FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

It was silent in here. He enjoyed the serenity; he needed it. His team needed it. Up here his team could clear their minds, focus on the task at hand. They had a base to destroy, and they needed to stop Oikonny sooner than later. Fox turned and looked out the canopy of his Arwing. On his right were Falco and Slippy, along with the various other mercenaries cruising through the air in their stylized starfighters. To his left were Krystal and another handful of mercenaries and members of the Cornerian fleet. They weren't taking any chances this time around, especially if the Fireflies showed up again. They were all ready, and well-prepared.

"Hey, Slips! Check out the view down there!" shouted Rex over the comms channel.

Fox blinked and shook his head, snapping out of his trance. He looked out his canopy as well and glanced down at the scenery below. All the pilots were flying above a lush rainforest, with trees so thick and full of life it was nearly impossible to see the ground. A river stretched on for miles and branched off into separate, smaller streams. Some kilometers to their left were several massive hills, all varying in size, all dark green and rich in color. The mercenaries had yet to see any form of deforestation. It almost seemed as if Oikonny's army hadn't ravaged the forest with their industrial weapons and buildings.

"Looks lovely, don't it? Bet it's ever better on the ground."

Slippy wasn't paying attention. He was staring ahead and looking down at his Arwing's console. The frog blinked and sighed softly while Rex continued to wait for a reply.

"Yo, Slips!"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Looks nice down there, all the green and...stuff."

"...You okay, buddy? Been kinda quiet since we left base."

Slippy nodded and forced himself to smile. "I'm all right."

Doogan heard Slippy over the channel and scowled. "Good. We're not havin' any of you screw up this mission 'cause you were in one of your 'moods.'"

"I said I'm fine, Doogan."

The pilots went silent for a while--at least they seemed silent to Slippy. He could hear a few other pilots jabbering on over the radio, but none of it concerned him. The frog rubbed his nose and flared his nostrils as he tried to stay focused. Everything that was happening with Falco and his team could wait. As the crew of pilots continued to fly straight ahead, one of the pilots picked up something on the radar.

"Hey, there's a small target down there; you think it's a guard station?" Lennert the monitor lizard asked.

Darwin blinked and rubbed his chin. "Could be nothing. No point in destroying it; they still don't know we're coming yet."

The black lizard nodded. "Gotcha. I'll leave it be!"

As the pilots resumed their journey, Doogan veered his ship close to Falco's and grinned over the comms channel.

"So, Tweety, you ready to down another ace squadron?"

Falco paused for a moment, then shrugged and blinked. "Sure."

"Hehe, you think we're gonna run into the Fireflies again? Hope you and the rest of your team are prepared this time around! Last thing you need is to get a butt-whoopin' in front of all of us!"

"Right."

Doogan snickered. "Who knows? The second they see you, they'll prob'ly start messin' themselves after they realize you were the one who killed all them Devil Dogs."

Falco reached up and rubbed his face. "Yeah."

"I'm reeeeeeaaaaal eager to run into another band of aces! Maybe--"

"Doogan," Falco snapped. "Shut up."

The burly Rottweiler snorted. "Fine, whatever. I forgot that you and your team woke up with sticks up yer butts this morning."

"WE DON'T..." Falco closed his eyes and beak and stopped talking. Doogan's left ear wiggled as he waited for the bird to respond.

"Don't what?"

Falco shook his head and exhaled. "Just forget it..."

While the other members of Star Fox were busy mulling or trying to avoid everyone else's questions, Krystal was hanging back and glancing at the squadron of five red starfighters arranged in an arrow position. The blue fox managed to make out the skunk tail logo on the planes' tails and struck up a conversation.

"So, first time on a large sortie like this?" Krystal asked.

The captain of the skunk squadron looked to his left and smiled. "Nah. We Spunk Skunks saw a lotta action down on Fichina. Practically froze our tails off down there, but we pulled through in the end, leaving a trail of destruction in our wake!"

"And a rotten smell I take it?"

The skunk captain grinned. "Maybe."

"It's just, you and your team seem nervous now. Well, most of you anyway; I think one of you is more concerned about his next meal."

The captain scratched his head. "Right, right. I-I forgot you could do that, with the telepathy and stuff."

Krystal smirked. "Relax, Stanley. It's not like I can read every single thing going on in your mind."

"Oh," said the skunk, with much relief. "So you can't teleport?"

"No."

"And you can't pick up stuff with your mind?"

"No."

"And you can't bend or break anything with your brain?"

"No."

"You can't even hypnotize anybody?"

Krystal scowled. "No, Stanley."

"Darn. That sucks."

Krystal glared at the skunk and frowned. Stanley stammered and chuckled. "Not-not that that's bad or anything! I'm just--I just thought it'd be cool if we had someone who could bash some skulls in or brainwash someone just by looking at them."

"I can read thought patterns and distress signals. Might not be 'cool' per say, but it does come in handy."

"I guess."

Krystal murmured under her breath and shook her head. "Speaking of which, I think we're coming up on the enemy base now."

All the pilots looked down at the surroundings and noticed that the lush scenery was replaced with a series of towers and compounds that had several vehicles driving to and from them. Various solar panels were spread across the land, along with a few turrets positioned on the top of some of the tall, beige-colored towers. There was even a runway in the middle of the base with a control tower several yards away; the mercenaries could tell that Oikonny's soldiers were preparing themselves in case of a surprise attack. The team all heard sirens sounding below and realized that it was time to fight. Peppy, General Pepper, and other commanders were monitoring the situation from their aircraft carriers or the CCC. Peppy rubbed his chin as he and ROB started to pick up multiple hostiles on the radar.

"Remember: this is purely search and destroy team!" Peppy shouted over the comms channel. "The Lightning Lizards and Spunk Skunks will take care of the ground forces. Star Dog and Star Fox, clear the skies and take out the turrets. Everyone else, watch your backs and be on the lookout for any bombers or other suspicious enemy vehicles!"

"Got it," said Fox.

"Will do, General Bun-Bun," Doogan sneered.

"Roger," said Blodski.

"We'll be back at the CCC in no time!" Stanley shouted.

Peppy nodded. "Good. Everyone split up and strike, now!"

All the teams split off and carried out their designated duties. Several different starfighters all ranging of different colors and designs spread out and engaged with the enemy. It didn't take long before Oikonny's forces began to defend the base, sending out multiple ships and fighters into the sky to counter the Cornerian forces. The pilots kept a level head as different streams of laser fire soared across their ships or nearly grazed their wings. Some of the turrets resting on the towers activated, and the giant barrels began to whir and spin as they spat out enormous red bullets capable of shredding average starfighters to bits. Star Fox saw the four turrets that were firing around the wide-open valley and broke apart to deal with them. Fox headed for the nearest one beside the control tower and sniffed.

"Falco, Slippy! Get the turrets in the western quadrant; we'll take care of the ones over here!"

"On it!" said Slippy.

The two Arwings broke position while Krystal and Fox fixated on the turrets beside the runway. Fox clutched the flight stick and jerked it to his right twice, grunting as his Arwing rumbled when the volley of bullets nearly tore his ship apart. He moved his thumb forward and started to charge up his laser, only to grunt and let go when his ship rumbled again. Fox snorted, clearly aware of the enemy aircraft that was hot on his tail. Fox was about to tilt his flight stick backwards when he heard a muffled explosion and noticed an orange fireball as he looked out the canopy. The red fox turned to his left and spotted Krystal hovering beside him.

"'Bout time I paid you back, isn't it?" she smirked.

"Heh. Thanks, Krystal."

Krystal was about to reply when she noticed something was off and shouted Fox's name. The red fox quickly jerked his flight stick to the left and lurched over before a giant red laser beam could cut his plane in half. Fox growled and started to grit his teeth, taking note of the laser weaponry stationed on the ground. Meanwhile, the Lightning Lizards were cruising through the skies with no problem, in large part because they activated the cloaking devices within their Ethereal Serpents. The Lizards broke into groups of two and bombed the base without mercy. Dailan and Lennert took shots at the massive hanger sitting beside the runway. They could see a few starfighters and cargo planes preparing to take off, but none of them managed to get airborne. The two reptiles unleashed all their laser fire into the hanger until the compound burst into flames and sent debris all over the runway. As the hangar started to collapse, Lennert giggled and chased after one of the giant cargo planes in camouflage paint. He stared at the massive ship, grinning as he waited for his targeting system to lock on.

"C'mon now, stay still--stay still for Lennert!" he mumbled.

The targeting system lit up as a cursor moved into the center of his console screen. Lennert snickered as he fired five times, and then the cargo plane burst into flames. The engines died down as the plane slowly rolled and nosedived into the runway, flipping over onto its back as the plane exploded and sent debris all over the runway.

"Target down!" the monitor lizard shouted.

Dailan smirked after hearing his teammate destroy the plane whilst he dove low towards the ground and started to mow through the various vehicles with his lasers. The giant Gila monster kept smirking as he watched the laser beams impact the ground, kicking up dirt, grass, and in some cases, the remains of Oikonny's mercenaries caught in the crossfire. Some of the APCs started to go in reverse as the ape manning the gun turret fired at Dailan and the other pilots. The Gila monster jerked his flight stick right rapidly until his Ethereal Serpent barrel rolled multiple times in a matter of seconds. All the bullets ricocheted off the lizard's ship as it spun around; Dailan straightened his ship up and exhaled as he approached the APCs. Then the Gila monster held down on the firing switch until his laser charged and unleashed a great beam of energy onto the group of vehicles. Dailan laughed as he watched the APCs explode, and then sailed back up into the skies to join the others.

Terry was still flying around the air looking for pilots to take down. The turrets were the only obstacle in his way; none of the pilots seemed to be trying. He came across a group of yellow ships that looked like two thin diamond-shapes connected together with a small, circular cockpit. The Saint Bernard flared his nostrils as he saw them all flying straight ahead, only weaving slightly to fire a few times. The canine tilted his head in confusion, but fired at them nevertheless. One ship fell, followed by a second and third one. The fourth one was just starting to break away when Doogan swooped in front of it and shot the aircraft to pieces. The canine grumbled as he radioed the other members of Star Dog.

"Guys, something's up here."

"What? You mean the clouds?" joked Rex.

Terry closed his eyes and exhaled after hearing the chubby bulldog laugh over the comms channel. "No, Volcano. I mean something's wrong. These fighters, they're just...floating. I feel like they're not even attacking us."

Doogan zoomed through the air as he locked onto another fighter and blasted the pilot's ship apart. "So just to be clear, you're complaining that these starfighters are too easy to fight?"

"I'm just saying, Doogan. It...it's as if they want us to defeat 'em. These ships are probably controlled by UAVs, but the ships' targeting and evading systems shouldn't be this primitive."

"Until we start getting our butts handed to us, just keep attacking; you can theorize about Oikonny's plans later."

Terry snorted and shook his head. But despite his apprehension, he figured Doogan was right. There wasn't much else they could do but stay alert for any strange activity. The Saint Bernard spotted one odd-looking ship in the distance that was giving some of the Cornerian pilots a hard time. He blinked and looked at his radar, taking note that the small blip on the radar started jumping around on the screen, as if the starfighters were teleporting. Terry heard someone else complaining over the comms channel and huffed as he turned off his radar. The Saint Bernard activated his ship's boost and flew forward towards the large, somewhat cone-shaped aircraft that was spitting out bits of debris that looked like tinier versions of the ship. As the starfighter released the tiny specks, it turned and started firing long bursts of laser energy at the Cornerians. Terry scowled as he started to chase after the strange ship, hitting the boost in his Spiked Collar as he followed the odd ship. A few starfighters were damaged, moments before Terry locked onto the ship and finally released a burst of laser fire. Just as the giant beam was about to hit, the ship started to morph and dissipate in mid-air. Terry's eyes grew wide as the ship disappeared, and then grunted when someone began to fire at him.

"Crap! Everyone stay on alert; they got a jammer up here and it looks like it has the ability to teleport!"

Rex raised an eyebrow and scratched his head. "What, like a wizard?"

"I don't frickin' know! Just--" Terry grunted when the ship fired at him again. The Saint Bernard snarled and banged on his console. "Gah, your radar's gonna be useless until I take it out!"

Rex huffed. "Lovely."

The Star Fox team could already see it. Their radar was on the fritz as well, showing dozens of tiny blips that were jumping around the screen, depicting enemies that weren't even there. Fox snorted and disregarded the radar; all he needed were his eyes. The red vulpine leaned forward on the flight stick and dipped low towards one of the control towers with a turret positioned on the side of the structure. He reached over and pressed a few buttons on his control console so he could switch over to the bombs. Then the fox gripped the flight stick with both hands and jolted it downwards right towards the rotating barrels. Fox smirked before he pressed one of the firing buttons within the Arwing and launched a bomb at the tower. The turret was just starting to fire more bullets at the Arwing when the bomb exploded, tearing through the turret's armor and blowing a massive hole into the tower. Fox quickly swerved away from the tower as it started to crackle and crumble, then listed over and collapsed to the ground.

"Turret down!" Fox announced.

Doogan came over the comms channel and snorted. "Good for you. If you and your team take out the other ones, I'll bake you all cookies."

Fox smirked. "So long as you're making the pistachio and chocolate ones."

The Rottweiler rolled his eyes and shook his head while the rest of the pilots continued on with their assault. The Spunk Skunks all fought together, traversing over the runway and other small buildings and dropping bombs onto the compounds. The control tower was decimated within seconds, the building erupting into three massive explosions that ripped a hole into the structure's roof and split the tower in half. A few more starfighters were desperately trying to take off before the entire road was decimated, but with the Lightning Lizards and Spunk Skunks both attacking, it all proved to be futile. The bombs plummeted from the skunks' starfighters, tearing the runway and the scenery around it apart. As the soldiers and ground vehicles were gradually torn to shreds, the skunks started grinning or shouting with joy over the sheer amount of destruction they were causing. One of the skunks was reckless and flew too close to one of the turrets. The pilot shouted as the turret's barrels whirred, and then spat out a series of bullets that nearly cut the starfighter in half. The skunk swore and boosted forward, moments before Star Fox butted in and saved the pilot before his ship exploded. Falco and Slippy flew towards the turret and released a bomb from their starfighter. The turret was engulfed in a giant ball of flames that instantly split the tall tower in half.

"Whew! Heh...thanks, guys," the skunk muttered sheepishly.

"No problem!" Slippy replied.

Falco simply blinked and resumed shooting down enemy starfighters. He didn't feel like making any other snarky comments about the skunk's inability to handle himself in a proper dogfight. The blue bird blinked as he looked around the skies and noticed that the fighting was beginning to die down. The strange entity jamming the team's radar was still active, along with all the guard towers with the turrets on them and a few other small installations on the ground. Falco heard chatter over the comms channel as two Cornerian pilots were being chased by heat-seeking missiles fired from SAMs on the ground. Falco witnessed both pilots curving upwards and then accelerating as fast as possible, rolling their ships around so the missile would eventually lose sight of them and cease the chase. The bird was so focused on the missiles that he failed to notice the yellow UAV that was following him from behind. The bird grumbled to himself before he gripped the flight stick and gently tilted it towards him, veering his ship upwards until he found himself looping behind the UAV. Falco blinked as he aimed for the ship's rear and shot at the small ship four times with his lasers, causing it to burst into flames.

Meanwhile, Krystal was starting to feel uneasy like Terry. She could tell that something was off about the whole mission with the lackluster performance from the enemy, the enemy's disregard of calling reinforcements, and the fact that the base, although large, didn't seem to hold much value to it. The blue fox gazed out the cockpit and aimlessly fired off a few shots at some of the bothersome ships that were buzzing in her space. As the starfighters plummeted to the ground on fire, Krystal kept scanning the area, hoping she'd pick up on something, even if it was just a sudden feeling in her gut. Krystal was about to radio Peppy when she heard a shrill shriek over the radio and grunted.

"The heck was that?!"

Terry exhaled and blinked. "I got it! Finally managed to shoot this bloody...um..."

Krystal looked out her canopy and spotted Terry still chasing after the eerie-shaped cone-like vehicle. She tilted her Arwing to the left and flew beside the canine, observing the cone aircraft alongside him. The ship began to crack slightly, releasing clear fluids from its middle. Then the upper half of the ship began to rise while the lower half descended. Terry and Krystal scrunched up their faces when they spotted slick tentacles slowly emerging from within the ship, sliding out of the shell-like barrier and flicking themselves around. All they could see in the center of the ship was a giant, tall, black column of tar or oil--neither of them could tell. But it wasn't until both of them spotted two bulging orbs appear near the top of the column that the creatures realized what they were looking at. The "orbs" opened up, revealing two giant white spheres with a veiny red center in the middle of them. The giant "ship" gurgled as it started to hover backwards.

"Erm...is that a bio--"

Everyone shouted or covered their ears when the comms channel was filled with an intense amount of static, followed by a shrill cry from the ominous entity with tentacles. The eyes of the weapon started to turn redder and looked veinier as the seconds passed. The radar system shut down completely and some of the ships that couldn't handle the weapon's shrieks started to go on the fritz. When the creature finished shrieking, it emitted a few soft burbles before another tentacle emerged and curled upwards. Krystal panted as she began to recover and lowered her hands. She observed the creature as it released more fluids from the tentacle, and then abruptly ignited. The weapon remained still for a moment as the flames engulfed it, burning right through the armor and down into the creature's vital body. Krystal briefly heard faint screaming and cries from the beast as small explosions blew the creature apart. Fluids that looked disturbingly like blood erupted from where the ship's eyes were. And then the creature quickly plummeted backwards and collapsed onto what was left of the runway. It writhed around on the ground for a moment, and then exploded one final time and lay still.

"Um...what just happened?" Terry asked.

Krystal swooped down to try and read the creature's thoughts, but everything was faint and distant now. "It...I think it destroyed itself."

"What for? I barely even damaged the thing!"

Krystal shook her head and sighed. "I'm not sure. Maybe it didn't want to get cap--"

"HEY! There's still a few enemies around here! Y'all can chit-chat later!" Doogan barked.

Terry and Krystal snapped back to the mission and realized the Rottweiler was right. There were still a few enemy installations that needed to be taken down. As the Saint Bernard and fox split apart and began to fight off the remaining forces, the Spunk Skunks noticed one final formation of tanks and APCs all lining up on the ground, with the cannons pointing up at the fighters. Two of the skunks split up while the other three heard their warning systems blaring noisily inside their starfighters. More SAMs locked on to their ships and started to launch missiles at them, which led to the pilots all boosting or swerving beyond the towers to evade the explosives. One of the Spunk Skunks locked onto a series of APCs and grinned as she lifted a small lever on her console. Then she pushed two red buttons simultaneously, causing two flaps beneath her ship to open up and lower two sets of red missiles. Two missiles were ejected from her starfighter, then four, then six, until all of them were trailing through the air towards all the enemies on the ground. The skunk watched with glee as explosion after explosion erupted from the ground, flipping the vehicles over or setting them on fire before any of the troops had time to retreat.

No one seemed to know when it happened, but after the assault went on for another three minutes, everything went quiet. As Fox sailed above the battle grounds, all he could see were dozens of trails of smoke rising into the air. Various fires had broken out, and what was left of planes, starfighters and enemy vehicles were all wrecked and blown into several pieces. The only thing the base was useful for now was being a graveyard for planes.

"This is Fox. Anyone else spotting activity on the radar?"

One of the Spunk Skunks slapped his console multiple times until the radar came back on. "Nope. All's quiet."

Sid looked at his console and noticed that his radar was back online too. "Everything's in order."

Fox wiggled his nose as he listened to more soldiers and mercenaries reporting that the area was clear and that their radars were working perfectly once again. Even Slippy seemed relatively happy that the battle had been won and all the fighting was over. Nevertheless, Fox reached down and switched over to his comms channel so he could contact Peppy.

"Star Fox here. All targets down. The base has been decimated as far as we can tell."

"Well done, Fox! Hehe, a shame we won't see Oikonny's face once he finds out what happened here!"

Fox tightened his jaw and rolled his tongue around his teeth. He blinked and flared his nostrils.

"Yep," he said, in a flat tone.

The hare blinked and started to frown. "Something wrong?"

"We found out about this location from Seymour, right?"

"Correct."

"And he said something 'important' is supposed to be down here? Something Andrew is trying to keep under wraps?"

"Yes, but it's been destroyed now. ...It has been destroyed, right?"

Fox rubbed his chin. "Krystal, Terry, you tell him what you guys found."

Krystal took over on her comms channel and spoke to the hare instead. "There was a rather peculiar weapon we ran into. Terry says it was a jammer of some kind, but after he damaged it, we saw...tentacles. And eyeballs."

"A bioweapon?" Peppy asked.

"Looks that way," said Terry. "Weird thing is that it only disabled our radars for a few minutes. Didn't really fire at us much; didn't do too much damage. I only shot at it a few times, and then it drenched itself in oil and set itself on fire."

"Probably so we wouldn't be able to capture and study it. What else can you tell me about it?"

"It was gross?"

Peppy lowered his eyebrows and scowled. "What else important can you tell me?"

Krystal shrugged. "It looked contorted. I don't know what they did to it, but it sounded like it was in pain, crying out for help."

"Hmm. Well, it was a bioweapon. No telling what kind of creature Oikonny's scientists tortured to create that thing. So nobody found anything else? No long-range missiles? No hangars where a possible superweapon could be built in?"

Fox shook his head. "Not too much outta the ordinary. Just that strange bioweapon."

"Hmph. ...Head back to base. The teams on Aquas haven't reported in yet; maybe they'll bear more fruit on their end. We're gonna have another go at Seymour before you get here."

"All right. Returning to base now!"

All the pilots regrouped with each other and started to fly back to the CCC, leaving the base in ruins.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A few more minutes passed, and Fox was still uneasy. He knew something was wrong. Sending all these mercenaries out here was a waste of time; the Cornerians could've taken this base on their own. They didn't even run into a squadron of aces or a superweapon, just a mere bioweapon that destroyed itself. The red vulpine rubbed his chin again as he tried to ignore the rest of the chatter going on throughout the comms channels.

"Drinks are on me everybody!" Rex shouted. "And Doogan, you better give me some of them cookies you're making Star Fox!"

The Rottweiler snorted. "I'm not making no dang cookies!"

"You'd better," the bulldog growled.

The leader of the Lightning Lizards listened to some of the pilots as they celebrated and talked about what they were going to do back at the CCC, but the iguana was starting to share the same concerns as Terry and the Star Fox team. He scratched around his spines for a moment as he leaned back in his Ethereal Serpent.

"Hehehe, y'all see the way them tank drivers tried to run from us? One of them couldn't even drive straight; I didn't think it was possible for a tank to flip itself over going in reverse!" said Dailan.

"Yes, that was quite humorous," said Blodski. "Was it also 'cool' how that bioweapon lit itself on fire?"

"What, that gross-looking squid thing? Hey, it did us a favor, Captain; that thing needed to be burned and scrapped the second it came out of whatever lab it was cooked in."

Blazer grumbled and rubbed his muzzle. "No, Dailan. The captain means it's weird that it destroyed itself the second we found out what it was. And that we got an easy win today. And that--"

"Seriously guys, stop whining," Dailan butted in. "We just ruined one of Oikonny's vital operations, we're all still alive, only a few of us have damaged ships--it's perfect! Why should we have to make somethin' outta nothin'?"

"As someone piloting an Ethereal Serpent, you of all people should know that there's a difference between nothing and something that appears to be nothing."

"Like some bait-and-switch? We blow up that whole base only to find out that the princess is held in another, bigger base?"

"Something like that."

As the reptiles continued to chat and bicker with each other, Slippy looked at his radar and started to scan the area. He zoomed out on the device, determined to find some kind of enemy blip that was hiding amongst the lush jungles and hills below. The frog squinted and blinked twice before he looked out his canopy and started to analyze his surroundings more closely. Slippy sniffed for a moment before he exhaled and turned to the comms channel.

"Peppy, I need you and ROB to scan this whole sector. Thermal imaging, abnormal electronic activity--anything."

"We've scanned the area already. Are you all sure that something's amiss?"

"Gotta be. We're about to reach the finish line; I'm starting to get the feeling this is the moment where we trip on our shoelaces just as we're about to cross."

"All right. I'm starting--"

Slippy frowned when Peppy's speech was garbled. Then the screen emitted static for a few seconds and went dark.

"...Peppy?"

Doogan huffed. "My dang comms channel just went down; I can't contact the CCC!"

"Anyone else having trouble?"

"The signal just disappeared! What's going on?"

Fox grumbled. "Peppy? Peppy, come in!"

The comms channel wouldn't even emit static. The only communication he had was for all the pilots flying alongside of him. The vulpine snorted and switched channels.

"Slippy, you getting anything?"

"No, it looks like something's jamming our systems again!"

"You sure? I wasn't picking up anything before the channel went dead."

"What else could it be?"

Fox started to look around the area, hoping to find some form of answer that would confirm everyone's suspicions. But the skies were clear, and he couldn't see any hostiles on the ground. The vulpine was just about to swoop down low when something flickered across the canopy. Suddenly, Krystal muttered quietly and started to slow down.

"Wait, there's something--EVERYONE MOVE! NOW!"

Something bright flashed across everyone's canopy's again. Before anyone had the time to react properly, a blinding blue stream of energy came down in a matter of seconds. Everyone heard a shrill noise that sounded like a beam firing with full force. Some of the pilots heard Krystal's warning and swerved out of the way in time, but three unlucky pilots failed to avoid the beam of laser fire as it quickly moved diagonally, cutting through the earth and any planes that were still hovering in its line of sight. Two of the planes exploded almost instantly, while another one was torn in half by the laser. Both halves plummeted to the ground on fire, while everyone else started to shout and panic over the comms channel.

"WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT?!" shouted Doogan.

"I dunno; it had to have been some kind of long-ranged laser weaponry!" Slippy answered.

"Thanks for stating the obvious, frog-breath! Where did it come from; what direction did they fire it?!"

"It-it had to have been from the sky somewhere! Maybe it's cloaked and spying on us from the planet's atmosphere?"

Fox could hear more pilots chattering and panicking over the comms channel and started to exhale. "Everyone, just calm down! Spread out and fly fast, but don't stray from the group! If whatever's targeting us singles one of us out--"

"FOX!"

Fox saw another flash. He screamed as he jerked his flight stick down, sending his Arwing into a nosedive so fast he almost lost control of the ship. Everyone shouted and veered to the left or right as another giant laser beam was shot at them from straight ahead. Only this time around, the beam was horizontal and trying to pick off the pilots as opposed to tearing through the ground as well. The beam whined for several seconds and slowly moved towards the left, obliterating one of the Cornerian pilots' ships and burning through one of the Spunk Skunks' wings. Then the blue energy dissipated, and the ear-piercing humming noise ceased.

"Dang it! My wing's damaged!" the skunk shouted.

"Two more planes are down! This isn't working; we have to close up!"

Fox shook his head. "No! If we do that the laser will kill us all in one blow! Just relax everyone--head back to the CCC as fast as possible!"

Even Fox was beginning to doubt himself. All the squadrons were flying blind, and they still didn't know where the laser fire was coming from or how to avoid its periodic blasts. Fox started to boost forward, moving his Arwing as fast as possible until a few warning lights began to flash in his starship telling him the engines were overheating. Fox slowed down, just in time for Sid and Rex to weave over his ship. The vulpine tried to block out the frequent chatter over all the comms channels as he moved forward. Something in his spine tingled, and Fox instinctively grabbed his flight stick and pulled it back. He slowed his ship down so much that it was practically hovering in mid-air, almost motionless. Then the blue laser returned, this time beaming down in a diagonal vertical formation again. Everyone shouted or stopped their ships as the laser quickly skimmed across the ground, tearing gaping holes through the earth and burning through the ships that were caught in its path. Fox shut his eyes and exhaled after hearing a few pilots screaming before their signals all went dead.

"Alpha Unit's down! The whole squadron just got destroyed!"

"Keep going! We have to get outta range or we're all fried!"

As Slippy heard the chatter going on amongst all the different pilots, the frog started to count softly to himself. He flew forward as fast as he could, moving alongside Falco as the seconds ticked away in his mind.

"Twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-fi--MOVE! GO, NOW!"

The laser showed up again, soaring horizontally towards the squadrons at a speedy pace. One of the Spunk Skunks was blinded by the blue laser, moments before his ship exploded, incinerating his body. As the laser began to move, it grazed the side of another Spunk Skunk starfighter. The chubby skunk flying the small spaceship started to panic as warning signs within the plane started going off and the right wing was torn off. The laser continued to move, cutting through more metal and igniting the fuel line. Just as the laser began to die down, oil started spewing from the control panel and a small fire had lit beneath the skunk's legs. The skunk shouted and swore, shaking his head as he tried to eject from his plane.

"Sam, get out! Your plane's catching fire!" Stanley shouted.

Sam kicked at the eject button several times and heard more warning bells going off in his plane. Smoke filled the cockpit, and Sam started to hack and wheeze as he choked on the acrid fumes. As Sam struggled to get out of his plane, Slippy got on the comms channel again.

"Twenty-five seconds! That's how long we got before the laser fires at us again!"

"Well, how long has it been since the last laser blast?" Falco asked.

Slippy paused. "Erm..."

"Oh, CRUD!"

Falco and Slippy both steered to the right and left respectively, their wings quickly grazing the heated laser. Falco shouted and swore when his left wing was destroyed on impact; Slippy yelled when his wing was damaged as well. Half of it tore off while the remaining section of it started to spew out sparks and fluids. Another pilot who didn't stop in time screamed as she flew directly into the laser. Sam wasn't making any noise anymore and his ship was slowly plummeting to the ground. No matter how many times Stanley and the other skunks tried to reach him, he didn't respond. His ship crashed into a field of trees below, remained still for a moment, and then blew apart.

"...Sam?" one skunk asked.

Stanley shut his eyes and exhaled. "Three's down. He's gone guys."

Doogan slammed his fists on the console in his Spiked Collar and snarled. "THIS ISN'T WORKING, FOX! We're still getting picked off!"

"Just stay in formation! We're two-thirds of the way there; once we're high and far enough, we should be out of range!"

"I hope so!"

Terry started to fly near Slippy's side, ready to test something out. He looked around at all the ships hovering around and noticed that six ships were huddled together. The Saint Bernard muttered to himself as they all flew higher up.

"Three, two, move, now!"

Everyone in the group all ducked or ascended as another horizontal beam of energy came their way. One of the pilots lost one of their wings, but otherwise, everyone was safe.

"Got it!" Terry shouted. "All we gotta do is psyche this thing out! Everyone fly in a straight line--"

"CAPTAIN!"

The Lightning Lizards' leader couldn't react in time. The green iguana counted the seconds in his mind until the next attack. He didn't even reach "five" before another diagonal laser beam shot at the ground. The beam took out two more Cornerian pilots instantly before quickly moving towards Blodski. But the reptile was too close. He shut his eyes and shouted as the laser started to chew through his ship's rear, and continued to burn through the rest of the starfighter. The Ethereal Serpent exploded in mid-air and started to barrel roll towards the ground. Lennert, Dailan and Blazer could only watch as the plane landed near a river and disappeared in a trail of smoke and fire.

"Darwin! Darwin, come in!" Dailan shouted.

"Did he get out?! Did anyone see him eject?!" asked a frantic Lennert.

Stanley was shaking, panting as he tried to keep his courage intact. But he couldn't stop his body from voiding itself right there in the plane as another laser beam came at the group horizontally. Stanley and another skunk dodged the laser in time, but a third member of the group was blown to bits before he could fly out of the way. The captain of the skunks started to panic.

"This is impossible! It's completely random now; there's more than one confounded laser!"

Fox looked around and noticed that the group of fighters sent on this mission had decreased substantially. "We're in the clouds now--keep moving! We're almost there!"

There wasn't anything else anyone could say or do. More screaming and panicked shouts ensued, but it did no good. Krystal managed to warn the others about a few sudden attacks, but she couldn't predict them all. And Slippy and Terry's plans to outmaneuver the laser blasts proved to be pointless now that they couldn't predict whenever the next attack came. The Saint Bernard kept boosting as much as possible as everyone's ships gradually reached the atmosphere. But Terry knew that the attacks wouldn't stop just yet. He and Slippy had to make another plan.

"Slippy--"

The frog looked down at the comms channel and saw Terry frowning as his screen turned blue. Then the screen cut off, and all Slippy could hear was a blood-curdling scream that was abruptly cut off by an explosion. The frog looked to his left and saw the giant blue laser, along with what was left of the explosion floating back down to the surface. Slippy blinked and turned away as the remaining members of Star Dog went silent. Rex lowered his ears as he looked at the laser beam and whimpered.

"Was...was that Terry?"

Slippy didn't respond. He just swallowed and kept flying, hoping that everyone would get out of the lasers' blast radius. Everyone waited with bated breath, expecting another strong burst of energy to take out one, two, or even five ships at once. But Slippy started counting again in his mind and realized that an entire minute had passed with no form of interruption. Slippy started to slow down, feeling as though everyone was clear.

"...I think we're safe now," he muttered softly.

"Are you sure?" asked Stanley.

"It-it's been almost two minutes...it would've fired at us again by now."

What was left of the attack force started to calm down. Everyone's heartbeats began to slow, the adrenaline pumping through everyone's veins had subsided, and a majority of the survivors felt relieved. Everyone let go of their flight sticks and soared through the skies at a moderate pace; they listened to the soft hiss of their engines as they flew higher, hoping to leave the planet's orbit soon. Fox huffed several times before he exhaled and shut his eyes. He rubbed his head for a moment before leaning forward and looking down at his radar. He pushed one of the buttons near the communicator and started to breathe heavily.

"Great Fox, come in. Come in, Great Fox!" he said, both furious and weary from the attack.

The signal was still being jammed. Fox leaned back in his seat and disconnected from Peppy. Instead, he switched over to all the other stations and messaged everyone else.

"All units, report," he said dejectedly.

"...Spunks Skunks here," said Stanley. "I'm still alive. So's Sara. Everyone else is gone."

"This is Blazer. Captain's down and my wings are busted. But Dailan and Lennert seem fine."

Doogan shook his head slowly and flared his nostrils. "Terry's dead. Obviously he's not okay. Just me, Rex and Sid now."

"Um," started a young pilot in Cornerian gear. "I just see Gallyc and Ervin here, along with me. I think...everyone else is gone..."

Fox scowled and shut his eyes. The mission started with forty pilots, and now over half of them were dead. He felt like saying something encouraging to get everyone's spirits back up, but everyone still alive lost someone on their team, minus his own. The vulpine exhaled as he grabbed his flight stick again and started to move forward.

"Whatever that weapon was that attacked us...it's too powerful for us to handle alone. We're heading back to the CCC; General Pepper and the others have to know about this."

Fox was hoping he'd hear a few people acknowledge him or agree with his new course of action. But all the fox heard was soft breathing, and he was pretty sure one or two pilots burst into tears. He didn't antagonize any of them though; he knew they all needed some space. So Fox kept silent as he and the others headed back to base, unable to embrace the "victory" of their mission.