Chapter 1 (continued)

      Vixie ran over to her fighter, jumped onto the wing, and then jumped once more into the cockpit. She pressed the button on the console that made the overhead hatch close and then quickly began pressing the buttons and flipping the switches needed to turn on the ship’s engines She felt the ship give a small jolt as the engines began to hum lowly. She felt her mind phase out for a moment as her fingers went through the motions of pressing the right sequence of buttons. She had done this so many times, it all came as second nature to her. She then zoned back in as the ship’s computer came online. She went through the checklist, making sure that the shields were up and that the G-Diffuser system was functioning properly. Once she finished warming up the engines, she grabbed a hold of the control wheel and set the engines to hover.
      “Glad to see you could finally join us, Miss Starwind,” came Jonathan’s obnoxious voice over the radio. “Now that you and Evans are finally done with your little moment, we may actually have some hope of saving this base before those pirates completely trash it.”
      “Well, I’m honored that your fine team decided to wait for little old me,” Vixie said with obvious sarcasm in her voice and as she began to slowly rotate the ship out towards the exit.
      “Hmph,” was all Jonathan said before addressing everyone. “Alright, my team and Team Starwind, listen up. Two ship carrier hangers have already been hit, so aside from some of the turret guns that the other soldiers will be using, we’re the only defense left for this base. And we’ve got at least twelve fighters to deal with. Starwind, you and your team will take the fighters while we take on the Deadwood team.”
      “Like hell you will,” came Gina’s voice over the radio. “You won’t last five minutes against Kala and her team, Murray, and you know it.”
      “Question my orders again, Hawkins, and you’ll be scrubbing the every floor in this entire base,” Murray said, trying his best to sound threatening.
      “Ooooh, I’m so scared,” Gina replied sarcastically.
      “Ensign Murray, Gina does have a point,” came Janet’s voice, the voice of reason. “Kala will come after us since we’re the only group that’s ever given her a challenge. It only makes sense that we’d-”
     “The only thing that makes sense is you shutting your snout, Roan,” Murray replied in an angry voice. “Unless you’d rather join Hawkins in clean-up duty, then do as I say.”
      “Yes, sir,” Janet replied, though Vixie could hear the annoyance in Janet’s voice.
      Vixie never knew why, but Murray seemed to have a problem with her and her friends the moment they set foot on the base. “Roger that,” Vixie said waited for her clearance to launch. “We’ll handle the fighters while you try to take out the Deadwood team.”
      “That’s more like it,” he said with some satisfaction in his tone before be zoomed out of the hangar with Rosco and Bono following him in turn, and then little Russell taking off after them.
      “Geez…I wish that the higher ups would hurry up accept our transfer to Katina,” Gina said once Murray and his team left the immediate area. “I’m tired of this dump and that stupid Murray actin’ all superior around us.”
      “It can’t be helped,” Janet replied. “We’re needed here to hold the fort until more reinforcements from Corneria arrive. We can’t afford to let Venom get a hold of Zoness again.”
      “Yeah,” Vixie said. “Besides, we’ve all sold our souls to the military. We’ve still got at least three more years, so we might as well make the best of it.”
      “Let’s cut the chatter, guys,” Allen said before looking over to his cousin’s ship. “Vixie, you’re up next.”
      “Oh, right. Sorry ‘bout that,” Vixie said as her attention turned to one of the soldiers giving her the cue to take off. Without wasting another moment, she turned the thrusters arms and pushed the control wheel forward, zooming out of the hangar and the up into the air. Allen, Gina, and Janet zoomed right out after her
      Vixie took a moment to close her eyes and let out a soft sigh. This was her favorite part about flying. The jerk of the ship as the engines thrust it into the air, the speed and the sharp climb, the sound of the wind hitting the windows and wings as she cut into the sky…It was as invigorating as it was calming. She loved being in the air. It was the only place that she felt completely free. So what if she was a lapdog of the Cornerian army? So long as she got to fly, it did not matter to her who she flew for.
      “Hey, Vixie…Vixie! Watch your tail!” Gina suddenly yelled.
      Vixie opened her eyes and saw laser fire fly right by her wings. She looked down on the radar and saw three enemy fighters ganging up behind them soon after take off. “Crap!” Vixie said as she tried to focus back in and did a quick barrel roll to avoid the rest of the shots. “Everyone, split up!” Following her orders, Allen, Gina, and Janet broke from formation to try and draw the fighters away. Instead, the enemy ships, which the computer’s database recognized as “Minions,” remained right on Vixie’s tail.
      “Three versus one, eh?” Vixie asked as she swerved the ship left and right to avoid their fire. “Fine…let’s see how you like it!” Vixie pulled back on the controls and made the ship go into a flip. The Minions flew under her while she was in mid flip and once she was right-side up, she was right behind one of the ships. “Heh, gotcha!” she exclaimed as she charged up her laser canons and fired at the engine of the Minion. The ship exploded in one hit and the shrapnel damaged its partners considerably.
      “Nice shooting, Vixie!” came Janet’s voice over the radio as she began chasing down one of the damaged Minions.
      “That was a little close,” Gina said next as she came up alongside Vixie and shot down the other damaged ship. “You sure that you’re feelin’ alright, Starwind? I’d hate for my rival to get shot down just because she decided to space out.”
      Vixie looked out her right at Gina’s fighter and smirked at her through the window. “Don’t count on that happening anytime soon, Gina,” she said. “I’ll bet you twenty credits that I shoot down more fighters than you.”
      “You’re on!” Gina replied before taking off towards one of the other fighters. Vixie turned the ship around and started to take aim for one of Minion ships that was taking aim for the turrets on the ground.
      “Gahhh! I’m hit!” yelped Bono’s voice over the radio. Vixie turned her head and saw a Cornerian fighter falling down towards the ground with smoke trailing behind it. The ship crashed and skidded on the ground, but it did not explode. Vixie looked up as she saw the RAPTORs literally flying circles around Murray and his team.
      “Bono-! Argh!” Rosco yelled as he was shot in the back by one of the fighters.
      “Looks like Murray and his goons are getting the snot kicked out of them,” Gina said as she shot down another fighter.
      “Should we help them?” Janet asked, directing the question towards Vixie.
      Vixie thought about it for a moment, but it did not take her very long to come up with a decision. “To hell with what Murray wants,” she said before she turned her ship and started flying towards the dogfight going on between the Deadwood Team and Murray’s small unit. “Allen, Gina, Janet, form up with me. Let’s give Kala and her friends a real fight, shall we?”
      “Yeah! That’s what I’m talkin’ about!” Gina said as she flew up on Vixie’s right side, though remained diagonally behind her.
      “Heh, Murray’s gonna chew us out for this,” Allen said as he flew up on Vixie’s left side, flying directly across from Gina. “But who knows…maybe he’ll be grateful for once?”
      “Doubtful,” Janet said and completed the diamond shaped formation by flying behind the others. “Still, at least we should have some fun with these guys, right?”
      “Yeah,” Vixie said as she cracked her neck. “Alright, let’s go!” Vixie pushed the center button on her ship and boosted forward towards the fight, with her friends following right behind her.
      It did not take long for Murray to notice them. “Starwind! What the hell are you doing here? I told you to- ugh!” he was cut off just as his wing was hit.
      “Didn’t we tell you morons that you’re no match for the Deadwood Team?” Gina said as she broke from the formation first, flying at one of the RAPTORs.
     “Hey, Hawkins! About time you showed up in that tacky ship of yours,” came a sweet-sounding voice. But Angelina’s misleading voice had a tone of haughtiness to it.
      “Why don’t I show you what this ‘tacky ship’ can do, Johnson!” Gina yelled and began to firing at her opponent, who barrel rolled and made a sharp U-turn in the air, making Gina give chase to her.
      “Hey, Hawkins! Mind your own business!” Rosco yelled as he barrel rolled and ran from one of the other RAPTORs. “We’re the ones that’ll deal with these dumb girls!”
      “Yeah right!” Gina said as she followed Angelina closely. “You’ve already lost one of your teammates and you’re struggling just to keep up with these guys. Face it, you’re out of your league!”
      “I’d listen to the bird if I were you,” came a deeper sounding female voice. It was the voice of the team’s infamous leader, Kala Deadwood. “You guys are pathetic. If this is the best you have to offer, then this base of yours is already lost.”
      “You…!” Rosco growled as he was hit again in the back.
      “You idiot!” Vixie exclaimed as she saw Allen fly off to get the pilot off of his tail. “One more hit back there and your engines will blow. Murray, take your team out of here and help with the Minions. We’ll handle Deadwood and her team.”
      “Don’t you go telling me what to do!” Murray yelled as he flipped and avoided rapid fire from the fourth RAPTOR.
      “Forget it, Starwind,” Kala said as she started flying at her. “We’ll make quick work of you and destroy this pathetic outpost of yours.”
      “Heh, you mean you’ll try, Deadwood,” Vixie said and shot right towards her. “We’ve turned you away plenty of times before, and we’ll do it again!”
      “Don’t count on it!” she yelled and fired up a charged up shot right for her. Vixie knew that she could not evade it so she braced herself for impact.
      “No!” yelped Russell as he suddenly shot out of no where and thrust his ship right in the path of the laser.
      All Vixie saw was Russell’s ship, a flash of light, and a small explosion when the blast hit Russell‘s hull in the side. “Russell!” she yelled as she saw him fall towards the ground.
      “Ahhhhh!” Russell cried over the radio as he fell to the ground.
      “Russell, quick! Ease up on your thrusters and glide in!” Vixie said before she felt something hit her ship, causing her to lurch forward. “Ugh!”
      “I’d be less concerned about some stupid shipmate and more concerned about yourself, Starwind,” Kala said as she flew out ahead of her before turning around to face her and then charging towards her. Vixie frowned. She knew that Kala was just playing with her now. She let out a calming sigh before squeezing the control wheel and then thrusting it forward to meet Kala’s charge. Vixie had to admit that Kala was right. She was a sitting duck like this, and if she got shot down, Russell’s sacrifice would have been in vain. She held down on the right button on top of the control, charging up a blast while flying right for Kala’s RAPTOR. Then, right as the ship’s computers locked onto her hull, she fired the charged up laser blast and flew right over head as the shot hit.
      “Ugh!” came Kala’s voice over the radio. “Lucky shot, Starwind…now you’re really in for it.” Kala’s RAPTOR then flipped upside down and twisted itself right-side up, thrusting towards Vixie’s fighter. Vixie responded by using the boost and attempted to try and get Kala off of her tail. She could hear the sounds of lasers firing behind her and tried to swerve her ship out of the way. She did a couple of quick barrel rolls to deflect the other ships and flipped backwards in a U-Turn to try and avoid the rest of her fire. But Kala was just as good a pilot as Vixie was, and did a U-turn as well, keeping herself close behind her.
      It was because of this close chase that Vixie wished she was in something better than the Cornerian Fighter. Sure, they were durable and were well-rounded in terms of fire power and defensive shielding, but the RAPTORs were considerably faster, more maneuverable, and had slightly stronger laser cannons. It was no wonder that the Cornerian Army had such a problem with them.
      But during the chase, Vixie noticed that Murray and Rosco were out of sight. She looked at the radar but did not see them anywhere. “Hey, Allen,” she started to say before she grunted and barrel rolled out of the way of some rapid shots from Kala. “What happened to Murray and Rosco?”
      “They turned tail after Russell was shot down,” he said with some strain in his voice. He, too, was being chased by the Deadwood Team’s silent assassin, Miho. “My guess is they wised up and went off to help with the other fighters.”
      “What a bunch of cowards,” Vixie grumbled and pulled the ship upward while making a sharp turn, nearly getting clipped in the wing by one of Kala’s charged up shots.
      “They may be cowards,” Janet said, “but they might be smarter than us for the moment.” She was being chased by the tough warrior Niko, who had been following her closely the whole time and aiming charged up laser shots at her which were difficult to avoid.
      “Heh, you’re not gonna wimp out on me here, are ya, pup?” Niko asked as she started shooting at her again. “You’re making this easy for me!”
      “Oh really? Think again!” Janet said before flipping over Niko’s ship and managed to shoot one of her back thrusters.
      “Grrr! You punk!” Niko growled as Janet started giving chase to her now.
      “Nice shooting, Janet!” Vixie said before she was hit from behind once again. “Tch…gotta concentrate,” she said to herself before her console began to beep frantically. “What?” Vixie looked to one of the flashing buttons that was labeled ‘G-Diffuser System’. “Damn…she got my G-Diffuser,” she grumbled and tried to turn the ship around, but the controls were not responding well at all. Now her ship was flying aimlessly in the air.
      “Vixie, what’s wrong?” Allen asked, sensing his cousin’s peril.
      “Kala shot my G-Diffuser system,” Vixie said as she quickly started pressing buttons on the control panel, trying to restart the G-Diffuser manually. “Now it’s malfunctioning and I can’t get the ship under control.”
      “Hold on, Starwind. I’m coming!” Gina said as she turned her ship around, only to get her hull shot at from above. “Agh!”
      “You’ve still gotta get through me, Hawkins!” Angelina said and started chasing Gina around, preventing her from going over to help her wingmate.
      Vixie saw Allen and Janet’s fighters, but she knew that they were too far away from her and were being blocked Miho and Niko. She saw Kala’s ship come out from underneath her and then fly out in front of her before making a U-turn, aiming right for Vixie’s ship while charging up her guns.
      “Heh heh, looks like it’s checkmate, Starwind,” Kala said as she flew closer at her, aiming right for Vixie’s cockpit.
      “Vixie, get out of there!” Allen yelled.
      “I…can’t!” Vixie said as she yanked on the controls which were still stuck. She looked back up to see Kala’s ship coming closer and saw the laser glowing brighter as it reached its full strength. Everything seemed to move in slow motion, and there was nothing Vixie could do to avoid this. This can’t be it…I can’t die here, can I? Not at the hands of someone like Kala, she thought to herself before cursing out loud “Damn it…!”
      Suddenly, just as Vixie closed her eyes and braced herself, she heard laser fire come out of no where and heard it hit something. She opened her eyes and saw Kala’s RAPTOR fly right over her with some smoke coming from its hull.
      “Damn!” she heard Kala curse over the radio. “Who the hell was that?”
      “That would be me,” came a new male voice which was very familiar to Vixie‘s ears. She looked up, then, and did not believe what she heard until she saw the Arwing cut out of the clouds and zoom into the battle. She knew it was none other than Fox McCloud. She felt her heart nearly leap out of her chest and was overwhelmed with feelings of relief and gratitude. He could not have come at a better time.
      “Huh? When the hell did Star Fox get here?” Kala snapped as she turned her ship around to face her knew opponent.
      “Just now!” piped Slippy Toad’s high-pitched voice. “It’s a good thing we responded to that SOS. Looks like you guys are in a real bind!” He flew in right behind Fox with Falco and Peppy’s Arwings appearing out of the clouds as well.
      “Just a little bit, yeah,” Janet said, though sounded relieved to see them as well.
      “Heh heh heh,” Angelina laughed and paused for a moment in her bout with Gina. “Look now, Gina. Your old flame has come to the rescue.”
      “Shut your beak, Johnson!” Gina snapped. Gina knew that Angelina was just trying to get on her nerves since she had a past with Falco as well, back during his old gang days.
      “Huh?” Falco’s voice came over the radio next. He recognized both of their voices, but addressed the one he knew by heart. “That you, Hawkins?”
      “Nice of you to show your face, Lombardi,” Gina grumbled before she flew after Angelina and started firing at her again. “Hey, Vix! You got that G-Diffuser working?” she then asked, diverting her attention from Falco to Vixie.
      As this dialogue had been going on, Vixie was continuing to play with the buttons until the G-Diffuser light finally stopped flashing and the controls released, allowing her control of the ship again. “Whew,” she said and put her other hand back on the side of the handle turning the ship back around as she headed back into battle. “Yeah, I’m fine, Gina. The G-Diffuser’s acting normally again.”
      “Huh?” came Fox’s voice next as he flew near Vixie’s fighter, as if to get a better look. “‘Vix’…?”
      Vixie looked over towards his fighter and gave a gentle gulp. Had Fox recognized her?
      “Fox, don’t lose your focus,” said an older voice as one the Arwings came up alongside Fox’s. “We’ve still got quite a mess to clean up here.”
      “R-right, sorry Peppy,” Fox said before addressing Vixie and the others. “What’s the situation here?”
      Allen was the one that responded. “We’ve got a squadron of fighters attacking the base. So far all of the hangars containing our fighters have been destroyed, and they’re looking to destroy the rest of the base.”
      “Alright, then,” Fox said and paused for a moment as he thought of a plan. “Peppy and Slippy, you go down and take out the fighters that are bombing the base. Falco, you and I will help these guys take out these punks.”
      “We got this covered, McCloud,” Gina said as she managed to hit one of Angelina’s wings. “We don’t need your help.”
      “Heh heh, same old Gina,” Falco laughed. “Stubborn as a mule, even when your ship’s all shot up.”
      “It is not!” Gina yelled, ignoring the fact that her ship seemed to be somewhat covered in scorch marks from where she had been hit by Angelina and her other team members. But before she could argue, one of her wings was shot by Niko, who came up behind her while she was yelling at Falco. “Argh!”
      “Ha! You should know better than to let your guard down around me, Hawkins,” Niko said as she flew past her and came around for another attack.
      “Damn,” Gina grumbled and then barrel rolled out of the way of Miho’s rapid fire as Allen started chasing her around.
      “Get over it, Gina,” Janet said as she got behind Niko again and started to chase her again. “We need all the help we can get right now.”
      “Yeah, so leave whatever grudge you’ve got against Falco out of this for now,” Allen said as he damaged one of Miho’s thrusters with a close-range shot.
      “Mm….” Miho made a soft noise over the radio. “I will get you back for that, Starwind.” Her voice was quiet and neutral sounding, but there was something about it that unnerved even someone as collected as Allen. Perhaps it was the fact that Miho did not care who she killed, so long as it was what Kala ordered of her.
      “Alright!” Slippy said as he sped back down towards the base. “We’ll take care of those fighters in no time!”
      “Slippy, get back here!” Peppy exclaimed and flew after the eager toad.
      Vixie watched them fly off before turning her attention back to Kala. “So, Deadwood, where were we exactly?”
      “Oh? I believe we were at the part where I blow your ship to bits!” Kala shouted in anger before she charged at Vixie.
      Just as Vixie was about to thrust towards her, Fox’s Arwing got in front of her. “Huh? What’re you-?” She started to ask before Fox interrupted.
      “I’ll distract her while you get behind her and shoot her, got it?” Fox said before flew straight at Kala and began firing at her.
      “H-hey!” Vixie said, but she could not really argue with him now, especially when Fox turned around and Kala started going after him.
      “I’m the last person that you’d want to piss off, McCloud!” Kala yelled as she started firing rapid shots at him.
      “Heh! As if someone like you could shoot me down!” Fox taunted as he swerved around her shots.
      Vixie took that as her cue to get behind Kala and go after her now that Fox was doing a lovely job of pushing Kala’s buttons. Meanwhile, as Vixie was following Kala and trying to get a clear shot of her, she could already hear Gina and Falco squabbling over the radio.
      “Out of the way, Hawkins. It’s time to let the pros handle this!”
      “Since when are you a pro, you lousy hotshot? Go get your own target! Johnson’s mine!”
      “Jeez, would you lay off it, already?”
      “Wow, I forgot how much I missed this,” Angelina interjected while laughing. “You two are so cute when you fight.”
      “Shut up, Johnson!” both Falco and Gina exclaimed.
      “Would the two of you just cut it out?” came Janet’s voice, trying to play peace maker between the two arguing birds. “Honestly, you’re both acting like children.”
      “He started it when he got in my way!” Gina retorted.
      “What? Did not!” Falco said.
      Vixie just rolled her eyes and chuckled a bit as she charged up her shot, still staying close behind Kala as Fox was starting to give her a run for her money. The Arwing could easily keep up with the RAPTOR and had stronger shields, so he could last for a while against the angry wolf.
      “Grr! Hold still, you stupid fox!” Kala yelled as she was rapidly firing on Fox’s Arwing. But Fox’s ship kept doing barrel rolls which deflected the shots away from him.
      At the same time, Vixie used this chance to take aim for Kala’s engines. Once the targeting system locked on, she fired her shot and got a direct hit on Kala’s fighter. “Yes!” she cheered as Kala broke away from Fox.
      “Damn!” Kala yelled as she turned around and set her sights on Vixie. “That’s it Starwind, you asked for it!”
       Suddenly, another laser beam came out of no where and hit Kala’s wing, destroying a good part of it. “Ugh! What the-?!” she said.
      “Ha!” came Murray’s voice. “You didn’t think you had me beat, did you?” Murray suddenly reappeared in his fighter with Rosco following along side him and Peppy and Slippy’s Arwings flying up behind them. “Your assault has failed, Deadwood. Why don’t you go back into the slimy hole you and your thugs crawled out of?”
      Kala growled in frustration before addressing her teammates. “Angelina, Miho, Niko, let’s beat it. No point in sticking around here.”
      “Aw, but I was just having fun,” Angelina said in a mock whiny voice, though she was actually smirking. “Though it was nice playing with you Gina, and it was very nice running into you again, Falco. We’ll have to catch up sometime.”
      “Pff, in your dreams, maybe,” Falco replied.
      “Hmph. Just beat it, already,” Gina said.
      Three of the RAPTORs then turned west and took off, but Kala stayed behind, her ship directed towards Vixie’s. “You’ll be hearing from us soon, Starwind. You and your friends can count on it,” Kala said before she sped off after her teammates.
      “Heh, you should know by now that hollow threats don’t bother me, Deadwood,” Vixie replied and smirked as she watched Kala fly away. Once they were out of sight, she slumped back in her seat and let out a small sigh. She had not realized how tense her body was until she relaxed.
      “Yeah, alright! We did it!” Slippy cheered. “Those Minions were a piece of cake.”
      “Heh, they sure were,” Peppy admitted before addressing Fox and Falco. “Glad to see that you two are safe as well.”
      “Ah, you worry too much, gramps,” Falco said in his usual cocky tone.
      “Hmph,” was all Peppy said. “Well, it looks like we should go ahead and prepare for a landing. ROB, go ahead and bring the Great Fox in.”
      “Affirmative,” a robotic voice replied. Five seconds later, the large carrier ship began to come into view. Until now, it had been hiding up in the clouds and was waiting for further orders from its crew.
      “Wow,” Vixie said out loud, watching the large ship come towards them. It looked much bigger up close than in the pictures she had seen of it. As it came out of the parting clouds, the sun’s rays were shining down on it. The beams struck the Great Fox’s exterior  and made it shine, making it look majestic as it slowly made its way down towards the base. Vixie was drawn to it for a moment before she felt something come up behind her. She turned and looked up towards her right as Fox’s Arwing had come up alongside hers and hovered next to her for a moment.
      “It is you, isn’t it?” Fox asked as he looked down at her. “Vixie Starwind…?”
      His voice was eager and hopeful, which surprised Vixie a bit. She did not even expect Fox to remember her, or be as happy as he sounded to see her. It made her smile. She was glad to finally run into her old friend again. But…why was her gut feeling so tight? Finally, after what seemed like a long pause, Vixie answered him.
      “Hey…it’s been far too long, Fox McCloud.”