Authors note: This is my first fan-fiction, so do please go easy on me. Any advice and constructive criticism would be appreciated. I don't own Star Fox or any of the characters or re-occurring elements (such as the Arwing, Landmaster, Great Fox, ect.). I will state characters anything owned by me in my profile. Also I'm adding a timeline into this fan-fiction, so BLW will be before the Lylat War and ALW will be after the war. Basically it's the BC and AD of the Star Fox universe. I'd personally like to thank my editors Freelancer 205 and my good friend Maxed.D for helping me actually make this happen. Thank you! Enjoy and please comment.

STAR FOX: DARK COALITION

PROLOGUE: PEACE, PROSPERITY, DEATH

0640 hours (6:40 am)

February 8, 26 ALW (After the Lylat War)

CSNF research station "Solace of Hope", Kandon orbit

Nicholas Fento's alarm clock blared in his ears. The feline was a heavy sleeper, but the annoying screech of the clock was a hard thing to ignore, unless you had nerves of steel. Nicholas rolled over lazily in his bunk and felt for the kill-switch on the clock. His paw felt the corner of his nightstand, so he reached farther up and finally felt the body of the clock.

"Oh shut up," said the groggy feline with his index finger on the alarm switch. The alarm suddenly died and Nicholas rolled onto his back and pulled the covers back over himself. Fento was back in his comfy spot and began to doze off when the intercom speaker in his quarters came to life saying, "Hey Nick! Wake up!"

The sudden voice caused Nicholas to jump and hit his head on the bunk above him. "Oh my God," Nick yelled into the ceiling speakers, his head throbbing, "Yeah, thanks for givin' me a migraine Conner! I really appreciate it!" Nick let his head fall into his hands. He had been on the research station "Solace of Hope" for three days now and had served on the station for almost five years, but he never could get used to his partner constantly waking him up like this. He hadn't even slept in for longer than forty seconds and yet Conner still persisted with the "early bird" routine. It was something he absolutely hated about Conner, but yet, Conner was one of Nick's best friends. Shoot, Conner had even been his best man at his wedding four years ago.

Nick got out of his bunk and grabbed his wrist communicator from his nightstand drawer. He scrolled through his list of contacts until hey found his partners name. Nick hit the "contact" bar on the touch screen of this communicator. A few seconds later Conner's voice answered with one of his morning pick-me-up lines: "Good morning sunshine! And how are we today?"

"How am I? You idiot! Not only did you scare me to death you caused me to hit my head on your bunk," Fento rummaged through his closet and grabbed a gray T-shirt that had "CSN Research Group" stenciled on it and a pair of black pants.

"Ah come on…," Conner said through Nick's communicator, "…it couldn't have hurt that bad."

"Hey I have an idea. How 'bout next time I slam your head into your bunk and you can tell me how much it hurts smartass," Nick yelled into the receiver.

Nick and Conner were members of the Cornerian military's colonization operation of the planet Kandon, a small, frigid planet within the Lylat System. After the Anglar War, much of Lylat suffered incredible losses. Much of Corneria was still being rebuilt, even after eight years had passed. Kandon was being set up as a secret first-response base that would answer to any kind of act of war, and there had already been plenty of those in the last two decades.

Many of the wars in Lylat were caused by the Venomians, all beginning when Andross, once a great scientist of Lylat, turned on Corneria and was later banished to Venom, left to die on its barren surface. For a couple years things were peaceful. The acting General at the time, General Pepper, knew how dangerous the scientist was and knew he would not take being disgraced lightly, so he kept a close eye on everything coming in and out of Venom. At first there was nothing, but later all kinds of alarms were going off because of Venom. Scout ships spying on the planet detected large power fluctuations from the planet's surface. Unknown spacecraft were sighted patrolling above the planet's atmosphere. Many scout ship pilots were listed as "MIA" because they just disappeared while spying on the planet.

But the war was later put to an end by the heroism of the Star Fox team: a group of mercenaries who patrolled the Lylat system waiting to be called upon to give help when needed. Eight years ago, before the Anglar War broke out; Lylat was crushed to find out that the heroes of Star Fox had disbanned, each one having their reasons. But they later reunited and were able to stop the opposing threat. After the Anglar War peace finally returned to Lylat, and since then everything had been quiet.

Fento's boots made a rhythmic thumping as he walked through the hallways of the Solace. Dangling from a black leather string around his neck was a square gray stone that his three year old daughter, Leah, had found and given him when his family had gone on vacation a month ago. Not a day went by when Nick was gone from home that he didn't miss his daughter and his wife, so having that rock around his neck always gave him hope that he would see them again

Fento rounded a corner in the hall and came to a door labeled "Research Lab A-4". On the wall next to the door was a small terminal with a small keyboard and screen. Nick placed his finger on the keyboard and typed in his security code. A green light appeared on the panel next to the screen, showing that he had authorization. He then positioned his hand on the screen. A red light panned up and down his hand and when it disappeared a second light flashed on. The door slid open and merged into the wall. Fento walked in.

"Hey…," a dark gray wolf yelled as Nick walked in, "…look who finally decided to show up." The occupants in the lab looked over at Nick.

"Shut it, Conner," Nick snapped as he walked across the lab to his partner. Working across from Nick and Conner's station was a tan furred husky named Amy Carson, a pair of glasses perched upon her face. She looked up from a stone tablet she was working on and smiled at Nick.

"Good morning Nick. Did Conner give you another wake up call?" Nick turned his head to Conner who was trying as hard as he could to not break out in laughter. Then he turned back to the husky.

Nick sighed and said, "Yeah unfortunately he did. And he's lucky I don't skin him alive for it."

She laughed a bit and then said, "Well if it makes you feel any better he gave me a wake up call too."

'Yeah but in what way?' Nick thought as he began to power up his laptop. Conner and Amy had been dating for at least two years, but Nick felt that their private life was none of his business. But it wasn't like he didn't care about the two of them. "What are you working on Amy?," Nick asked looking at the stone tablet on the examination table.

"It's a tablet some troops found on a patrol. The ruins they found this tablet in greatly resemble the stone cities on Titania. I was actually just about to compare these hieroglyphic markings to Titanain samples in the archives." There were dozens of small markings in different shapes; mainly all were lines crossing into one another. It was never known by whom the ruins were built and to this day people from all across Lylat were trying to figure out who had constructed the marvelous structures. It was even suggested that maybe there was once a race that was inhabited Lylat before the beginning of the anything that was currently around. But this theory was widely speculated and was often considered a fairy tale.

Fento was once a pilot in the Cornerian Space Naval Forces, serving in the end half of the Aparoid Conflict and then the Anglar War, after which hey retired as a pilot and then transferred to the reserves and then became a professor in Lylatian Planetary History. Conner was a specialist in Lylatian Biology as well as Paleontology, and Amy was an expert in Space Archeology. When the researchers were chosen to take station at Kandon, separate groups of researchers were placed into teams to study Kandon's different aspects.

For some odd reason the Brass decided to combine the History, Archeology, and Biology teams so that they could cover more subjects that were possibly inter-related. So while Conner studied any of the biological and prehistoric aspects of Kandon, Amy would research anything that could possibly point toward an intelligent race that may have once lived on the planet, and Nick would record anything and everything they discovered.

"Ok, what have we learned today kids?" a voice said from the entrance of the lab. Everyone turned to the major standing with his arms crossed over his chest. Major Dawson was a decorated war veteran who ran all operations at the base on Kandon while Admiral Mitchells ran the Solace. Today he was overseeing some heavy equipment that had to be transported to the base, so whenever he was aboard the Solace he would check on the progress of the researchers. Dawson was a staggering 6'9, which meant he often had to duck down to get into many of the rooms in the Solace. The tall eagle was well into his fifties and had gray feathers from the top of his head to his neckline.

The major began making his way from each work station, reviewing every team's work and seeing how they themselves were doing. Dawson was often a very mysterious fellow, at least Nick thought so. But he was very friendly, quick witted, and often times flirted with the young and pretty naval girl's aboard the Solace, but they always respected him and never treated him like some creepy old buzzard. No, in fact he was the "life of the party" for the Kandon operation. He always knew how to cheer people up, give them wise advice, and always had a story from his war days, funny or otherwise.

Amy began rapidly typing on the keyboard of her computer to begin analyzing the tablet. Rays of red light began to scan the surface of the stone, moving up and down and left to right as it scanned the intricate patterns and designs that occupied the tablets surface. Amy watched her computer screen as a virtual 3D image of the tablet began to slowly appear on her screen. Conner bent down closer to the screen to see the last bit of the image materialize onto Amy's computer. The image rotated a few times and stopped with the writing and symbols facing Amy and Conner. Amy typed a few commands into the keyboard and every symbol on the stone was highlighted in light green color.

"Now let's see if you have any friends out there," Amy said to the tablet on her screen. She hit a few more keys and then a second window opened up on her computer containing a picture of the highlighted symbols and a small box that said "SEARCHING FOR MATCH". Amy sighed and said, "And now, we wait."

Dawson walked over to Nick, Conner, and Amy's work space. He noticed the tablet being scanned on the examination table. "Don't tell me that the only thing they can find down there are rocks, Miss Carson," Dawson jokingly asked as bent down closer to the examination table to get a better look at the tablet.

"Well at this point, sir, rocks are the only thing that seem to give as any clue of some past civilization on Kandon," Amy said eyes fixed on her computer. The young husky hit a few keys and the red scan lights shut off. Major Dawson moved in closer to the stone, intrigued by the strange lettering and other symbols on the surface.

"How old is it," Dawson asked still examining the tablet with his bright yellow eyes.

Amy brought up the scanning information on her screen. "According to the scans it's estimated to be at least," Amy stopped and stared at the numbers she was getting. She was amazed. 'There's no way this thing is that old,' Amy thought. She was snapped out of her trance by the Major's voice as he asked her again what the age was.

"The info says this thing is at least over thirty million years old. The earliest Lylatian records date back six hundred-fifty thousand years. This thing is ancient," Conner and Nick's jaws dropped, stunned by the relic's age. Dawson was also amazed, but he was a bit skeptical. He sensed that there was more to the stone's importance that Miss Carson wasn't telling him, so he began to question Carson.

"Miss Carson, what is the significance of this tablet, besides the fact that it could help us learn more about Kandon's history?" Dawson asked looking Amy straight in eye.

Amy gulped. She was hoping to avoid questions like that, because she knew in the end what the Major would say, but she ignored her thoughts and went back to Dawson's question. "Well sir, I hope to prove a theory that most of the general scientific public tend to pass off because-"

"To the point please Miss Carson," Dawson said, he hated long stories and he had other things to do.

"Umm right, sorry sir," Amy stammered, "I believe that there was once a race that inhabited and ruled Lylat before we did and that they inhabited planets such as Kandon, Titania, and others where these ruins have been found. I was actually just sent a scan of the tablet's surface to see if we could find a match in the archives."

Dawson smiled, "Well Miss Carson that's quite a theory, but what does a match off some thirty billion year old stone with chicken scratch all over it prove?"

Amy was starting to get annoyed with the Major. 'Is he really this incompetent or is he playing with me'. She had been shot down before for her beliefs, but it still got her blood boiling no matter how many times she was rejected. Never the less she would answer his question. "Well it would prove that not only was there once a civilization before the first major Lylatian races came to power, but it also proves that what ever civilization existed back then had some means to travel between planets. How else would writing such as that end up in several different places?"

Dawson cocked a brow, "Well if that is true then by what means of travel was there to use? Did they have the kind of technology we have and, if so, where did it all go and how come there are no traces of such technology left? And I have yet to hear any proof that the writing is the same?"

That's where she lost most of everyone that she tried to explain her theory to. Nick and Conner could tell that she was a little hurt by Dawson's skepticism. Amy sighed in disappointment, "I'm afraid I don't have an answer for those questions Major, but please! I know it may sound far fetched but the facts are so strong! I really feel like there's something here and-"

"Whoa! Settle down Miss Carson, I never said that I didn't believe you," Dawson said. He could tell that this was something that's was very important to her, and the last thing he wanted was to upset her.

Amy stopped. She was a little thrown off by this. She thought for sure he was just another one of those jerks who thought she was some crazy girl with crack-pot theories.

Conner stepped forward, "Sir are you saying that you believe Amy?"

Dawson smiled happily, "I will admit… I was a bit doubtful when I first heard of you Miss Carson. I had heard of all the critics and scientists saying that you were nothing more than a girl who chased after fairy tales. But frankly Miss Carson, I'm happy that I was wrong. After I did my own research on you and your studies, I decided that you definitely knew what you were talking about."

Amy's spirit began to liven up. "If I thought you were some 'crazy girl chasing fairy tales'…," Dawson said, "…then I wouldn't have picked you personally for this job."

Immediately Amy sprung out of her chair and hugged the Major saying, "THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!"

Major Dawson's grin grew bigger as Amy began pecking kisses on his cheek. Conner's jaw dropped open at the sight of this and inside he began to get a little jealous. Now Nick was the one trying his hardest not to laugh at Conner.

Amy let go of Dawson and snapped a crisp salute to him and said: "Thank you for the morale boost Major!"

Dawson's smile never left his face as he returned the salute, "Likewise Miss Carson. Now I must be on my way. Keep up the good work. I expect great things from you."

At this, Amy was as happy as a school girl. Her eyes widened and glittered with excitement. She replied with a loud "Yes Sir!"

Dawson nodded at her, said his good-byes to Nick and Conner, turned and left.

"Yay, someone finally thinks I'm not crazy!" Amy exclaimed.

"What are you talking about?!" Conner snapped, "I was like the first person to actually believe you and you never showed me that much affection for it!"

"It doesn't mean that much coming from you baby," Amy said with a bit of an evil grin on her face.

Conner couldn't believe what hey was hearing. Had she completely lost it? He was about to say something, but he was way too mad to even speak, so he just turned around and sat down at his work station and stared into the black screen of his computer. Amy smiled and walked up behind the dark furred wolf and put her hands on his shoulders.

"I'm sorry Conner; I was only playing with you. And you always know that I'm so thankful for you believing in me, right?

Conner glanced at her face. He was determined to stay mad at her, but that innocent and playful look in her eyes always got him. How could anyone stay mad at someone so beautiful and sweet? He sighed, "Yeah alright. But for the record, I was the first one to believe you."

Amy laughed, "Yes you were," she said as she moved in closer to the wolf's face and kissing him. Conner melted into the kiss and wrapped his arms around Amy.

Nick smiled and turned back to his computer and brought a picture of his wife and daughter onto the monitor. He instinctively grabbed the little stone dangling around his neck. 'I Miss and love both of you'. More than anything, he wanted to be with that at moment.

Admiral Aaron Mitchell stood on the observation deck of the Solace, starring out at the vast ocean of stars before him. Every time he looked up into the sky, every time he went into space, he was always amazed at the vast beautiful spectacles that reminded him of how small he was. Mitchell's Executive Officer, Captain Lucus Jacobs, walked up and stood by his side.

"Sir, you have a transmission coming in from Corneria. It's General Hare, he wants to speak with you." The medium sized Shepherd remained silent as he literally stared off into space. "Sir?"

"It's beautiful isn't it, Captain?" Mitchell said to the XO. Jacobs turned his gaze towards the window. It truly was magnificent. Billions and billions of stars staring at them, and them staring right back. "Yes sir… It is very beautiful," Jacobs said back to the Admiral.

"Reminds you how small we are in the eyes of God. Not even the heavens themselves can compare to His glory and His power." The Admiral was starting to sound like a chaplain. Jacobs knew that Mitchell had faith, but he didn't know that he expressed it like this.

"Umm, Sir," Captain Jacobs said laying a hand on Mitchells' shoulder. The Admiral looked back at Jacobs. "General Hare is waiting sir."

Admiral Mitchell smiled and moved towards the door, "I'm sorry Captain. I guess I get carried away sometimes." The fifty-five year old admiral said pressing the button to call the elevator up to the observation deck.

Jacobs stood where he was for a second thinking about the Admiral. He had been acting very strange lately, as if something was bothering him or something was on his mind. Mitchell had just come off the last transport drop three days ago and he was acting more eccentric than he had in the past.

"Are you coming, Captain, or would you like to take the stairs?" the Admiral asked jokingly. The Solace's observation deck was 8 decks above the command deck, and God knew how many flights of stairs there were between the observation deck and the command deck.

Captain Jacobs laughed and turned to join Mitchell's side at the elevator. The doors parted and the two naval officers stepped inside the elevator. Jacobs moved to the control panel on the elevator and tapped in their destination. The elevator gave off an almost silent humming as it descended into the Solace's lower levels. The inside of the elevator was illuminated by four bright, metallic lights that gave of a bluish tint.

Jacobs reached into his uniform's breast pocket and withdrew his father's CSNF zippo and began fiddling with it, opening it, lighting it, and then snapping the top back into place. He wasn't sure why he did this but whatever the reason, he did it profusely. The Admiral noticed the lighter in his XO's hand.

"I hope you have the cigarettes to go with that, Captain. Other than that there's not much point in having it, is there?" Mitchell said to the black terrier beside him.

Jacobs looked at the Admiral and then back at his lighter. "No Sir, I don't have the cigarettes. I don't smoke. I guess it's just more of a good luck charm to me," Jacobs said placing the lighter back in this pocket.

Before Jacobs placed the lighter back inside the fabric of his pocket, Mitchell noticed the designs on the front of the lighter. It was decorated with the older Cornerian Space Naval Forces emblem and the name "Lt. Martin Jacobs" engraved in black lettering below the CSNF symbol. The name rung a bell in the Admiral's mind. Hadn't he served with a terrier by that name once before?

"Captain, may I ask you a personal question," Mitchell said to his XO.

A small grin crept across Jacobs face. "Off course Sir, but do you really need to ask? I mean, you are my boss after all."

"Just because I'm a higher rank than you doesn't mean I can just blatantly ask you about anything son," said Mitchell to the young captain. "For the sake of courtesy, yes, I do have to ask you."

"Well, ok. Fire away, sir."

"Your father, he was in the Navy too wasn't he?"

"Yes sir, he was. Why?"

"Was he a pilot stationed on the carrier Archer?"

Jacobs was a little surprised at this. "Yes sir, but how did you know that?"

The Admiral chuckled. "Because I was the Lieutenant Colonel in charge of the squadron your old man flew in back during the Lylat War."

Jacobs' jaw drop, "Are you serious sir? Wow! I didn't know that."

"Your father never told you about me, did he?"

Jacobs paused for a moment and thought. He always remembered the friends his dad had made back when hey was a pilot, but he never remembered anything about a Lt. Col.

"Sorry sir, but either I don't recall him telling me about you, or he never did." Jacobs expected the Admiral to be somewhat disappointed at this. But he got a totally different reaction. Mitchell laughed.

"Umm, what's so funny, sir?"

Mitchell laughed a bit more and said, "Nothing it's just that... it's funny that I expected you not to remember me."

"Sir I don't understand what's so funny about that," Jacobs looked at the Admiral as he chuckled little more and then took in a deep breath to regain himself.

"You see Captain, back when I was Lt. Col. of your pop and the rest of the squadron, I was very hard on him. Your dad was somewhat of a buck wild pilot. He was extremely reckless at times and incredibly stubborn. But he was the best pilot on that entire ship… and he was a damn good man."

Jacobs was flattered to here these things about his father. "Thank you sir, I'm sure he would be happy to here that from you."

"I doubt that Captain, your father was pretty happy when I was promoted and transferred to the Voice of Lament."

"Sir, no disrespect to you, but I believe I know my own father. He wasn't one to hold a grudge against another man. He always used to tell me if you had a problem with someone or vice versa, you go and settle the problem like men, respectable or otherwise."

The Admiral admired the maturity in the young captain. His father had clearly raised him well, as all parents should so that their children may live a life of comfort in civilized society.

"Besides Admiral…," Jacobs continued turning his head to his superior," …whatever you did back then or however hard you were on him may not have been appreciated then, but it's the hard things in life that show who we truly are when faced with such situations."

Mitchell chuckled. The man was absolutely right! His attitude towards life and his maturity reflected the image of a leader, one that Admiral Mitchell was proud to be in the presence of. Someone was going to have to take his place one day. He was getting to old for this job. Jacobs would make a fine replacement. 'Yes indeed,' the Admiral thought, 'He will make quite the successor.'

The doors parted once again, allowing Mitchell and Jacobs to step out of elevator onto deck A-1. Before they stepped out of the elevator, a pair of Marines dressed in standard dark green PT shirts and black shorts stood in front of them having a conversation. They must have been so engaged in their conversation that they forgot they were waiting for the elevator to arrive. One of them glanced at them briefly and returned his eyes to his friend. Then he looked back and made a face like he had had a bucket of ice water poured on him without him knowing. The Marine nearly jumped out of his fur. He and his buddy immediately snapped to attention in respect to Mitchell and the resident XO.

"At ease Marines," Admiral Mitchell said as passed by them. The two soldiers relaxed and exchanged some nervous laughs and returned to their conversation as they stepped onto the elevator. Jacobs and Mitchell walked through the halls of the Solace in silence. Occasionally they passed by a few crew members or Marines who would, as required, salute the Admiral and he would acknowledge them and continue on down the hall. Jacobs wondered if the Admiral ever got tired of acknowledging the salutes of all naval crew members they passed. Jacobs thought about it and concluded that the Admiral was a respectable man who was respectful to all those who served under him and this was how he showed it.

They came to the Command Deck doors where two rough and ready Marines stood on guard. The two Marines saluted Mitchell and Jacobs, letting their blaster rifles fall to their sides and hang by the sling. Admiral Mitchell saluted back and began to chat with the Marines, asking them how they were and when their shift was over. The Marines, for security reasons, asked the two naval officers for ID and the security code of the day. To maintain a solid security presence on board the Solace security codes to all the major areas of the station were changed four times a day, and you had to get the codes when they updated or you were pretty much shut out from most of the Solace. And if you had a job to do somewhere and you didn't have the proper security clearance, you were just SOL.

The doors opened and the Admiral said his goodbyes to the Marines and walked onto the command deck. The room was somewhat domed shape, except the ceiling had a semi-flat surface. The deck was about fifteen meters wide by ten meters in length. The whole Command Deck was very bright because the ceiling was made of a thick transparent glass that kept the vacuum of space separated from the artificial atmosphere on the Solace. The other reason why it was so bright was they weren't to far from Solar. The glass had dozens of tiny lines running through them. These were actually millions of microscopic photovoltaic cells that absorbed any light that came through and converted it to energy to help power the Solace.

"Admiral on deck," Captain Jacobs yelled to the crew members in on the command deck. As if it was instinct, every crew member present shot up and stood perfectly still. Admiral Mitchell gave the "at ease" command and everyone sat down and continued to their work. Mitchell walked to the center of the command deck and sat in the "commander's chair". As soon as he had sat down, several holographic status screens appeared in front of him. Each screen showed different types of information, which the Admiral ignored so that he could have his conversation with General Hare.

"XO, review this information for me and tell me our status when my call with the good General is over."

"Aye-aye Admiral," Jacobs told one of the crew members to transfer the info to his station so he could read it.

"Ensign Saiders, do we have a clear signal for communication with Corneria," Mitchell asked the comm. officer.

"Aye sir, comm. signals are green. Establishing communication link with Corneria. Stand-by."

Another holo-screen materialized in front of the Admiral. It was filled with static for a few moments and then the image of a gray furred rabbit dressed in a red and gold uniform.

"Admiral Mitchell! Good to see you again," said General Hare adjusting the small pair of glass perched on top of his nose.

"Likewise General. How have things been for you?"

General Hare sighed at this question, "Very busy. I've been all over Lylat attending meetings with representatives from Fichina, Katina, and Aquas discussing several key issues, one of which may concern the entire Kandon colonization project."

Mitchell cocked a brow. That couldn't be good at all. They hadn't had any kind of major problems in Lylat since the Anglar War ended. Now there had been a rebellion that occurred on Titania three months ago but it was quickly put down. Other than that, things had been relatively quiet. But Mitchell always wondered when the tension between Lylat's planets would boil over and once again lead to war.

"What kind of issue, General," Admiral Mitchell asked.

"Well, it's unconfirmed at this time, but one of our listening posts intercepted unknown communication signals that came out of sector T/Y 642," General Hare tapped a few keys on his keyboard computer and brought up a map of the Lylat System. A box appeared around Titania, Sector Y, Aquas, and Kandon, which zoomed in on the area and showed a red circle between Titania and Sector Y.

Kandon was located right outside that area. As a first response base, the Cornerian and allied governments wanted the base to be between Corneria and Venom, Venom because they were the most likely to throw the first punch. The heavily oceanic planet of Aquas was the closest "friendly" planet and one of the main suppliers for Kandon.

Mitchell rubbed his forehead, "Do we have any idea of what or who could have been responsible for the signals?"

"We have an idea. The transmission was heavily encrypted and it took our best comm. personnel to crack a fraction of the message. We're still trying decode the rest."

"What does the message say," Mitchell asked.

"Not much. Have a listen for yourself," the old rabbit said hitting another key. Static filled the comm. speakers followed by a deep voice speaking with a much lighter but very scratchy voice, and it wasn't scratchy from the static. They were each speaking two separate languages.

Deep voice: "-xulo ud atou ureik eih melomdkj-" static "-xuko ke-" static "-ucc veh dekxadw."

Scratchy voice: "I Ma yrev erus taht yeht od ton-" static "- eht kcatta liw eb terc-" static

Deep voice: "Cokj xefo-" static "-A tojaho dekxadw meh-" static "-McCloud's-" static "-ed u fcukkoh! Kxaj-" static "-rokkoh nehb eh ocjo-"static

Scratchy voice: "Od ton terf, Lareneg. Yreve gniht si gniog ot og ot nalp."

END TRANSMISSION DUE TO HEAVY ENCRYPTION

The two of them were silent for a moment and Mitchell didn't like it one bit.

General Hare broke the silence first, "Do you recognize either of those languages?"

Mitchell nodded, "The one with the scratchy voice was speaking Venomian. I don't speak the language but I know what it sounds like."

"The other language you heard was Saurian."

This really confused Mitchell. Sauria was a planet that wasn't given much attention because the populations of Lylat knew little about it. Some argued that it wasn't even a planet of Lylat because it was a Vulcan planet, which meant it shared the same orbit with another planet but it was constantly on the other side of the star the system orbited.

"Why in the name of Lylat would a Venomian be having a conversation with a Saurian? They're two totally different races. And who would and how? I thought Saurians were more tribal than technological. And are my old ears getting worse, because I swear I heard the name 'McCloud'," Admiral Mitchell asked a multitude of questions to General Hare, who had his arms crossed over his chest with a knowledgeable look on his face.

"Your guess is as good as mine. As for who, we have our suspicions and as for how; there is one race on Sauria that possess some technology, and yes you did hear that name. That's what really got me worried. Fox and his team are on a special assignment on Kew. I'll have to contact him after were done," said the General.

"I see. So who did you have in mind when you said you had your suspicions?"

"You let us worry about that. Right now I want you to be ready for a possible…" the speakers began to hiss with static again.

"General," Mitchell's heart began to beat.

"Admiral…'chell…'an you hea'… I'm losing your transmission sig…"

The communication line went dead. Mitchell sprung into action. "Saiders, report!"

"Sir the comm. line is commpletly dead."

"I can see that Ensign. Why is the line dead?" Mitchell wondered how he functioned with Saiders sometimes. 'How in the world did he even make it through the academy?'

"No idea sir. The communication array is running at 100 percent and… wait a minute," Saiders began rapidly typing on keyboard. "Sir the problem is some outside element."

"Solar flare," Mitchell proposed. It wasn't unnatural. As close as they were to Solar, a super hot surfaced planet in the middle of Lylat, it wouldn't be surprising at all if they were affected by the planets massive fluctuations. Mitchell began to relax at this thought.

"No sir. Sensors aren't picking up any kind of solar energy." As the Ensign continued to type, his face suddenly froze. He felt sick to his stomach at what he saw on his screen.

"Sir," Saiders said weakly.

Mitchell sensed the fear in his voice and was about ask what was wrong when Ensign Sheens abruptly shouted, "Admiral long range sensors are picking up multiple unknown ships 4000 klicks starboard side!"

So this was going to happen after all. Mitchell cussed under his breath. 'How did they get so close?! Those sensors have a range of over 30,000 klicks!' screamed the Admiral's thoughts in his head."Lieutenant Jile! Get the weapons system up and running immediately! I want missile pods ready to fire when I give the orders!"

"Aye-aye Sir!"

"Ensign Saiders contact the ground base. Tell them to be ready for an invasion. Tell whoever is running that rock down there that I want the surface to space cannons operational in five minutes!"

"Aye-aye Sir!"

"Lockheed divert all auxiliary power to the main shields! I don't want a single ship to breach our hull!"

"Yes Sir!"

"Sheens get our pilots out there! The evacuation ships are going to need cover to escape!"

"Evacuation Sir," Captain Jacobs asked.

"That's right Jacobs, evac! There are civilian scientists on board this station and we are getting them off first and you're going to over see it!"

Jacobs barked an "Aye-aye" as well. Mitchell gritted his teeth as he pulled a lighter and a cigar out of his inside breast pocket. He lit up the end of the cigar and exhaled a large puff of smoke. 'Come and get us you arrogant scumbags!'