Star Fox: Eclipse

Prologue

Year 10, ALW

We thought the Lylat Wars were over with the destruction of the aparoids, the insect-like alien race that threatened to destroy the entire Lylat System. We thought there would finally be peace. Almost a year ago to the day, we led the Cornerian Army in a final assault on the aparoid homeworld. Much of our fleet was lost, but we succeeded to infiltrate the planet interior with a sacrificial move by Peppy Hare, who destroyed the planet's shields by ramming them with The Great Fox, our team's aircraft carrier.   

This allowed Star Fox and Star Wolf to face the Aparoid Queen, the source of the aparoids' power. Star Wolf heroically lured a horde of aparoids away from us as we flew ahead to face our toughest fight yet. After an epic battle, Fox deployed the scientist Beltino Toad's self-destruct program, forcing the aparoids to undergo apoptosis; programmed cell destruction. The entire planet was destroyed, including the Queen and every single aparoid.

Fortunately our pilots escaped before the catastrophic blast. We soon found out that Peppy managed to evacuate from the doomed Great Fox in an escape pod and was waiting for us on the other side. We came to the realization that there was hope for General Pepper and Star Wolf, who had all made sacrifices to help us reach the Queen. Just like Peppy, they all might manage to recover from aparoididation, the aparoid disease that plagues and consumes the body and mind.

Peppy and Pepper both made full recoveries; Pepper retired as the Cornerian Army General and Peppy took his place. Peppy himself promised he'd retire after the aparoid invasion, but we settled with this compromise. At least he would not be out on the front lines with us anymore. We have neither seen nor heard from Wolf and his team, but I sometimes sense faint brain patterns hinting at their survival with my telepathic powers. If they are alive, they must be in hiding, attempting to recover from all that has happened.

We, the Star Fox team, received honors on our behalf for destroying the aparoids and returning peace to Lylat, but little did we know that peace was a long way off. Corneria and many other planets in the Lylat System are still in recovery. We lost hundreds of pilots in our war against the aparoids and our home itself was attacked, suffering heavy damage. The once great and shining Corneria City is still healing from the battle that was fought there.

Now our army is weak, our capital city is in ruin, and our enemies are closing in around us. We thought the rebel fleet would die off after Oikonny, the late nephew of Andross and leader of his army, was defeated on Fortuna. We were wrong. Andross' forces are stronger than ever and fight for control of planets across Lylat, led by an unknown pilot. The Cornerian Army is no match, and the Star Fox team is spread thin. Our four pilots have been split into squads of two to combat multiple planetary threats. We have been split for some time, continually moving from threat to threat while forcing Andross' forces back.

It is truly exhausting work; I long for just a moment of peace and rest. I am still a relatively new member of team Star Fox, and though I would not desire to be anywhere else, this life of war is wearing us all down. Fox and Slippy are currently positioned on Fortuna, where they continue to aid Cornerian forces in recovering the planet beyond the base that was captured from Oikonny a year ago. Falco and I are positioned on Zoness, where an old Androssian sea base is under attack and at risk of becoming Andross' once again...