a few days ago. But it's just a matter of paperwork. And, Peppy, if you want to talk about it, I'm willing to make it a thing. But, you can't make your flagship on the Great Fox. They're mercenaries."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," said Hare. "Lookin' good, Fox. You look happy, despite this nonsense with Andrew coming back."

"Yeah," Fox said with a chuckle. "Happy as hell, today. And yeah, I look good. At least compared to Pepper."

Pepper smirked in reply. He wasn't wearing his staple aviator glasses or uniform hat, but even with all the extra skin on his cheeks, the old hound's smirk was still slightly noticeable. "Uh-huh."

Slippy chimed in. "What do you need from us, and ... wait, where are you, Fox?"

"It's a surprise," said Fox with a grin. "For you guys, and for Oikonny, shortly." Fox lowered his tone and said, "Salt, can you bring Oikonny into the conversation?"

"Um ... let me see if I can single out his frequency from his fleet." John tapped the controls briefly. He manipulated something on a touch screen control panel, then looked up at the screen expectantly.

Andrew Oikonny's face showed up on the viewscreen. "Who dares to interrupt me while I'm..." Andrew trailed off with a gasp. "I'm in a conference call with every member of Star Fox?!" A pause, then, "And ... General Pepper? I barely recognize you without your uniform and aviator shades, old man. How are you even still alive? At the very least, shouldn't you have a grey muzzle by now?"

Fox approached the viewscreen. "Andrew, what the hell are you doing, attacking a cockpit factory? All they make are glass canopies and screens for dash consoles. Did you run out of beach sand on Titania? You can make your own glass; you don't have to steal someone else's glass."

"What?! What are you talking about, McCloud?"

"Good Goddess, Oikonny, it's not that difficult. I'm speaking Standard Lylat Cornerian. Why are you attacking the Space Dynamics glass factory?"

"I have superior intel that says Space Dynamics has created a weapon capable of destroying Venom's forces once and for all. They're hiding it here!"

John Salt turned away from the viewscreen and laughed.

Fox furrowed his brows in confusion. "What's he talking about, Salt?"

"You!" John said in amusement. "Our project name for the Great Fox Carrier is Code Named Bane of Venom. Whatever that clown got for his intel, he doesn't realize it's just a project name for building your new ship."

Fox smirked and gazed at the viewscreen again. "You hear that, Oikonny? We saved Lylat, including Venom, from the Aparoids. Space Dynamics built us a ship to replace the one we used to destroy their home world. So, call off whatever ... this is. If you turn around and leave, we'll let you scurry back to that dead rock your uncle called a home."

"No! I assembled this fleet, I am prepared for a fight, and I want a rematch!" Andrew exclaimed. "And I want it right now. Venom's shipyards have been busy! You have one ship. I have fifty carriers!"

Krystal looked up at John Salt with a shrug. "You want to see how your product stands up under fire?"

John exhaled. "I'm not worried. This ship is state of the art. This new armored plating makes it the safest place to be, ma'am. Furthermore, your team's track record speaks for itself."

Krystal frowned. "So, what's bothering you?"

Salt shrugged. He spoke in a soft tone to Krystal. "What worries me is being involved in military operations against a madman, and your crew not being familiar with this ship's systems, yet."

Andrew laughed. "You really shouldn't have said that while I'm still on the line."

Salt looked up at the viewscreen. "Good to know the condenser microphones pick up everything, evenly, all around the bridge. But, I'm not worried about you winning. I'm just worried that Star Fox will take longer to defeat you with new equipment than with their old equipment, due to not having had a chance to field-test it, first. We have investors and stockholders who will want to hear that Fox beat you twice as fast with the new equipment, you know?"

Andrew laughed boisterously. "You have not yet seen my fleet's newest ships! The stealth fighter prototypes that gave Corneria's military so much trouble, back when my base was on Fortuna, is now twice as large as before! And we have stealth bombers as well! I look forward to disappointing your shareholders!"

Fox scoffed. "Andrew, I could glue the old Great Fox's wreckage together, down on that moon, and kick your tail with it."

"I'm not afraid of you, McCloud!"

Fox shook his head with a sigh. "No? You sure? I mean, you felt threatened enough to come out here and attack a business-owned moon, knowing they are under the protection of Corneria's military. You could have sued for peace and involved the Cornerian Prime Minister, and you could have asked for an investigation into a 'weapon capable of destroying Venom.' Instead, you assemble a frickin' battle fleet and you attack a moon!"

"Damn right I'm attacking! I'll show you how I treat people who disrespect me!"

Fox groaned softly, shook his head again, and buried his face into his paw. "That's why nobody respects you, Andrew. You can't act like a real leader." He looked back up with a sigh. "Seriously, Oikonny. I'm not even kidding right now. You're a horrible leader. You only know how to pull a trigger and shout a lot."

"What?! I'll show you what it looks like when I pull a trigger, McCloud!"

Fox rolled his eyes. "Hopefully another alien species doesn't flick your ship out of the sky, again. I wouldn't want anyone to get in the way of me kicking your butt yet again. Tell you what, though. I was in the middle of getting a tour of my new ship. So, if you go back to Venom, I won't finish the job I started on Fortuna."

"I'll take my chances. You don't know the systems of your new ship. If you were getting a tour, you probably don't even have fighters! And your crew is on a conference call from Corneria. Let's see what your new toy can do, and I'll show you what my new toys can do!" Andrew ended the call. His image disappeared from the viewscreen.

Salt frowned. "Sorry, I didn't mean to..."

Fox chuckled. "Do you really believe in this ship?"

"Well, yeah. I'm safer on this ship than the factory, down on the surface."

Fox nodded with a smile. "You'll be the first Space Dynamics liaison to go into battle alongside his clients. Now you'll really be able to tell your clients that your company makes the best warships. Why don't you make a video of us kicking Oikonny's butt all the way back to Venom?"

Falco groaned over the open line. "Jeeze, Fox, you better save some of that ape-ass for me."

Slippy scoffed. "That didn't sound right, Falco. Like, seriously. You're making an ass out of yourself during an historic moment." The frog cleared his throat and added, "I just finished installing a firmware update on ROB64. Just send me coordinates. But, Fox, I don't have a fighter, just a shuttle."

"Just get here," said Fox. He cut his gaze to Peppy. "You want in on this?"

"I..."

Pepper chimed back in. "Peppy will be on Corneria, coordinating, here, from the CIC, Fox."

Fox grinned. "Well, all right."

John Pepper said, "Peppy, I'm going to call you. Let's head to the Combat Information Center. Fox, good luck."

Peppy nodded firmly. "CIC, got it. See you there, General. I need to grab something to wear."

"Grab a t-shirt and pants, Hare. I'll have my tailor bring you something at the CIC if you want to ... feel official."

"See you there, General!" Peppy saluted with his free paw.

Both Pepper and Peppy's images disappeared from the screen.

Falco furrowed his brows. "Did I miss something, here?"

Fox tilted his head. He glanced at the Venom military in the distance. Numbers appeared on the screen adjacent to the small fleet, which depicted their distance from the carrier ship.

"Hello?" Falco said. He reached to something adjacent to the camera, and tapped a feathered finger, making it difficult to see his face in the feed, momentarily. "This thing on?"

Fox's gaze lifted to Falco's image. He feigned a weak smile and said, "What, that they called the command center by its old war name? It's just an old habit for old timers, Falco. Y'know, a mistake due to age."

Falco groaned. "No, Fox. I know what the 'CIC' is, and the military doesn't call its operations center that anymore. I'm not a goddamn idiot. I was talking about why Pepper suddenly invited over Hare for a dinner discussion over the Lylat Holo-chessboard, or some such."

Fox smirked. "Maybe they're going to take your suggestion."

Krystal feigned a soft smile. "It wouldn't surprise me. Peppy and Pepper were roommates in the academy, and they worked on tactics together, discretely. Peppy was afraid of the idea of command when he was young, so he helped Pepper get there. But, now, in his older age, Peppy enjoys being able to..."

Falco chimed in. "...To tell people what to do, so, yeah. He'll make a great General. Obviously. Look, none of us have fighters right now, Fox."

John Salt cleared his throat. "Mr. Lombardi, hi, John Salt - Space Dynamics liaison. I'm going to send your communicator a set of coordinates. If you can catch a ride on the shuttle with Mr. Toad, and come to this location, we'll take care of everything for you. Just hurry. Andrew Oikonny's forces are closing in on the plant."

Falco nodded. "Space Dynamics Factory on the double, got it. A'ite, I'm on my way. Yo, Froggie, you know where I'm at. Pick me up. See you in five minutes, yeah?"

"All right, all right, Falco. I'm on my way. Oh, and Fox, I look forward to seeing what this surprise is!" Slippy's image disappeared from the view screen.

Falco scoffed. The last one on the screen, he looked around at the surroundings behind Fox and Krystal. "So, you replaced Great Fox, huh?"

Fox smirked. "Hawk eye."

"Yeah, yeah. You literally talked about it to Andrew. I might have a short attention span, but I caught that much. Anyway, how much did the new ship set us back?"

Fox put his fists on his hips. "So much that you'll be working doubles, back-to-back-to-back patrols, just to help me pay it off."

"About time you got us back in the air, McCloud. I hope the new Arwings have cupholders. I'mma grab my jacket and slick back my head-feathers. See you soon, Foxie." Falco slid sunshades up his beak, covering his eyes, and ended the call from his end.

Once Falco was off the screen, John Salt cleared his throat. "The latest model Arwings have exceptional gravity defusing equipment ... the latest in tech innovations. Artificial gravity for the feel of flying in atmosphere, and liquid spill management systems, and ... so ... yes, they do have cupholders."

Krystal smirked with amusement. She cast a glance at the main viewscreen. "They're closing fast."

Fox turned to Krystal. "Okay, timewise, how far out are the Venom forces?"

Krystal closed her eyes and listened with her mind. After a moment, she said, "Their long-range bombers are holding back for some reason. They took a few shots at the moon and at Great Fox, when they were entering the sector, but nothing hit. They used exploding ordinance as warning shots. But now? They're holding off."

Fox chuckled and shook his head. "Andrew fancies himself as having some sort of honor. He's just Andross-lite, but without the callousness and anger. All he wants is to feel respected. All right, we're going to need a way to fight." He turned to John.

Salt feigned a smile. "Remind me to show your piloting droid how to interface when they arrive. For now, follow me. The best part of the tour is coming up." Salt turned and walked off the bridge. "This way!"

Krystal fell into step alongside Fox. In a discrete tone, she told him, "He's terrified yet excited beyond belief. To deflect his fears, he's thinking about how best to spin this incident for a promotion within the company."

Fox grinned. In an equally hushed tone, he told her, "Then let's help him, so he's more inclined to help us."

Krystal nodded with a wry smile.

Fox cleared his throat, quickening his pace to get closer to John. "Hey, Salt, I know this whole situation might seem pretty intense, but if you want us to tell your bosses that you worked alongside of us like a team player, well, who knows, maybe it'll get you further up the corporate ladder. We scratch your back, you scratch ours."

Salt swallowed back a lump of emotional excitement in his throat. "Sounds fair to me, Mr. McCloud. Not much further, now." He stepped onto the lift, waited for Fox and Krystal to join, and pressed the 'hanger' button.

The lift lowered back to the hanger deck.

John held his paws out, taking a moment to hit some of the tour talking points that he memorized over the past week. "The hanger isn't at the bottom of the ship, because if your carrier was attacked from below, it would destroy the single most important feature of your ship - its carrier function. All the recreational areas are at the bottom - gymnasium, mini-pool, such and so-forth. Tertiary storage for unimportant items ... I guess you might think of it as a basement."

Fox looked around the hanger as the lift came to rest on the flight deck. He fell into step behind John, with Krystal at his side.

They followed Salt to a rolling door at the far starboard side of the hanger.

Salt punched in numbers on a keypad between two large rolling doors. "One, two, three, four is the pin code until you change it."

The doors lifted, revealing several brand-new latest model Arwings, with blue painted highlights on the nose cone and along the fuselage.

Fox's eyes lit up. "Are these...?"

"Mark fours? No..."

Fox furrowed his brows in confusion. "But they look like a new body style..."

"The Arwing has been redesigned, completely, from the ground up. This is the Arwing II, first generation. Surprise. It was supposed to be at the end of the tour, but ... I'm going to need you and Krystal to put them through their paces. They've never been battle tested outside of a combat sim arena. They have the more powerful shield generators of the 'Armoured Arwing,' plus a brand new armor technology, well, I guess you already know about how we reverse engineered the armor from her shuttle, uh, but they're more nimble, lighter, and have a tighter turn radius than the second generation Light Arwing models you used against ..."

Fox pointed to a rolling ladder next to each ship and nodded at Krystal. He started up one and she started up the ladder of the other Arwing II.

Salt continued, "... And a more powerful plasma engine than the NTD-FX1. This new engine is sealed from the inside to prevent corrosion. You could ... well, you could even fly it into the oceans of Zonnes or the acidic seas of Venom, and this ship would operate!"

Fox touched a hatch mechanism on the cockpit. The canopy retracted. He slid down into the seat, surprised by how much more comfortable the chair seemed. He reached behind himself and stuffed his tail down into a hole built into the chair.

Salt added, "Stock configuration, as they are now, the Arwing II is a bit heavier, due to the better engine and the added armor to the front. It's designed for piercing ... an homage to how your team destroyed a planet of enemies. It was designed for use in taking out Cap Ships. However, its canons are slightly inferior to the original Arwing ... especially the way your team had them modified with ultra-powerful weapons, but you can still upgrade to twin blasters with this stock model. And you can charge your batteries when in atmospheric flight, to extend your flying time between fueling."

Fox reached up for the canopy slide lever.

"The ship's escape pod isn't as geared toward in-atmosphere emergencies like the original Arwing. Also, no more landing gear. It uses hover pads to land on hard surfaces. The designers focused on deep-space survival with this model. Also, the struts and stabilizers are longer on this model for superior atmospheric flights. Oh, and one last thing!"

Fox's canopy clicked shut, followed by a soft hiss of air. He sighed in relief that he could no longer hear Salt rambling.

...Until Salt's earpiece activated with the ship's comms, allowing Salt's voice to come over speakers in the cockpit. John's rambling continued. "You'll be happy to hear that the old Arwing atmospheric speeds of Mach 4.2, with boost, has been broken. The Arwing II has achieved Mach six in unmanned flight tests - the test dummies experienced less than three G's when pulling up or diving at that speed. And, it manages to stay much cooler at that speed than the original Arwings at super or ultra-cruise speeds."

Fox sighed, shook his head, cleared his throat, and said, "So, the stock weapons are inferior to the original?"

"Well, uh, see, Mr. McCloud, the T&B-H1s haven't been manufactured since the Lylat Wars. They're considered obsolete because current legislation has outlawed the level-2 T&B-H_2_twin blaster ion canons. But the Arwing 2 is highly customizable, and its shields and forward armor has been designed to be able to crash into a large enemy, puncture it, and transfer the kinetic energy into..."

"Okay, okay," Fox said. "We're under attack, remember."

"Fox," Krystal said softly. "He's as excited to tell you about it as you are to fly it." She kissed her fingers, then touched the lens built into the dash. "All right, love. Let's fly it."

"Sounds good to me." Fox reached down and booted up the combat computer. The Space Dynamics Co., LTD logo showed up on all the dash screens, and, without further delay, all the warplane's displays went active.

Fox blinked.

Krystal's voice came over his line. "I'm impressed. Usually there's a longer boot time."

Salt came over the line, again. "We are particularly proud of our latest generation of computer systems. Everything is battle ready in under ten seconds from the time you power on, to the time you can engage an enemy."

Fox rubbed his paws together firmly. "All right. Now you're talking my language. Lead with that in the future." He eased into the flight stick, gave the ship a little throttle, and turned the Arwing out of the storage bay.

"Use your pedals to operate the maneuvering thrusters on the hull. Your ship floats, so it won't take much to turn it."

Fox's voice sounded giddy. "Wait, they can do a three-sixty while parked?"

"Easily, Mr. McCloud."

"That's definitely an improvement." Fox cut the maneuvering thrusters hard, causing his fighter to do doughnuts in the middle of the hanger.

"Fox!" Krystal scolded, but it became laughter. "That's something Falco would do!"

"Well, it's my ship, so I get to do it first!"

"Boys," Krystal replied with a scoff, trying her best to hide her grin.

"If you have any questions," said Salt over the comms, "I'll be on the bridge, waiting for Mr. Lombardi and Mr. Toad. Oh, and you won't need the catapult to launch your Arwing anymore. They can take off right from the flight deck. Just punch the throttle and boost together."

"Another improvement! All right, Krystal," said Fox with an edge of excitement to his voice. "With me."

A large blast-shield popped up from the deck, directly behind Fox and Krystal. His ship's systems displayed 'green' and 'ready' on the instrument cluster.

Fox's Arwing blasted forward, passing through the hanger doors, into the inky void of space.