Chapter XVI
	Bill ripped his controls upward as Venomian fire flew underneath
his ship. The Cornerians had met the Venomians, just as the Venomians had
begun the attack on Katina. Bill pulled a tight circle, and shot at the
ship which had been following him. He felt himself being pushed against
his seat as he arched around the pyramid-shaped base. He was looking for
his squadron, but hadn't been able to locate any of them since the
beginning of the battle. If nothing else, the Venomians had the Cornerians
spread out thinly. "We've got some trouble over here!" he heard one of his
wingmen, a bulldog, say.
	"Roger that! Where's the problem, bulldog unit?" he answered.
	"The husky and me are on the south side of the base! They're
trying to work each of the groups away from each other!"
	"Can you get out of there?"
	"Negative, Bill! They're following us pretty good!"
	"I'm on my way!" Bill lifted his fighter higher into the air, and
boosted towards the south side of the Katina base, where he spotted a clan
of Cornerian ships being chased by a swarm of Venomians. "Time to help
even those odds!" He charged his laser, and blew through the side of the
Venomian formations. "Yeeha!" he cried, as six different fighters fell
from the sky in the concurrent explosions. "Bulldog unit, can you take
care of the rest--" his sentence was viciously chopped as his ship shook
violently. "What?" He heard the thrusters in the back of his fighter
explode, and the flames seared up around him. "Oh, man!!! Time to eject!!"
He slapped a button on his console, and suddenly things were spinning in
all directions. The ship was headed down, in a complete tailspin. Bill hit
button again, and the entire cockpit separated from the burning ship,
which continued crashing down to the Katina surface. Bill felt the cockpit
jerk to a stop as antigravity pads activated themselves, and he waited to
float safely to the ground. Before he could, though, a Cornerian ship came
from seemingly nowhere with a Venomian on its tail and slammed into the
side of the cockpit. Bill cried out as the cockpit was thrown through the
air, and the antigravity pads failed. He watched the ground get closer
with each second, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Cornerian
ship that had run into him begin plummeting to the ground, also in flames.
"If I live through this..." Bill murmured to himself as the ground met his
crashing cockpit.
	Fox sat, waiting for the vidscreen to warm up. It seemed, the
farther he was from Corneria, the longer it took to contact it. "Come on,"
he pressed. "Let's move!" Finally, the screen flickered uncertainly, and
then Fox heard the screen contacting the CSCC.
	Several seconds later, the screen lit up with General Pepper in
foreground, and a swarm of techs rushing from terminal to terminal,
finding information. Pepper looked ragged from being in charge of the
battle thus far. "Fox! We were sure that something had happened! Halfway
through your mission, you aborted! I was about to send troops, but no one
asked for any help, and we need all the extra troops we can muster here."
	"Why? What's going on?"
	"Andross has stolen all of Macbeth's ships, and taken them against
Katina. Your Wolf O'Donnel is among the Venomians there. We know that
because, well, he's the only one whose yelled any threats just yet."
	"That's Wolf, all right," Fox mused, remembering how close of
friends the two had been in the Academy.
	"But that is beside the point. Fox, we need you to help us stop
these Venomians."
	"What else is new?" Fox responded, a smirk on his face.
	"I mean in a different way than usual. The Venomians have five
trains, full of weapons and minerals for the Venomian army, headed for the
capitol city. We have assigned teams on each of the trains, and we need
you to take one of them." Pepper's voice trailed off, and the screen faded
to show a picture of an area near the capitol city of Macbeth. "Your train
will be headed along this path, here." Pepper had the track marked on the
screen. "You must destroy all of the cars on the train, for these weapons
will be enough to beat us if they can get them to the troops. Do you
understand, Fox?"
	"Perfectly."
	"Then you will also understand why I will recommend that someone
fight on the ground."
	"Hmm?"
	"Fox, if someone fights on the ground, they'll have a much better
shot at the train."
	"Yeah, I realize that, General. One of us will take the Landmaster
down there."
	"That's what I wanted to hear. Make my day and tell me that
train's as good as gone."
	"It's gone already, sir."
	"Good. That's one less thing that I have to worry about. Good
luck, Fox."
	"Thank you, General. Fox out." Fox smirked as the screen blanked
out, and then turned to the rest of the Star Fox Team. "So, I guess we
know who's going to take the tank, right?"
	"The sky's the only thing I do," Falco said.
	"I'm getting too old for ground combat," Peppy countered.
	"I built the thing, but I've never driven it before," Slippy
explained. "Besides, Fox, you have the most experience with it."
	Fox shrugged. Was there any use? "Just thought I'd check."
	Bill looked around as his eyes slowly opened. His cockpit had
crashed into the ground, somewhat buried, so hard was the impact. He tried
to move, but suddenly realized that was a bad idea when his left arm and
shoulder blasted pain into his brain. He looked down at them and saw that
his left arm was twisted out of shape. There was no using it for a while.
His right arm looked okay, but both of Bill's feet felt as if they had
been cut off. Using his right hand, Bill undid his safety harness, which
may have saved his life, and tried to open his cockpit. The button wasn't
responding, so he took his fist to it. When it swung open, he tumbled out
and tried to stand up.
	Standing wasn't a good idea, and he felt very light-headed, but he
managed to keep him wits about him. He simply stood for a few moments,
listening to the crashes and shots around him and waiting for the
hover-ambulances. When they didn't come right away, Bill looked at his
surroundings, and spotted the Cornerian fighter that had collided with his
cockpit. He recognized the pilot. "Oh, no." The bulldog was hung over his
control panel, his face expressionless and blood coming from the corner of
his lip. Bill rushed as fast as he could with a limp towards him and
forced that cockpit open as well with a stick that was lying nearby. As
Bill pried at the cockpit, he realized that he wasn't holding a stick. It
was a shard of the wing from that same fighter. Bill jammed the shard in
as far as he could, and then swung all his weight onto it. He crumpled to
the ground, blazing with pain, as the cockpit popped open. The bulldog's
head leaned to the side as the cockpit supporting it was removed, and Bill
forced himself up. His right hand shot to the bulldog's throat, trying to
find a pulse. It was hardly there and it was only occasional, but there it
was. Bill tried to drag the comatose bulldog out of the craft, finding it
much harder to do with only one hand. The bulldog was probably a bit
shorter than Bill, but he outweighed him most definitely. Bill got his
body against the fighter, and flopped the bulldog as best he could onto
his shoulder, favoring his left side. Where were those hover-ambulances?
	The Great Fox lumbered into Macbethan atmosphere without much of a
problem because all of the guard ships were at Katina. Fox stepped out of
the hangars as the Arwings heated, noting the heat from even where he was
standing. As the climatic expulsions dimmed, Fox went back into the
hangars, finding the Landmaster Tank, its white-blue hide still marred
with memories from Titania. Fox ran his hand along the metal skin. "It's
just you and me again."
	Fox's headset burst with static. "Fox? Where are you? Get that
thing out here and let's get going!" Falco's voice was impatient.
	Fox pressed the headset against his ear as he climbed up the side.
"You know, Falco. I've been thinking."
	"Oh?"
	"I think we should force Falco to use the Landmaster next time!
What do you say, Peppy? Slippy?"
	"Yeah!" came the combined reply. Fox pressed the buttons to start
the tank up, and drove it out of the hangars, using the boosters to slowly
lower to the ground.
	Bill stumbled as best he could toward a hover-ambulance near the
base. "Medic!" he called. "Medic!!" one of the people on board the craft
noticed Bill's cry, and pointed them out to the driver. "It's about time!"
Bill complained as the hovercraft pulled up to the wounded pair.
	"We could leave you here, if we wanted to. There are more grateful
patients everywhere," an osprey said as it flipped its wing towards Bill.
	She reached down to help Bill lug the bulldog into the hovercraft.
The bulldog flopped lifelessly into a bunk, and she hooked him up to a
machine within seconds. She reached to Bill, who was using his right arm
to try to lift himself over the edge of the hover-ambulance. She reached
down, grabbed his left arm, and tried to help him up. "Aaarrrgh!!" he
yelped, forcing her to drop his arm immediately. "Are you always so
careless with your patients?" he cried through red eyes and wrenching his
wounded arm back to his side.
	"I'm sorry!" she apologized, gripping his right arm. "Here! Let me
help you onto the craft and then I'll get your arm set and healed!"
	"No!" Bill continued in his angry mood. "Help my friend first. My
wound can cause pain, but he's close to death. Get him set up, and then
worry about me." The osprey signaled the driver of the hovercraft, a
snapping turtle, to take them back to the main hospital. Bill shuddered
with pain as the hovercraft lurched forward and he had to put some weight
on his left side. Suddenly, he was feeling light-headed again. Was he
going into shock?
	Fox bounced a bit as the Landmaster hit the ground, knocking his
head against the roof. With his hand on his forehead, he looked to the
side to see his navigational equipment. "So, where is this thing?" He
could barely see through the fog that had gathered recently. The map said
that the train was to be going by him at about that time. Why couldn't he
see anything?
	Then he heard it. A rumble began to repetitively beat against the
ground, with a kind of rhythmic tune. Soon, he began to hear clinking
sounds to match the beat, and a whistle not long after that. He began to
see a light in the fog, and the clouds beside him began to swirl. As Fox
pulled out of the fog, he looked to the source of the noise. "Whoa! This
thing is really long! It's like, the forever train!" His eyes peered into
the distance ahead of him, but he still couldn't see the end of the train.
"Well, let's get working on it! Looks like he's got some minerals back
here, I'll clear him out!"
	"That's fine," replied Peppy. "We're just running into the first
of the opposition. You take your time, and we'll try to beat these guys
back!"
	Aboard the train, the engineer, a eldery monkey, looked to his
right. "Here come the little hyenas now," he muttered to himself with a
heavy Southern accent. "Come to destroy the Emporer's supplies, have you?"
He rested his hand on a panel next to him, his fingers resting on a few
buttons. "We'll see about that."
	Fox rolled the tank to his left, dodging laser fire and passing a
small tank with a turret on it. The tank fired, but Fox had rolled around
it, causing the shot to careen into another tank. "It's too easy down
here, guys!" Fox laughed.
	The engineer tapped out a few keys on the panel, and two cars of
the train dumped their load of mineral boulders into the field in front of
Fox. "Let's see if you can maneuver around that!" When he saw Fox slow
down to navigate the field, he hit the accelerator. "This'll put a little
distance between us!"
	Fox rolled the tank to the right, then slid left, narrowly
avoiding boulder after boulder. "Whoa! I could use some help trying to get
around these!"
	Falco flew back to Fox, and used his laser to crumble a few of the
rocks. "Do I always have to save your back, Fox?"
	Fox shot a look back to the Arwing with a smirk on his face. "Only
as much as I have to save yours, Falco."
	Not far away, a squadron of pastel colored ships was busy slowly
taking the cars off of another train. Katt Monroe pulled a tight circle,
and slowed down as she tuned her com. "Guys, did you just hear that
voice?"
	"Katt, don't start that again...," a female voice responded.
	"No, really! It sounded like Falco! And the next voice said called
him Falco! Oh, where is he?!?" she cooed as she looked to her computer.
"Due to the right! I request permission to abort this mission to help
another team!"
	"I'm sure they're in dire need of it, Katt. Go ahead," the leader
of the squadron sighed, "but you owe us double-time next mission!"
	"Of course!" she assured the leader. Her fighter lifted away from
her friends, and she turned towards the Falco's position.
	Peppy and Slippy circled in a two-ship formation, while Falco
circled alone, taking out bombers trying to hit Fox. "We could use some
help up here, Fox. Forget the train for a minute and blast these
fighters!"
	A pink ship came up behind the Landmaster, and eased in front of
it. "You started without me? Boys, I'm crushed!"
	"You'll be more than that if you don't help us out, Katt!" Falco
chided.
	"Is that any way to greet a girl?" Katt said.
	"What would be the right way?" Falco asked, eyebrows raised.
	Before Katt could answer, Slippy interrupted. "Sorry to break up
your little meeting here, but we've got a war on our hands, people!" Ahead
of him he saw the fog breaking up, and more ships parading towards them.
"Incoming!"
	It was a full five minutes until the osprey looked away from the
bulldog to check on Bill. "Oh, my!" she squeaked. Bill was slumped over in
his seat, eyes vacant and lifeless. "Driver! Hurry! We've got two serious
cases now!" she called. The driver sped the hovercraft up a bit, but not
much. The osprey got her arm under Bill's arm, and tried to ease him into
another bunk. "Don't you dare die on me," she warned. "I want a perfect
record here!" The machine she had hooked him up to fed her a report.
"Shock from internal bleeding," she read. She craned her neck towards the
front. "Let's move it, driver!" Fire from the ships above rained down on
the now speeding hover-ambulance, and the driver had to swerve from left
to right several times to avoid the laser. The osprey looked at her two
charges, checking the machines.
	Bill woke up in the portable hospital, his head pounding crazily.
He almost tried to move his left arm, but then he remembered the pain that
had come with it earlier. He picked up his head slowly, to keep as still
as possible, and looked at his arm. It was encased in a white tube, which
was hooked up to another machine. His head got heavy again, and he laid it
back down. He heard voices in the room, and the curtain that surrounded
his bed was parted, allowing the osprey entry. "You're lucky," she stated.
"One seriously broken bone, and lots of internal bleeding, but nothing
that our machines couldn't fix. Just so you know, the cockpit that you
were in absorbed most of the shock. The antigravity pads were on just long
enough to slow your descent so you didn't get killed instantly."
	"Will wonders never cease?" Bill muttered as his head rocked with
every word.
	"Your friend, that bulldog, will live, as well." She added.

	"Will he be okay?"
	"He'll live, I said. I have no guarantee as to how. It's a good
thing that we got him here as fast as we did, but he'll still seriously
wounded. It's no laughing matter, that's for sure."
	"Is any of this?"
	"Do I have to answer that?"
	Bill looked down at the cast on his arm. "How long?"
	"How long what?"
	"How long will it be until I get out of this thing? Until I can
get back on my feet and fly a ship?"
	She consulted her clipboard. "A day, at the soonest. It depends if
you let the machines heal your arm or not. You don't rest, the machines
can't work. Flying a ship again in a battle like this, where they need all
the soldiers they can get, is only a matter of finding a ship to fly."
	"It's okay by you, then, if I get back in the air as soon as I'm
healed?"
	"You had just better not show up here again." She smiled and
parted the curtains again.
	The Landmaster tank hovered over another row of boulders rolling
towards it, and Fox bounced inside the machine as it slammed to the ground
again. In the distance, the train was taking an overpass, a long-range gun
firing at Fox the entire way. A group of fighters charged them while Fox
was taking aim, and he had to divert his attention from the train again.
"Guys, get these bogeys out of here so we can take out that train!"
	Katt took the lead of the Arwings and charged her lasers. "It's
time to get you out of the way, boy!" Her lasers locked, and she started
shooting at the ships.
	Peppy's lasers crashed two fighters together, and they landed in
front of Fox, a burning mess. "That's two down!" he exclaimed.
	Fox finally got a clear shot at the train, and readied a bomb.
"All right, everyone, get out of my way!" He locked on the nearest cars of
the train. "Clear!!" After waiting a second or two, he launched the bomb
into the air. It arched high, and then plummeted back to the ground to
disintegrate two of the cars. The train lurched forward, and continued
down the track, undaunted, with the supplies it had left. The Landmaster
bounced again as it fell off a small incline, and continued underneath the
high-placed track.
	"We're losin' cars!" the engineer growled to a subordinate. "Get
those fighters out there!" Another car opened, and defensive fighters flew
out of the hatch, towards the Star Fox Team.
	The fighters flew in single file as they looped down and around
the track to the Landmaster below. Falco moved ahead and started shooting
them down, but one dodged his laser and ended up behind him. Falco tried
to lift away, but he was still underneath the metal bridge, and there were
pillars to his right and left that were just as hard. "I can't shake this
guy!" he cried.
	Fox shifted his attention instantly from the train to Falco. After
a short blast, the threat was gone. "All better now, Falco?"
	"Oh, just shoot the stupid train, Fox."
	"I would if it weren't for a certain hot-rodding avian that keeps
getting himself into trouble."
	"Now, who could that be, Fox?" Falco's sarcasm was blunt.
	Slippy flew forward again. "Do I always have to keep you guys on
track? While you two were bickering, that train just slipped into that
tunnel! The Arwing can't fit in there, I know it!"
	"Then it's up to Fox to save the day, yet again," Fox said, with a
smile.
	"My hero," Falco laughed.
	Fox powered up both engines and lifted from the ground the short
distance to the track above. "He's going awfully slow into that tunnel.
It's like he wants me to follow him." Fox observed.
	"What's wrong? Come a little closer!" the engineer taunted from
the train. He reached over to the console again and depressed another
button. Metal beams began coming from the walls just behind the train,
making small gates between Fox and the train.
	"I'm not going to be able to get past these things," Fox muttered.
	"Try hovering, Fox!" Peppy volunteered.
	Fox hovered over the first gate, and was in the air long enough to
let fly with several blasts of laser, destroying the car closest to him.
The tank slammed to the ground, and Fox urged the engines up again. "Come
on, come on!" The power meter turned from red to blue, and Fox lifted up.
He aimed the cannon, and another car was destroyed. He hit his head on the
paneling inside the tank as it hit the ground again, but he didn't really
care right then. "Get up, get up!" he muttered as the third gate closed in
front of him. The meter flashed blue again, and Fox lifted up again,
scratching the treads of the Landmaster against the gate as he did. Once
more, he whipped the cannon downward, and detached another car from the
end of the train. Landing, he slid off of the track and back to the
ground, rolling to the right.
	The com in his headset rang noisily, while he plowed over a small
hill to get out of the tunnel. Fox responded while upside down, rolling
back over the track, "Fox here!"
	General Pepper tried to concentrate on Fox's voice as the sound of
the tank flopping right side up again blasted over the com. "Fox? Is
everything okay?"
	"As well," Fox said, shooting at the next car, "as can be
expected. What's the point, General?"
	"The point is, Fox, we've hired a few mercenaries that aren't as
good as they said they were."
	"I assume you're not talking about us, right?"
	"Would I be calling in the middle of the mission?" Pepper let the
question drop, and continued. "Fox, Andross tore apart two of the other
teams. We've only got a few people left from the other teams, and one of
them is reported missing."
	"Would that person's name be Katt Monroe?"
	"Yes, actually. Do you know anything about it?"
	"Yeah," Fox said, looking up at Katt's ship, which happened to be
blasting through a few ships right then. "She's fine. Helping out our
team, as a matter of fact."
	"Well, that's one less death to report. Here's what's wrong, Fox.
Two more of those trains are still on schedule with the base, and we need
them to be out of there, Fox. I've told all of the remaining mercs that
those trains have to be destroyed, or we have quite a bit more fighting to
do at Katina."
	Fox sighed. "We'll do our best, sir, but there are no promises."
	Pepper smiled. "That's all I ask."
	Peppy's Arwing glided somewhat ahead of the group, scouting out
the enemies. There weren't many in front of them, so he was simply taking
down the ones that he could, and whatever got past him went on to Falco.
"Poor things," he smiled. Searching the horizon for small tanks and such,
his eyes locked on what looked like a small flagpole sticking up out of
the ground, a red light blinking on it. As it passed him, he saw another
one not much farther away. He slowly realized what they were, and opened
his com to Fox. "Fox! I just figured out a way we can really mess up this
guy's plans!"
	Fox was busy taking a moth-like robot out of the air with the
cannon. "What's that, Peppy?"
	"There are switches up ahead of us! If we hit them, we'll reroute
the train! If we don't take it out, we'll definitely hurt their plans!"
	"Good idea, Pep! I see the switches! What do I do to start them?"
He tried shooting one of the flags, and it spun around, showing a green
light now. "Looks like we've got ourselves a plan!"
	The engineer pushed a few more buttons, using his authorization
code start the robot in the car on the back of the train. "I wasn't
wantin' to have to use this...," he said. What he didn't notice was a
message on another screen asking him whether he was requesting a rerouting
or not. "I'll lure these guys to the front." The car just in back of the
engine began to open up, revealing two huge kite-shaped wings. The wings
slowly spread out to catch the air, and the robot began to lift up into
the air, tethered to the train by a taut piece of material. "Mechbeth,
it's time to get rid of these lil' hyenas!"
	The glider opened up to full length, stretching its arms to get as
much lift as possible and unleashing its spiked tail towards the ground.
"What is that big ol' thing, Falco?" Katt said.
	"I don't know, but Fox, you'd better hurry with those switches, or
we're going to have to fight this thing!"
	"I'm trying!" Fox whined as he rolled the tank to the left to turn
on another switch. A small black box plopped out of Mechbeth's car, and
blasted a stream of electricity in every direction around it. "Whoa!
Remind me to stay away from those things!"
	Slippy was tallying Mechbeth's shields. "Data's complete! Look at
the defense this thing has!"
	"Don't focus on it too much, Slippy! Defense or none, we have to
take this thing down!" Peppy said. "Falco, you and Katt go for the left
wing! Slippy and I will take the right! Fox, keep working on those
switches!"
	As the team split up, Mechbeth stretched out its wings, and began
taking in energy. "Oh, great," Fox muttered. "What's it doing, now?" He
didn't have to wait long to find the answer. It shot the energy upwards,
and it materialized into huge spears, which slammed into the ground,
making a barrier between Fox and the switches. "Hey! I could use some help
here!" Fox called.
	"I'm here to rescue you!" Falco chirped.
	"Don't you have something better to do?" Fox said.
	"Not if it means getting one up on you!" Falco returned. He shot
the spears, and they disintegrated back into energy in just a few shots.
Fox's laser cannon found another switch, and then there was only one left
to hit.
	He rolled over the track, past another of the black boxes, and
located the last flagpole. A cannon shot later, the safety switches had
all been turned. The screen that had asked if the engineer had requested a
redirection now said: "Redirection Confirmed. Track Switch Opening."
	Peppy saw the box by the track opening. "Good work, Fox! Now, all
we need to do is shoot that switch! I'm already past it! Someone else?"
	Falco swooped down, followed by Katt, and they both took a shot at
it, missing both times. "It's too low! If I get too close, I'm not going
to have time to pull back up before I crash into that train!" Katt
complained.
	Slippy shook his head and pushed his controls forward. "Scardy
cat," he joked. His Arwing fell near the ground, and he lined up the shot.
Just as he was about to shoot, safety columns exploded from the ground,
launching upwards and guarding the switch. "Ach!" he cried, pulling back
upwards as quickly as he had fallen.
	"That leaves it up to me, again, hmm?" Fox smiled. "All right,
let's see if I can't do an easy shot like this. What? Whoa!!" The rest of
the team looked back in horror as the huge robot used its tail to wrap
around the Landmaster and scoop it off of the ground. "It's killing the
shields on this thing! Not only that, I'm going to pass up the switch if
he doesn't let me down!" Fox looked down at the switch, going swiftly
beneath him. He had not worked that hard to see the chance missed. He
aimed his cannon inward, towards Mechbeth's stomach, and fired for all he
was worth.
	The machine wrenched around, screeching, and released its grip on
the Landmaster. Fox used the boosters to push himself back and tried to
take another shot at the switch. But Mechbeth was not done, either. It
pulled out of its rage in enough time to give the floating Landmaster one
good lashing with its tail.
	The Landmaster was launched in the air, and Fox was trying to
stabilize the craft with the boosters, but it wasn't working. "Guys! I'm
falling!" Through the spinning and sprawling viewer in front of him, Fox
could see the switch pass by every second or so. He tried to fire off
shots as he fell, but he wasn't sure if they connected with the switch. He
came in contact with the ground suddenly and finally, with a loud,
sickening crunch.
	Fox felt something come into contact with his head, then heard
metal scratching and breaking. He had his eyes closed tightly. He sat
still for a few seconds, thinking he was dead from the impact, but then he
realized that he could still hear his com. Peppy's voice broadcast
instantly. "What happened? Fox, can you hear me?"
	Fox heard the sound of the engine of an Arwing coming near, and
then Slippy's voice over the com. "Oh, man. I don't know how he could live
through that."
	He opened his mouth, which was feeling quite dry, and coughed into
the com. "I'm here, guys," he somewhat whispered. "I'm okay, I think." He
opened his eyes slowly, readying himself to see an arm broken off or
something like that. As his eyes inched open, they came, instead, in
contact with a huge, block-headed spike. The spike continued out of the
front end of the Landmaster, in a large, newly developed, hole, and went
into a large black box beside the train track. "I think… I think it hit
the switch," Fox stuttered.
	"Literally," Katt joked, trying to lighten the situation.
	"Yeah, Fox," Falco continued. "Why don't you try just shooting it
next time?"
	"I tried that, Falco," Fox attempted a smile, "but I ended up
having to use my head."
	The engineer smiled to himself. "Good. Now, that they're
distracted, it's time to step on the gas!" He slammed the accelerator,
doubling his speed in seconds. "What in the...?" he said, as he noticed the
track switching up ahead. "No, wait! We can't go this way! Hit the brakes!
Hit the brakes!!" he yelled as the train careened down the track, blowing
up roadblocks along the way.
	Mechbeth was still gliding along, but it had noticed the speed
change, and now, was seeing something wrong. The direction change wasn't
expected. They were headed towards a building, and a rather large one, at
that. The machine could see a few more trains, docking with the station,
but this one was traveling at a speed much too high. There was no way that
they'd dock safely with this station. Then it sensed the brakes squealing
shrilly, and the train trying to stop.
	Inside the complex, the two trains that had made it past the
mercenaries slowly came to a stop. After the brakes made one final squeak,
and the train was halted, the engineers got off and stretched. One
signaled to the other. "Did you see them mercs?"
	"Yeah, a whole load of 'em tracked me down. On-board guns are a
miracle."
	"My defense droids took 'em down in seconds. Should'a seen 'em,
though. They thought they was some big threat, the way they flew around
me."
	One of the engineers heard the sound of a fast approaching train.
"Aye, you hear that? That sounds awful fast for being this close to the
station."
	"Sure does. Wonder what's goin' on. Let's go check it out."
	"Naw, I'm sure nothin's wrong."
	The speeding train shot into the tunnel opening to the station as
through the barrel of a gun, and Mechbeth's gliding wings were clipped off
by the small opening. They crashed to the ground, but not before they had
caused considerable damage to the tunnel itself. Once inside, the train
bounced on the shortening track, and then popped off the track. Careening
into the boxes of weapons and explosives that had been unloaded from the
other two trains, which were meant for the Venomians at Katina, the
engineer got a last, terrified glimpse of his colleagues as they dove out
of the way. Then, everything turned white.
	The entire Star Fox Team spun from the wrecked Landmaster as a
huge, imploding cloud blasted from the train station, followed by several
more, each in hideous echo to the first. The light from the explosions
reflected off of Slippy's glossed skin. "Wow," he gasped.
	Even Fox, who was still upside-down in the Landmaster, gawked in
awe at the blast. "Well, that's the end of that guy," he muttered, barely
audible to the others over the continuing explosions.
	"And about half of Venom's aresenal!" Falco concluded.
	A few minutes later, thanks to a old model tractor beam that Katt
had on her ship, the Landmaster was sitting right-side up, and Slippy was
giving the wounds a thorough looking-over.  "Well, it's not fatal, but
boy, is that ever going to take a ton of time to fix." He ran his webbed
fingers over the edge of the huge hole, seeming to sense the pain his
machine was in.
	"It's served us well," Fox smiled.
	"Yeah, I know. All right," he conceded, walking back to his
Arwing, "let's get back to the Great Fox!"
	Fox slipped back into the Landmaster, and looked at all of the
ships through the large gash in through the front. "All right, everyone,
mission's over! All aircraft report!" Fox said.
	Peppy sat back and looked at the explosions that were dying off,
now. "I'm sure we hurt 'em this time!"
	Slippy smirked at the idea. "I can see the look on their stupid
faces!"
	Falco laughed, "Now it's our turn to kick some tail!"
	Katt pulled her ship up near Falco, giggling. "Now we're
definitely ready to take Andross on!"
	Suddenly, a small fleet of pastel-colored ships fell into speed
with the Star Fox Team. "I don't think so, Katt Monroe! One mission is
long enough!" a female voice called over the com.
	"Oh, do I have to?" Katt whined.
	"Drop it, girl, before we have to drop you!"
	"Man, okay! I'm coming, I'm coming!" Katt moved her ship towards
her friends, then took a look back to the Star Fox Team. "I'll talk to you
later, Falco," she whispered into her com.
	Fox laughed to himself as he powered up the boosters on the
Landmaster, placing himself in the launching bay of the approaching Great
Fox.