Something Blue

The Other Life

A Star Fox Adventures Fanfic

By Vikky Cutter

17: Number Four

Lisitza made her way back towards the fighters, the rain making it hard to see anything much further past the end of her hand. It took her some time, but finally she found the familiar blue trimmed space craft.

Climbing up onto the wing, she unlocked the canopy and pulled it open. Keeping the umbrella over her head, she climbed inside. It took a little work to close the canopy without letting too much rain in, but she managed it. The inside of the ship was rather plush, red and tan fabric covering everything with neat handwritten labels on the controls.

She closed the umbrella, placed it in the labeled slot, then started up the electrical systems. Everything came online, the displays flashing to life as the system status read green across the board.

Licking her lips, she started to navigate through the unfamiliar system to get to the Hypercom. It wasn't a standard system for a spacecraft, so it wasn’t where she expected it to be. She did take a few wrong turns but eventually found the correct system.

Bringing up the Hypercom system, she had it track down the nearest node and connect to it. It took a few moments before the lock-on was complete and the node was active.

Once everything was locked in she put in the tracking code for _The Great Fox_. The system processed it for a moment, finally locking onto the ship, still on the surface of Corneria.

The vixen pulled out a headset and tucked it over her ear. She adjusted the camera on the instrument panel so it was focused on her face. Once it was focused she placed the call.

There was a wait of a few moments as the system connected through the FTL network, then with a blip Peppy's face appeared on the screen.

The old hare smiled as they made contact. "Lisitza! I'm glad to see you. I take it the mission was a success?"

She shrugged a bit but still smiled. "It was. We all made it through the black hole, but my fighter went down as soon as the combat started. Luckily Falco, Wolf and his team were able to take care of the raiders."

The hare’s face twisted with a few different emotions, then settled into a smile. "That's fantastic news. We'll be there soon, it will be another hour before we make orbit."

"Don't run too hot. I'll be grounded for at least a month. I'm going to need a full revamp of the ship's electrical system, and some extra work on the nose gear," she said, folding her hands in her lap.

The hare nodded on the screen then turned away for a few moments. "Just a second, Slippy wants to speak with you."

Lisitza leaned back in the plush seat as the hare slipped out of the screen to be replaced by the familiar face of the toad. His lips were pulled into the familiar frown he had been wearing for the last few weeks. "Hello, Slippy," she said.

"Lisitza, I'm just going to cut to quick. I've been offered a job at a research station in the Y-Sector. I’ve decided to take it, effective immediately."

She pulled back a bit, her ears laying back, and her tail pulling close to her body. "You're leaving?" Her voice broke slightly as she asked the question.

"I thought I made that clear.”

The vixen took in a short breath and held it for a few seconds, trying to compose herself, but failing. "You're the best engineer I've ever seen, I just..." she trailed off, words failing her for the moment.

The toad shook his head. "You'll find another; I'm not the only engineer in the system."

"But why?" she finally sputtered out.

Slippy let out a sigh and slowly shook his head. "Because I was part of StarFox, not StarVixen. I don't care who you might be on the inside, but you are not Fox McCloud. You are not my friend, nor are you my commander. Seeing you everyday just reminds me of that fact, and what you are pretending to be. I'm not going to stay, and that’s final."

Lisitza let out a sigh and nodded her head. She started to speak but the words failed her. Gulping she tried again. "I understand how you feel, and I'm sorry to see you go. You did a good job repairing the ship; no one could have done it as well or as fast as you did. I doubt anyone else could ever do it better. Is there anyone you could recommend?"

"Not like this crew needs. You'll find someone; there's still enough of my old friend in there to know that. I'm taking ROB with me—I'm the only one who can keep him working."

She bit her lip and sighed. With the robot gone, they would need a navigator as well. Still, Slippy was right; he was the only one who could keep the robot working, and keep the AI sane. "Okay. Good luck with keeping him together. I've enjoyed working with you for... Is Peppy going to drop you off on the way, or you leaving on Corneria?"

"I'll be off the ship before it makes orbit."

"Okay. I'm sorry to see you go," she repeated. She didn’t know what else to say.

The toad said nothing at all; he just shook his head and slipped out of the screen. Peppy moved back into place, his ears dropping over his face and a deep frown on his muzzle. "I didn't know," he said in a soft voice.

"I'm not worried about that. Will you be able to make it here by yourself?"

The hare reached out of screen for a moment, then moved back into the display. "Everything has been programmed into the system. It's not as good as ROB could do, but I'll get there in about ten days."

"Start looking for a new engineer, and a new navigator. I'll see you in ten days," she said, finding that her tongue was thick in her muzzle.

Peppy nodded on the display. "I'll keep you posted."

She shook her head. "Just call me when you get here." With that said, she disconnected the Hypercom.

Lisitza leaned back into the soft seat, listening to the rain patter down on top of the canopy. She looked up at the clear glass, up through the cascading water into the dark gray sky. There was an occasional jolt of lighting, jumping through the clouds, echoing the sound of thunder a few moments later.

As she watched the rain fall around her, she decided that there was only one course of action for her to take. Only one thing any sensible person would do when faced with such a thing.

She was going to get drunk.

FIN

This story is copyright 2009 by Victoria-Ann Cutter, hardcopy reprints limited to one a person, all other rights reserved. This story may not be distributed for a fee except by permission of the author, and this copyright notice may not be removed. _Star Fox_ and _Star Fox Adventures_ and all related characters and settings are owned by Nintendo and are used without permission. Lisitza McCloud will return in: “A Penny for the Girl”.