The space above Corneria, so peaceful with the stars glistening on the otherwise black sky, a blue glow coming from the fourth planet of the Lylat system as it floated in its orbit, was suddenly filled with the chaos of an intense battle, lasers coasting left and right as spacecraft fired onto one another. Corneria’s orbit around the Lylat star had brought the capital of the Free Lylat Alliance close to Sector X, a notorious nebula that had become a graveyard of debris from ships and a secret research base of the former emperor of Venom, Andross. This debris field made it a perfect spot for bandits and criminals to hide, and often they will raid lone commerce ships foolish enough to approach the Sector unguarded.
While Corneria itself was heavily fortified from space with the Beltino Space Gate and Pepper Class ‘A’ Battleship – the Hound Dog guarding all approaches to the planet, bandits still remained a problem as they would ambush civilian and small cargo ships, then disappear into the debris when chased. If they scored a hit, they would return after the chase had given up and collect their bounty. The StarFox team had been called to escort a military transport to the Beltino Gate, but happened upon such an attack on a civilian convoy heading to the Hound Dog and with the help of the Cornerian Space Defense team, engaged in heavy fighting. Fox’s Arwing bucked as he raised a wing to let a laser pass under, then returned fire onto the craft that shot at him. The ship dived down under his Arwing to avoid the fire and made way for Slippy’s Arwing. “Slippy, on your left flank!” Fox quickly called out, turning his ship over and preparing to dive down on the elusive craft.
Slippy looked to his left and saw the ship heading for him and turned to make a head-on pass. The ship fired onto the green toad, but missed when Fox hit his stabilizer. Slippy opened fire and struck the ship right in the cockpit, instantly killing the pilot. The ship began to drift, and Fox gave a little smirk, knowing he was just as responsible for the kill as Slippy was, as he had disabled the shield with his hit to the stabilizing systems. “Thanks Fox, I got him!” Slippy reported, dipping his wings up and down in celebration.
Fox chuckled and nodded, then banked right to deal with a bandit firing onto a civilian jet. Before he could even press the trigger on his joystick, the bandit exploded in a large fireball, and Falco recklessly swooped low over Fox’s Arwing. “Sorry Foxy, but I can’t let you take ‘em all!” Falco radioed with his grin spreading across his beak.
Fox shook his head and rubbed a paw over his chest, feeling his heart beating fast from that close shave. He could swear his cockpit heated up from coming so close to Falco’s G-Diffuser engine. “That’s fine, Falco, just don’t crash into me, ok?” Fox asked, obviously a little shook up.
Falco merely grinned and gave a smug look by closing his eyes. “What, me? Crash? Into you? Who do you think I am, Slippy?” Falco replied, provoking a ‘hey!’ from Slippy over the communicator.
“That’s enough fooling around guys, focus on the mission!” Peppy called out, guiding one of the ships to the Hound Dog.
Fox flicked on his All-Talk setting and gave a serious look. “Peppy’s right guys, let’s make sure these nice folk get to the Hound Dog in one piece, ok?” Fox ordered, flicking off his comms and turning into a bandit, firing into the ship.