A small Cornerian shuttle arrived around Nsider Prime. The
bustling spaceport world glistened with the light of trillions of
inhabitants. Two SF-201 escort fighters soared out of zero-space behind
the shuttle. Despite its glamour, Nsider was not a place to be traveled
lightly. The shuttle's passenger, F.J. McCloud, a former resident of
Nsider, sat in the command bay of the bridge.
	"Just twenty minutes till we're in Nsider's atmosphere, sir." The
shuttle's captain announced. F.J. nodded and headed to his quarters.
	It had been quite some time since he'd been to atmosphere, and as
a member of the Lylat Alliance High Command, he was there to settle
diplomatic negotiations between the Alliance and the Nsider Federation.
Through his cabin's window, he could see Nsider's lone moon. The
Federation used the moon as a prison and kept impounded ships in the small
shipyards above. F.J. picked up his luggage bag and his rank pin. He had
specifically asked to have the Star Fox Team's insignia on the pin. He
fastened it to his suit and grabbed his blaster. Things had a tendency to
get rowdy on Nsider.
	He sat on his small bed and decided to read "The History of Lylat"
while waiting for the shuttle to land.
	"Welcome to Itoh Spaceport. The current time is 3:48 PM and it is
a pleasant 62 degrees. We hope that you will enjoy your stay here at
Nsider Prime." A smooth talking voice announced over the large intercom in
the docking bay. F.J. stepped out of the shuttle accompanied by two
guards. At the bottom of the ramp was the Nsider Federation Authority's
representative, District General Owsen.
	"Hello, Admiral McCloud." Owsen reached forward and shook F.J.'s
paw.
	"Just F.J. is fine, General."
	"Well then Dan is fine with me. I understand you wish to make
negotiations about a possible alignment with the Federation."
	"Yes, as you well know, the Alliance is the primary protectorate
group for the Lylat, Corfas, and Nimbus sectors. It is in our best
interest to add the Nsider system into this group."
	Owsen smiled. "Yes, the Federation is always open to improvement."
	The two walked out of the docking bay and onto a large walkway
suspended above the bustling cities.		"As you can see, Nsider is
the focal point for hundreds of cultures. Right now, we're in the
Cornerian District. The early settlers of this area were Cornerian and
therefore their influence has spread throughout this region."
	Suddenly, a large olive drab fighter soared past the walkway. It
spiraled up and swooped back over the walkway, red laser spurting out of
its large dorsal cannons.
	"What was that?" F.J. shouted.
	"That's our SF-689 Firebat. They're the main fighter in the
Federation's fleet. We've got a few thousand of them."
	A small grey fighter seemingly appeared out of nowhere as the
laser blasts ripped through the air. It wobbled and shook as the blasts
hit it at varying angles.
	Owsen grabbed the comlink out of his pocket and activated it.
	"NFA Regional Directorate, this is Cornerian District General
Owsen. We've spotted a Sheikah." Owsen stared at the grey spherical
fighter and in a split second it slowly faded away.
	"General, what in the name of Lylat was THAT?"
	"A SF-756 Sheikah. They have advanced cloaking technology that
enables them to simply fade into nothingness. A group of them have been
attacking our convoys for a few months now. Ever since Commander Gaunt
dropped out. So far we haven't encountered one down here in the cityscape.
It must've been on reconnaissance."
	F.J. nodded, and jotted something down on his data pad. He had
been keeping track on the various star fighter models in the past few
months.
	"We'd better get to the Embassy before it decides to attack."
Owsen directed F.J. to the large tower ahead of them.

	Owsen stood at the large podium situated in the center of the
Embassy's main chamber. All around him sat Nsider delegates, each from the
25 districts of the planet. F.J. was seated at the front of the chamber,
directly opposite of the podium.
	"Fellow Nsiders, the Lylat Alliance wishes to conduct an alignment
between our system and their systems. Here to speak about the alignment is
High Admiral Fox James McCloud of the Alliance High Command."
	F.J. stood as the delegates applauded him. He reached the podium
and cleared his throat when suddenly a large explosion rocked the Embassy.
The stained glass dome atop the chamber shattered into a myriad of daggers
raining down upon the delegates. Shielding himself behind the podium, F.J.
took out his blaster.
	An SF-756 Shiekah roared into the chamber, its lasers raining
emerald fire over the room.  F.J. stood back and aimed his blaster at the
Shiekah's engines. Two quick blasts rocked against the ships's heavy
shielding. It hardly damaged the craft, but sent it far off its former
destination and straight into a large terrastone column.
	F.J. turned his head as the fighter exploded. He hurried to
General Owsen.
	"It's time we brought in the Defenders." He said reluctantly.


Chapter 2


	General Owsen stood in the launch bays of Firstborough, the
Cornerian District's main fighter base. Beside him was F.J. McCloud, in
the drab olive green flight suit of the Nsider Federation. F.J. wiped some
sweat from his furred face and tapped Owsen.
	"Yes, Admiral?"
	"General, do you have any Lylat Arwings in service here at
Firstborough? I'm not very familiar with the Firebat's interface and I
would need some time to get used to it."
	Owsen punched a few buttons on his datapad and looked up.
	"Yes, we've got an SF-201 in Launch Bay 7-5c."
	"Thank you, sir." F.J. saluted General Owsen and hurried to the
turbolift.

	F.J. sat in the cockpit of the Arwing, which he christened
"Thunder Cloud". He asked a few of the nose art painters to put up the
Star Fox Team and Lylat Alliance emblems on the fuselage.  The G-diffuser
housings were painted the same olive green as the Nsider Federation's
Firebat fighters.
	A loud alarm ripped through the launch bay and F.J. sat up
straight in his cockpit. As the klaxons wailed, F.J. drew his reinforced
windshield down and put on his helmet.
	"Defender Squadron, this is General Owsen. The Sheikahs are
attacking Benimaru City. We've got top-secret Intelligence storehouses in
the north of the City that the Sheikahs obviously want a hold of. Secure
the storehouses and destroy the Sheikahs. Good Luck."
	F.J. nodded and fired up his G-diffusers. Within seconds, his
Arwing blasted out of the hangar and into the dark red sunset skies of
Nsider.

	"This is Defender Leader, Commander VanBrain. All wings report
in."
	F.J. heard the twelve fighter pilots report in above bursts of
static. His Arwing was a bit older than the Firebats and his ELF-2 comm
was highly outdated. F.J. decided to join in the role call.
	"Sirius One standing by, let's kick some tail!"
	Mild laughter sounded in F.J.'s cockpit until VanBrain came over
the comm again.
	"Alright Defenders, the Sheikahs, in addition to highly advanced
cloaking technology, have sensor jammers. Our radar won't pick them up, so
we'll have to rely on site, we'll pair up four flights of Firebats. Two,
Three, and Four go together. Five, Six, and Seven. And so on. Sirius,
you'll be with me. Watch your six and your wingmen, boys."
	Suddenly, bright scarlet laser blasts rocketed from the sky as the
Sheikahs emerged from the clouds.
	"Maneuver C-5-6, go!" VanBrain shouted. F.J. knew of the Nsider
Federation's trademark maneuver and followed suit.
	The much sleeker Firebat roared past one of the Sheikahs, pelting
it with hyperlasers. F.J. fired up his thrusters and continued behind
VanBrain. While the Firebat was much faster and more maneuverable, it
lacked a sufficient target lock, something F.J. more than made up for.
	"Just a little closer..." he mumbled under his breath. The ping of
an acquired lock sounded in his ears and F.J. let loose a powered up laser
blast.
	The Sheikah spiraled down, smoke trailing from its engines, before
finally exploding against an armored hovertrain traveling through the
city.
	"Nice shot, F.J.," VanBrain commented. "That's one down, boys, we
can't let the Cornerian get a one-up on us!"
	F.J. smirked and aimed for the other Sheikah group. Another target
lock and another Sheikah exploded over Benimaru City.Three Firebats teamed
up and their speed and firepower downed another two Sheikahs.
	Suddenly, piercing static filled F.J.'s comm unit.
	Through the buzzing, F.J. could barely make out VanBrain.
	"They're jamming our communications! We've gotta rely on
-BZZT-selves now!"
	VanBrain rocketed ahead of F.J. and fired a Nova Bomb directly in
the path of three Sheikahs. Only one made it out of the blast. Abruptly,
the remaining fifteen fighters vanished. VanBrain cursed under his breath
and scanned the skies around him.
	"They'll come out if they wanna shoot us..." He spoke to himself.
	A blast from behind nearly knocked him out cold.
	"What the hell?"
	Two Sheikahs just uncloaked themselves on VanBrain's tail and were
blasting his shields to pieces. F.J. noticed the fighters, but he couldn't
make his way around the spires of Benimaru City to reach him.
	A Firebat hurtled itself behind the fighters. It destroyed one,
and continued blasting at its companion. The pilot shot the Sheikah's
axial thrust converter, severely slowing the Sheikah down. So severely
that the enemy fighter hurled back into the Firebat.
	F.J. caught the explosion out of the corner of his eye and
reinforced his shielding.
	"This is gonna be SOME battle." he thought to himself.