The Cernian Secret

Chapter 4

After dressing himself after his shower, he put his blaster on safety and put it in its holster on his belt. Afterwards he left his room and made for the bridge. Peppy was already there, and Krystal arrived shortly afterwards. His breath caught in his throat when he saw her as it always does. She just always looked so beautiful to him. He noticed that she had her retractable staff attached to her belt as well as her blaster. Before he could ask why Falco entered the bridge. Fox gave a single nod, to which the avian responded in kind.

Fox was temporarily intrigued by the fact that Falco had managed to beat Slippy there; the avian was always the last one to arrive for briefing. Looking up at the display on the holo projector Fox saw that they had less than thirty minutes before they arrived at the asteroid field and linked up with General Pepper's strike force. "Where's-"Fox started to ask when the toad in question appeared on deck. He was covered in sweat and was breathing rather heavily.

"Sorry I'm late, I was making one last check up on the arwings, and it took a little longer than I thought it would," Slippy explained still catching his breath. He turned to the sapphire vixen. "Krystal, unfortunately your arwing is in no state to fly, I-"

"What!?" Krystal exclaimed an angry look on her face. Slippy cringed under her shout.

"I think one of the younger mechanics may have screwed something up. When I checked I found your right blaster to be dysfunctional, your engines are defective, and the g-diffuser system is locked in place, I would have fixed it, but I ran out of time, I'm sorry," Slippy apologized.

Krystal snarled in annoyance, her teeth bared and her ears folded back. "It can't be helped, I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to sit out on this mission," Fox said to Krystal, his tone soft and to her ears sounded relieved.

"Alright, but just be careful for me, I can't shake those fighters off your back from here," Krystal said after releasing a sigh. Her eyes became soft as did the tone in her voice; while the hurt expression remained on her face she did her best to put a smile on her face.

"I'll try," Fox replied. "Now then, on to business, we will be arriving here, where General Pepper's strike force is waiting for us," he said pointing at the holo projector where the asteroid field as well as Fichina where being displayed. "Once we meet up with them we will navigate our way through the asteroid field and perform a reconnaissance around Fichina to find any trace of the lost Cornerian ships or what happened to them. As it stands we may have to destroy any asteroids that the ships can't handle on their own as well as possibly engage whatever hostile forces there may be out there," Fox said as he explained the mission and traced their flight path on the projector.

"Is it possible that the aparoids may have returned?" Falco asked. "I mean, they were tough bugs and the bigger ones tore buildings apart like it was nothing I wouldn't be surprised if a few of them were still hanging around," the avian said.

"That's highly unlikely, My dad had a few of the aparoids collected from the battle to take back Corneria City, and he said they all died immediately after the queen, besides all of the Cornerian warships are heavily armed and can take on even the largest bugs," Slippy answered.

"What about the Sargasso Space Colony?" Krystal asked.

"No, that's not likely either, I mean Wolf may be bold and unpredictable, but he isn't stupid, he wouldn't attack Cornerian forces directly, especially considering how badly he's been trying to get on Pepper's good side," Fox responded. "Venom forces maybe?" Fox suggested.

"Perhaps, but without an heir to take command, the Venom Empire should have fallen apart by now," Peppy started. "Unless Oikonny survived, made it back to his scattered fleet and regrouped," Peppy mused.

"Yes, that's possible, we never did get to confirm his death, the aparoids swarmed us before we got the chance," Fox agreed. "However, we shouldn't jump to conclusions based on our own ideas, we need proof. Just be ready for anything out there," Fox said. "Any questions?" When he received no reply he nodded. "Good, now then, let's get to it people, I want us to be ready for launch as soon as we exit warp!"

As Falco, Fox and Slippy made their way to the hanger; Krystal couldn't help but them a sad glance as they left her sight. With a sigh she dropped into one of the chairs on the bridge. Coupled with her sharing one of Fox's "premonitions" and her ship suddenly breaking down, she began to feel sick to her stomach. In the back of her mind something just didn't sit right, and it made her feel even more uneasy.

"It's alright Krystal, I'm sure they will be fine," Peppy said, trying to offer the vixen a smile. "You can help me observe from here on the bridge if you like," he suggested.

"This isn't right, I should be going out there with them," Krystal said as she buried her face in her hands trying to settle her nerves.

"Krystal," Peppy tried to calm her down, but to no avail.

"I-I saw one of his premonitions, I felt it," Krystal said. She suddenly shot up out of the chair. "Peppy! We're flying straight into a trap!" she exclaimed.

"Krystal, we know," Peppy said calmly. Krystal's eyes widened her tail and ears tensed.

"What?" she asked.

"We know we're going right into a trap, Pepper does too, and that's why he sent a battle group to help us. The Star Fox team, while often acting as a mercenary group is in fact a special operations unit. One of two in the Cornerian military branch, we have as much freedom as we want but we are assigned the most dangerous missions, missions that would normally be too costly for regular soldiers and pilots," Peppy began.

Krystal shook her head. "No! That's not what I mean!" She continued. "Th-" she was cut off as Rob activated the ship wide intercom.

"Now exiting warp space, all hands to battle stations," Rob said in his mono tone voice over the ship wide intercom. The two turned to look out the bridge past their robotic assistant to see the asteroid field suddenly appear on the ship's viewports as it exited warp space. The massive rocks rotated and crashed into each other, but seemed to be locked in a preset orbital as they drifted by. Further away from the asteroids the fleet that Pepper sent was already waiting. Krystal could easily count at least ten large Cornerian Cruisers as well as each of their frigate escorts. The sleek triangular like ships looked a lot like arrowheads from their viewpoints.

"We're being hailed by the Sojourn would you like me to patch it through?" The communications officer said almost instantly.

"Yes," Peppy answered immediately. A few quick seconds later and the image of a cocker spaniel appeared on the screen.

"Welcome Great Fox, I am Commander Howard, Captain of the cruiser, Sojourn, and commanding officer of this task force, we are at your service," he said as he removed his hat and bowed his head before putting his hat back on. "You have impeccable timing, we arrived just moments ago, but now down to business, out long range scanners can't find anything in the asteroids or around Fichina, not even any trace of the Fortune, Hammerfall, or the Steadfast. No signs of life, no escape pods, no scrap metal, no sign of the ships at all," The commander said.

"Did you try beta radiation?" Slippy asked through his own communicator.

"No signs of beta radiation either, it's as if they were never here," Howard replied. "However, we have managed to pinpoint the exact location where the Fortune sent her last transmission," he added.

"Well, that's better than nothing," Fox mused. "Alright, here's the plan, Falco, Slippy and I will fly a path through the asteroid field and checkout the last known location of those ships, commander, if we run into trouble I want you to scramble your fighters and defend the Great Fox. Peppy, the Fox is yours," Fox said through his communicator.

"Roger that Fox," Peppy replied.

"As you wish Captain Mc Cloud," Howard replied.

Fox looked off to his side where he saw that except for the arwing to his immediate right, the rest of his team was preparing for takeoff. When the Great Fox II was completed it had a much larger hanger than its predecessor. Cornerian fighters could be seen on both sides of the hangers, some of them the fast sleek interceptors while the others were the heavily armored fighters. He could even see Peppy's old arwing that they brought aboard, much to the old hare's delight.

The engineering teams shuffled about doing their usual checkups. Making sure the ships were in pristine working order and that everything was in working order. Ending the public communications line with the bridge, Howard, and the rest of his team, Fox opened a private channel with Slippy's ship.

"Thanks, for grounding Krystal slip," Fox said. "It really puts my mind at ease."

"Falco filled me in on your contingency plan, so I just did my part, nothing special," Slippy replied casually.

"Magnetic locks disengaged," Rob's robotic voice sounded out across the hanger.

"Hanger shield is down, you are clear to launch when ready," one of the crew said from the hanger control room.

"Remember, we don't know what's out there so be prepared for anything, our objectives are to locate any sign of the lost Cornerian vessels and investigate the strange activity around Fichina," Peppy said over the inter comm. "We'll be right behind you, so good luck," he finished.

"Be careful Fox," Krystal said to him on a private channel. On the visual screen he could see her. It pang his heart to see her look so distressed, she had one of her hands resting over her heart, her ears folded back in concern, her tail hung limp, and her face looked like she was about to cry. He vowed to do his best to never make her look like that again, but he had to focus on the mission.

"I'll try," he responded trying to offer the vixen a smile. She tried to respond with one in kind, but only the corners of her lips twitched upwards, her emerald orbs still lashing at him with worry and concern.

"I'll be watching you every step of the way," She said before she cut the link.

"Alright team, launch!" Fox ordered as soon as his engines came to life. The feeling of being launched from the hanger never got old, the roar of the engines staring and the rush of adrenaline just made him feel so alive. While Falco and Slippy made a quick run around the fleet, Fox circled the Great Fox.

Unlike its predecessor, the Great Fox II was nearly twice the size of the original, sporting two main hangers, one for fighter crafts and the other for landing crafts. The armor was much thicker and tougher. Anti-fighter guns as well as anti-ship cannons were placed strategically along the hull to cover up any blind spot that the dreadnaught may have had. The three massive engines had enough power to propel the ship at just a third of their normal power and able to reach warp speeds on its own, a very rare feature for ships. The primary weapons that the previous Great Fox had had been greatly improved, instead of one set of hyper cannons, now rested two, one set on each side of the ship's main hull. The Star Fox colors were painted on the ship, the four massive wings were blue with white along the edges and the hull had two thick blue strands leading all the way up to the bridge. Next to it laid the Star Fox emblem in all of its glory.

On the outside the ship looked terrifying, but Fox knew that it was even scarier to go up against, the ship had two separate shield generators locked away safely inside the ship and the inside itself was armed to the teeth with security turrets and other obstacles that invaders would have to overcome. Satisfied with the massive dreadnaught Fox flew back in the direction of the asteroids just as Falco and Slippy rejoined him.

"Be careful Fox," Krystal said more to herself than anyone else as the blue blur flew straight past the bridge's viewport. As she watched the other two arwings rejoin the flight lead, they formed a loose formation and dived straight into the asteroids. The Cernian vixen tried to use her powers to sense any life forms on the other side of the space rocks. She couldn't sense anything. It wasn't like the high frequencies that had threatened her when she tried to read the aparoids' minds or like any of the inhabitants of Sauria, it wasn't even like trying to get into Fox's mind. There was just a void of cognitive life out there, and it made her worry.

"I should be out there," she said again. "He-they need me out there Peppy, I have to go!" she argued.

"Krystal, if you went out there right now, you'd probably be pulverized into dust by those asteroids, your arwing just isn't in a condition to fly!" Peppy replied. The old hare turned to see the vixen relaying orders to the repair crews on the bridge to have her ship repaired as soon as possible. "I know you're concerned, but you can't afford to let your emotions control you!"

"Let my emotions control me!?" Krystal growled. Baring her teeth Krystal growled in frustration, her fists were balled and her tail flicked irritated. "I saw Fox's "premonition" Peppy," she said. "I know what has had Fox so concerned, but his concern is placed in the wrong spot."

"What do you mean Krystal?" the old hare asked, settling down into his chair, not taking his eyes off of the radar screen on other screens he being projected from a hologram on his chair panel.

"Fox was having a nightmare, so I slipped into his mind to try and sooth him, and I saw it, this "premonition" ability you mentioned," Krystal began to explain. "We're flying straight into a trap Peppy," she tried to reason.

"Yes, I know that, and as I already told you, we knew that when we received the mission," Peppy continued, turning his attention back to the screens.

"You're not listening to me!" the sapphire vixen roared, startling everyone on the bridge. "They're after Fox," she said in a much softer tone. "From what I saw, he's afraid I might die protecting him, but if we don't help them he will die Peppy," Krystal pleaded.

Peppy stopped what he was doing as he considered the vixen's words. 'Remember, only aim for the target… Capture both… Cernian freak,' he remembered reading. Both. He suddenly took a look back at Krystal, the worry still evident on her face. The only foxes he'd ever met were James, Vixie, Fox, and Krystal, no others. Suddenly all the pieces that had been stumbling around in his head suddenly slammed into place. "Oh damn it," he cursed under his breath.

"Peppy?" Krystal asked stepping closer to the hare out of concern; she'd never heard him cuss once since she'd met him.

"We were wrong," Peppy continued, without realizing Krystal was within hearing range.

"Wrong? Wrong about what?" she asked. When she saw the hare visibly recoil in shock she probed his mind. She saw everything, from the intercepted message to the special meeting with Fox and Falco. Peppy could tell by the look on her face exactly what she was thinking.

"Krystal, I'm sorry, we thought they would be after you, I-I'm sorry," Peppy said crestfallen, ears drooping. Krystal bit back a growl, turned and stormed off the bridge.

"How long until my ship is repaired?" she demanded in a harsh angry voice.

"Just a few moments until the scans are complete, but we haven't found anything wrong with your arwing ma'am, I do believe it is in perfect working condition" the crew hand replied. A furious growl came from the vixen as she continued towards the hanger, reaching the elevator that led to the hanger bay where she could get to her arwing she had a few seconds to compose herself. A series of emotions were wagging war in her right now, fear and anxiety for Fox's well being, absolute fury for them trying to hide her from the fight, joyous relief for not being the last of the Cernians, and irritating for the current situation. She tried once again to sense anything beyond the asteroids, but she couldn't even sense Fox or the rest of the team anymore. She hoped it was just because of the fact that her emotions were out of control and that she couldn't focus, but deep down she feared that was not the case.

The moment the elevator reached the deck where her arwing was waiting for her, leaping over the guard rail, not even waiting for the door to open she made for the advanced fighter. Sprinting over she leapt into the cockpit and began the startup sequences. It was just as the engineer said, not a thing was wrong with her ship. Realizing she had no time to be angry, she launched herself out of the hanger and soared for the asteroids.

"Fox," Peppy tried to radio the team leader. "Krystal knows about "Treasure box, I repeat, Krystal knows," Peppy said into his communicator. When no reply was heard, he tried again. "Fox?" Peppy asked after another unsuccessful attempt. Eyes going wide, the old hare ordered a fleet wide transmission.

"Launch all ships! Something is wrong and we're going to get our team out of there!" he ordered as he had the Great Fox pull towards the head of the fleet as all of the fighters began to scramble. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Krystal's arwing already gaining a steady lead over them. "God's speed Krystal," Peppy said to himself as his the bridge became swarming with activity to respond to the mobilizing fleet.

The long overdue chapter four, now for those of you who are confused, you're supposed to be. Cause the next chapter takes things from the rest of the team's perspective so you can find out what's actually happening. I appreciate any feedback you wish to provide me with and I hope you're enjoying the story so far. Till next time!