Chapter XI "Overload! Overload! Computer to shut down in five, four," Bill rushed over to the computer and hit a few buttons. "Whoa! Slow down there! That's better. Computer, bring up vidscreen to Corneria." The computer resumed its more relaxed tone. "Initializing...." General Pepper stood in front of the camera. Bill came to attention. "Sir!" General Pepper was busy reading some other papers as the vidscreen warmed up. "At ease. Black Mist Leader, state your current position and rate of speed." Bill looked onto a computer next to him to find the answer. "We are traveling just outside of Solar, at cruising speed. I was messaging to report another failure of our main thrusters, sir. This is the third occurence in this trip alone." He became inquisitive. "Please remind me, again, what exactly our mission is on this vessel?" Pepper looked up from the papers to Bill. "We'll fix the thrusters when you get back. To answer your other question, these supplies need to be already at Zoness when the soldiers get there. You are to run this supply ship to the appointed place, and set up our force's meeting place." "But why did you send me, sir? I need to be in where the fighting is!" "Yours is not to question why! Yours is to do! I sent you because I knew I could trust you with these supplies. You will not miss anything, anyway. Once at Zoness, I have given commands for you to lead your group out. I have already designated replacements for you in weapons mangement." Bill smiled. "Thank you, sir!" Suddenly, the ship shook violently. Bill jumped to his feet from where he had fallen, and ran to the computer. "What just happened?!?" The computer showed a wireframe-model of the ship, with a large portion of it smashed in, and flashing red. "Massive damage to front area of ship." Bill looked out of the window to see the area of the ship that had been hurt. He turned towards Solar just in time to see a huge, flaming rock come flying at the side of the ship. He was thrown on the floor again. Pepper was trying to see the threat from the camera. "What's going on, soldier?" "Something is launching huge rocks at the ship, sir." He dashed to the computer. "Most systems are down or on their way out. Shields are gone, so every hit counts. I'll try to stabilize the systems!" "Don't be stupid! Get out of there!" Bill ran down the corridor from the main control to the docking bay. He jumped into his fighter, and shot out of the bay doors, just before another rock slammed into the already badly damaged ship. Bill could feel the heat from Solar, even though he was pretty far away from it. "Wow. Just imagine being up close to it! It would be unbearable!" A final rock flew towards the ship and rammed into the back end of the ship, sparking the thrusters. It started a chain reaction, and the whole ship blasted into a bright light. Bill flew around the debris, looking at the mess. He picked up his com. "Um, sir? About fixing those thrusters? I don't think it's really necessary anymore." "What about Bill? What's going on?" For once, Peppy had answered the vidscreen, but Fox had come up behind him, too eager to find out what had happened. Peppy sighed. "Bill was piloting a cargo ship past Solar to Zoness, and it was destroyed, but he got out. Right now, he's doing some reconnaissance down on Solar, trying to find out what it was that toasted his ship." Pepper nodded and pulled out more papers. "We've determined that it's another one of Andross's bio-weapons, but we need you guys to go down there. Bill's fighter isn't designed for recon." On the screen, Peppy nodded. Fox, however was the one to respond. "We're ready to go! If anything else comes up, call us on the com! Fox out!" Pepper went back to his office to prepare for his next meeting. The cheetah was standing by the door, holding some papers. "I was told to have you take these to your meeting, sir." Pepper accepted the documents. "Directing Fox is the easy part." He started walking towards the elevator, still talking. "Now I've got to explain why I did what." He walked in as the doors opened and said to himself, "Out of the frying pan..." "...and into the fire!!" Fox's Arwing shot out of the docking bay, towards the bright ball of glowing gases called Solar. He hit a few buttons, and the windows in the cockpit darkened slightly, making it easier to see. "Put on the shades, guys. You'll be pretty much blind otherwise." They neared the glowing mass, and avoided some solar flares. Falco loved flying, but over a sea of superheated plasma was a different story. "The Arwing might not make it!" Slippy was confident in his work. "I updated the heat plates back on Corneria. When I activated them before we left, it raised the maximum temperature. This baby can stand up to 9000 degrees!! Sure, we go a little slower, but we're not hot!" Peppy looked down at the swirling plasma. "Thank goodness for that." Fox looked around on his computer. "I'm picking up signals from ahead of us a bit. It might be Bill!" Peppy looked up. "Fox!! Watch out above you!!" Fox looked up just in time to see a huge rock bearing down on him. He did a quick barrel roll, and slid out of the way. It slammed into the plasma, already melting back into the lava-type material it was made out of. Fox righted his Arwing, and looked back towards the horizon line. There were more rocks coming. Peppy charged his lasers. "Quickly, everyone! Shoot the rocks!!" He blasted them out of the sky, leaving the falling fragments to plop into the plasma. "Those things will go right through your Arwing if you let them touch you. Be on your guard!" Falco dodged a solar flare. "You think I'm not already?" Fox flew underneath of the flare, blasting several rocks in the process. In the distance, he began to see some waves. "The plasma is moving in waves! That stuff will melt into the Arwing! Pull clear of it all!" The team leveled over the first wave in formation, and broke up over the rest of them to avoid flares. Fox rolled to the left to avoid a wave, but found himself in the path of another rock. He moved around, but now he was surrounded by waves. "Hey, guys! I could really use some help here!" The rock was getting closer, and Fox could feel the heat radiating from it. Suddenly, the rock broke up. Fox shot up and over the waves just before they would have hit the Arwing. "Whew!" "Looks like you could use a little help here, Fox!" Fox looked over to the ship that had flown overtop of him. "Bill! You're okay!!" Bill pulled his fighter closer to Fox's to avoid a wave, and noticed a gauntlet of waves and rocks coming. "Don't get too excited, Fox. Here we go!" Expertly, the team maneuvered through the waves and rocks, blasting most of the rocks out of the sky. Slippy came out in the front of the group and looked off into the horizon. "Guys, watch out! Something's coming!! They look like those dragons we saw back at Zoness! I wonder if these are bio-weapons, too!" Falco was already locking on. "Let's take 'em all out!" He blasted his lasers at the mechanical beasts. The captain was in the General's office, on leave of the head tech. He went to Pepper's computer, and loaded into Andross' computer systems. Looking carefully, he tried to see what information he could glean from the sent and received messages between Venom and the officers. The cat sauntered to the window of the office, and motioned for the cheetah to come in. He sat back down at the computer with the tech beside him. "I think I may have a lead, but I need to get to the messages that were sent directly from the generals. Andross doesn't always tell the officers everything, you know." The cheetah reached over the keyboard and started typing. "Hmm. Let's try this trick." He sat back to survey his work, and the computer beeped. The screen flashed error messages a few times, and then opened back up, redirected to the messages that the cat had wanted to see. "Basic self-induced crash trick. Andross' computers fall for it every time." He got up to go. The cat smirked. "Thank you. Please stick around, I might need you to do that again, these being the higher-security messages." The cheetah sat back down and began to scan the messages along with the captain. Many of them were basic messages on the location of troops and status checks. The cat moved the cursor and highlighted an area of messages. "I'm downloading these to our files here at the CSCC. They should prove most helpful." The cheetah nodded, and sat back down, watching subject line after subject line race towards the top of the screen. Most of them just looked like directions for troops. "Hey! Hold it! Look at that one!" He pointed to one titled 'On the subject of revenge'. "Go there!" The cat shrugged and clicked on the line, waiting for a second for the message to come up. It looked as if it was directly from Andross to his generals. "Wow! From the head man himself!" The cat read the message, and looked over to the cheetah. "I think we're on to something." General Pepper sat motionless while the tiger spoke on about the fiscal positition of the war. This wasn't his department; he had never been very interested in numbers. He made a mental note to study the amounts after the meeting. Suddenly, the cheetah burst into the room. "Sir!!" The tiger spun around to see who had come in, and then called for the lights. As the lights came up, he walked over to the cheetah. "At ease. What message brings you here now?" The cheetah produced a paper and handed it to the tiger. "I believe that we have discovered something, sir." The tiger looked down at the paper, then up at General Pepper. "General! We do not happen to have any troops stationed at Solar, do we?" Fox pulled around a flaming rock, and shot at a group of dragons. As they fell to the molten surface, he met up with the group, and moved up beside Bill. "The heat seems to be getting worse! I can hardly bear it!" Peppy wiped the sweat off of his forehead. "Is that possible? I didn't know it could get any hotter!" Falco saw some rolling mounds on the horizon. "There are more waves coming! Be careful!" Slippy pulled clear of a wave, and slid past another regiment of dragons. "Bill, do you have any idea of what we're looking for?" "I'm not sure, Slip, but I'll bet we know it when we see it. Whoa!" Suddenly, a huge wave of plasma rose over the group, but they all dodged to the sides. A huge beast rose into a looming position overtop of the group, its blade-like arms waving red circles in the air, its lava-colored appearance being very demon-like in itself. "What in the world?" Peppy looked over to one of the arms, which was rearing back. "Fox, watch out!!" Fox looked up and slid out of the way just as a red blade slashed a trough in the lava below him. Slippy flew in closer, scanning the beast. "This is a definite bio-weapon, guys! No name yet, but this thing is completely immune to heat!!" Slippy pulled back to the group just as the thing reared its head back. Falco watched as it prepared. "What is it doing?" Suddenly, a blast of rocks and flames slammed into the group coming out of the bio-weapon's mouth. Falco felt his ship being pelted by tiny, flaming rocks. Back on Venom, the officer pressed a button on his desk. "Um, sir? I've just received news that the Star Fox Team is on Solar, and they've discovered Vulcain." An oily, cruel voice returned. "Good. Let them fight. Send no backup for now." The officer only shook his head. "I'd have to advise you, sir. They're getting extremely close to the base. The Vulcain can't handle too much action." "Vulcain can handle as much action as I design it for! I told you, no backup! This is Vulcain's fight! Mislead and destroy are my orders!" The officer released the button, and the communication system turned off. "Yes, sir." The team recovered from the blast of rocks and fire just in time to see the beast blast itself into the air, and slam down on the lava, creating a tidal wave. Fox ripped up on his controls and followed as the group in a somersault, coming down as the wave passed them. "Whew, that was close!!" Fox looked up to see it start to swim away on the lava waves it had just made. "Oh, no, you don't! You started this fight, and you're going to finish it out! Boosters, everyone! Let's go!" The ships went into five-ship formation, and created a fireball of their own as the boosters burned. Bill saw the com icon flashing on his console. He slapped on his headphones while avoiding a barrage of flaming rocks. "Yeah?" Pepper's voice was slightly agitated. "Black Mist Leader, this is General Pepper. Break away from the group you're with and head to the coordinates we're sending to your computer now." Bill looked over to his computer and scanned over the coordinates. "But, sir, that's directly behind us!" "I know it is, but we have reason to believe that Andross is building a base there." "A base? On Solar?!? Are you sure?" "I told you before, don't question, do!! Over and out!!" Bill sighed. "Can you spare a few minutes, guys? I'm needing some help." Slippy pulled his ship over to Bill's. "Sure! I'll help you out!" Falco followed. "If he's helping, you're going to need me to help you out of what he helps you into!" Bill nodded. "Thanks, guys! Follow my lead! We're just doing a little recon!" Fox smirked as he flew around another rising mound of lava. "Just you remember that that's what this mission began as!" Fox and Peppy watched as the three ships pulled a sharp turn, and headed in the opposite direction. "Well, Pep, it looks like we're the only ones on this beast's tail!" The two ships dodged another wave left by the fleeing monster, and continued the chase. The officer on Venom read, and then reread the message flashing on his screen. "Oh no! They're about to discover our base!" He slapped a button on his desk. "Sir! The base on Solar has been discovered!! What should we do?" Andross' gruff voice came back over the speaker. "I've seen the message as well. It's that Star Fox Team at it again. Have them destroyed." The officer released the button and sighed. "As you wish, sir." The speaker on his desk cut into the officer's work again. "On second thought, just have them captured." He paused. "They may be... useful." "Of course, sir." Minutes later, the trio of ships came upon a small base connected to what seemed to be a large scientific edifice hovering over the crashing waves of plasma. Bill pulled around one side of it. "It's small for a base. It probably has a mothership somewhere close." Falco rose up and over the top of the base, scanning it for an entrance. As the other two ships followed, Falco noticed some turrets warming up. "Watch out, guys. We may have to fight our way out of here." Slippy came closer to the machines, and then started heating up his boosters. "Guys, those aren't guns! Those are force field generators! Let's get out of here before we're trapped!" The three ships spuns around, and rocketed their boosters to escape, but the generators started up the force field, and a huge red-yellow bubble surrounded the base. Slippy shot at the shell, but the lasers just evaporated. "That thing's made from plasma! We can't even try to break through it! Our ships would instantly melt!" Falco heard some machines behind him. He turned and looked at the ships launching out of the base. "Turn your ships around quick and get ready for some close combat, because here they come!!" Bill instantly broke away from the other two. "The only way we're going to win in this close of quarters is to split up! Break up and follow one target at a time!" Slippy shot around and underneath the base, targeting one of the bubble-shaped ships. He locked onto it, swerving as another ship tried to slam into his. "You won't get away from me!!" The laser blast slammed right into the back of the ship, knocking it off balance. It moved left, then right, then slammed into the side of the base. "That's one down!" Falco turned wide and chased a ship on the other side of the base. He looked back as one of the bubble-shaped ships locked onto him. "Good riddance," he said as his computer warned him of a lock. "You'll never be able to keep up with me, anyway." He focused his attention on the ship in front of him. "You're mine! What in the world?!" He checked his computer. "Guys! My ship is slowing down!" Slippy called in. "Same thing here! They're trying to use a tractor beam on us! Fight it and try to lose them!!" Bill was also caught in a beam. He hit the boosters as hard as he could, and he gained hardly any headway. "It's easier said than done!" Falco looked behind him at the ship slowing him down. "So, you want a race, do you? Let's go!" He inverted the Arwing, and began charging at the plasma wall, getting nearer and nearer to the surface. He suddenly dove down, pulling the Arwing within inches of the plasma force field. The bubble ship, realizing what was going on, tried to let go of the Arwing, but it was too late. The bubble ship hit the plasma shield, became stuck in it, and melted instantly. Falco pulled around to the top of the base. "Yeeha! No one messes with Falco Lombardi!" The bubble ships, missing several of their fleet, returned to the base. At once, the whole base began shaking. Falco, Bill, and Slippy felt their ships being pulled at. Bill ran his boosters again. "No use! My boosters are dead! I knew I needed to fix them!" A larger tractor beam was pulling them in its wake. Falco was looking for a target to shoot to stop this thing. "I don't see a source!" Slippy's ship went down into the hangars of the base, followed by Bill, who was followed by Falco, still looking for a target. In the dark hangars, the three ships ran down, drained of their energy. The three got out of their ships, and almost simentaneously, all three of them felt blows to the back of their heads. They dropped to the floor in a stun. The officer smiled faintly at the message being displayed on his screen. Something was finally going right. He depressed the button on his desk. "Sir! The three rebels have been captured!" "Excellent! Now! Have Vulcain bring them to their friends! I have a plan for the secret weapon!" Fox and Peppy had been dodging waves and flaming rocks as the Vulcain continued to lead them further and further away from the base. The chase had almost become a game. Suddenly, the tell-tale waves weren't moving in front of them. Fox studied the crests of plasma carefully, trying to see what was going on. "This is new. Carefully, Peppy," he warned. "It could be trying to trap us!" A bubble rose to the surface where the Vulcain had dissapeared. Peppy sighed. "Uh-oh. Looks like we could have lost our quarry." Before Fox had time to answer, a towering column of fire, with the Vulcain at the top, blasted into the air, towards the two lone ships. "Fox, get out of there! Boost!" The two ships pulled into a straight climb as they raced the tidal wave that pursued them to the atmosphere. Peppy glanced down as the blazing wave subsided, and saw the monster diving in the opposite direction. "Behind you, Fox! Let's catch up before he can get away!!" The two Arwings pulled a sharp curve and slammed the boosters. Falco came to his senses as the three captives were tossed into a cell. He felt himself be thrown against a wall. Slippy landed on top of him, also partially awake. Bill, still mostly fainted, landed to left of the two and rolled over against a bunk. Falco put his hand to his head as he shoved Slippy off of him and stood up. The thick, magnetized door slammed shut with a resounding metal thud. "Oh, my head," Falco moaned. Slippy rolled over and opened his eyes. "Where are we? What's going.. Oh, ouch!" His hand went to the back of his head as well. "Oh, yeah, we're on Solar." Bill blinked his eyes as he tried to sit up. He looked around quickly, and realized the pain he was in. "Oh, that just went perfectly." Falco looked over at his comrade. "Well, did Pepper give you any instruction as to what do in this situation?" "No, but we did some training for just such an occasion. I assume they've taken our lasers." He checked his holdster for his army laser. Nothing. "That figures. Well, we're just going to have to do without them. First problems first." He faced the door. Slippy opened his eyes long enough to glance at the door. "Yeah, that does present a problem." Fox raced along the plasma surface as Vulcain sped through it, leaving ripples in its wake. He looked up in time to see something appear on the horizon. It looked like, well, a small base attached to a larger building on the side hovering over the plasma. Vulcain was heading directly toward it. "Peppy! What's it doing?" Peppy couldn't decide either. "I don't know. Maybe it's looking for somewhere to recharge?" Fox charged his lasers. "If that's the case, we can't allow it to get there!" He boosted forward and tried to slide in front of the beast. Vulcain reared up, seeming pleased that Fox stopped it. It was ready to battle. It lifted its claws into the air, and raked them down through the plasma where Fox had just been. Fox recovered his craft, and moved closer, making it more difficult for the thing to hit him with the claws. He let the Vulcain have every blast of laser he could get off before his boost ran out. The hits to the head didn't seem to affect it, but the arms started shaking. "Peppy! Help me out here! Go for the arms!!" Peppy pulled around to the front of the bio-weapon and began to exchange attacks with it as well. He saw Fox begin to move backwards, almost running into the side of the base. "Hey, Fox! Be careful how far back you're going!" He looked up just in time to see a long, outstreched talon headed for Fox. "Fox!! Watch out above you!!!" Fox jolted his head upward as the claw came crashing down. He slammed his boost and barrel rolled to the side in time to avoid the collision. But the Vulcain couldn't stop itself before creating a huge gash in the outer layers of the base. An automatic siren wailed inside of the base, waking every snoozing guard. It screamed in a mechanical voice, "Base generator has been attacked!! Base generator has been attacked!! Battlestations!! Go to battlestations!!" The electricity in the building was blacking out every few seconds as the guards raced to their positions. Bill sat up in the cell as the lights went out, then came back on. He heard the magnets in the doors shutting down and starting up again along with the electricity. He looked over to his friends. "I've got an idea." Peppy dodged another flaming talon and shot at the arm as it went past and sank into the plasma. He slid to the left to join up with Fox. They each went for one of the arms, and soon the computers inside of the Vulcain began to flash with an ugly red hue. "One, two, three!" The three cellmates charged the door in the second that the electricity was off. It flung open, slamming into the guard on the other side of it. Bill looked at the officer, who was out cold. "How lucky can we be?" he asked happily. Slippy looked up on the walls for any signs as to where to go, but there were none. It looked like a dead end to his left, so he suggested that they head to the right. Falco nodded. "We might as well, but first, let's find our lasers. They might come in handy right about now." His voice could barely be heard over the siren's scream. Fox boosted forward as the claw carved another glowing red arch in the sky. "Peppy, let's both go after one arm at a time!" They both blasted forward, and let loose with several charged laser blasts. There was an explosion, and the right arm blasted off of the machine, allowing the plasma it used for power to pour out of the bio-weapon's wound. "The other arm, quick!" Bill fingered his laser as he picked it up off of the desk. As Slippy and Falco also retrieved theirs, he looked around the corner at the guards rushing past. A charge now would be useless. He would have to wait. Slippy hopped quietly over to the guard who was unconscious, and unclipped his ID tag. "Sorry," he apologized, "but we'll probably be needing this more than you will." The hallway became quiet as the soldiers ran off to their positions, and Bill waved his friends over. "Here goes everything," he said as he removed the lock on his laser. They dashed quietly down the hallway, the sound of soldier's boots crashing behind them, going the opposite direction. Falco saw a sign directing them to the hangars. "That way!" He pointed as he ran. Peppy spun his ship to the right as a firey blast of rocks flew past him. "Hurry, Fox! Let's get this thing over with!" He took aim and fired before Fox could even shoot. There was another large explosion and suddenly, the Vulcain waw armless. It roared in agony as its computers began to overload. Plasma spouted out of both sides of the creature, and it continued to fire flame in a blind rage. Bill stepped around one of the corners, looked to his side, and made a mad dash to the other corner of the intersection. As soon as he had crossed, a volley of laser flew up the hallway, suprising Falco and Slippy. Bill got up to the corner, waited, stepped out, shot several blasts, and returned to his spot. He looked over to his friends. "They're too many of them! We don't have time to fight them! They'll call back ups if we don't get out of here! Just make a run for it!" Slippy looked around quickly. "Falco, when I say go, run!" He jumped around the corner, took aim at a single box on the wall, and blasted. Suddenly, the lights blacked out permenantly. "Go!" The two of them dashed along with their friend down the dark hallway, unable to be seen by their enemy. They ran towards the lighter hallways where there were more signs. Laser lit a trail of fire behind them, and the smell of overheating guns filled the corridor. Bill took the lead again and dashed around another corner, leading to the hangars. The huge blue room was dimly lit with several low-watt lamps, and the bluish color was copied on everything in the room. Slippy spun around to see the door. "Falco, get that door closed and locked! I'm going to see if I can't get that tractor beam disabled!" He dashed over to a nearby terminal. Falco slid the door shut and shot the lock. Slippy looked back. "Great thinking, Falco. Now, they'll either not be able to get at all or they'll get in right away." Falco fingered his laser and smiled. "It's a chance." Bill was exploring the room, and ventured around the corner. He gasped and caught his breath. "Guys, come here!" Falco came, but Slippy was stll busy with the computer. What Falco saw almost made him drop his laser. Bill stepped forward towards what appeared to be a huge robot, made with two gigantic arms and no legs, a head to rival the arms with mounted lasers, and an armored body. "What is that?" Falco made no response, but also went towards it. Slippy came around the corner. "Guys, I disabled the laser. Let's get out of here! Whoa! What is that?!?" Bill looked back. "That's what we were trying to figure out." Suddenly, the sound of the doors being rammed made them come back to their senses. "We've got to get out of here! Let's get going!" They all three dashed to their crafts, and started them up. Outside of the base, the Vulcain was thrashing as much as it possibly could, making use of the super-heated plasma oozing from where its arms should have been. It was launching the plasma at the two ships that had done this to it. Suddenly, all of the computers inside of the Vulcain flashed the same message. "Tidal Wave." The officer slammed the button on his desk with urgency. "Sir! The Vulcain is calling for the Tidal Wave attack and it's right beside the base! What should we do?" Andross was infuriated. "Stop the stupid beast! Pull the emergency stop!" "I tried, sir, but I think the animal part of the machine is taking over! It's going to do that manuver!" "First things first, then! Get the Spyborg out of there! I authorize you to do anything to get that machine out of there!" Falco's ship hummed loudly as the boosters were warming up. He looked up, and saw the hangar doors were still shut. "So, Slip, how were you planning on having those doors opened?" Slippy smiled sheepishly. "All right, so I forgot something." As he spoke, the doors overhead began to grind with a metallic sound. They opened slowly, and another loud whirring was heard. All three of the pilots looked across the room as the huge robot's eyes began to flash a bright yellow. "Starting up main systems. Starting up manuvering equipment." The robot began to hover over the ground, and it rose up out of the hangars. Bill saw the chance. "Quick, guys! Follow it out of here! We don't want those doors to close on us!!" The three smaller ships rose and took off, following the huge robot. Fox dodged a few small waves of plasma, and just happened to be looking behind himself when the Spyborg launched out of the base, followed by his three friends. "Hey, guys! What's going on?" Peppy looked back as well, to see what it was that Fox was searching for. In that moment, when both of them were looking away, the Vulcain shoved itself deep into the plasma, moving much more quickly now that it had no arms to make resistance. It slowed, and then turned upward at the exact place at which it come down. Falco's voice came clearly over the com. "Watch out, Fox! That thing you were fighting just went underneath of the plasma!" It was not under for long. With a wailing roar and a tail of plasma, the Vulcain came completely out of the plasma, and shot into the air, arching itself to make a tidal wave when it hit. It slammed into the plasma surface, creating a tidal upon impact. "Fox! Get out of there!" Peppy and Fox's ships around and boosted as the tower of plasma overshadowed them. Their boosters were running low on power when the crest began to break on the top of the mass. Falco, Slippy, and Bill stopped to watch. "Go.. hurry!" Bill said under his breath as he watched his friend in his race with the wave. Fox could feel the engines in his Arwing burning. "Any second now, they'll give out." He looked up at the tower that was beginning to fall on them. He quickly looked straight ahead of him again. The two ships dropped low to the ever-rising surface to speed themselves up. They came to the base that Falco, Slippy, and Bill had been imprisoned in earlier. Fox and Peppy broke up, each flying around one side. The base began to melt seconds before the tidal slammed into it with full impact. It absorbed the thrust of the wave, and the wave settled down, taking the base down with it. Within seconds, there was a mass of bubbles and melted metal swirling on the surface that was quickly becoming plasma itself. The officer on Venom did a double-take when he read the message on his screen. He slammed the button on his desk yet one more time. "Sir! The Vulcain has destroyed the base! There's nothing left!" "What?!" "I'm certain of it, sir! The Star Fox Team, however, is completely safe!" "They must have done something to that failure to control it! Have it self-destruct!" The officer was surprised. "Are you sure, sir?" "Do not question me ever again! Do it!" "What do you want us to do with the secret weapon?" "We need to put it into hiding. Send it to Sector X." "Affirmative, sir." The officer released the button for the last time that day, put in several commands on his computer, and sighed. Fox pulled up as a smaller wave, reminescent of its older brother, tried to smack his craft of the air. He looked behind his ship at the beast, who had fury burning in its eyes. It was angry with this, this measley little speck of space dust who had dared intrude upon his territory. It would have its revenge as soon as the Master came and repaired its arms. It would lift the rocks and crush his enemy, till nothing remained but plasma. It... what is that feeling? Thoughts of pain filled the animal part of the bio-weapon as all of the computers inside of it flashed a solemn message: Self-Destruct. Fox and Peppy rejoined their friends as they came closer to the Solar surface. Bill looked up just in time to see the Vulcain. "Hey, what's it doing?" Falco studied the Vulcain as it began thrashing around, trying to discourage the pain that was filling it. "I've never seen anyone act like that." "I have." Peppy drew upon his memories in the space force, upon the memories of fights never to be forgotten. "That thing is dying!" They watched in horror as the Vulcain slashed with nothing left for arms, and slammed itself against the plasma surface, trying to rid itself of the pain. It was howling in the torture it was feeling. Slippy finally covered his eyes. "I can't take it anymore!" The Vulcain suddenly came to a resting point, tired beyond exhaustion. All of its thrashing had been in vain to stop the torture. It felt a wrenching pain around its neck, and it straightened up. The skin on its neck suddenly split the same way the skin on the arms split, and its head shot up into the atmosphere, leaving a partially mechanical stump of a body hovering in the plasma. The stump began to fill with holes of light, and it, too, exploded, sinking into the ever-gluttenous plasma. Again, the place was quiet. Bill sighed deeply. "So this is what Andross does to people." He began to pull away from the group, heading towards the Great Fox. Fox nodded, turned his ship, and followed his friend. Slippy and Falco slowly turned away as well, leaving Peppy to be alone. Peppy sat for a moment, and contemplated everything that had happened. He flew over to where the mechanical stock was now quickly becoming plasma as well, and hovered for a second, watching the solar flares dance around him. Everyone in the group still had their coms opened as Peppy gave voice to his emotion: "Sleep peacefully, fellow victim."