The patrol and the rose

Fox was striding through the main corridor to the center of the Raebyrne Air Force Base. It had been built 30 years prior. The base was home to the 307th Special Forces Wing, The wings of Ragnarok was a nickname they had been given, as next to Star Fox, they were the best squadron the Cornerian military had. Fox had already met their commander, who held control of the base and was the wing's commanding officer.

Omega Colonel Damon 'Big Boss' Ballard was a fox, originally from Cerinia, just as Krystal was, but his fur had been blackened from many battles and the stress of carrying the baton of command for so many years. However, Krystal had yet to meet the Colonel. Damon had spoken with Fox earlier, and now the vulpine looked back on it.

Fox's mind flashed white as he fell into yet another flashback, something he had been having quite frequently for about a month now. The vulpine's emerald eyes shifted to the left, catching sight of the Big Boss in his peripheral vision, striding toward him. "Colonel" The cerinian had called out "I need to speak to you about a few things before we start talking about command. I like to know all of my men, to get their strength's and weaknesses into perspective. Now I know that your one of the best pilots in the Lylat system, maybe even THE best, but I know you have weaknesses, and I want to know what they are, to better understand you." Fox's thoughts ran through his mind quickly, already processing information about the other officer. Hmm...he's blunt, but he seems caring just as well. Fox thought as Damon came closer.

Fox nodded. "Of course. My only weakness is that my efficiency goes down if I have to work with more than four people. It's why General Pepper let me keep my squadron the way it is." Damon nodded, taking it in. "And what of the rest of your squadron? Are they the same?" Fox nodded at the senior officer, indicating he hadn't any further weaknesses to discuss. The Colonel mumbled to himself, as if discussing it with apparitions Fox couldn't see.

Eventually, the large black vulpine nodded once more, satisfied with what he had learned, and turned back to Fox. "Excellent, if I need you, I'll contact you, until then, carry on with your tasks." The Colonel vanished almost as quickly as he had appeared, leaving Fox to his duties.

The brown vulpine's emerald eyes followed his jet black counterpart, his ear twitching a bit in curiosity. He had read the Colonel's dossier, and it had said he was unpredictable. That was an understatement.

Fox sighed and continued on towards the hangar bay assigned to the squadron, now that it had finally settled into the military. Inside, Fox saw the silhouette of the team's Arwings, noticing a glint in the shadows. The glint had come from a small figure next to the Arwing usually reserved for Falco, and sure enough, the avian came out of the shadows and flashed his trademark cocky grin at his squadron commander.

"Finally decide to show up, Foxie?" He said, a chuckle escaping onto his words. Fox rolled his eyes and smiled a bit. "Yeah, figured I'd stop off and have breakfast first" Fox was messing with Flco, but apparently, the falcon didn't know that. "What? You stopped for breakfast without even telling me? Thanks, Fox, I totally wouldn't have enjoyed food before we took to the skies." Fox sighed, his ears drooping. "Falco, I was kidding, okay? I didn't eat anything this morning." Falco was quiet for a few moments, before he uttered out "oh...I knew that" Fox rolled his eyes yet again at his wingmate.

"Yeah, whatever, lets just get into the sky so we can get this over with. I love flying, but today isn't exactly a day that I would prefer to fly." Falco's beak suddenly turned upwards into a sly grin. "Oh really now? Why not?" Fox remained silent, not letting the bird know. "Falco's eyes narrowed inside the bands of red feathers that struck through the blue feathers covering most of his body. "Dinner with Krystal again?" Falco suddenly began hugging the air, taking on a higher pitched voice. "Oh Fox, it's alright, don't worry" Falco went on, continuing to mock his superior.

Fox knew he was imitating Krystal from the dinner a few nights before, but he didn't know how he knew about it. "Okay, how did you find out?" He asked, crossing his arms and giving the ace a questioning glare. Falco ceased his mockathon and smirked t the vulpine. "You know that I can always hack the security cameras in the house to look at anything that happens, just in case something interesting pops up when I'm not there."

Fox growled softly, closing his eyes and letting his ears flatten out as he blushed softly through his fur. "Damn Slippy for teaching you that". Falco continued to smirk and hopped into his interceptor. "Okay, come on Fox, even I know when enough joking around is enough, so lets get this over with" Falco closed the canopy on the Arwing and gave Fox a thumbs up.

Fox shrugged and did likewise to his own Arwing, flashing the gesture back at Falco as both ships slowly began to roll out of the hangar bay and onto the tarmac. Slippy had recently installed landing gear similar to that of planes from before Corneria had invented hover capability in ships. Fox didn't really mind it, as he still had the ability to hover, but he liked the feel of the fighter rolling out onto the runway, feeling every little bump and crack in the asphalt.

He and Falco both lined up, Falco's ship was lined up with his ship's nose right beside Fox's left wing. He could hear Fox key the communications channel. "Falco, are you good? Make sure your G-diffuser isn't messing up again" Fox said, a smirk appearing on the video screen that opened up anytime communication was established with another fighter. He was picking on Falco again about the Lylat Wars, when he had been tailed by three interceptor II class fighters, claiming there was something wrong with the G-diffuser.

Now it was Falco's turn to roll his eyes. "Yeah hotshot, I'm good to go, so let's get rolling." Fox nodded and turned his communication priority onto the air traffic controller. "Air tower 276, Colonel McCloud and Major Lombardi, requesting permission to take off, over" The tower quickly responded with instructions. "You got it Galm flight, cleared for runway 23, rock those babies onto the tarmac and hit the skies." Fox turned to look at Falco, flashing the thumbs up and keying another communications channel. "Green light blue boy, let's go."

Fox ignited his engine's afterburners, hearing and feeling the roar from the engines shaking the craft, seconds later, he heard Falco's do likewise. The Arwing's quickly accelerated down the runway, picking up speed and reaching the end of the runway within seconds. Fox and Falco pulled up and the noses of their crafts left the ground, pulling into the blue skies.

"Falco, check the G-diffuser system output." Within a few moments of tinkering with his gauges, Falco gave response. "All clear, I'm in gear" Fox nodded, sighing softly. "Got it, now, just another day of boring patrol." Falco thought about it, sending a transmission to Fox after a while of thinking. "Fox, we don't exactly know if we're clear, or maybe some uninvited guests may drop by. I don't know, but be prepared."

Fox heard a tint of seriousness in his ace pilot's voice, knowing that he wasn't joking around. "Got it" Fox said. The two flew around for bit,not noticing anything out of the ordinary. Eventually, Fox saw a blip on his radar. "Hey Falco, you getting anything on radar?" Fox asked, watching as it came closer, two more appearing next to the original. "Yeah, but they don't match any allied ship signatures. What ship dimensions are you getting on scans?"

Fox's fingers glided over the controls in his ship, beeping quickly coming from behind him as the ship processed the data it was getting. "Three ships, registered as mercenary vessels...um, Falco?" The avian heard the subtle change in the Colonel's voice, already knowing exactly what he was going to say, finishing his thoughts for him. "Star Wolf." Fox was battling his decisions on wether to stand their ground if Wolf and his gang attacked, or run.

"Falco, we won't be able to go toe to toe with them for long. I know we're both good, but we aren't THAT good" Falco shushed his friend. "Hold on, I'm getting a comm channel. I'm gonna open it up, if it's any indication of the past, then you'll be getting one too." Fox nodded as he soon saw the screen flash and Wolf O' Donnell's face filled the screen.

"Long time no see, pup." The Star Wolf team's leader had changed quite a bit. His fur was buzzcut across his head, a white mohawk standing out in the sea of grey. He had replaced his black eyepatch with a blue cybernetic one, covering his eye, but not indicating that he was able to see using it.

Fox's fur bristled as he heard the voice, like gravel. "Wolf, what are you doing here?" The lupine smirked a bit. "We heard the Star Fox team got dissolved and joined the military. Is it true Fox?" The brown vulpine sighed, grudgingly nodding. Wolf's smirk faded. "We're not here to fight." Fox and Falco were quiet, not knowing what to say. "Then...why are you here?" the Major and Colonel asked in unison. Wolf's smirk quickly returned. "Because I came to see somebody."

Over in Falco's ship, the avian was quiet for once. He was thinking about why Wolf's wingmates were so quiet. Usually, Leon Powalski, a chameleon on the team, would be arguing with Falco, but then again, they hadn't seen each other in over eight years, he had barely seen his best friend in the last six or seven years, who knew anymore. Falco had lost track of the time since the fight he and Fox were in on Titania so long ago.

Falco quickly cleared his mind of the incident that had scarred their friendship, trying to get back to the matter at hand. Wolf must have told Leon to stay quiet, but now Falco was noticing something. He could only see three ships. The canopies on the wolfens were clear except for one ship, but he did see a small rose next to the cockpit. The avian wasn't paying attention, and his mind finally shifted back to the conversation between Fox and Wolf, hearing the lupine over the speakers in his ship. "There, now that I've explained myself, can we get clearance into a docking bay?" Fox thought about it, and noticing how Wolf finally wasn't threatening to shoot him down every five seconds, and was acting civilized, he nodded. "Yeah, Falco, guide on right, I'll take the left."

Falco quickly brought his ship around next to Leon's, seeing the chameleon smile in that odd, sadistic fashion that he loved. It sent shivers up Falco's spine. He saw Fox's rdar signature hng onto the left of the five-ship formation. "Okay, bring 'em in". The formation accelerated back towards Corneria city, gliding over the sea that covered most of the planet, passing one of the intercontinental bridges that spanned Corneria. Each 'continent' was a small artificial island, separated by the large oceans as the cities were balance on huge stilts that held the bottom of the platforms just above the waves.

A small amount of time passed and soon Falco saw the water disappear, replaced by the sight of bushes and grass. The formation circled around Raebyrne Air Force Base, all of them listening in as Fox requested permission to land. "Air tower, this is Galm flight, we picked up a few extras, we need a place for them to land, over" The air tower came back through, the walrus in the control room directing them. "Land your ships on the civilian runway and they will be towed back to your hangars, the other ships will be kept there as well to lessen confusion, your cleared to land on CR-19, air tower over and out." The walrus disappeared and Fox marked a spot on their radars to show where they needed to go.

"Alright boys, low and slow. Falco lands first, then Star Wolf, then I'll bring up the rear, see you on the ground, Fox out". Fox took off his communicator and hovered there, watching each ship land, then finally putting down and hopping out. He saw Falco standing a small distance from Wolf and his team, the ship with the rose hadn't opened yet, the occupant still sitting inside. Wolf frowned and walked over, banging his fist on the hull. "Alright furball, enough playing around, hop out."

The canopy hissed open and a jet black panther emerged, not saying anything. Apparently, he wanted to keep his distance from everybody else, including the rest of Star Wolf. Wolf nodded to Fox. "Okay, we're ready, now can you take us inside, somebody is waiting on me." The lupine and vulpine walked together, a short distance from the other three. Wolf whispered softly, to where not even the panther's sensitive ears could hear it. "He's been acting strange for about a week now, we don't know why." Fox narrowed his eyes, thinking a bit, but his thoughts were suddenly shattered as he heard somebody yell from across the terminal.