Exodus

The flash faded from Fox and Krystal's eyes as they stood together, trying to shake off the burned in image of two heavy cannons firing. Once the smoke and white disappeared, Fox recognized the distinct shadow of the hull: The Great Fox was hovering no more than 50 meters above them, providing heavy fire support for any Cornerian ground Forces.

Slippy had done a fine job remodeling the old girl. The ship was much sleeker, and had a dark silver tint to it, the cannons looked bigger and more ominous. The ship also had missile launchers clipped on each of the four wings, the dorsal fin on top holding a powerful rail gun system, one cannon on each side of it, the Star Fox symbol standing out, a crimson flash against the darkened hull. Fox and Krystal were awestruck, but the dreadnaught fired again, the roar of the cannons snapping them out of the stupor.

Fox quickly got an idea as they continued to run toward the arwing hangar. He quickly dialed Damon on the comm channel. "Colonel, change of plans, the Great Fox is overhead, get the group closer and I'll get ROB to lower the hangar bay closer to the runway." The black vulpines face on the other end was stationary among the flashes or lights that coated the hangar he was in. He nodded, turning to the group and waving to follow him, the channel cutting out as he changed their course and explained the plan.

Fox and Krystal were upon the hangar in moments, quickly leaping into their ships and starting the engines, Fox feeling the engines rumble to life, hearing Krystal's ship roar as well. He knew any person that was nearby, had the planet not been under siege, they would wonder what it was, yet still be in awe. He quickly punched in the mothership command channel and got ROB on the line, spotting the robot in the newly designed bridge. "ROB, lower the ship's altitude, a group of survivors is coming aboard." The robot reached around, continued to scramble at typing in all the commands. "Affirmative. Ship will be lowered in approximately 29 seconds." The robots monotone cut out as the orders were processed, the channel going dead.

The two fighters, having also been remodeled, used their hover engines to get out onto the runway, ignoring the traditional taxi method that they would normally prefer. The moment they were out of the hangars, they rocketed up, quickly gaining altitude. Fox got comm check on Krystal. "Krystal, do a systems check, I wanna make sure we're both ready for the long run in this one, because it doesn't look like we're getting out easy here." Krystal clicked her comm, meaning yes.

Fox began his own check, ll systems running green. "Alright, turn on radar, I wanna see what we're up against..." He flicked a few switches, the little panel buzzing to life. He saw the silhouette of the Great Fox lowering out of the corner of his eye, the readings next to the ship's radar signature changing. He continued to glare at it as the group below scrambled onto the dreadnaught.

Krystal's face emerged on his comm channel, her face scrunched up in concentration. "Fox, three single ship's approaching...no make that four, four Wolfen class interceptors inbound at high speed!" Fox didn't know what to think know. Was Star Wolf an ally? And why was this fourth ship involved? He didn't have much time to think s the four ships were upon them in seconds, quickly losing speed and hovering around them.

Their weapons weren't arming, so that was a good sign. Wolf's face appeared on the screen next to Krystal. "So, you made it out alive Fox...good, that means I get to take you down then...when the time comes" He said, flashing a small grin. Fox rolled his eyes slightly, smirking at Wolf's rivalry with him. "Alright, whatever you say Wolf. Are you retreating with the rest of the military?" Wolf nodded. "We don't exactly fit in with everybody else, and we saw your ship headed this way, so we followed it, hope you don't mind us hanging around for a while." Fox already knew Wolf was going to stay whether he liked it or not. "Sure Wolf, stick with us, we can use the firepower." The ships formed around the Great Fox, which had begun to gain altitude, floating lazily into the sky.

"Fire!" Jesse yelled, ordering the gunner to arm the main cannon and take out the infantry in the distance. The shot was spot on, leaving none standing. The Cornerian Tank had been rolling down the highway, the airbase coming into sight.

"Im gonna try to raise that ship over there, it has Cornerian IFF." He punched in the hail code on the comm in the tank, grabbing the mic. "This is First Sergeant Wolf of the Cornerian army, callsign "War Hound", 207th Tank Brigade, 11th Battalion, Bravo Company, Third Platoon. Is anyone reading me? We have been separated from our platoon, we have received no word on survivors. I repeat, we are the only confimed survivors in our platoon, maybe even our company. Over." He only heard static for a few seconds, a voice slowly coming through the sea of white noise. "This is Colonel Mccloud, 66th fighter squadron, 6th fighter wing, I read you War Hound. Head to the air force base, we have enough space for you on board, roll on down here, six fighters are coming in for an escort, Colonel Mccloud out." The commander was stunned. He hadn't expected anyone to respond after so many futile attempts of communication. He looked at Williams. "You heard the Colonel, punch it! I want us there now!"

Fox relayed orders to the rest of the formation. "Form on me, we've got a tank by the callsign War Hound", they need out of there and we're the only way they're getting out, so let's move!" Fox punched the throttle lever, sending it to the max, the Wolfens and lone Arwing following behind him. Fox heard an alarm blaring, and quickly saw the alert. "Break off, Break off! Heavy AAA in the area! Get some dirt on those wings if you don't wanna get shot full of holes!" The flak came out of nowhere, the explosive shells popping and sending shrapnel everywhere around the flight of fighters, black clouds forming from the explosions.

The highway was coming into view as the fighters skimmed over the trees. As each ship passed, they rolled belly up and each fighter pilot spotted War Hound, making it's way to the airport, not even half a kilometer away. The tank was accelerating, meaning the ships were going to have an easy escort job of it. Not long and the 8 tons of Cornerian built death dealer was hurtling down the runway, making it's way to the ramp that had been set up at the Great Fox's forward hangar bay.

As the armored behemoth disappeared into the depths of the ship, the fighters escorting it peeled away and formed on each of the four wings the battleship employed, following it into the blood red sky.

As the 6 pilots landed in the bay, Fox noticed there were two more Arwings already in the bay. "ROB, have Falco and Slippy already landed in the ship?" The robot's voice buzzed over the speakers. "Affirmative. Falco and Slippy escorted the Great Fox through the southern district, providing ground support to allied Cornerian tanks. They are on their way to the bridge now." Fox's eyes narrowed a bit, but he ignored his thoughts.

As each pilot disembarked from their respective ships, he saw the fourth Wolfen remained closed, but as he turned to Wolf, the cockpit hatch hissed and opened, and a snow white husky emerged. It was the same one from the terminal when Fox and Falco had landed at the airport after leading Star Wolf to land a few weeks before.

The husky gave a smile, the corners of her mouth twitching up the slightest amount. Fox didn't know what to say, thankfully, Krystal said it for him. "Well, I guess make yourselves at home, considering thats what the Great Fox is now that we've lost Corneria." She stated dryly. Everyone in the room could feel her anger at losing yet another planet. The Star Wolf team all nodded, Wolf speaking for each of them. "Thank you. We wouldn't have made it back to Sargasso." Fox nodded. "It's alright Wolf. Each room has a name on the door, and due to them being electronic now, if slippy's boasting about the new design has anything to ay, they change in real time, so there are four rooms with your names on them, next to ours."

Wolf nodded, "thank you" was all he said. He led his team out of the hangar, the husky following him closely. Fox turned to Krystal, looking at her. Her dress had a tear near the bottom, and her heels had both been forcibly broken off on both of the shoes. Her hair had been messed up as well, giving her a fierce beauty. Krystal sighed as she looked out of the slowly closing hangar doors, staring at the firestorm below.

Fox turned her away from it, shaking his head. "Come on, let's go see what we need to do." Krystal nodded slightly as the vulpine turned her away from the scene. The two foxes made their way through the newly installed atrium, an area slippy had designed for when the crew wanted to try and escape from the metal hallways of the Great Fox. Krystal stopped and looked around the room, spotting a window and going to it.

She saw the reddening Corneria out of the corner of her eyes, but didn't look at it, instead she saw a meteor heading for the planet. It was going to burn up in the atmosphere, and she knew it. Fox took her hand in his slowly. "Make a wish, Krystal" She closed her eyes and smiled softly, and after a few moments, the cerulean eyes opened and she turned to Fox "I was already about to get a wish and then an explosion ruined it." Fox tilted his head as the vixen's eyes narrowed a bit in amusement.

"Fox, your so clueless about things you know..." Her voice trailed off as she started moving towards him, and slowly the gap between them shortened and Krystal kissed him. Fox's eye widened, as he was shocked, but he quickly overcame it, his eyes closing as well. The vulpine wrapped his arms around her waist, the meteor outside burning up as this all happened. The two foxes melted together, and anybody that would have walked in would have seen the two Star Fox team members locked in the embrace against the stars glittering in space.