Star Fox: The Adventures of Admiral Storm Episode 2: The Bioweapons

Part 7: Area 6 1/2

"How are the forces on Fortuna doing?" Fox asked him.

"They're holding out a bit better now with Bill's aid, but they probably don't have much more time left even still," General Pepper admitted.

"And I assume Area 6 and Venom aren't exactly going to be a cakewalk like we originally thought?" I pressed.

"Area 6 is more reinforced than ever," General Pepper explained, shaking his head. "And Venom... I can't get a read on what's down there."

"So we're going in blind?" Peppy asked.

"Star Wolf might be there," Slippy pointed out.

"We are a bit overdue for a run-in with them," I agreed.

"Right," Falco nodded. "But we'll take them down just like before, right?"

"Right!" We all agreed aloud.

But I could tell from the nervous glances we shared we were all thinking: I hope...

I turned and headed swiftly down the hallway without saying another word. I poked my head into the dining hall for a brief moment.

"You guys are done already?" The chef smiled. "Wowza!"

"Not quite," I sighed, my expression grim. "We've still got Area 6 and Venom to go."

"Area 6 and Venom?" The chef raised his eyebrows. "I thought those places would've been evacuated after Andross's defeat!"

"So did we," I agreed, reaching for a jelly doughnut and some fruit punch. "But it seems we all were wrong."

"Well, good luck out there," The chef idly added, making some sandwiches for lunch.

"We're going to need every last bit of luck we can get," I responded, pausing and taking a swig of punch. "if it's as fortified as they say it is."

I finished the rest of my fruit punch and doughnut in silence, but the chef kept casting me encouraging glances. I tried to smile, but I just too worried about the upcoming battles. Area 6 lead straight to Venom, which meant there would be no stopping in between to make repairs and gather our bearings.

"Ah, Admiral Storm!" A voice sounded behind me, out of breath.

"Falco?" I gasped, spinning around to see him standing in the doorway. "What's-?"

"We're here," He told me.

"Alright then," My expression turned stern, my eyes shining with determination. "Let's give them a run for their money they'll never forget."

"Sure thing, Admiral," Falco nodded, leading me to the docking bay. "We're all ready."

"Ready as we'll ever be," Slippy muttered under his breath.

"We can do this," I assured them, but really, I was just trying to convince myself of that.

All five of us hopped into our Arwings, ready to take off.

"GOOD LUCK!" General Pepper called after us as we sped into enemy territory.

"They're here!" A voice cried, and a figure of a monkey with a hat that had an A on it appeared on my screen.

"Emergency maneuvers!" Another voice cried in response.

A wall of about fifteen enemy ships started heading our way.

"Open fire!" I shouted.

We sent a flurry of charged shots at the ships, destroying them all within seconds.

"For a fleet guarding Andross's home world, they sure aren't of the best quality," I noted. "That was too easy!"

"AAH!" Slippy's scream caught me off guard. "Space mines, just up ahead!"

I squinted for a moment, then saw what he was talking about. They were black mines, barely visible against the black void of space, and there were thousands of them, just up ahead, closely knit together.

"Put on your breaks," I told everyone. "And check this out."

I pressed a moderate sized crimson button on the control panel of my ship, and watched as two tiny homing missiles flew towards the minefield, intertwining paths. They split off at the last second, striking two mines near the middle of the field. This set off a chain reaction of explosions, and the minefield parted like a curtain.

"Woah!" Falco gasped. "That was amazing! How'd you-?"

"I made that weapon myself," I told him, smiling. "Now come on, let's pick up the pace again."

"More incoming enemy ships!" Slippy announced.

"Looks like they've got a couple space stations here, too," I noted, glancing around and seeing spinning top like structures that looked vaguely like DS9.

"We don't need to worry about those," Peppy assured me. "Those are only for the civilians."

"What we need to worry about are these ships," Falco noted through gritted teeth. "What is up with this?! Andross was defeated, so they should be at our feet begging for mercy! HEY! Stay still and let me shoot you!"

"Falco," I tried to calm him down. "We'll take them down, just like we did before. And then it'll finally be over. It's okay."

"You've got one behind you," Peppy warned me.

"Got it," I assured him, turing on my side and pulling a quick 360 before the enemy ship could even react, shooting it down with ease.

"We've got some larger ships incoming," Slippy told us.

"It's nothing we can't handle," I assured him. "It may be a larger ship, but it's one on five."

All five of us focused on the large ship, and with our plasma lasers and charged shots, it went down in seconds.

"Two more incoming!" Slippy warned us.

"That's alright," I decided. "We'll go two and three. Falco, Slippy, over here! Peppy, Fox, work on the other one!"

"Gotcha!" Everyone nodded, getting into formation.

"Careful!" Slippy cried as the giant battleship got the opening shots.

"I know what I'm doing," Falco retorted, ducking under the blasts.

I slipped up and around, managing to get around the shot that came in my direction with ease. I fired off a charged shot at the ship, damaging it but not quite taking it down. Slippy and Falco assisted with rapid fire, and the ship easily went down.

"Nearly there!" I smiled. "Let's move!"

"Incoming missiles!" Slippy exclaimed.

"What?!" I gasped.