Star Fox: Eclipse

Chapter 1: A Forgotten Enemy

Storm clouds flashed with lightning and thunder crackled in the sky of planet Zoness as two identical ships soared over an endless stretch of water. The air was covered in a dense fog and rain pelted against the fighters as they flew through the clouds. Each one was painted silver, with long pointed noses and thin wings on each side. Two purple fins extended from the base of each wing, one upward and one downward. The ships were Arwings, belonging to the pilots Krystal and Falco of the mercenary team known as Star Fox.

"How soon until we reach the destination?" The blue vixen Krystal inquired as she checked the computer monitors inside the cockpit of her ship. She and Falco had been assigned the task of aiding the Cornerian Army in their defense of the Zoness sea base. Andross, the greatest enemy Corneria had ever seen, still had many forces under his command despite the fact that he had been dead for years. A small Androssian fleet had been sent to Zoness to recapture the base that had once belonged to them. They had to be stopped.

Krystal waited a moment for a response. "We should reach the battlefield any time, but I can barely see a thing through this fog," the blue avian Falco replied. She agreed with him; the fog combined with the rain was hardly bearable. The coordinates provided by the Cornerian Fleet were all that guided the two members of the Star Fox team as they flew above the murky waters of planet Zoness.

Suddenly, Krystal's Arwing burst through a cloud and she found herself almost slamming into the side of an enormous Venomian carrier ship. The long red carrier dwarfed her aircraft, and Krystal had to roll under it to avoid being crushed, losing sight of Falco completely. Apparently they had found the space battle.

"Falco, I lost you," the vixen spoke through the communicator inside her ship. She regained control of her vehicle and flew ahead, into the fray of Cornerian and Venomian ships fighting above the Zoness sea base. The sky was filled with battleships and laser beams, reminding Krystal how much she preferred fighting on the ground rather than in the air.

"Don't worry about it. Focus your fire on the Venomian battleships. We need to take these guys out."

Falco didn't seem to care that they had split up, so Krystal pushed it aside and scanned the skies around her. The battlefield was filled with Venomian and Cornerian starfighters, along with several thin green Venomian battleships in the distance. Swerving around friendly and enemy ships alike, Krystal gripped both of the twin joysticks that controlled her ship and pushed them forward, increasing her velocity.

As her Arwing approached a battleship, she pushed a button on her right joystick repeatedly, firing several laser shots at the enemy aircraft. To her dismay, her shots glanced off of the ship without any impact. Right, I almost forgot... The she-fox thought to herself as she rolled her ship away and prepared to make another attack. These ships have weak points... Holding her thumb on the button instead of tapping it, her Arwing's lasers began to charge. Once she was facing the battleship from the side, she let go of the trigger and released a green ball of energy from her Arwing's lasers. The blast struck the exposed purple energy core at the battleship's center and caused it to explode.

"Great shot, Krystal!" Falco called through her ship's communicator as the battlecruiser fell hundreds of feet toward the water below. Rain pelted her Arwing's windshields as she spotted her ally, taking out a battleship of his own. Suddenly, laser fire flew past her ship from behind. She realized that she was being followed by a small squadron of Venomian fighters.

The wide grey ships once belonged to the army of planet Venom, but since Andross' defeat, they had been taken and piloted by Oikonny's rebel army, consisting primarily of thugs and hired guns.The fighters pursued closely behind Krystal as she swerved and rolled around other incoming ships. Red laser beams continued to fly by her, barely missing her aircraft. Just when she thought that she would be hit, the vixen pressed a small button inside her Arwing, causing it to roll sideways. Her barrel roll produced an electromagnetic shield around her, deflecting the attack.