The date

Fox stared off into space. He was stuck in yet another meeting. He didn't like being encased in the conference room like this. The battle for Fortuna had ended only a few hours before, and now he was forced back into the dull gray conference room with the rest of the brass.

The object that he had recovered after fighting the moth had been revealed to be a core memory, a key part of the machine-organic race called the aparoids, meaning that ROB had been right when he had yelled over the channel about it when the team had first encountered the enemy.

General Pepper stood in the center of the room, holding up the core memory for the rest of the officers to examine. Fox leaned over to Damon next to him, attempting to ask if he knew anything about it. "Have you ever seen anything like this?" He whispered. The black vulpine turned towards him, pointing to his eyepatch. "Yeah, 17 years ago, I was still a Lieutenant back then, and my fur wasn't black. A entire Cornerian armada was decimated by a sole aparoid, not unlike the one you and your team faced on Fortuna. Only a few ships made it out, and when the attack started, pieces of the interior were falling apart all over us. I got a piece of shrapnel to the eye" He explained

Fox shuddered, General Pepper looking over from his location upon hearing the conversation. "If I remember correctly, Colonel Ballard was a survivor of an aparoid attack many years ago. Would you like to explain, Damon?" The vulpine nodded, standing and going to the General. "I'm sure many of you were still cubs when the 7th fleet was destroyed on a scouting mission all those years ago. The media covered it up to prevent widespread panic from thoughts of the aparoids coming here after finishing our fleet up. It seems that now they're doing just that. We've already received reports that Fortuna has been taken over by the battlegroup that descended on the planet during our battle with rebel forces. I took the time to launch a recon probe into orbit, and we're receiving both satellite imagery, and if need be, we can get live video feed."

A screen descended from the ceiling, the lights dimming. Fortuna appeared on the screen, still as vibrant and green as it had been during the skirmish. "This is Fortuna during our battle, this..." He hesitated, moving the slide forward to reveal a purple planet, glowing red orange veins scarring the surface. The atmosphere had turned a shade of pink. Damon went on. "...is Fortuna now. The aparoids have an ability to absorb whatever they choose. We've come to call this process aparoidation. The core memory we received, courtesy of the Star Fox team-" He nodded to Fox "-has given us a bit of information. However, it's not complete. It seems that aparoid commanders contain core memory's, and use them to control ground forces."

Fox sat forward in his chair, interested now. "I'm going to send the recon probe in for a look at the planet's surface." He pulled a data chip out of his jacket pocket, the soft clanging of his medals the only sound in the tense room. The purple planet that was Fortuna began to rotate as the video feed started. He used the control panel in his hands to move it in towards the planet. Eventually, the probe broke through the atmosphere.

Fox's breath hitched in his throat as he saw the base from before. The aparoid moth's were everywhere, the air was easily visible, purple clouds swirling this way and that, the moths overseeing tanks and ships- all coated in the purple substance that had terraformed the planet to what it was.

Damon navigated the probe into a building just as the shadow of a moth covered it, barely being able to get it hidden. He slowly moved the probe through the building. Eventually, it got into command room, apes from the rebel army messing with the control panels in the room. One of them turned towards the probe, revealing his face and what aparoidation did to organics.

Half of the ape's face and body were coated in the thin sinewy veins from before, pink against the purple hexagons that had begun to form over him. He noticed that something wasn't supposed to be there, and pulled his blaster pistol out. It slowly found it's way towards the probe, pressed the barrel against the screen, and pulled the trigger.

The people in the room flinching as the screen flashed, burning the image into their retinas for a few moments. Fox shook his head, wiping his eyes. When the view finally cleared, the screen was covered in static, the letters "CONNECTION TERMINATED" scrolling across the sea of static in big red letters, bathing the officers in red light.

Damon set the control pad onto the table. "The aparoids have setup a base on Fortuna, and we're looking at a full scale war here if we don't prepare correctly. I have no further information on this subject, so I'll leave it to General Pepper and the science teams to find out more." He turned to Pepper, saluted, and returned to his seat next to Fox.

The hound waited for Damon to return to his seat, nodded, and looked around the room. "Just as Colonel Ballard has said, I'll have our science teams gather more data, but it would be easier if we had a complete core memory to study. I'm going to send out orders for more ships to be built, and training at the academy will increase. More officers and enlisted personnel will be conscripted, along with veterans and the jobless. I don't like the idea of a draft, but it'll be needed if we want a chance to survive this war."

The officers in the room looked round at each other, Fox and Damon locking eyes for a moment. Pepper waited for them to turn their attention back to him. "I have no further instructions for you all except to prepare for war to break out at any time. If any new information surfaces, you will all receive messages on your communicators, so keep an eye on them...Does anyone have anything to say?" He studied them for a moment, not receiving any hands. "Alright then...dismissed."

The occupants all stood up, the lights coming back on. He left with Damon, the room behind the vulpines erupting into murmuring and conversation about the possibility of war. Fox didn't know why, but he felt that one day very soon, he would be forced into a battle that would test his skills and push him and his team to the limit.

Damon turned to Fox. "Fox, do you have plans for tonight?" Fox tilted his head to the side, one ear twitching, as if he was wondering wether he heard the senior officer correctly. "Um...no sir, I don't. Why do you ask?" Damon thought over his choice of words. "I was going to ask if you and your team wouldn't mind coming to the Christmas party held every year on Christmas eve, officers and enlisted personnel are invited, but the enlisted men usually leave quite early." Fox thought about it for a moment. "Alright, I'll ask them. I'll probably come, so I guess I'll see you there?" The older vulpine gave a rare smile. "Alright then. It's from 7 to 12, or later if you one of the few who stay. Also, I suggest bringing a date"

The Colonel winked at Fox, who had turned a soft shade of red at the mention of a date. Tonight was the night he had planned the lunch with Krystal. Wouldn't be much of a lunch by the time he got back anyway, so he decided he would ask her to the party.

Fox Thought of what to say to her on the drive back to the house. He eventually reached the driveway and got out. Trudging to the door, he slipped his key in, unlocking the door. He could hear every little sound. The reverberating thud of the door being unlocked, each moment feeling like an eternity.

He reluctantly dragged his feet inside. His legs felt like they were encased in thick leg, and he had grown cold from the nervousness, feeling a pit in his stomach. The vulpine made it to the stairs dragging his iron legs with him. His throat was dry. He had never been to good with girls, and it showed in his actions.

He couldn't think straight, his mind a jumble of thoughts. He was too caught up in his turmoil filled mind that he didn't even notice he had made it to Krystal's door. He tried to swallow, having trouble, and brought one arm up to knock on the door.

Just as his knuckle touched the white wood, it swung open, revealing the sapphire blue vixen. She was wearing a blue dress, slightly brighter than her fur. Fox could see the tiny golden earings dangling from her ears, each with a small cerulean gem embedded in them. Her shoes, high heels matching the color of her dress, kept her about an inch off the ground in the back, and to top it all off, she was wearing a diamond necklace.

Fox didn't know what he said, but whatever erupted from his mouth must have been gibberish, as the vixen giggled, her navy blue eyes narrowing in amusement. "Fox, you missed the little lunch date we planned today, so if you don't mind, would you like to accompany me to the christmas party at Corneria Air Force base? Colonel Ballard called to tell me about it, so I got ready right away"

Fox thought for a minute, well, not so much thought as tried to overcome his awe, but eventually he composed himself, but soon began to stumble over his words. "O-of course! I'll go with you K-krystal!" The vixen giggled again, giving him the same look from before, bringing a paw up to cover her mouth. "Then go get ready, we'll have to leave soon if we want to make it"

He nodded repeatedly, quickly hurrying to his room to change into his uniform that Damon had told him wear. It was basically his normal uniform, but it was black coated with blue pants, rather than the normal navy blue of air force pilots and the like. He quickly made his way back to Krystal, who continued to smile at him.

Fox was still very shy around her, offering her his arm to lead her to the car. The two foxes strapped in and returned to the base Fox had just come from, seeing the place was already filling up with guests. The two could see an ocean of the black and blue uniforms, and rivers of multicolored dresses, all making their way into one of the larger hangars that had been cleared to make room for everybody. Fox again offered Krystal his elbow and led her to the doors of the hangar.

The two had quite a hassle getting through the swarm of people, but once they got in, they quickly found a table where nobody was sitting, taking two of the 8 chairs and sitting down. Eventually, more people showed up, two dog soldiers, a 2nd Lieutenant and a Captain, and their wives. Two seats remained, and as fate had it, were soon taken by Colonel Ballard and his wife. Damon's wife had been a Cerinian as well, the two had emigrated to Corneria many years before the planet had been destroyed by Andross. Krystal gasped as she saw the other vixen's blue fur almost completely matched that of Mrs Ballard. Fox rose to shake the other Colonel's hand, also shaking his wife's hand before sitting back down.

The Omega Colonel smiled at Fox. "So, I see you got this beautiful young vixen to come with you, Fox? What did you have to do? Lure her here?" The group laughed, Fox turning a bright red, but the rapidly dimming lights kept anybody from seeing it. Krystal continued to look at the Colonel's wife. The vixen must have caught Krystal staring as she smiled at her. "You must be Krystal, I've heard about you a bit from Damon, how your quite a skilled pilot. My name is Hunter, and I'm pretty sure you already know where I'm from." Krystal nodded. "Yes, I'm Krystal, and thank you, I didn't know anybody else got past the destruction of Cerinia" She looked over at Damon. "Colonel, you're Cerinian too, correct?" The jet black vulpine nodded. "If you don't mind me asking, how did your fur turn black?" The wing commander exhaled a bit, then he brought forth a story of how the years of stress and battle had taken quite a toll on him. Krystal listened intently, letting it all soak in.

Krystal began to recall memories from Cerinia. She wondered why they were only showing up now. She shook her head, clearing the memories away, noting it as coincidence. The room had grown dark, General Pepper was standing on a makeshift stage of ammo boxes with wood pallets strapped together to form a stage.

The hound looked around the room for a moment, his sad looking eyes taking everything in, then he began. "I'd like to thank everybody for coming tonight. This party has turned out well every year we've done it so far, so let's keep it the same tonight, shall we? I don't have much to say except to enjoy yourselves tonight." The General replaced the microphone onto the stand, stepping off the crudely constructed stages, the ringing of his metals clanging together ringing throughout the quiet hangar, sounding like an old fashioned freight train, from before Corneria had upgraded to it's advanced technology many years before.

Before Krystal could ask more about them, the music began. The couple stood and moved to the dance floor, Krystal remained with Fox. He turned to her. "Krystal? Is something wrong? You look...distracted" Krystal could barely hear him, her mind focused on the Colonel and his wife, her thoughts deafening her.

She shook her head, clearing it and turned to her date, smiling. "Of course Fox, just thinking a bit..." Fox tilted his head slightly, wondering if she wasn't just hiding anything from him, but he decided to leave it be.

Eventually, he worked up the courage to ask her for a dance. Standing up, the vulpine flashed a grin at her. "Would you like to dance, Krystal?" The vixen's eyes sparkled and she nodded, standing and taking his hand.

The two began dancing, having started on a slow dance number. They turned and twisted across the floor, coming into sight of the Colonel and his wife every now and then. Fox and Krystal kept looking into each others eyes, locking almost constantly. The number was about to end, and Fox took a dive. He leaned closer to Krystal, closing his eyes, and she did as well.

Mere inches before their lips touched, the power went out, an explosion was heard, and blaster fire rang out in the dark hangar.