My cockpit is dark, the screens around me showing my environment, in front of me is Zoness with a massive Venom fleet guarding it, my craft the Wraith is cloaked and hiding as I scan the enemy forces.

I hear Fox "What's the situation?"

I say "The enemy forces are clustered in an organized defense ring and are moving in constant patrols around the planet. A direct assault would be a suicide mission."

I hear Fox "Can you draw their attention away from the planet?"

I say "I can try, stand by.", I arm the mamba-system which is basically a huge sniper rifle, I use the mamba sights to zoom onto an enemy battleships bridge, I fire the weapon, I see the round punch into the bridge and a second later it explodes.

The venom forces begin to scramble around like an angered bee hive, the mamba reloads, I fire again, this time striking a cruisers mid-section, an explosion comes and the ship becomes two parts as contained energy is released. The 'swarm' looks to be in a panic, I can feel a smile cross my face as the mamba arms again, a squadron of five interceptors start to fly in my directions, I fire my third shot which destroys the center-most fighter and the remaining four break away.

I think 'Yes, scramble around in fear from a threat you can't see, it makes it easier to overwhelm your defense afterall.', I see the enemy forces move away from Zoness in fragmented groups and I say "Fox, the enemy forces are splitting up, commence phase two."

I hear Fox "Copy that, remain on stand by, we may need sniper-support."

I say "Affirmative!" as I begin to scan for high value targets.

Fox's point of view...

With the Great Fox in tow, all of us are deployed and ready to hit Zoness.

I say "Thanks to Adam's saboteur work we have an open window to hit the factory down on Zoness, once it falls the Lylat system will be secured and then we'll hit Venom. Rob, are the weapon systems ready?"

I hear Rob "All weapon systems are operational."

I say "As soon as the enemy comes withing range, open fire!" as Zoness quickly comes into view.

The Great Fox has been armed with new weapon systems, energy turret batteries have been mounted across the top deck, sides and a few on the underside with a massive railgun mounted just under the hanger and the hull is now upgraded to be more battle ready.

I hear Rob "Firing railgun!"

The railgun fires and cuts through a few harlock-class frigates before going to the planets surface as the frigates explode. The energy turrets begin to fire, ripping apart whatever they hit as we smash our way through, a stealth bomber quickly de-cloaks with it's weapons armed, suddenly it snaps in two at an angle and explodes.

I hear Adam "The way is now clear guys."

I say "Falco, Krystal and Lucy, help Adam in dealing with these guys, the Great Fox isn't enough support after all."

My point of view...

I have the mamba store into my fighter, I say "Engaging the enemy!", I have the Wraith go screaming forward as I have my vessel de-cloak and unveiling my forward weapons.

The Venom's look to be completely taken off guard as they try to maneuver to compensate for me coming in, my weapons blaze as they unleash their stored might, fighters become ripped to shreds while larger ships are turned to swiss cheese as Falco, Krystal and Lucy join me, shooting enemies down aswell.

I say "Keep it up! We need to keep pressing!"

I hear Falco "Their lines are completely broken, this'll be easy."

I hear Krystal "At this rate they'll re-route though."

I say "No worries, Lucy deploy the virus!"

I hear Lucy "Releasing virus."

Lucy's craft the sky bunny fires it's stored bomb and heads towards the planets surface.

I hear Falco "A bio weapon?!"

I say "No, it's a computer virus, just before the bomb hits the ground it'll wireless release it which will damage or destroy the code for their comms."

I hear Lucy "And no worries guys, Slippy and I made sure it won't effect our comms."

I hear Falco "It won't clip all of their wings though!"

I say "I never said it would, just keep engaging!"

Fox's point of view...

The factories have been hit and some anti-air has been dealt with... but it's not enough, we aren't causing enough damage to make a real difference as our windows are too small.

I say "We aren't causing enough damage to them!"

I hear Miyu "There's too much anti-air, we need to fall back!"

I hear Amanda "Incoming!"

I look to see what looks to be a bomb, it gets close to the enemy base, a green energy shock wave erupts from it before it smashes into the ground and I say "What was that?!"

I hear Slippy "It's a computer virus Fox, Adam thought it'll come in handy for a fight like this, especially since now they no longer have their comms without ours being effected."

I smile and I say "Great work guys."

The anti-war quickly becomes less saturated, the enemy squadrons instantly look less coordinated with random numbers in each one, ground forces quickly bog down as they seem to try to recover their comms. It's clear that without their communications the Venom's are completely defenseless, soon a few flares launch from the main base and erupt into the sky.

I hear Slippy "The Venom's down here have surrendered!"

I hear Fay "That's great, but their space forces can't see the surrender flares, which means up there it's a battle of attrition."

I say "They can handle it." with a smile.

My point of view...

A venom interceptor falls before the Wraith's fire, the few remaining forces are trying to escape but thanks to the upgrades of the Great Fox we have no issues intercepting them. It's clear that the tech the Venom's use of is outdated to some extent, but by no means does that make them less dangerous. The remaining enemy force quickly form a defense around a battle cruiser.

I hear Rob "Energy spike detected, it is coming from the battle cruisers wave system."

I hear Krystal "They're going to try to jump!"

I say "Not if I can help it!", I arm the python bomb launcher, I fire it, the shaped charge flies into the fleet, it crashes into the engine system of the cruiser, I can see a red, blazing dot where the python had hit, the engines flicker and it explodes, causing flames to begin to take the rest of the ship, but then energy begins to come from it.

I hear Rob "The battle cruisers warp core is going critical, explosion imminent."

I say "Fall back!"

On that, the four of us fall back, the battle cruiser explodes, destroying what's left of the venom fleet.

I say into my comm "Fox, the enemy force up here has been completely annihilated."

I hear Fox "Understood, the enemy forces here have surrendered. Nice work team, mission complete."

Soon cornerian forces arrive to secure Zoness, we fully regroup at the Great Fox, I get out of my fighter and see that everyone has left their machines.

Fox says "Well done team, now that Zoness has been taken we can now focus on hitting our enemy directly. Venom is our next target and thanks to auxiliary forces who have been distracting and leading them to sectors X, Y and Z to great effect."

I smile and I say "Thank you Sun Tzu's Art of War!"

Fox says "Now that Venom's defenses are greatly weakened this is our best chance. Most of the Cornerian fleets are heading there and needless to say we are joining the battle.", he looks to Slippy and he says "Can you make another virus bomb?"

Slippy says "It's likely the codes we have will be too outdated for Venom, so needless to say I don't think it's a viable option."

Fox says "Very well, but now the big battle is coming and it's not going to take long to get there. So get some rest, dismissed." and he walks away.

I say "Alright time to re-arm." as I begin to head to see the Wraith.

I hear "Hon." it's Krystal.

I look to the blue Vixen and I say "Yes?" with a smile.

Krystal says "I made something for you, please close your eyes." with a warm smile.

I close my eyes, I hear what sounds like light chains, I feel something being placed around my neck and it soon stops. I hear Krystal "Open your eyes." with an excited tone, I open my eyes, I look down to see a necklace, I hold it up to see it's an Eye of Horus, made almost entirely what looks to be platnumized-silver with a eye of a glowing, almost mystical teal color.

Krystal says "It's a protection charm, I heard from human mythology that the Eye of Hrous is one of them. I hope you like it hon." with a loving smile.

I hug Krystal and I say "Thank you dear." with a smile.

Krystal hugs me and she says "I'm glad you like it."

I look to see her smiling face, I remember when we really did 'bond', I swear I not only feel our bodies melding but our minds as well. Well she is a telepath, maybe that's part of her culture, I kiss her and I say "I love you."

Krystal says "I love you too." with a loving smile and she kisses my lips.

With that said we begin to ready our machines for another go, my fighter takes the longest time due to re-stocking the mamba's ammo capacity and placing a new charge in the python launcher, both of which are unique to the Wrath. I finish setting up the Wraith, I begin to walk away but a reflective surface catches my attention, I gaze at it to see my reflection, the white armor glistening as the dark blue calmly sits in it's place while the flexible black is ready to move at a moments notice, my pale skin and blue eyes appears to be drained though no where near as bad as before we left the station, I simply sigh and walk away. I enter the mess room, I grab a coffee and begin to have a drink.

I hear "How are you faring?" it's Krystal.

I turn to look at her and I say "I'm doing well, just a bit tired."

Krystal says "Maybe you should get some rest, you heard what Fox said."

I finish my coffee, I say "Yeah your right, I just needed some coffee to calm my nerves.", I toss it out, I look to Krystal who's making tea and I say "Uh, dear?"

Krystal looks to me and she says "Yes love?" with a curious look.

I say "I was wondering, um... when we we're 'bonding'.", earning a bright smile from her "Call me crazy, but I think out minds..."

Krystal says "Linked?"

I nod and I say "Yes."

Krystal has a warm, flirty smile come to her, she comes up to me and she says "As you know I'm a telepath, where I'm from the 'mind-meld' as it's called is the most intimate my people and i can get with each other. And as you know now we can do it with those who are not telepaths."

I say "That's so cool!" with a sparkling smile, I calm down a bit and say "Heh heh, sorry about that." with a blush and emberresed smile.

Krystal giggles and she says "It's okay hon, I know how curious you can get." with a hinted purr.

I blush and I kind of stammer in gibberish.

Krystal smiles as she glides her fingers through my hair and she says "It's no sweat, like I've said I think it's flattering." with a warm smile.

Miyu comes in and she says "Hey you two." with a smile and her arms crossed.

I say "Hi sis." with a smile.

Krystal says "Greeting Miyu." with a smile.

Miyu says "So, this is it! A strike on Venom itself."

I say "This war will be at an end soon. Which reminds me, what was the point of this war?"

Miyu sighs, she says "The Venom's simply want to conquer the Lylat system. You see their leader Andrew Oikonny is actually the nephew of who started this, Andross. He was exiled due to his vile experiments and crimes, he decided to take the Lylat system after being exiled to Venom as revenge.", she looks to me and she says "But Andross is and has been dead for a long time, but now Andrew seeks the same prize."

Krystal says "But this is the third attack on Venom in terms of this size, I mean, we need to make a serious hit against them."

Miyu says "But that's just it, we can't land a blow that really hits the stop button on them."

I say "An opportunity will present itself, it always does sooner or later. But anyway, I'm gonna go get some rest." and begin to head out of the room.

Miyu says "Bro?"

I look to her and I say "Yes sis?"

Miyu says "Well, I'm curious about something. It seems with women you worm up faster, why is that?"

I begin to think and I say "To tell you the truth I'm honestly not sure myself. But if I had to guess, I think it would have to do with the fact I've had some great women teachers or friends or it could have something to do with how the women are in my family, I'm not fully sure because it's a subconscious effect. But what I can say for sure is that for most women do make feel safe with a few individuals being the exception." feeling sad by the end of it as I said 'family', no one in my family made it out from Earth's fall, it's been hard to concentrate on this war while dealing with it at the same time, but I try to cover my sorrow.

Miyu nods, apparently satisfied with the answer to her question and she says "So, I remind of your sister?"

My smile fades, I sigh and I say "to an extent, she was strong-willed and a very strong person."

Miyu says "Was?" with a curious look.

I say "She became an alcholic and even had a drug addiction, it got so bad she was asking everyone for money and getiing into more and more touble and everytime I tried to talk to her she just ignored me which really hurts because she was my best friend growing up." as I glance down.

Miyu hugs me, she says "It's okay bro, I'm your big sister now and you know I'd never abandon you like how she did." and she kisses my forehead.

I hug the lynx and I say "I know you won't." with a smile.

Krystal comes over to us, she joins the hug, she kisses me and she says "We're right here hon, we love you."

Fox's point of view...

Pepper and I are talking about the current defense of Venom we maybe facing, during our meeting a scout unit has sent us a feed of what looks to be an immense space station in Venom's orbit, it's a massive sphere with a long spire pointing down and small spires across the top, a thick ring around it's equator with links to smaller platforms around it, according to the scouts it's approx height is 2,500 meters, it's overall length with the platforms is about 4,000 meters, it's mainly red with green lights and black secondary colors. The Venom's call this thing 'The Omega'.

I say "Do we know anything about this thing?"

Pepper says "Not much, but it does carry a lot of laser and beam turrets, missile launchers and even battleship class weapons such as high-output turbo lasers, it even functions as a large assault carrier due to what seems to be a massive amount of stored craft. Fox... whatever you do, do not underestimate this thing!"

To be continued...