; - A Star Fox fanfiction

Growth

 "Ah! Looks like we're closing in on the system." There was a pause. "Falco?" Fox sighed. "Falco!"

"Huhwhatimawake!" he started, sitting up suddenly.

"Mhm," Fox didn't sound convinced, "As I said, the destination is only a couple minutes out. Prepare for landing."

Falco yawned as he leaned back. He couldn't recall falling asleep, but there was definitely a gap in his memory somewhere. He tried to stretch his legs the best he could, but the cockpit was too cramped. Oh how he yearned to finally land. A sudden whoomf jostled the arwing and the subtle motion of the stars stopped.

"We're here!"

He looked out the window as they passed a planet of blue. It was multicolored, massive, and had bright, silver rings they could easily pass through. The bands of white and cerulean swirled and danced in the clouds. Faint aurora lit up the southern pole.

"According to the system, this planet is called Thasalia. It's massive, but it's cold and very far out from the star. It's a jovian planet," Fox read over the communicator.

"S'beautiful."

The Sky Claw's engine revved. "Next stop, Syrill, the planet of gemstones," Fox said, his arwing revving as well.

"Is that where we'll be stayin'?" Falco asked.

"If you'd like. There's one other place... uh... Dal'maria, a small world around the second Jovian planet. It seems these worlds have little contact with the other. It's a lively planet, full of alien species and home to many intelligent beings, similar to Corneria. Though some are a bit... strange."

"Syrill, then. Sounds nice." The coordinates appeared on his screen. "Ten minutes? S'not bad." He entered them in and configured autopilot.

"I'm going to try hailing them; let them know we're coming in," Fox said.

"Are we even allowed to?"

"Of course!" Fox scoffed, "This system – as far as the Cornerian records show – is at peace. I would assume the planet is as well." He turned off the communicator.

Falco leaned back and let Fox do his thing. He began to imagine what the "planet of gemstones" was like. Was it literal? Was the surface crystalline and shiny, blinding to the unprotected eye? Or was it more metaphorical, rolling, sapphire seas and jade forests with citrine flowers? In the end, he just hoped it lived up to expectation.

The communicator beeped, coming back online. "I can't get through."

"What?"

"Yeah... they have pingable satellites and radio transmission, but their software doesn't seem to be able to decode our signal. Guess we'll just have to land and see."

"W-Wait," he hesitated, but the line stayed quiet, "Why don' we land somewhere remote? Somewhere away from other people. Just us two."

There was a long pause. He began to think maybe he'd said something wrong, though he didn't know- "Sounds perfect. I just thought you'd want somewhere lively."

"Nah, I wanna get away too. Jus' for a little while." He smiled to himself. They made small talk the rest of the trip, mostly about the stars and their ideas of what the planet was like. Soon, it became clearly visible against the star-speckled sky: a bright, blue dot with red and silver moons.

They passed one of the moons, quickly coming up on the second. The red world was so large, it looked more like a captured planet rather than a moon. The smaller, silver moon looker more the part, especially since it was closer in. Falco entered the commands to deploy the heat shield. There was a soft whir as everything was tinted orange. "Heat shield is up," he said, "Ready for entry."