Invasion Two: Contact
“I have to say, having leave time is a very good thing!” Fox remarked.
Wolf grinned. “Couldn’t agree more.”
The whole group was at The Imperial, a dance club/bar that was a popular pilot hangout. The Star Fox team, which now consisted of a dozen or so pilots, had rearranged two rectangular tables so they were end to end, and were now sitting at that, talking and laughing. As time went on, they were joined by General Pepper, and not long after that, Andross himself, who worked for Space Dynamics.
The bartender ignored them.
Some of the patrons, however, were annoyed and angry. Some of the Cornerian pilots in particular, who looked at Star Wolf and Andross with disgust, couldn’t see how the Star Fox team could socialize with them. Several of these pilots held bad grudges against the Venomian pilots and former Emperor.
The Star Fox and Star Wolf teams were oblivious to it really, figuring they couldn’t be friends with anyone.
“The way I see it, we’re going to have some free time for a while. Nothing much going on anymore.” Falco interjected, slouching in his chair comfortably.
“Probably true, but I’m going to enjoy it while it lasts.” Fox replied. “Care to dance Fara?”
The pair left, making Falco roll his eyes.
“How can we be sure that the snakes won’t come back anyway?” Slippy put in, leaning on the table. “They were obviously hell-bent on taking over not too long ago, and even if we did beat them into the ground a while back, I can’t believe they’d give up that easily.”
“Agreed. I think we should be on our toes for a while, until we can be sure.” Leon said.
“Personally I doubt they’d come back to mess with us.” Falco said, tossing a hand.
“Arrogance.” Warned James.
“Sorry, but it’s just the way I’m thinking right now.”
“Just be careful, that’s what got me shot down earlier on.”
Pepper cleared his throat. “We caught something on the edge of the system about half an hour ago.”
“Like what?” James turned to look at Pepper.
“It’s not manned, we figure. Could be a dead ship or satellite, pulled in by our gravity.” The General shrugged. “We sent some scouts out a while ago to bring it in and take it to SpaceLab.”
“Nothing to worry about then?”
“Hopefully, no.”
“Yeah hopefully, I’ve seen enough battles to last me a while.”
“It’s a satellite obviously.” One of the scientists at SpaceLab said. “But I’ve never seen one like this before.”
“We never made them like this.” A Venomian scientist commented. “I can assume that that counts for all of Lylat.”
“Yes.”
“Which means this is from somewhere else.”
“Got the hatch open!” Called a voice from the other side of the satellite. “Looks like this thing was programmed with a recording device or something…Like a tape recorder?” She studied it, curious, then turned it on.
There was a long pause, then a voice started.
“As a representitive of the planet Earth and the United States of America…”
“You’re telling me this…satellite is a huge messenger?” General Pepper asked, staring at the huge alien thing.
“That’s what we think sir. And a peaceful one at that. Wished us peace, goodwill, and that sort of thing in over a hundred languages.” The woman scientist replied, twitching her tail.
“How long ago was it programmed to do this?”
“Sir?” The Venomian looked up from his computer. “Sixty years, a rough estimate, but close as we can get.”
“Hm…any idea where it came from?” Andross asked, fingering a broken solar panel. “I mean, it’s obvious this is a quite advanced race.”
“We’re working on that now sir.”
James propped his foot up on a rock, looking around. He pointed out a low-slung stone building, half a mile up a rocky cliff. “That was were we were supposed to lead Stony’s group. Team was playing as aerial support and a guide. Not exactly subtle, but it worked well at first.” He turned slightly, gesturing to a rocky outcropping, and a low spot in the terrain. “They managed to make it that far, get what they needed, but got pinned down there. Lots of people hit, bleeding pretty bad. Stony included, had a bullet through his arm, but wasn’t about to give up or leave his men.” His voice started cracking.
Fox and a few others, standing and listening to this, nodded.
“I can remember…flying over again and again, but I couldn’t see what was going on. There was too much smoke, and each time I made a pass, more bullets flew up toward my plane. The fire kept getting worse and worse.
Stony realized that he couldn’t get out without help, and requested a helicopter. Refused…” He trailed off and sat down hard, rubbing his temples. “It’s this part that I always flash back to…the conversation on the radio. Stony panicked, and demanded the chopper…refused again. He turned to me. I had no idea what to do. I was in a one man fighter, couldn’t see where they were.
‘James, get us out of here right now!’
‘I won't let you down, Stony. I won't let you down!’
‘James, the fire is getting bad! We can't take much more of this! GET US OUT OF HERE RIGHT NOW!’
‘General, get Stony's insertion team out right now!’ I remember shouting. It didn’t do any good.
‘I have no authorization to go behind enemy lines!’ Replied General Talon.
‘JAMES!’ Howled Stony in panic.
‘Get them out now, dammit!’ I shrieked.
There was a long silence.
‘They aren't going to come get us, are they?’ Whispered Stony. ‘See you on the flip side, James.’
‘Stony!’ ” James imitated the voices wearily, closing his eyes and shaking his head. “That was the last time I talked to him.”
Fox sat down next to his father, silently.
“I guess it’s stupid, to keep flashing back to this.” James looked out over the former battlefield. “I thought if I saw the site, I could get a hold of my memory.”
“Nah, it isn’t stupid.” Said Falco, crossing his arms. “I can understand why. You lost a best friend in it. That’s a damn good reason.”
“Thanks Fal.” James halfway grinned, still looking out over the battlefield. “I do feel better now that I’ve confronted it actually. I’m not going to forget it though.” He stood up. “And I still think that General Talon is a complete and utter jerk.”
“Most here agree.” Fox also stood.
“Hey. Remember about that satellite?” Peppy said after listening in on his radio. “They’ve isolated the general location of where it’s from, but haven’t gotten the exact system. They’re moving MAXIS as we speak.”
Above Corneria, the huge Lylatian satellite MAXIS shifted orbit, turning all of its telescoping power toward the directed location.
This was a challenge. The simple computer brain, not the smartest of robots but able to do its job well, liked challenges. It focused in absently, peering over the distance at the systems it was told to examine, another arm of the spiral galaxy the Lylat System was part of. The search had already narrowed it down to a certain section of the arm, and that made it go quicker.
While the robot hummed and searched, scientists below on the surface went through the information it picked up, and agreed with what the simple computer brain was saying.
In the end, it took two weeks to find what it was looking for. But it was easy to tell, once it judged the sun and the orbits…and by the pictures, there were artificial satellites around the third planet.
“Scientific escort.” Wolf said, blinking.
“Should be interesting actually. Hey don’t you want to meet aliens?” Teased Slippy.
ROB turned its head to look at the pilots on the bridge. “As long as I don’t get shot down.” It said in a prim voice. “I just had a talk with Max. There’s a 92% that this system we’re heading to has active space travel.”
“Max?” Falco asked.
“MAXIS, Fal.” Fox replied.
“Oh.”
“Dreadnought Great Fox, this is the Atlantis, you should be seeing us on your port side right about now.” Buzzed the radio.
James looked out a view port. Sure enough, there was the scientific cruiser, about the same size as the Great Fox but less graceful and blockier, hammer-headed with smaller fins. “We see you, Atlantis.” He said into his headset radio. “Ready to go?”
“Yes. Tying into your NAV computer now. We have the coordinates, so we should jump together.”
“Roger that. No one’s told us where we’re going exactly.”
“Figures.” The captain of the Atlantis laughed, understanding completely about being left out of orders.
Chirps came from the NAV computer, and ROB didn’t even glance at it, receiving the information automatically. “We’ve got the coordinates. Preparing for warp jump. Hold strap in guys, this may be a little bumpy.”
“Three…days?” Falco said, stunned.
“We’re traveling cross galaxy Falco.” Fox said dryly.
“All of us are going to be space sick, man.”
“Yeah probably. Shouldn’t be too bad though, we’re stopping every so often to drop off satellites. President insisted on being able to keep contact with us, even if there will probably be a two hour delay!”
“Two hours is a long time to wait for a message.” The avian growled, shaking his head. “What the hell are we going to do for three days?”
“I have no idea. Three days isn’t too long, we’ll think of something.”
“You are aware that I get cabin fever REALLY FAST, right?”
“Yes I am.”
Falco circled the Great Fox and Atlantis as the scientific ship dropped off the third of ten satellites. It was a fifteen-minute operation, but Falco had grabbed the time to get off the Great Fox. Everyone else had come up with various ways to get rid of boredom, if any. It was only about two in the afternoon of the first travel day after all. Slippy and Andrew had found something to work on in the Maintenance bay, James and Fox discovered the baking supplies (much to everyone else’s delight). Other people found books to read, games to play (it seemed that Falco had snuck a variety of computer games onto the Great Fox’s memory), et cetera.
“What’s the buzz, tell me what’s happening, what’s the buzz, tell me what’s happening…” Fox sang loudly over his shoulder.
From down the hall, and a little off key, came the reply. “Why should you want to know, don’t you care about the future? Don’t you try to think ahead? Save tomorrow for tomorrow, think about today instead…”
“Do you two ever shut up?” Falco crossly asked when he came in, as the Great Fox warped again. “Oo, cookies.”
“You can have one if it puts you in a better mood.” Fox replied. “And as for Wolf and I shutting up, well, we both like singing.”
“Even if I’m not good at it. Did I hear someone mention cookies?” Wolf came into the kitchen.
Atlantis and the Great Fox both came out the warp, and into the designated system.
Most team members launched and paced the cruisers, all happy to be out of a warp and off the Great Fox.
“We won’t run into civilization for about half an hour.” Said Fox to the others, as they passed a blue planet that was tipped drastically sideways. “Near as we can tell, the main planet is the third, and they’ve colonized both the moon of that planet and the fourth planet. We’ve also seen evidence of asteroid mining.”
“So…what are we supposed to do?” Wolf asked.
“Supposedly, watch from a distance, see what they’re like. But I have a feeling that we’re going to confront them. If their satellites are any good, they’ll catch us the minute we get close enough to see ANYTHING.”
“Good point.”
Captain Ramius came on the radio. “Actually, if we feel the time is right, we’re allowed to confront them and talk to them. The President hopes for a treaty, or some other such peaceful situation.”
Another voice came on. “The colonization and mining is all recent.” Said a smooth girl’s voice. “Within the last five to ten years. Looks like there was some recent leaps in technology.”
“Roger that.” James said.
“WOW.” Fara said, staring. “Pretty planet.”
“We’ve got radio channels…” Slippy had his hands up to cover his ears. “TOO MANY radio channels. I’m picking up a barrage of radio channels, mostly music stations and such, but also some military channels.” He stood on the bridge of the Great Fox, trying to find an understandable transmission. “All foreign stuff so far. Give me a while.”
“We will. That look like surveillance to you?” Fox circled a satellite curiously.
“Yes actually.” Falco studied it. “Hmm.”
“If we go stealth and cloak, can we go into the atmosphere?” Katt asked curiously.
“Fine by us. Would you mind escorting Don?” Said Ramius.
“‘Don’?” Leon asked.
A small scientific ship launched from the Atlantis. It looked a little like an arwing, but there was a lot of scientific equipment installed on it instead of weapons. “I’m Don.” Said a young, cheerful voice. “Going to get a look at the air down there if you don’t mind.”
“That thing got any sort of stealth or cloaking technology on it?”
Pause. “Well, no. It’s not usually a requirement on a scientific vehicle. I can outrun anything that comes at me though. For its inconvenience, this thing is super-fast and maneuverable.”
“Good. You’re going to need it if this planet sends something to investigate a bunch of unknown radar blips.” Fox sighed. “Everyone coming except Andrew and Slippy?”
“Right.” Pigma said, falling into formation.
“Roger, let’s go.”
With Don in the center of the formation, the planes plunged through the atmosphere.
“How long will this take you?” Leon asked, rolling his plane.
“Long as it takes us to circle the planet, okay? The computer wants that long because it wants several samples, and hey, I’m just driving the stupid thing. Cab service for a computer.” Don replied.
Fox laughed.
“You can go ahead, I’ll stick with the Cabbie.” Said Peppy.
“So will I.” Pigma said.
“May as well. You younger ones can fly off. Don’t bother with stealth, they got us already.” James said.
“Roger that.” Fox boosted away, the others falling into formation behind him.
“Looks to me like this poor planet was polluted then cleaned up, think?” Katt said, going lower.
“Agreed.” Wolf replied.
“Let’s drop altitude, we’re over water anyway.” Fox said, angling his plane downward.
The eight fighters skimmed the water, sending up sprays of it when they rolled.
Fox rolled on purpose, splashing Falco. Falco retaliated.
And five seconds later, it was an all out free for all.
“Okay, you maniacs, listen up down there. There are planes coming toward you.” James said. “Unknown surface fighters from an aircraft carrier. If I were you I’d pull up and get back to the Great Fox.”
“Roger that!”
The fighters pulled up and skimmed land, dodging trees.
CLUNK.
“Um, I feel stupid.” Wolf said. “I’ve got a tree branch stuck in my wing. I can’t get my wings out of all range mode.” He pushed the button again, and the gears ground in protest. “Nope, they’re staying put. If I can touch down for a few moments I can yank it out and get back into the air immediately.”
“You be careful, Wolf.” Fox said. “It’s your decision.”
“Roger that. See you in a few minutes.”
Wolf found a field, and landed, leaping out of the cockpit and going back to the jammed wing.
It was a huge branch; it took a lot longer then he expected to get it out. He was concentrating so much on that, in fact, that he didn’t hear the clatter of approaching hooves.
“Welcome to Earth.” Said a weak voice behind him.
He spun, and found himself staring at an alien.
It wasn’t too strange looking. Bipedal in build, and stood erect like he did. Currently, it rode an insentient horse. Unlike him, though, the alien was rather flat-faced; ears on the sides of the head, no fur or feathers. Hair seemed contained to the scalp; this one’s hair was rather long and light brown. He also guessed that this alien was female, and younger.
“I mean, you are an alien, right?”
“I guess so, through your eyes.” He shrugged and pulled the branch out of the gears the rest of the way. Though this person’s speech was oddly accented, he could understand most of it.
“But…you’re a wolf.”
“Yeah, and what are you?”
“I’m human.” The alien dismounted, holding onto the horse’s reins, and came closer slowly, studying him curiously.
“Wolf?” Buzzed his radio.
“Yeah?”
“How goes it? What’s taking so long?”
“Unjammed the gears, but now I have a different problem.”
Fox groaned. “What now? Can’t be worse then us, the rest of us just got chased out of the atmosphere by a bunch of planes from this planet.”
“I’m standing here, by my plane, looking at one of the aliens, Fox.”
“That’s worse all right. And?”
“Nothing much so far.”
“What’s your name?” The human asked, now only a few feet from Wolf.
“O’Donnel. Wolf O’Donnel.” He replied absently, still talking to Fox via the radio.
“Oh… I’m Sandra, but you can call me Sandy.”
“I’ll get back to you.” He muttered into the radio, and pushed the mouthpiece aside. “Pleased to meet you Sandy, but I’ve got to go.”
“Why? Are you worried about getting captured?”
“Actually yes.” He hopped back into the cockpit of his plane.
She reached out and set a hand on the plane, like she was convincing herself it was real. “This is like a dream.”
“Back away, I have to take off.”
She did so, leading her horse away.
“So what do you think?” Fox asked.
“Nice enough…but I only talked to one.” Wolf shrugged, helping himself to a handful of chips. Instead of taking the trouble to call a meeting or something official like that, most talking was one on the bridge, in the den, or in the kitchen. Fox and Wolf were currently in the kitchen.
Fox passed Wolf some salsa.
“Bipedal, stand erect, kinda flat faced. No bills or muzzles. Ears on the side of the head, hair contained to the scalp…” Wolf shrugged. “Not so different its shocks you, ya know, but a little odd.”
“FOX!” Falco came in. “We picked up a TV band. There’s a news conference on. CONCERNING US.”
“Well be right there.”
Falco left again.
“They’re going to blow us out of the sky…” Katt moaned to herself.
“That wasn’t said.” Peppy replied.
“That…HUMAN said, and I quote, ‘We’ll use any force necessary to protect Earth.’ Fact is, what if he shoots at us for flying in the atmosphere?! Guys, this is dangerous.”
“She’s right.” Fox said dryly.
“So what are we supposed to do now?” Falco asked, leaning on the wall and crossing his arms.
“Damned if I know!” He flared, then called down. “Seems we’re dealing with a race that has seen to many movies, if that makes any sense…there’s a lot of stuff they’ve made that has to deal with destroying aliens, which were attacking or not attacking…” He shrugged.
“Not good.” Said Fara.
“Not good at all.” Slippy agreed.
“Pepper just sent us a message…it’s huge. It’s got some video footage with it.” Said ROB. “And Slippy, you need to recharge my power packs again.”
The camera showed a small round ship, parked in the cleanest hanger the Star Fox team had ever seen. There were scientists everywhere, waiting.
The hatch opened, and one of the ‘snakes’ came slowly down the ramp, walking on all eight of its appendages. It wore a loose vest, and that was it. Its fur was sea green in color, and it had black eyes with orange sideways-slitted pupils.
The camera shifted angles, and General Pepper could be seen standing nearby, arms crossed, watching uneasily.
His voice came on, recorded over the video.
“I know this will alarm a few of you, especially Fox and Wolf, who were directly attacked and injured by one of these aliens. But this small ship and its inhabitants are refugees, wishing asylum in the Lylat system.”
The one snake which had emerged looked at the Lylatians and bowed its head, sitting on the concrete floor.
“This one’s name, as far as I can pronounce it that is,” A twinge of amusement came into Pepper’s voice. “Is Nyeria, and is about the equivalent of a 17 year old girl. She’s also shy.
There were 16 aliens on the ship, ranging from children to three elderly members of the race. As for communication, some techies here figured out a translator. These guys are fairly nice people. I hope you can negociate with Earth, by the way. Good luck, Star Fox.
And I sent you this just so you’d know we aren’t just twiddling our thumbs back here.”
The video/audio recording ended.
Fox shook his head. “As if we weren’t dealing with enough already huh?”
“How are we going to make Earth realize that we aren’t going to hurt them?” James wondered out loud.
“Good question…”
Syyvl bounded across the grass toward the playground. Though the grass was green instead of blue, and the equipment on the playground was different then she was used to, she didn’t really care. She was smiling.
“Syyvl!” Shouted a voice she recognized. A young Lylatian wove at her, smiling.
Even if their elders had been enemies, they were friends.
Syyvl laughed and play-tackled Aaron, tail waving. Aaron laughed, sand sticking to his clothing as he stood.
“How are you?” Syyvl asked, translator she was wearing doing its job so Aaron could understand her.
“Fine! Come on let’s play.” He ran toward the slides, Syyvl bounding after him.
After only a week on Lylat, the Ranits had found housing and were working on jobs, with the help of the Lylatian Government. Not that the kids really cared. They strove to fit in, not understanding when people sometimes screamed and ran from them.
Syyvl lived only half a block from a park, and went there alone. Even as a young one, she could be lethal. In her kind, only the females carried poison.
Not that she cared. She just wanted to have friends.
After getting over the initial shock, Aaron ignored his disapproving parents and was soon close friends with the Ranit. He saw no more difference between himself and Syyvl then he saw between himself and his other friends that were other species.
“Come on, snakey!” He crowed, climbing the ladder. ‘Snakey’ was his joking nickname for Syyvl.
“Coming, fuzzy!” She yelled back.
Several of the other kids had left the main playground, and were watching from the distance; some scared of the new arrival. Then gradually they came back, and soon weren’t scared at all.
“Jeeez!” Fox glared at his plane. A long line of bullet holes streaked up the side, barely missing the cockpit. “What is with these people! We didn’t do anything.”
“Damned if we know.” Sighed Fara, walking over.
“Think we even have a chance of making peace with Earth?” He asked.
“I would think so.”
Unable to stand it anymore, he pulled her close and kissed her, managing to stun her.
When he let her go, she gave him a stunned look. “What was that for?”
“No reason.”
“You always have a reason.”
“I don’t currently.”
“I had something to tell you, but you knocked it out of my mind.”
“Sorry.”
“No…that’s okay.”
Fara looked at Fox’s plane, and shook her head at the line of bullet holes. “These people…”
“I know.” He sighed. “I don’t know what to do.”
“Now THAT’S a city!” Leon whooped as he and Falco approached New York.
“Yeah! Reminds me of home! Let’s take a closer look! Dropping to the deck!” Falco dropped his altitude until he skimmed about thirty feet above the waves. Leon followed suit, and they dropped even lower, weaving in and out of the waves and sending up spray when their wingtips caught the water.
“This could get us into trouble ya know! Fox and James came back with bullet holes last time they came down here!”
“Hey, we can take care of ourselves can’t we?”
“Yes we can, my friend!”
They pulled up and wove in and out of skyscrapers, dodging hovercars every now and then.
“We’ve got some alien surface fighters at nine o’clock and high. They aren’t willing to come down here.” Falco remarked.
“Woo hoo!” Leon laughed. “In that case, let’s go lower! Pedal to the metal!”
They sped up, looping around bridges and weaving around the sky scrapers, staying low to the point they could read signs.
“Hey, put the wings back, buddy.” Falco suddenly said, doing so on his plane. “I’ve got a crazy idea…”
“Like?” Leon dubiously asked, pushing a button that swept the arwing’s wings completely back.
“Why don’t we merge with the traffic? We’re low enough to.”
“Sure! If these things can maintain a low enough speed and still fly that is.”
“Of course, of course.”
They fell into the traffic line, peacefully and somewhat aimlessly wandering the streets, waiting for stoplights and staying as close to the speed limit as they could.
“Hey look at this.” Snickered Falco, looking over to another lane. A hovervan flew next to them.
Leon craned his neck to look where his copilot was looking.
A few human children were unbelted and pressed against the windows, looking at them, eyes wide. The parents were also staring, though still wearing seatbelts.
“Looks like we’re quite the attention getters around here.” Snickered Leon.
“Apparently.”
The light changed, and the two planes started forward again and started to turn.
The van, after a few moments, belatedly pulled out, and after a few moments, started to turn after the planes.
Then the light changed, and the van was broadsided by a hoversemi, which even with all it’s air brakes on couldn’t stop in time. Badly off balance, it tipped and fell onto one side, repulsor jets shoving it into a building before turning off.
“Oh, god!” Leon u-turned, looking at the wreck.
“And what with traffic, it’ll be forever until authorities can get here.” Falco shook his head.
“We’ve got to help!”
“Agreed. You’ve got a medkit right?”
“’Course.”
“Good.”
They slowly touched down in the middle of the intersection, engines hissing as they cooled down. Both hopped out of their planes, and went over to the wrecked van.
The hoversemi driver was trapped, pounding on the glass, shouting, sounding panicked. Several cars had pulled over and a steady crowd was forming, staring at the two pilots.
“You check the van. I’ll get this guy.” Leon said, climbing up the undercariage of the semi and crouching on the side of the semi’s cab.
“10-4.” Falco strode over to what was left of the ruined van, looking in the windows.
“What are you man?!” Cried the trapped semi driver, staring up at Leon.
“A friend.” He shouted back, jerking on the door. “The hinges are stuck, I’m going to have to drill them out to get you out. Look, there isn’t a gas leak as far as I can tell. Just stay there. I’ll have you out as soon as I can.” He jumped down and went back to his arwing, retrieving the tool kit.
Falco, meanwhile, had gotten one of the side doors open on the van, and winced. The kids hadn’t been wearing seatbelts at the time of impact. “Leon, how’s it on your end?”
“Okay. The driver is talking at least.” Leon growled via the radio, which also picked up the buzzing of the drill. After several minutes, he had drilled the hinges and was prying the door open.
“Not so good here.” Falco stepped into the car, counting. Two parents, three kids. The parents were knocked out but had air bags. The kids though… He picked up the nearest one slowly and carried him out of the ruined car. He couldn’t have been more then eight years old.
A camera flashed. Looking up, he saw a civilian standing nearby, holding a camera. He sighed and turned away, setting the little boy on the ground then shrugging out of his jacket to make a makeshift pillow. Then he stood and went back to the van.
“This is pretty bad. I need help, Leon, like now.”
“I saw. Just a sec…” Leon leaned in and offered the driver his hand. “Come on, guy. I’m here to help.” After several moments, the driver look his hand climbed out of the semi. He was bleeding from one temple, but that was the only apparent injury as far as Leon could tell. “You okay?”
“Yeah…guess so…” He just stared.
“Right.” He jumped back down and went over to help Falco.
“Is there any way I can help?” The driver called.
“Yeah. Find a radio and call an ambulance, like now.”
He nodded and sprinted over to one of the taxis caught in the traffic jam.
“I think the parents are okay.” Falco said, unbelting the mother and trying to wake her up. “The kids…I’m not sure about…”
“Neither am I. This one’s awake though.” Leon set the third, and eldest, by his brother and sister and went to help get the parents out of the wreck.
“Hey. You’re the guys in those cool planes.” Said the boy, shaking his head fuzzily.
“Yes indeed, young man.”
When the ambulance arrived, the entire family was out of the wreck, and all except the youngest was awake. Falco had dug a medscanner out of the medkit in his arwing and was looking for injuries on the young boy as Leon helped bandage wounds on the other family members.
“How is this possible though?” The father asked, shaking his head in wonder. “You speak our language…but you’re from a different planet.”
“Blows my mind too.” Leon shrugged. “Your government has had us worried for a long time. You see my friend and I are actually part of a military group…”
“Military?!” Cried the mother, eyes wide.
“Don’t go panicking. You see, actually we’re mercenaries ma’am. We’re here escorting a scientific frigate. This planet’s governments has made it…difficult on us needless to say.”
“What do you mean?” The crowd had formed a ring at a respectful distance. The ambulance pushed through and landed, med-techs jumping out.
He stood and backed off as Falco did, toward their planes.
“What I mean is that we’ve had copilots, even our squad leader, coming back with bullet holes in their planes, and they were just escorting scientific vehicles or scouting.” Falco stiffly replied, then muttered. “We better go, guy. I don’t want to get swamped down here. Fox would kill us if we got captured.”
“You’re probably right about that.”
They turned to leave, but the eldest boy dashed forward, evading his mother’s grasp, and caught Falco’s arm. “Wait a moment! You probably saved our lives! The doctors said that if my little brother had been in the wreck much longer he’d have no chance.”
“Listen, if we don’t leave, we probably won’t get away from here.”
“I guess I just wanted to say thanks.”
“You’re welcome, kid. All in a day’s work.”
The two quickly took off as a pair of military police cars arrived, and headed for space.
“Nice job, guys.” Fox remarked with a grin. “Maybe your little heroic act will help humans see that we aren’t going to hurt them.”
“I have a rather crazy suggestion.” Said James suddenly, looking out a view port. “I imagine they’re expecting us to transmit landing coordinates, right? And judging by the movies we’ve all seen, they’d expect us to land in some unpopulated area.”
“Right.” Nods around.
“Let’s be different, shall we?”
“You think we should land?” Fara asked.
“Yes. At 1600.”
“What’s so special about 1600 hours?” Wondered Wolf to himself.
Fox choaked. “Dad, you’re nuts.”
“Huh?” Said several people.
“1600 is the address of the White House!”
“I can’t believe they said yes.” Falco muttered as the Great Fox slowly descended.
“What helps is that no cars drive on the road in front of the White House. Gives us some landing room. Hear they’re turning it into a big whoop-de-do.” Slippy remarked, helping ROB land.
“So we heard, yeah.” Katt said. “But I still think this is nuts.”
“That’s okay by me.” James grinned. “Besides you guys don’t have to bite the bullet. When we land, I’m the one walking down that ramp. You guys get to stay on the ship for a while.”
“What’s the plan?” Pigma asked.
“None, really. I just want to chew their President out but good. If I had any sense I’d make him pay for the three ruined arwings sitting in the docking bay.”
Several people laughed.
The Great Fox gracefully maneuvered into the small landing space and touched down, engines hissing and cooling.
“Are you sure about this dad? They’ve got a lot of weaponry out there.” Fox looked out a view port.
“People here are paranoid. I’m sure. ROB, extend the ramp.”
Outside the ship was a state of organized chaos as news crews crowded see and take pictures, and the Vice President stood waiting. It had been agreed that he would welcome the aliens to Earth. When the ramp extended, muttering went through the shifting, waiting crowd.
James, in full uniform including one or two of his medals, tapped the headset. “Wish me luck, guys.”
“Good luck dad.” Fox replied.
ROB opened the bay door so James could exit, but not wide enough to show the planes inside. He took a deep breath and walked down the ramp. The door closed behind him.
A stir went through the crowd, people talking and muttering. The news crews took pictures and kept their cameras going, but the reporters had little to say.
James stopped a few feet in front of the ramp and looked around slowly. Tanks. Army personel. News crews. He focused finally on a man in a suit; being watched over by other men in suits, and walked towards him, striding easily. He stopped about eight feet from the person and came to attention, waiting.
The vice president slowly walked forward, studying James with curiousity. What he couldn’t get over was how the alien looked like a fox, like something seen in a zoo. He held out his hand slowly.
James shook hands curtly.
“As Vice President of the United States, it is my privledge to welcome you to Earth.”
James slowly lowered his hands. “Some welcome, Mr. Vice President.”
“Excuse me?” He sputtered, stunned that the alien spoke the same language.
“I said, some welcome. You’ve shot at us. Three of our fighters are ruined. We came here meaning no harm.”
Vice President Smith sputtered.
“One of those fighters was being flown by my son. Another half-inch up, and the bullets would have entered the cockpit and killed him. You’re lucky that they didn’t, because I’m not a rational person when angry.” He crossed his arms. “So I am now here, to tell you that we mean no harm whatsoever. We pledge peace.”
The rest of the team was in the docking bay, waiting around.
Suddenly Fox elbowed Falco. “I’ve got a crazy idea myself.”
“What?”
“Be right back.” He left, and came back carrying a small amp and his guitar hanging on his back. He set up quickly.
“Uh, huh?” Wolf blinked.
“Jimi Hendrix.” Fox grinned. “ROB, will that crowd be able to hear me?”
Pause. “They will now.”
The crowd leapt and shouted in surprise as the national anthem, played on a lone guitar, suddenly came from the alien ship.
“What in all hell?” Smith wondered.
“That would be my musically inclined son.” James smiled dryly. “Sorry about how I acted earlier, by the way. I’m just frustrated. The little stunt you pulled when you shot at us is going to cost us millions to replace those planes…”
“I’m sorry. We didn’t know your intentions.”
They shook hands again.
“James McCloud, Veteran Elite mercenary pilot, member of the Star Fox team. And I’m very pleased to meet you, Mr. Vice President. I hope that the treaty between our systems is swift.”
“So do I.”
The last notes of the Star Spangled Banner faded away.
“Open up the doors, ROB.” James said into his headset. “All the way.”
“Copy that.”
The huge doors glided all the way open, revealing the other team members and the assorted vehicles in the bay. Fox still had his guitar, which he set aside, and then he crossed to stand with the rest of the team.
“That’s all the staff on the ship.” James told Smith. “The entire team. We’ve been through a lot lately. I’ll fill you and anyone else who wants to hear in on it later, if you want.”
“That might be wise. I’ve got a lot of people hungry for information.”
“What sort of information?”
“Anything from technology to where you come from…”
“I’ll bring some of the scientists on the other ship down to talk about that stuff. We’re just the military escort.”
“We were wondering why there was a battleship in orbit.”
“Well, now you know.”
“This is amazing.” President Wallace said, looking around the Great Fox. “I was surprised when you offered to let us tour your ship.”
“Ah, forget it.” James replied. “No problem whatsoever.”
“I’ve got a problem with it!” Falco complained. “I’m goddamn sick and tired of the Secret Service everywhere.”
“Relax, dude.” Fox studied the card that he had been given by the President that gave him diplomatic immunity. Also in his wallet now was American money. “So we’re allowed to go around as we please, Mr. Pres?”
“Yes. I advise you to be on your toes, but yes.”
“Good. Buy you a beer Falco?”
“Hell yeah!” He grinned.
“Yo, let us in on that!” Bill appeared, with Leon.
“Night out for the guys, or at least some of them. Let’s go then.”
They went down to the docking bay and opened one of the smaller, closed off hangers, revealing a variety of motorcycles. They grabbed their prospective rides, pushed them down the ramp, and took off.
“Where we going?” Bill asked via his headset radio.
“Let’s just wing it shall we?” Fox pulled to the head of the group as they merged with traffic.
“Fine by me, man.” Falco said.
They joked and laughed as they drove around, looking for a likely spot to grab a drink. What especially got wisecracks was the looks they got from passing Earthlings, sparking a long string of jokes about just who was being stared at the most.
Eventually, they found a bar and entered, still laughing and joking. It was a popular place apparently, with a dance floor. Everyone looked at them when they walked in, surprised, but they were used to it now.
“Grab a table, guys. I’ll grab the drinks. You guys want anything special?”
“Nah, just beer Fox.”
He made his way over to the bar, leaned on it, and cleared his throat.
The bartender came over, looking surprised. “Ahm…Howdy stranger, what’ll it be?”
“Four beers.”
“Got an ID? We’re supposed to card here you know. Can’t have booze if you’re under 21.”
“Too bad, because…” He passed the bartender his card, which announced who he was…and the fact that he had diplomatic immunity. He wasn’t under American law.
“Lucky bastard!” The bartender laughed. “What kind?”
“Do I look like I’d know?” He smiled weakly. “What kind do you recommend?”
A few minutes later, Fox tracked down his fellow teammates at a table and passed out the drinks, sitting down.
“To happy times.” Falco said after taking a swig of his drink.
“To the team.” Fox inserted.
“For all lost in battle.” Leon said.
“For all those who aren’t as lucky.” Bill smiled.
They clanked bottles.
After a while, the stares going in their direction lessened, as did the muffled discussion concerning them. They had been accepted.
Syyvl padded down the sidewalk, on “all eights,” walking toward the park.
As she approached, she saw Aaron and two other friends talking to a man in a car. She didn’t like the look of the man. He seemed bad to her. She sped up slightly, then stopped, waiting to cross the street.
The man got out of the car, and came around to talk to the kids. She saw a bulge under his jacket, which she recognized as a gun.
She saw in a blur as the man removed the gun and opened the car door, gesturing with the barrel of the gun.
She ran across the street, dodging cars, and leapt, tackling the man from behind. Even if she was light, she had velocity enough to knock him down. She knocked the gun out of his hand and pinned him.
Her friends cheered excitedly, babbling amongst each other, far too fast for her to understand, though she did catch a little of it.
“Get cops.” She hissed to them. Aaron ran off, yelling.
The man looked up at her and passed out.
After the cops had arrived, arrested the man, and taken the report on what happened by the children, the trio of Lylatians gave Syyvl a bear hug, laughing joyously.
“You’re a HERO, Scaley!” Aaron said excidedly.
She blushed and squirmed. “Guys you’re squishing me!” She complained, some words coming out of her mouth and others from the translator. She had learned about half the language.
They let her go.
Fox looked out the Great Fox’s observation window, at the blurred stars. A month after his father had first met the Vice President they were finally going home.
Fara came into the room, closing the door behind her. “It’s late.”
“I know. Can’t sleep. A lot’s gone on lately…I guess I’m just excited about finally going home.”
“I know. Me too.” She hugged him, chin settling on his shoulder.
He returned the hug, arms wrapping around her waist. “I could get used to this.” He muttered, with a happy sigh.
“Mm?”
“Fara…I know we’re still only teenagers…but maybe later, when we’re older…maybe…”
Her eyes widened, and she pushed away from him. “Are you asking me to marry you Fox?!”
“I don’t mean anytime soon…maybe in a couple years…” Fox said desperately. “I love you Fara, and god help me, I don’t want to loose you, now or ever.”
She stared at him for several minutes, then finally said, “I don’t want to loose you either.” She stepped back into him and hugged him tightly.
He sighed again, looking over her shoulder, out the window again.