The alarm clock sounded. As one of the most dreadful things heard by this young pilot at 0500 hours, "Cornerians in Black" was the LAST thing he wanted to hear on the radio! Frank Enroc slowly opened his eyes, to see the tall, white ceiling above. He looked over to his alarm clock, now saying 0513 hours. Frank Enroc was normal for his age, a 23-year-old Cornerian Air Force pilot was the norm at that time, but not many people joined the military after Andross was destroyed almost 60 years ago. There were always breeds of new enemies, but by far Andross was one of the most fearsome for the time in which he emerged. Both Andross and the original 4-unit Star Fox Team seemed extremely ancient to most pilots of Frank’s age. Today there were many more Star Fox pilots, and the military was now LED by Fox McCloud, who took the place of General Pepper after he retired. Whenever Frank thought about the original Star Fox team, he wondered what it must have been like compared to now. He was not only in the Cornerian Air Force, but he was actually a Star Fox pilot as well. The day he was assigned on the Star Fox team was one of the most momentous occasions of his life. And now each day he tried living to the fullest as he was now on this elite team.

"Ah, Crud!" mumbled Frank as he started to sit straight up in his bed. He had overslept, again. Luckily, he didn’t oversleep too much, and decided to just hurry out of his crew quarters. "ROS, lights on." The lights in the room turned on very brightly, almost blinding at this time of morning. "ROS, schedule today."

The Room Operation System (ROS) gave a few bleeps of acknowledgement, and started stating the events and times that lined nearly everyday of Frank’s life:

The last event stated by the ROS opened Frank’s eyes very wide. First of all, something at one o’clock in the afternoon shouldn’t be the last thing listed. Plus, Frank didn’t remember ANYTHING about a meeting led by General McCloud! Of course, Frank hardly remembers anything in his classes, but this still was slightly odd. He just shook off the strange feeling and started getting into his uniform and preparing for Reveille.

Before long, Frank found himself amongst his fellow pilots saluting the Cornerian Flag as the Planetary Anthem played all around. As they dropped their salute simultaneously, the pilots all marched to the Mess Hall. As Frank stood in line, he smelled the sweet aroma of Fortunan Eggs, his favorite breakfast food. He sat down at the table and began to enjoy his eggs. As he ate, he looked up to see his rival, Chuck Viper, giving him the evil look. This was an ongoing feud between them, ever since they both became Star Fox pilots six months before. No matter what the mission was, Frank Enroc and Chuck Viper’s personal goals were to always out-perform the other in every situation. They always had something to prove to each other, and perhaps to themselves as well. After Chuck passed, Frank lost his appetite. The remainder of the morning proceeded quite normally. Physical Training was probably Frank’s least favorite daily activity, but he knew he still had to do it. The instruction seminar by the CTO was one of the most boring he had ever faced. The only one who stayed awake through the whole thing was one of Frank’s many new friends, Loom Day. He knew that Loom was the only one who COULD stay awake! But he still has no idea how he did it every single day! The Lunch hour came after Frank’s three-hour seminar/nap. When Frank sat down he was handed a note by one of the most mysterious members of the Star Fox Team, Ice Stryke. Frank tried to ask the origin and/or reason for the note. All Ice did was point to the note and walk away.

Frank’s curiosity beckoned him to open the note, which inside read:

Frank immediately crumpled the note and threw it to the side like a presidential speech.

Lunch ended with the abrupt but usual command by a CTO, "Room, Tench Hut!" As the cadets marched in formation to the auditorium, Frank couldn’t help but wonder why General McCloud had a surprise assembly today. Frank took his seat and watched as the other cadets took theirs. When the team had been seated, General Fox McCloud of the Cornerian Military Command stepped out of the curtains on stage. The room was again called to attention, and General McCloud seated one of his many loyal branches of his military and his favorite as well. Fox McCloud was the head of the Star Fox team two generations before, and watched as it had grown from a four-member elite branch of the Cornerian Army to a large branch of the Cornerian Air Force. General McCloud started the assembly with his usual speech, which resonated through the auditorium as it was amplified when it came out of the speakers.

"Ladies and Gentlemen of the Star Fox team: I come before you this afternoon to introduce something new that I have integrated into this branch of the military. It is to my belief that this change will improve both the performance and efficiency of this unit.

Two generations ago, I was called upon to replace my father’s position as head of the Star Fox team. At that time, the Star Fox team had only four members, specially selected by General Pepper. Today, almost 60 years later, as I am surpassing General Pepper’s age at that time, I will be keeping a promise I made to myself when I first became the head of the Star Fox team. My promise was: if I ever became commanding offer, as I have, I would follow General Pepper’s example and choose my own set of four pilots for a new journey…"

The crowd mumbled within themselves. What was he saying? A NEW team perhaps? The pilots quieted down and waited for the rest of this new development to unfold.

"… This new journey will not be discussed here, but will require much stamina and knowledge. After I have mentioned these next four names, think about them. I chose these members because by looking at their profiles and performance, they seemed to be the best of the best. I would like Loom Day, Ice Stryke, Chuck Viper, and last but not least, Frank Enroc to step into my office in just a few minutes. All other pilots have the rest of the day off."

As General McCloud left, the room was once again called to attention and dismissed. Frankenroc barely heard the dismissal order, and continued to stand at attention as he contemplated that he was chosen as one of the few to embark on this new journey that his general had envisioned.

"What EXACTLY is the nature of this new journey?" "Why was I chosen as one of the few to participate in it?" This is just a sample of the questions that filled Frank’s mind as he walked down the long hall toward General McCloud’s office with 3 of his fellow pilots. Chuck Viper was his long-time rival, Ice Stryke was a friend of Chuck Viper’s and remained mostly silent, and Loom Day was one of Frank’s many new don’t-know-very-well friends. After what seemed like forever, they finally reached the entrance to General McCloud’s office. Frank knocked on the doors, which had many gold decorations – including General McCloud’s name and title shimmering.

"INDENTIFY YOURSELF…," said the computer system guarding the door.

"Frank Enroc, Star Fox Team, Captain, SFT-017F"

"PREPARE FOR IRIS SCAN, LOOK TOWARD THE RED AND GREEN CIRCLES IN FRONT OF YOU…"

Frank Enroc saw, as the computer stated, red and green circles appear on the opposite sides of the door. As he looked into them, he heard the bleeps and computations being made by the computer.

"IDENTITY CONFIRMED."

The process was repeated for the other pilots, and the gigantic doors open to reveal a large, luxurious office. Frank Enroc called his fellow cadets to attention. General McCloud turned around in his swivel chair at his desk and greeted the pilots of his proudest team as he relieved them from attention.

General McCloud began this unusual meeting with a question. "Who here knows what the Cornerian Elite Force is?"

Frank Enroc popped to the position of attention as he answered, "Sir, the Cornerian Elite Force is the organization you were offered to join 60 years ago. To this date it has never had any members, sir!"

"Mr. Enroc, at ease before you sprang something!"

Frank immediately went at rest as General McCloud continued his mini-speech.

"Yes, you are correct. When I and my Star Fox team defeated Andross 60 years ago, General Pepper offered me and my team to be the first ever members of a new branch of the military called the Cornerian Elite Force. However we preferred doing things our own way, so we declined. I have been looking over the personnel files of all four of you. And I have made a decision…"

As General McCloud made a pause in his speech, the back windows of his office opened up, and that revealed behind them four ships that almost looked like arwings. Except, there was one difference. These arwings had a red G-Diffuser system instead of blue.

"I am now, for the first time in 60 years, offering positions on the Cornerian Elite Force. Do you accept?"

The pilots were dazzled at the opportunity, to join a force that was good enough for the original Star Fox team. Unanimously and nervously, the four pilots accepted. General McCloud opened a small box on his desk, inside containing four gold badges, one bigger than the others – intended for the leader. General McCloud picked up a small badge and handed it to Loom Day, then to Ice Stryke and Chuck Viper. He then picked up the large gold C.E.F. badge and placed it in Frank Enroc’s hand as he offered his congratulations to all of them. He dismissed the cadets, knowing that they would take their new positions with great pride and honor.

The next morning started out like any other morning, but quickly changed into a quite unique day, as it began Frank’s first day as commander of the Cornerian Elite Force. With his previous experience in the Star Fox team, he knew he could handle the challenge. But he wasn’t so sure about his comrades. Chuck Viper was his bitter rival, but they could probably get used to each other. Frank knew very little about Ice, only that he was a friend of Chuck’s. And Loom Day seemed promising enough. After all the years he had spent in the Star Fox team, Frank believed that him and his fellow pilots were ready for virtually any task.

Frank met the rest of his team in the Cornerian Elite Force hangar, containing the Arwings equipped with the red G-Diffuser systems. They were all ordered to report here to test and learn the flight of the new ships, in the EF Class. Frank climbed up the ladder to the loading platform of the EF 1. The controls appeared slightly more advanced, considering the design of the original Arwing hasn’t changed in the last 25 years or so. The cockpit seemed easier to get into and move around in. In fact, everything about this new Elite Force Class ship was advanced from the Arwing in some way. It looked identical, but it was stronger and probably could last longer in many battles. Frank watched as his comrades checked out the other EF Class Ships. He and his fellow pilots hopped into the ships and began the launch sequence for their first training in these awesome new fighters.

"EF One, ready for launch," stated Frank Enroc as the large hangar doors opened before him.

"EF Two, all systems go," said Chuck as he fiddled with the controls on the control panel.

"EF Three, go for launch," reported Ice as he tried to get used to this new cockpit.

"EF Four, let’s go already!" said Loom as he impatiently waited to get out and test this new ship.

One by one, the four EF Class vessels left the hangar bay and flew toward the holographic training field.

As the computer chirped, the holographic field shimmered and changed into the surface of planet Katina. In the air, the number of Venomian fighters grew exponentially in a matter of minutes. As the Cornerian Elite Force destroyed scattered Venomian forces, they noticed a large saucer hovering in the distance. Frank scanned the saucer and his readings indicated that it was a Venomian Destroyer. At this point, everyone knew they were replaying a scenario from 60 years ago, when General McCloud was the commander of the Star Fox Team. As the saucer grew closer, the Venomian attackers quickly increased in quantity, though they were no match for the Cornerian Elite Force. As the saucer settled at the center of the Katina base, the seemingly easy battle got a new surprising twist.

Frank’s communicator buzzed and then played a live transmission from a ship just now entering the atmosphere. "So glad you could join us. Cornerian… hmm… ELITE Force is it? What makes it so elite? Do you go down quicker or something?" Frank just sighed as a re-creation of a small Star Wolf team was brought into the holographic simulation. Now THIS was an actual test of their abilities as Cornerian Pilots!

Loom, the always-adventurous pilot thought it was a rather good idea to mix two elements into one simulation. "Come on, guys! We can take ‘em out!" The other team members agreed, and thus started their true training on this new team.

Loom took the holographic Andrew. Andrew was cunning and always tried to get behind Loom. He usually succeeded, but Loom’s piloting skills kept him from being blown to bits. Andrew fired lasers toward Loom’s wings, but his barrel rolls generated a protective shielding that deflected them almost every time. Loom tried to launch a nova bomb out of the rear cannon, and luckily Andrew was too surprised to realize it and his ship was badly damaged. Loom then did a somersault while Andrew just tried to regain attitude control of his ship. Loom charged his lasers and fired. Andrew’s ship fell as it left a dark black smoke trail behind. As the ship exploded, Loom looked back at the saucer. He, along with the rest of the team, completely forgot about it! After scanning the saucer, Loom Day noticed that there appeared to be several localized energy buildups.

"Uh, guys. I think we should get rid of Star Wolf ASAP. The saucer has several energy buildups, I think it’s gonna fire soon!"

Frank responded, "About how much longer do we have?"

"I don’t know, sir. I estimate 5 minutes."

"Acknowledged, I’ll join you as soon as I can," responded Frank.

"Same here," acknowledged Chuck.

Loom went off to try to disable any of the energy buildups he could.

"Ice, what about you?" asked Chuck. There was no response. "Ice?"

"I got problems of my own right now, I’ll see what I can do!" crackled into all the communicators as Ice tried to outwit the Pigma program. Ice was not as good at barrel rolls as Loom Day, and Pigma was a better shot than Andrew was. These made for a bad combination. Pigma got under Ice’s hull and fired, badly damaging the guidance system. As Ice lost control, Pigma got behind Ice. Pigma charged his lasers as he locked on to the engine of the ship.

"You’re a goner, Mr. Strike!" were Pigma’s last words as his wings exploded. Chuck then fired his charged shots at Pigma, which reduced him to dust.

"Thanks for the help, Chuck!"

Chuck simply acknowledged by saluting Ice through the window. He then lured his pursuer, Leon, into an area filed with floating debris. As he dodged Leon’s shots, he accessed Nova Bomb Control on his panel. He then modified the small propulsion systems on the bombs to simply float. As he flew through the area, he ejected floating bombs through the debris field. Frank saw what Chuck was doing, and lured Wolf to that area as well. Chuck then flew toward one of the bombs he placed. When he was merely meters from the bomb, he made a hard right turn, blowing Leon out of the sky. Wolf saw what happened, and tried to get out of the field, but also crashed right into a bomb and was blown away. Frank and Chuck carefully maneuvered their way through the field and joined the rest of the team.

Frank noticed that five large spikes, one in the center and four on the edges of the saucer were very prominent on the underside. Loom had already taken out 2 of them and was damaging a third one. Ice was away to undergo guidance system repairs.

"Loom, how long do we have?"

"Only about 30 seconds."

As Loom destroyed a third spike, Chuck and Frank concentrated on the fourth one. Within seconds, the fourth one was vaporized. They had only about 10 seconds left, and the center spike was charging rapidly. As the energy was being focused, the remaining members rapidly fired at the spike, with the spike showing little damage. The spike had fired, but the team still shot at the spike and destroyed it.

As the team flew back to the real base, they realized that they had mostly failed in their mission. The Katina base was badly damaged, but the saucer was gone and the damage done to the base wasn’t as extreme as it would have been if the saucer had continued to fire.

The team docked at the base. For their first CEF training, they did well. But they needed to be much better to be a truly elite force, as their title suggested.

As the weeks passed, there were more and more training missions. And the battles simply got more elaborate to test the abilities of the CEF to handle them. With each passing day, they became stronger and better fighters than they ever hoped to be. These holographic simulations were tough, and to beat them you needed quick wits and lightning-fast reflexes. The CEF proved they could get almost any job done.

As the CEF Members flew back from a very successful training mission, a huge jolt rocked the entire planet. All instruments on their panels went completely haywire. The CEF at first thought it was just another part of the simulation, but when they saw the holographic simulation itself break down, they knew it was for real. The sky quickly turned dark and massive swirls of color started to flare up in the dark sky. In a hurry, the CEF quickly docked their ships and returned outside to the large crowd. Even General McCloud himself was outside, constantly pushing away the guards that were suggesting getting him to a safer location. Frank, Chuck, Ice, and Loom all gathered around General McCloud.

Frank, with an extremely nervous look, asked, "General, what’s going on?"

General McCloud took a deep breath as he began to explain, "It came without warning. All of us were rocked by a sudden jolt. Then these colored clouds started forming." The General pointed to a certain spot in the sky. "And they seem to be compiling themselves there, I’ve never seen anything like it."

"What do you think it is, sir?"

"I don’t know, but I do have this very bad feeling, that it’s…"

"That it’s what, sir?"

As the General took another deep breath, he managed to mutter out two syllables, and Frank never forgot how they sounded. "An… dross."

A look of confusion and horror came upon Frank’s face, "Sir, I believe that’s impossible. You yourself destroyed Andross 60 years ago!"

"EXCELLENT! THIS YOUNG MAN KNOWS HIS HISTORY! HAHAHAHA!"

The large powerful voice vibrated, so loud that everyone on Corneria probably heard it!

"WHY, LOOK AT ALL YOU HAPPY CORNERIANS, ENJOYING OVER SIXTY YEARS OF ENJOYMENT! NO LONGER!"

For the first time since he destroyed Andross, General McCloud was truly scared. As the horror spread across his face, the colored clouds, which were gathering in the center suddenly, started to form a face. Frank wasn’t very good at memorizing faces, but he recognized this as the face of Andross. As the clouds of color circulated through his face, Andross continued…

"SIXTY YEARS AGO, FOX McCLOUD DESTROYED ME, OR SO HE THOUGHT! MY BODY WAS COMPLETELY DESTROYED. BUT MY SPIRIT AND MY INDOMITABLE WILL REMAIN! I HAVE BEEN REBUILDING EVERY PARTICLE OF MY SELF FOR THE LAST TEN YEARS, MAKING MYSELF MUCH STRONGER THAN YOU COULD EVER HOPE TO BE. MY NEW BODY IS MORE POWERFUL THAN MY PREVIOUS FORM; ANY THAT OPPOSE ME SHALL BE BANISHED! I WILL ALLOW YOU A LITTLE TIME TO SAY GOODBYE, TO YOUR PREVIOUS EXISTANCES! AFTERWARDS, YOU WILL ALL SERVE ME!"

"You will all serve me…" mocked Frank as the rest of his team members gave a rather weak laugh. Frank now knew his next mission!

"KEEP IN MIND, AS I SLOWLY BUT SURELY TAKE OVER, THERE IS NO ESCAPE! I HAVE RETURNED! ANDROSS… NO… NEO-ANDROSS IS NOW YOUR EMPEROR!"

As those last words were spoken, the clouds quickly disintegrated and the sky lightened up again. There was a brief moment of complete silence. Everyone was, needless to say, quite surprised by this. As Frank glanced at his team members, they each signaled their support in what was surely to become a battle as legendary as the original Star Fox team.

After most everyone had gotten over the initial shock of a new Andross emerging, many Star Fox pilots and the CEF pilots were quickly called to the auditorium for a mission briefing. The room was called to attention, General McCloud entered, and the room was put back at ease. General McCloud began the briefing.

"It appears that we will be starting another new journey. This one is to infiltrate Venom and destroy Andross for good. The CEF and the Star Fox Team will work together in this mission. There will be 4 task forces, each headed by a CEF ship."

A diagram appeared on a screen behind General McCloud, giving a visual aid for the briefing.

"Task Force 1 will be headed by EF One and will contain SF Units 1 through 5. EF Two and SF 6 – 10 will be on Task Force 2. SF 11-15 will have EF Three as their leader in Task Force 3. And lastly, Task Force 4 will consist of SF Units 16-20 and led by EF Four. These units shall stay self-contained whenever possible. Basically, that’s how you will leave, but your main mission is to destroy Neo Andross. You will leave immediately. Good Luck!"

The standard dismissal occurred, and shortly afterward each pilot headed to each one of his or her ships. The EF Class ships were launched first, followed by the SF Ships. The ships started to get into their Task Forces and reported in.

"Task Force 1, Report In," ordered Frank has he prepared for this mission.

"SF One, Ready to go."

"SF Two, Go."

"SF Three, Ready."

"SF Four, I’m go."

"SF Five, all systems operational."

"Task Force 1, let’s go!"

The cheers from his team gave Frank a sense of confidence as his force sped out of the planet toward Venom. Task Forces 2, 3, and 4 shortly followed.

It was a mostly quiet trip toward Venom, and that silence lasted as they reached Area 6, the defense perimeter of Venom. It looked like a space junkyard, there were pieces of debris everywhere from battles that had taken place many years ago. The teams easily took care of this problem by firing their blasters and obliterating any debris in their way. Soon afterward, many of the pieces of what looked like debris lit up and started firing at the team.

"We must have triggered some sort of automatic defense system, be on your guard," Frank ordered to all the task forces as they moved through Area 6. It was hardly a challenge to get through. Evidently, the systems were only designed to destroy a small group of vessels. 24 ships seemed like a swarm to this defense system and it was easily beaten. Before long, they reached planet Venom.

The surface of the planet was flooded with small enemies with powerful weapons. Even for over 20 ships, this WAS a challenge. Throughout the battle, the intercom system was filled with reports of ships being damaged or asking for backup. Pretty soon, there was a fork in the path. Task Forces 1 and 2 went right while their comrades went left. On each of those paths there was another fork and there was now 1 task force for each path, spreading the teams thin as they battled more small attackers. The task forces were reunited after a while and the forces were lined up left to right.

After this brief break, something familiar began to happen. The sky again darkened and swirls of colored clouds formed the face of Neo-Andross. He appeared directly in front of them and moved back as the teams approached.

"HA HA HA HA HA! FEEL MY WRATH!!!" blasted Andross as he started to wave his hands like a magician. Suddenly, a black hole appeared right in front of Loom’s vessel. Loom tried to avoid it, but he was not quick enough, and was pulled in. He was far enough from his team for them to avoid it, so they all turned to the left and regrouped once the black hole closed up. Ice looked to the left in shock of where Loom was.

"Holy Crud! You killed Loom! You…" Ice said as he was cut off by an electric energy pulse that Andross was shooting from his finger. The rest of the teams quickly regained their composure, putting their personal feelings aside for the moment. Task Force 3 helped out their commander as they shot at Andross, eventually disabling his energy pulse.

Meanwhile, Task Force 4 needed a new leader. The team quickly chose the commander of SF 16, Jennie Feline, to lead them through the rest of this mission. She communicated her position to Frank, Chuck, and Ice. They acknowledged as they dodged more attacks by Neo-Andross.

"Task Force 1, attack pattern Beta Four Seven," ordered Frank as an idea sprang into his head. Before long the ships formed a pentagon, with one ship on each corner, pointing directly toward the center, at the tip of Frank’s blaster cannon. Task Forces 2, 3, and 4 distracted the enemy in front of them as Frank initiated the "particle collection mode" on his laser cannon. He passed the signal onto his teammates. SF One fired a continuous blaster beam at Frank’s cannon as it began to glow. SF Two then fired, followed by SF Three, SF Four, and SF Five. As they continued firing, Frank shot pulses from his cannon. Before they left the cannon, they were amplified by the power of the other ships’ lasers and hit Neo-Andross many times with rather powerful shots.

Task Force 1 ceased their fire as they saw their enemy momentarily weep in pain, weakly defending himself against attacks. This battle had been going on for quite awhile, as Andross focused on one force, the others backed them up. Andross had quite enough, in this form he was weak compared to what opposed him. Neo-Andross turned into what looked like a multi-colored ghost, turned toward the ground, and dispersed throughout the ground.

The teams felt almost like they were in an earthquake. They realized what was happening, so they sped away very quickly. A moment later, the ground where Andross entered began to crumble and a gigantic rock formation quickly rose. Rising out of an area the size of many football fields, the final formation towered above the ships. It had to have been at least ten thousand feet high, at least that’s how it felt to the task forces! Small sections of the middle broke off partially, it was then that they knew what had happened. They looked up even further at the giant rock being, as their suspicions were confirmed. The face was that of Neo-Andross. Then, many of the task force fired, negligibly damaging the magnificent being before them. Chuck, as one of the few strategic ones on the team, began simply circling Andross at a safe distance.

As the forces shot at their enemy, Task Force 1 again tried their collective laser technique. They got into formation, fired their lasers onto Frank’s blaster, and Frank shot many pulses toward Andross. As they hit, they seemed to do little damage. It seemed that all it really did was make Andross angrier. Neo-Andross turned toward Task Force 1 and waved his arm toward them as several solid-rock spikes came out of the ground, badly damaging SF Units 3 and 4 on the bottom of the formation.

As they flew away for temporary repairs, SF Units 6 through 10 of Task Force 2 rose and tried firing at the face of their enemy. But his defense took the team almost by surprise as he bent down and closed his mouth tightly trying to catch the team. SF 6 barely survived, but he did survive at least. Task Force 2 joined him as they withdrew their attack as Task Force 3 moved in, doing mostly scattered attacks.

As Task Force 3 kept the big guy busy, Chuck slightly moved in and contacted Frank on the intercom.

"Frank, I think I’ve found the weak spot of this form of Neo-Andross," stated Chuck with a slightly happy tone in his voice.

"That’s the first good news since this battle began, what is it?"

"While I was circling Andross, I scanned him for any weak points I could find."

"And what did you find?" Frank asked with a tone of impatience.

"When Task Force 2 attacked Andross, he bent down trying to chomp their ships away. Well, when he did that, there was a small area on the back of his neck that started to shimmer in multiple colors. I focused my scans on that one area, and it is the most vulnerable area of this form. It’s unprotected because it generates a shield around Andross, which is why our weapons have a problem penetrating it. But the only thing it’s vulnerable against is nova bombs. And that got me to thinking about what we did in our first CEF simulation."

"Excellent job, how long do you need to set up?"

"I only need a few seconds to modify my weapons control, the tricky part will be moving in to place them."

"Ok, Task Force 4 is moving in on Andross, move quick!"

"Roger!" acknowledged Chuck as he activated the Nova Bomb control on his weapons and sped off.

As Chuck sped off, Andross tried using his black holes on Task Force 4. But they had already modified their scanners to detect those emissions more than any other, making that split-second difference in avoiding the black holes.

"Task Forces 1 and 2, attack the head, then watch out as he bends down!" ordered Frank as he hoped Chuck was ready on his end. The ships rose toward the head of Andross, attacked, and moved out of the way as Neo-Andross, again, bent down and tried to bite the team into bits. Chuck quickly moved in and placed the modified floating nova bomb one right after the other in the path that Andross was probably going to bend back up. As he did, the bombs exploded right on the weak spot. Andross was greatly in pain and rather confused. At this point, the remaining ships all rose and simultaneously blasted Andross. Since the shield was almost completely gone, they got much better results this time as before long, Andross started to crumble into a large pile of dust.

"IF I GO DOWN I’M TAKING YOU WITH ME!"

The voice vibrated throughout as the pile of dust started to glow. Each of the computers gave warnings to their pilots.

"WARNING: POWER READINGS OF ENEMY APPROACHING CRITICAL LEVELS. EVACUATE AREA IMMEDIATELY!"

But the pilots were already ahead, having known that famous line from Andross meant "GET OUT!" The ships quickly sped away as this form’s remains exploded, barely reaching the ships taking up the rear of the evacuation. They had won!

As the Task Forces returned home, they all started verbal celebrations over the intercom. Frank, Chuck, and Ice thought about their lost comrade. He wasn’t necessarily dead, but he was still considered a loss. As the three returned home along with the rest of the team, they watched as their task forces came out of their Arwings with great cheer. They deserved it. By working together, they defeated an almost impossible enemy. Frank congratulated Chuck on what he did, and they shook hands. It was at this moment that their long rivalry ended. And together with Ice, they could beat almost impossible odds. But they were down one member. And as Ice, Frank, and Chuck looked at each other, they all thought about whom would replace Loom.

The wrist-communicator beeped and the hand of the wearer tapped it and an image of General McCloud appeared.

"Jennie Feline, please report to my office immediately," said Fox rather abruptly as Jennie had a confused look on her face as she wondered why General McCloud himself is called her so early in the morning.

She held that look all through the journey to the office of General McCloud. As she passed the iris scan, the doors in front of her opened to reveal General McCloud, Frank Enroc, Chuck Viper, and Ice Stryke. She immediately popped to attention.

"What is it with you people and your formalities? At ease! We were never THIS loyal!"

Jennie stood at ease and inquired, "Why was I called here, sir?"

The general look at Frank, signaling him to be the one to give her the news. Frank took a deep breath and said, "Back there on Venom, when Loom was lost in the attack by Neo-Andross, the remaining ships in your task force chose you to be their leader. It appears they did it for good reason. We’ve looked over your records, and based on them and your leadership abilities on Venom, we would like you to be the newest member of the Cornerian Elite Force."

General McCloud opened a box and presented it to Jennie. Inside was a gold badge for the Cornerian Elite Force. Jennie couldn’t believe it. She looked at the badge, then at General McCloud and Frank. She looked at the badge again, and fainted. As he tried to wake her up, Frank could tell it was going to be a long day! But soon afterward, Frank participated in probably one of the most boring but necessary activities for any mission – the paperwork. At least most of it was done on the computer! Frank completed a summary of everything that happened during the mission.

Afterwards, he went into the personnel files, accessed the profile of Jennie Feline, and changed her current information to reflect that she was on the Cornerian Elite Force. He then went into the profile of Loom Day and edited "Current Status." As he typed the last three words, Frank hoped that he would never have to type them again: "Missing In Action." The changes were saved and the screen promptly went blank.