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Star Fox Reborn

Prologue

The smooth, gliding tenor voice and gentle acoustic guitar chords were interrupted by a sharp trio of knocks on the sliding steel door. The singer sighed and put down his instrument, then slunk off the desk he was sitting on and to the door. He pried it open with a loud creak. 'Gotta fix that,' Gray McCloud thought. "Done messing around?" his older brother, Sergeant Dax McCloud, asked sarcastically. Gray sighed. "Apparently." "What song was that, anyhow?" Dax asked as Gray tugged on his boots. "Something I pieced together ages ago," Gray answered distantly, taking his well-worn leather jacket off a hanger in the corner of his room. "You've got to focus on work more," Dax muttered disapprovingly. "It's better than what you do," Gray muttered. Dax rolled his eyes. "Can you just focus? Please? You're a Cornerian soldier. A fox. A McCloud. Get your head in the game, kid." Gray growled in response. "Don't be late to the meeting, it's in the--" "Briefing Room, yeah, I figured," Gray cut Dax off shortly. Dax sighed and left. "'Stop trying to play,' he says. Not my fault Dad signed me up for lessons when I was, what? Six? Ignorant," Gray remarked angrily. "It's an outlet. Hell of a lot better than drinking as much as you do." But Dax was long gone. Gray checked himself in the mirror. He straightened out the collar of his jacket and smoothed his mullet of a mane back, then looked around the room. "Home sweet home," he muttered. His room, like every other room in the Third Division Barracks, was rather plain. A twenty-by-fifteen foot rectangle, a bed crammed into one corner, a desk with a huge stack of paperwork in another. A small bathroom adjoined the main bedroom. Gray sighed for the umpteenth time that day and headed out after his brother.

---

"So, as you can see, the whole region of the planet has a rather hot, humid clim--" Dax was interrupted by a burst of light in the dark room and the air-lock of the automatic door resealing. "Kid! So good of you to join us!" Dax proclaimed, smiling in his little brother's embarrassment. "Sorry I'm late everyone," Gray apologized spitefully, not letting his brother get to him. "Better late than never," Darco Lombardi pointed out. Gray nodded and took his seat behind Darco. "Thanks, Lombardi," he whispered. Darco simply chuckled and pointed at the screen. The Briefing Room was a simple office-style meeting room: a long rectangular steel table, uncomfortable steel chairs, a projector, and a screen. "Now, if I may continue with what I was saying before I was interrupted," Dax said, glaring at his brother. "You've made your point, Daxtrus McCloud," Milani Glesseri stopped him. Dax blushed deeply as a chuckle ran through the nervous group. "If I may?" he asked gruffly, a commanding huskiness taking his voice. "Of course, dear," Milani taunted. Dax managed a weak, humiliated smile and blushed even deeper--if the room hadn't been as dark as it was, the Team would have been laughing hysterically. He cleared his throat and went on. "We received a short burst transmission from a certain group of scientists on one of the more remote areas of Sauria," Dax informed the team. "Sauria?" Cody Millett asked. "Weird. Nothing much interesting happens there." Dax nodded. "Which is why the rest of our Division is ignoring it." "So we're gettin' another crappy hand-me-down job?" Marcus Strafesk asked miserably. "Pays ten thousand dollars for every person on the job, after dues and taxes to the Army," Dax said proudly. The room went wild. Dax smiled widely. "All right! Shut up! This is the highest paying job we've done in ages. I had to actually accept the job before the scientist told me what he was paying." "Scientist? As in, one? I thought you said a group?" Gray asked, leaning forward. "I did, kid. The burst transmission didn't say much other than that they'd all gone missing save for one intern," Dax said. The Team eyed each other nervously. "You're sure this isn't a hoax?" Marcus asked. Dax shook his head, pointing to the map of Sauria. "Look, he's here, on this peninsula. I've managed to confirm the location of several small villages and temples in the area. But the tribes of Sauria all avoid this area. They say it's haunted," Dax reported, then snickered. "Oi, don't be so quick to dismiss superstitions," Darco warned. Dax snickered again. "Ok, ok. Fine. But I'm treating this as a search and rescue. The intern said--and he was pretty frantic by the sound of it--that they went doing research in one of the temple and all vanished." "Without a trace?" Milani asked. "How strange. The intern didn't go looking?" "He's too scared," Dax replied. "I got in contact with him via sat-phone a few days ago. He's terrified to leave his tent in their camp, about two miles from the temple." "And the locals?" Cody asked. "No word on them. I guess they stick true to their superstitions," Dax answered, turning off the projector and flicking the lights on. Gray opened his eyes and looked around. "All right," he said. "Who wants to go ghost hunting?" Darco snickered. Dax shook his head. "Pack up, kid. We leave the day after tomorrow. Early. And if anybody sees any other teams, try and get them to join in. We can afford to split the pay, and this one might be tricky. It's a big jungle...but it shouldn't be anything too difficult."

---

"Kid," Dax called as Gray walked out of the room. They were the last two to leave. "Yeah, Dax?" Gray asked impatiently. "Gonna embarrass me some more?" Dax chuckled. "No. Did you fill out all the paperwork?" "You mean to get my own Team?" "Yeah." "Yeah it's on my desk. I'm not gonna bother turning it in yet. They just denied me again last week," Gray muttered.

Dax laughed. "The Council works slow, kid. It took them three years to realize I was a fit leader."

"I don't have three years," Gray said under his breath. Louder, he said, "Well that's you. I'm an impatient young kid." "That's true. Maybe if you prove yourself on this mission, they'll give you a promotion," Dax pointed out. "I don't want a promotion," Gray reminded his brother. "No...I know. You've been stuck at Corporal since, what? A week after your first mission? It's tough, Gray, I know, but you got promoted really early." "Because I spent an extra three years at the Cornerian Flight Academy," Gray growled. "That's not my fault," Dax said defensively. "No, it's the damn Anglars' fault," Gray hissed. Dax sighed. "I know Mom and Dad ...dying...was tough on you. It was tough on me, too." "Oh, please, you were twenty-two. You drank all your problems away. You were already on your way to leading your own team." "You turn twenty in a week. You can drink all you want, then, too," Dax muttered. Gray stared daggers at his brother. "Let's just see what we can on this mission, ok? Ten large apiece sounds pretty good to me," Gray said, grateful his brother had accepted a seemingly-simple, high-paying job. Dax nodded. "Go work on getting Katrina's team," he ordered. Gray's jaw dropped. Dax chuckled. "That's an order."