//------------------------------//
// War Beyond the Stars 
// Story: My Own Wings 
// by Tatsurou 
//------------------------------//

It didn't take long for ROB to get Lylat Command in the loop, and it was soon a three way communication between Star Fox, Star Wolf, and General Pepper.  After a brief nod from the General to his granddaughter - which somehow managed to make Diane snap to attention and become completely serious - he turned to the others.  "I understand there's new intelligence regarding what we're facing?" he began calmly.  "The initial reports of Aparoids was disturbing enough..."
"It gets worse," Wolf spoke up calmly.  "Last time the Aparoids showed up, it was just a mindless swarm with guiding instincts in battle.  This time, however, a guiding intelligence has taken control of them.  Someone - I don't know who - has managed to take complete control of the Aparoid swarm and is guiding it, using military tactics that it never used before."
As Fox's eyes widened, General Pepper frowned darkly.  "Are we certain it is an external intelligence making this happen?" he asked worriedly.  "As unnerving as it might be to consider, it might just be the swarm intelligence evolving..."
"It made direct contact with Pigma," Wolf growled out angrily.  "It hacked our comm signal to communicate directly with him, and he made a deal with it.  I was able to get some of it out of him when I caught up to him, and it's what led to me bringing the Team to Fortuna when I did.  Apparently, this being - whatever it is - that's seized control of the Aparoids wanted something taken care of in Lylat before he arrived with the main body of the swarm, and in exchange for Pigma taking care of it, he would be placed in a position of power and dominance once the swarm overran the system."
A growl echoed from Pepper and Fox for a moment before the General spoke up.  "I want to be shocked that he'd sell out everyone to an enemy like that for personal power and prestige, but this isn't the first time he's done so."  He glanced apologetically towards Peppy and Fox before turning back to Wolf.  "And what did this being want taken care of before the swarm got there?"
"We don't know, exactly," Wolf allowed uncertainly.  "Leon's still working on decoding the original communications.  All we know for sure is that Pigma's the one that arranged this 'field trip' that Jackie and her...friends wound up on, as well as hacking the communication protocols so that priority warnings didn't automatically activate like they're supposed to."
"So he wanted all of us here where the battle was going to happen and the Aparoids were going to attack...and wanted us caught off guard?" Sunset deduced thoughtfully.  "But...why?"
"Obviously, they wanted you all captured or dead," Wolf pointed out flatly.  "The why of that, though..."  His voice suddenly trailed off, his eyes locked on his granddaughter.
Jackie, for her part, was oddly tense.  Her eyes seemed to gleam, every muscle in her body quivering in suppressed fury, and her fur seeming to move of its own accord as though blown in a non-existent wind.  Shadows seemed to surround her...as well as Sunset, Raquel, Faris, Pris, and Diane.  As she felt the shadows touch her, Sunset could have sworn it felt somewhere between a warm embrace and a protective grasp, like a shield of raw protective emotion given metaphysical form.
Wolf suddenly let out a snort, his ears twitching.  Jackie immediately settled and the shadows faded, looking somewhat embarrassed.  "Well, that explains more than it doesn't," he observed dryly, a rueful smirk on his lips.  Noticing looks turned his way, he explained, "Not in regard to the Aparoids, something else."
"Has Leon managed to decode anything of the original communication?" Slippy asked curiously.
"Just some nonsense about 'magic ponies'," Wolf answered in frustration.  "But there's not much to go on there."
Fox gave Wolf a flat stare.  "My daughter is a unicorn, and you think 'magic ponies' is nonsense?"
Wolf blinked for a moment, then glanced at something on a data pad he held.  "And here I thought Jackie was exaggerating..." he mumbled under his breath, making Jackie snort dismissively.  "Well, the exact line was about 'eliminating any touched by pony magic', whatever that meant.  If the 'magic pony' was referring to Sunset, then I see why the focus was on their group as far as eliminating them, though not why."
Krystal frowned thoughtfully, thinking back to what she'd discussed long ago with the Queen Earthwalker.  She didn't know if Sunset was ready to know of the full prophecy about her, but she already knew that such prophecies were there.  "The Krozoa left writings about Sunset on Dinosaur Planet," she spoke up finally, though uncertainly.  "Nothing indicates that the Krozoa were native to Lylat...though nothing suggests the contrary either.  It could be that however the Krozoa learned about Sunset, whatever is currently commanding the Aparoids has similar information sources."
"Then again, Sunset came flying out of what had to be some sort of space-time rift," Falco pointed out flatly, causing Sunset to look his way in surprise.  "Maybe whoever it is encountered others like her and knows just how much trouble her people can be?"
"If Sunset is a typical example of her race, I can believe that," General Pepper observed thoughtfully.  "However, this does raise another concern.  If Pigma was commissioned by this being to eliminate anyone connected strongly to Sunset, them Dinosaur Planet is likely also a target.  We need to get defenses into position immediately.  Star Fox, Star Wolf, I know it's asking a lot of you all, but can I count on you to work together to protect the Lylat System?"
"Just try and stop us!" Sunset snapped out as she turned to head for her Arwing.
"Sunset!" Fox called out firmly.  "You aren't cleared for Arwing combat!  You haven't passed the course-"
"Ki'tvala that, Dad!" Sunset shouted back, misusing the Saurian term for mating as a pejorative to take advantage of translation issues to get away with swearing.  "They'll be targeting Tricky directly!  No way I'm not going to help him!"
"But the Arwing you came in on isn't designed to interface with your magic!" Slippy called out worriedly.  "The interacting energies could-"
"I'll swing by Solaar and brute force it!" Sunset snapped back, already halfway to the hangar.
"Not alone, ya ain't!" Jackie snapped as she popped out of a chute next to her.
"Don't think you'll get there before I do!" Pris added as she caught up.
"You need someone who can plot the prrrroperrr courrrse the swarrrrm will be taking," Raquel pointed out over the comms as she calmly took the lift there rather than running, taking the time to slip into her flight suit.
"Yay!  Adventure!" Diane proclaimed happily from inside her Arwing.  "No, wait, you already did that one.  Time for an Assault!"
"If I don't come, someone's going to come back in pieces," Faris pointed out calmly from beside Raquel as they exited the lift, giving Pris and Sunset significant looks.
As the hangar doors opened of their own accord to let the six fighters take off for Dinosaur Planet via Solaar, Fox turned to glower at ROB.  "Why didn't you stop them?" he demanded irritably.
"How, exactly?" ROB countered flatly, his finger visibly on the "close hangar doors" button as the screen above it displayed an "override error".
"Looks like we're on our way," Wolf growled irritably.  "We'd better get there before they do, or there's no telling what might happen."