Disclaimer: I do not own Star Fox, nor do I claim ownership. Star Fox and all of its corresponding assets are rightfully the property of their respective owners. I only claim ownership of my own original creations. This fan made work of fiction does not reflect upon any future projects being done within Nintendo or the Star Fox writers.

Hello Fanfiction readers! Most of you know me as Ray85, author of the Axios Trilogy (Star Fox: Black Sun, Star Fox: Crimson Star, Star Fox: All Father) under the Star Fox category, and Star Fox: Renegade. As I reached the end of All Father, I thought to myself on how I would continue my hobby of writing. I thought about what would happen to the characters after the events of All Father, and about why many of these past events have transpired.

I was pretty satisfied with the initial trilogy, but that one question still lingered in the back of my mind… what happened after the war?

So, I said **** it. Why not add one more story to show where our heroes are today?

Star Fox: Reclamation will show how far our heroes have come since the end of the C.O.R. war. As before, I'm far from being a skilled writer. I'm going to make some mistakes here and there, and if you notice anything incorrect in terms of grammar or the fluidity of the story, please send me a PM so I can be aware of my mistakes. I take all reviews and PM's to heart, and I base the continuity of my stories on the criticism I receive from reviews and PM's.

That being said, I won't waste any more time. Welcome to Star Fox: Reclamation!

The First Night

~"I see him… after about a year… every night… every dream… since that day… I see him."

"We're fighting… in the throne room. Again and again we're fighting… every fight being different than the last."

"No matter how hard he tries… I always win. In the end, he's the one who gets beaten. I always kill him, but never the same way twice."

"I can see the look on his face; the moment fear takes him I can see it in his eyes."

"His beaten body… lying before me while I point my weapons at him. The stillness after I take his life. Over and over again."

"But… every night… the fight gets tougher."

"Every night… he becomes harder to kill…"

"And lately, even as I'm winning, I'm afraid."

"I'm afraid that one night he's going to beat me…"

"And that I won't wake up…"

He woke early in the night sweating from the dream he had just moments before, and left the comfort of his bed. A cold chill fell upon his bare chest, and he took a moment to reach to the ceiling to stretch. He shook out both of his legs to wake them form their slumber, and the looseness of his white night pants allowed him flexibility to move. He threw a black wife beater shirt over his torso and walked down stairs into the kitchen. After taking a few minutes to brew and pour a fresh mug of coffee, he quietly entered his office.

He took a sip of his coffee and activated a holographic monitor in front of him. As he sat down, a timer counted upwards on the screen as he began a video recording. "Time and time again, Lylat and its people would come under danger." He said into the monitor. "New threats would rise and fall with the times, but not once has Lylat ever been dealt such a crippling blow. However, a lone fox kicked off a sixteen year series of events that would change Lylat forever."

He took a moment to adjust his posture within his chair. He reached for his mug on the side of his desk and took a sip from his coffee. The warmth of the drink circulated through his body, and he felt more awake by the moment. Upon setting the mug down, he moved his chair forward slightly closer to his desk. As he leaned back and rested his arms, he looked upon the recording timer and watched it tick up briefly. He lost himself in his thoughts for a brief moment and rekindled his focus. "I didn't know that after meeting him, Lylat would go through so much trouble." He continued.

"This all started before I was born, shortly after the Anglar Blitz. Don't even know why they tried, but Star Fox put them down quickly. At least what was left of Star Fox at the time? I'm not sure. It's irrelevant. Two years after the Anglars, Fox McCloud and his reformed Star Fox team came across a criminal named Axios Faxton. They never knew what they had gotten themselves into when they partnered with him."

"Their deal was this: Axios would be allowed special freedoms in exchange for helping Star Fox track down his old organization, the Black Suns." Mentioning their name made him pause for a moment. He thought about all of the hardships the Star Fox team endured while fighting them and the pain of loss the Cornerians felt when an entire fleet had been destroyed. He reached out towards his mug and took another sip of coffee before continuing. "Things went beyond our control back then." He continued.

"The Black Suns was a faction renowned for using advanced fighter technology to improve their overall warfare strategy. Their flagship, the Void, was a class S warship packing enough firepower to take on an entire fleet. One of the most dangerous flagships the Cornerian military had seen in its time. The organization was spear headed by an elderly rat known as Mr. Black. I doubt that was even his real name anyways. Black led the Black Suns and used his elite eight pilots to do his dirty work. Eight pilots flying the most advanced fighters you could ever lay eyes on."

"Axios used to be one of these pilots, number two in fact, but he turned traitor. They killed his lover, and I imagine he could never forgive them for that. It took some time, but after some near death experiences and systematically killing off the elite eight one by one, Star Fox was able to push the Black Suns back to their mobile base in Venom. The Hades Bomb took care of the rest, and that was it for the Black Suns. But, that was also it for Axios."

He paused again and reached for an ear piece on the side of his desk. He placed it into his ear and reached for his mug. He stood from his chair and walked towards the opposite end of the room to look out through a window. Outside, a morning storm clouded the sky over the Cornerian metropolis of Alpha City. He took a moment to admire the skyline view from his high end apartment, and took another sip from his coffee. "It wasn't the end though." He continued

"After the Black Suns, Fox and Krystal McCloud had a son together named Marcus McCloud." He smiled for a brief moment and chuckled at the thought mentioning the name. He lowered his head to take another sip of coffee and he paced to his side. He looked out through another window in his office as his office sat in the corner of his apartment. "Maybe I shouldn't talk about myself in the third person, so I'll ditch that for the rest of this recording." Marcus said.

"Sixteen years after the Black Suns Conflict, I was heading a new Star Fox team that comprised of myself, Abigail Hare, Fred Toad, and Star Fox veteran Falco Lombardi. We were sent on a mission to retrieve stolen Cornerian technology, but it went south. I watched a ship just vanish before my eyes, and even hide from radar detection. That one mission was the start to a new problem that Lylat would face. It was my first run in with the Crimson Organization."

Marcus took another sip form his coffee and walked back to his desk. He set down his mug and sat back into his chair. He leaned back comfortably and took a moment to stretch his arms high into the air. When his arms came back down to their rests, he looked at the holographic monitor once more. "The Crimson Organization was a faction renowned for their espionage and corruption tactics. They didn't have an army as big as the Black Suns, but they had even deadlier assets in their arsenal. To make things more interesting, they resided in a new star system known as Philat. It was only accessible through the Lylat mega gate. A giant portal to another star system that was built on the edge of Lylat years before I was born. Back then, no one really was brave enough to fly through it during its prototype days, but eventually it was successfully tested and opened to the public."

"The Crimson Organization was headed by the Crimson Star, a masked figure chosen by a small council that once had dealings with Mr. Black. He appointed five "masters" to handle the majority of Crimson operations in Lylat. Each master had an apprentice, a deadly assassin trained to be an expert pilot and an even deadlier fighter. Each apprentice received a genetically enhanced "beast" gene that allowed them to mutate into hulking monsters. Extreme size, strength, and speed; they could effortlessly tear through a firing squad of Cornerian soldiers." Marcus paused for a moment to take another sip from his coffee. "I thought I'd seen it all, but seeing them transform was something I'll never forget."

"Between us and the Crimson Organization, we didn't have very many flashy battles. Instead, they sent agents to infiltrate Corneria and put their people into a position of power. On top of that, they sent assassins to come and kill high priority targets. One of those targets was Peppy, and another was me." Marcus lost himself for a moment as a bright smile came upon his face. He rose from his chair and walked to the entrance of his office. He looked across his apartment and admired the spacious interior he lived in. But as he looked at the lofted second floor above him, he could see a vixen sleeping soundly behind the glass wall of their bed room.

Marcus's heart filled with warmth and happiness, and he let out a faint sigh to admire his view. He walked back to his desk and sat down once more. "An assassin named Sierra Spectra came for me in my room." He continued. "I wouldn't say this is a typical way to meet the love of your life, but life is an adventure after all. She and I got into a scrap, but I managed to take her down. Upon her capture, she told us a great deal about the Crimson Organization, and she was willing to help us stop them."

"Little did I know, Sierra had a surprise in store for us. She brought Star Fox towards a hidden mountain base within Macbeth, and Star Fox was reunited with Axios. It came across as a shock to some of us, and me especially. Mom and Dad told me my godfather had been killed by bounty hunters, but clearly that wasn't the case. Axios told us that over the sixteen years I spent growing up he had been slowly rebuilding the Black Suns under his image, and had plans to recruit new followers. I didn't think too much of it, but it was good to have him back."

"Peppy assigned eight of his best pilots to fly Axios's rebuilt fighters, and we were taking the fight to the Crimson Organization. We exposed their mole within the Cornerian military, brought him down, eliminated an automated Crimson fighter squadron, and even prepared to assault their home base of operations. Everything was going perfectly, until Axios unveiled his hidden agenda."

"Axios learned that the Crimson Star was actually his biological father, Cadeus Faxton. He thought that his father had died in a fire during his child years, but clearly that wasn't the case. I'm not sure how he did it, but Cadeus rose through the ranks and became the head of the Crimson Organization. After obtaining this information, Axios jumped the gun on the assault operation and sped through the mega gate. Using the stealth tech of his fighter, the Archangel, he infiltrated the Crimson Organization's volcanic home world Vogar."

"The rest of us followed, and we brought a few fleets to help us with the assault. We fought our way through a pair of Shroud canons, the remainder of the Crimson fleets, and Star Fox managed to get to the planet. However, we were one step behind. Axios got to Cadeus before we could, and he suffered grave injuries when engaging two Crimson apprentices. Mom, dad, Sierra, and I eventually arrived in time to help him, but Axios ran off before we had a chance. We cleaned up the two Crimson apprentices, and chased off after Axios."

Marcus took another sip from his coffee and placed the mug back on his desk. He lowered his head and put his hands together to twiddle his thumbs for a brief moment before continuing. "Axios managed to subdue his father, and the two had a talk before Axios shot him." He continued. "Axios died that day, and Cadeus would have been dead too. But before Axios killed him, he informed Axios that if his heart should stop, an internal transmitter tied to his pulse would give off a signal for the invasion of the Children of Red."

Marcus paused for another moment. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes as painful thoughts emerged within his mind. "Axios died right before me. I felt his grip go weak in my hands, and watched him take his last breath. I've seen death more times than I care to mention, but his death wounded me deeper than any plasma round."

"I thought it was a load of bull at first, but when the doctors and scientists took a look at Cadeus's corpse it confirmed his story. Cadeus's heart was actually an artificial replacement. Inside of it was a transmitter the likes of which our techs have never seen before. The signal grew incredibly weak, and with Cadeus's warning we didn't take any chances."

"We kept the heart alive with life support for one month, which sounds like it was more time than we needed. But moving civilians from planet to planet, fortifying colonies; progress was incredibly slow. Seven million civilians moved into Corneria by the end of the first week, and thirty more by the end of the third. But each planet had cities and colonies totaling up into the hundreds of millions. After our time was up, it was when hell came into Lylat."

"The C.O.R. smashed their way through the initial Cornerian defense at the Lylat mega gate. We didn't stand a chance, we just lost good people. Some of the destroyers even tried to destroy the gate in a desperate attempt to stop the C.O.R. from advancing into Lylat. Even if we did destroy the gate, the C.O.R. would come in force at a later time. The C.O.R. war had finally begun."

"Loss after loss happened across Lylat, and even when victory was close the most we could have done was just push the C.O.R. away from the Cornerian controlled systems. We stalled out the war as long as we could, but the longer we stalled the more losses we sustained as a whole. I thought things were going to be taken a turn for the worse, but that was before we were sent on a mission in Meteo."

Marcus paused for a moment and looked to his side. He peaked through his door and noticed Sierra turn over in the bed and she faced Marcus's general direction. He leaned back in his seat and rested his chin on the top of his hand as he smiled at Sierra. Seeing her sleep peacefully, and safe, rekindled his warmth within his heart.

Marcus quietly rolled in his chair to the office door and placed his hand on a handprint scanner near the door. The door horizontally shut and Marcus rolled his chair back to his desk. "There's so much more that happened afterwards." He said into his holographic monitor. "I don't even know where to begin, but here goes. An R&D Corporation known as TriGenics brought Axios back from the dead, and needless to say he wasn't happy about it."

"I don't blame Axios for wanting to stay dead. After going through the hell of that war, I'd rather be sleeping also. We recovered Axios from the TriGenics facility, but there was something horrendously off about him. His personality, his composure; mom and I both sensed that he was keeping secrets from us. We learned that he had dealings with the All Father in the past, and that put us on edge. When he avoided answering our questions; that sent us over the edge. For a while we gave him cold shoulder, but he eventually came around and so did we."

"After Axios got settled in, Peppy informed us about Harbinger and the Eclipse. We felt as if though it was a wild goose chase, but we eventually found him and his army. Meeting with Harbinger opened up a door to an entire new story, and we learned that the C.O.R. War was never even meant to be our war. Harbinger told us his origin story, and the reason why he defected from the C.O.R. in the first place. On top of that, we learned that the mega gate to Philat was actually a sibling to a hidden mega gate in Sector Z. It was a lot to take in, but even as we left the Ark's bridge I noticed Harbinger whisper something into Axios's ear. I didn't think too much of it at the time, but it was another secret Axios kept form us. I knew there was something wrong with Axios…"

Marcus took a deep breath and rubbed his eyes for a moment. "Damn it, I knew there was something wrong." He said as he tightened his fist. "I'm a telepath, the strongest alive. I should have sensed it. I should have just driven my hand into his mind, maybe it would have s-"

Marcus stopped himself as the door to his office opened. He looked to his side and saw Sierra standing at the entrance. She gently leaned upon the door frame with the right half of her body being visible to Marcus while the other half was obscured by the wall. Seeing her in her white night gown brought a sense of tranquility to Marcus, and she appeared as beautiful as he had ever seen her. "Another recording?" Sierra softly asked.

Marcus quickly touched a holographic button on his desk and paused his recording. He took out his ear piece and set it next to his mug, and stood form his chair and turned to face Sierra. He raised his arms in the air to stretch out is body, and he took a deep breath as he brought his arms down. "Yea." Marcus responded. "I'm sorry for waking you, I was just talking about-"

"Axios?" Sierra interrupted. She noticed Marcus lower his head and let out a depressive sigh. He sat back down in his seat and Sierra approached him. Marcus glanced over to the side and gazed upon Sierra's prosthetic left arm. The sight of it made Marcus feel sick to his core, and it made his anger towards Axios grow. Sierra reached out with her prosthetic arm and gently rested her hand on Marcus's shoulder. However, Marcus pulled his shoulder away and Sierra felt a wounding sensation within her heart.

Sierra walked around to Marcus's other side and gently rested her organic hand on Marcus's other shoulder. Feeling the warmth of her touch soothed Marcus, and he held her hand with his own. Sierra rested her other hand on Marcus's other shoulder and the cold touch put Marcus off ease. However, Sierra gently massaged Marcus shoulders and Marcus's stress and anger slowly vanished. "Marcus…" Sierra softly said as she continued to massage his shoulders. "What Axios did; it led to you saving my life."

Marcus thought about the past, about trying to escape the Titan before it exploded entirely. He thought about Sierra's arm being trapped under the debris, and then thought of the moment Axios drove his knife into Sierra's shoulder to cut her arm off. Seeing that moment replay in his mind made him angry, but having Sierra behind him put him at ease. "Yea…" He softly said. "Yea I know."

Sierra leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Marcus's shoulder and neck. She held him close from behind to embrace him, and she gave him a kiss on his cheek. "Don't hate him." She said as she rested her head on his shoulder. "He loves you like a son and me as a daughter. He only wants to keep the two of us safe, no matter the cost."

Marcus gently placed his hand on Sierra's arm and the back of her neck and held her close in embrace. Holding her close relieved Marcus of his anger, and he took a deep breath to relax his nerves. Sierra smiled at the sight of Marcus being relaxed, and she gently kissed him on the cheek once more. She released Marcus and reached for his coffee mug on the side of his desk. "You're running low." She said as she noticed the near empty mug. "I'll freshen this up."

"You're an angel." Marcus said to Sierra as he watched her leave his office. As Sierra disappeared behind the office doors, Marcus brought his attention back to the holographic monitor. He pressed a button on the monitor and the recording timer resumed ticking upwards. "Well, I took a moment to pause because the love of my life decided to visit." He said into the monitor. "After learning Harbinger's origin story, we set out for finding the firing key for our super weapon, the Purifier."

"To add a bit of context, the Purifier was originally an Eclipse engineered super weapon that was capable of combating the C.O.R. on equal footing. The size of it was massive, and the energy it dispersed was able to take out any enemy within the orbiting sector. It destroyed dozens upon dozens of ships all at once, and it was the most powerful weapon to have ever been built within Lylat. When the Cornerian military got their hands on the specs after the fall of the Crimson Organization, construction of the Purifier began immediately."

"By the time we retrieved the firing key form Aquas, the Purifier was finally completed. We launched an all-out counter offensive against the C.O.R. to reclaim our home worlds, and we started winning. Planet after planet we retook, and we nearly drove the C.O.R. out of Lylat. But everything went wrong when we made it to Sector Z."

Marcus stopped as Sierra knocked on the door frame to his office. She held his mug and Marcus could see steam rising from inside as the mug had been refilled. He smiled at Sierra and rose from his seat to approach her. "You're an angel." He said as he held out his hand.

To his surprise, Sierra pulled the mug away from Marcus's reach and turned her head to the side. She gave Marcus a smirk and held his coffee close to her. "And what do I get?" She playfully asked.

Marcus smiled and he reached around Sierra's back to hold her close. He gave her a kiss on her cheek and at the same time reached for his coffee. "Love you." He cheerfully said as he took his mug from Sierra.

Sierra blushed after Marcus's affectionate action and she smiled. She leaned against the door as Marcus sat back down to continue his recording. "Don't take too much longer." She said to his as she turned away. "It's 7a.m. and we've got to be out of here by eight."

"Make a cup for yourself." Marcus said to Sierra as she walked away. He turned his attention back towards the holographic monitor before him, and resumed his recording. "The battle at Sector Z was the turning point against the Cornerian military and the Eclipse." He continued. "When we thought we had them on the run, the C.O.R. activated the mega gate to Bikar and played their trump card. A new C.O.R. fleet came through the gate and along with it a new titan-class warship. The Ruby Armada was headed by its flagship, the Archfiend. That monster was nearly the size of the Titan¸ and packed firepower as strong as the Ark. The Archfiend destroyed the Purifier in one shot, and we retreated from Sector Z."

"A few hours after our loss at Sector Z, the C.O.R. swarmed Corneria in full force. It was then were pulled out every single piece of ordinance we had. We even activated our prototype surface to orbit defense system, the Sky Spears, to aid in defending the planet. We did everything we could, but problems began to stack one after the other."

"We focused our efforts, and we managed to destroy the Archfiend. It costed us the Ark, but Tyrell was able to safely crash it planet side a few dozen miles from Alpha City. We even salvaged the city inside the wreckage and formed Ark City. Kind of cool if you ask me. We lost a lot of good people that day. We lost friends, and even family. Peppy died on the planet when the C.O.R. came after the Sky Spear control station. I was there, but I wasn't able to protect him. After Peppy died, I decided to lead Star Fox on an all-out assault on the Titan. Our goal was to cut off the head of the snake."

"It wasn't easy, but a few of us managed to get inside the Titan. Harbinger, Axios, and I breached the Titan's exterior and managed to get inside. The interior of the Titan was identical to the Ark. A small city filled the interior, and when the three of us got inside we rained hell down onto the place. After concluding our attack run, we docked our fighters in front of the bridge's palace. It was there the three of us fought our way through their defenses, and into the bridge itself."

"Things there got crazy. I went off ahead to fight the All Father while Axios and Harbinger faced the rest of the C.O.R. in the area. I don't know how they did it but they managed to hold their own. As for me, my fight against the All Father was the most brutal duel I could ever possibly have. The All Father and I used our Cerinian staves against each other, and in one fight I learned more about whom I was and what I was capable of. I learned about my heritage."

Marcus paused for a moment as he heard a shower head running in the adjacent bathroom. Marcus briefly tapped into his telepathy and sensed Sierra within the bathroom. The thought of her deterred Marcus's train of thought, and he did not know what to say next. "Truth be told…" He said into the recording. "Sierra was mortally wounded right in front of me. The All Father had undergone a transformation known as the Awakening. He turned his staff into a spear and stabbed Sierra right through her chest in front of me."

Replaying the event in his mind brought a chill up and down Marcus's spine. He felt a taste of the same fear he had felt back then, and he clenched his hand into a first and shut his eyes tight. After a brief moment, he took a breath to calm his nerves and reached out for his coffee. He took a sip and felt warmth reenter his body. "Before that though, I underwent a change." He said as he set his coffee down. "The All Father and I entered a telepathic stalemate within our minds, and I found someone locked away in the back of his consciousness whom I never thought I'd meet."

"I met Soren Lattenius, the All Father's son. Even though I was in the All Father's head for a few moments, it felt like hours. In that time, Soren explained to me the history of the Lattenius blood line, and the story of the old Cerinian telepathic warriors. I learned of my hidden potential to unlock new abilities with my staff, and I learned of the All Father's past."

"Soren Lattenius transferred his essence into my staff, allowing me to link with it like the warriors of the old. When the situation became dire, he granted me the knowledge to use my own Awakening. When I did the transformation for the first time, Soren offered the remainder of his essence as the payment to use the technique. I didn't think much about the new found power I obtained. I only wanted vengeance for Sierra. The All Father took her from me, and I was going to take something from him."

"The Awakening gave me the power to take down the All Father, and just in time too. He had activated a weapon known as the Devastator and intended to use it to destroy Corneria. I wasn't about to let that happen, and I managed to stop the weapon in time. At the same time, Axios and Harbinger overloaded the Titan's reactor core and sent the damn ship to go supernova. The explosion took out the rest of the C.O.R. in the area. That was the moment we had finally won the war."

"It's been six years since the end of the C.O.R. War. A lot has changed since then, and I can't even begin to account for it all. So here's the short version. Toran was inaugurated as the new general shortly after the war. Harbinger and the Eclipse returned to the Bikar System, and he formed the Lithonian Republic of Bikar renaming the planet Baloran to New Lithon. Even the Philat System now has its own government, the Philat Congregation."

"As for Star Fox, the old breed is in retirement. All of our parents are living comfortably in their manor like homes. Bet they're probably bored out of their minds with all the time. Axios, Isaac, and Joey are still active in the Cornerian military and founded the Black Mist Coalition. A new black op branch of the military, Toran even gave Axios the rank of Commander. But my team, well we're mainly hiring ourselves out as escorts and peace keepers these days. The team consists of myself, Sierra, Freddy, and Abbie. I couldn't ask for a better team."

"There isn't much else to say, other than that life is different now. Crime rates are at an all-time low, and Star Fox hasn't had a real dangerous assignment for the past six years. Life is pretty peaceful, but only god knows how much longer this will last. As much as I enjoy the peace, I still have a feeling that something big is about to happen. This is Marcus McCloud, aged twenty two, head of Star Fox. Signing off." Marcus tapped a button on his holographic monitor and the entire setup closed before him.

Marcus placed a finger on his temple once more and sensed Sierra finishing up in the bathroom. She opened the door and a towel rested around her shoulders as her wet hair dripped onto it. She donned a white tank top with civilian pants as she continued to dry her hair. She went from the bathroom towards the entrance of Marcus's office. Before she would stand in view, Marcus turned in his chair and held his mug in anticipation. As Sierra came into view, Marcus sat patiently while drinking his coffee. "Where to?" He asked.

"I'm just getting ready." Sierra responded. "You should too. The Trinity Council meets soon, and we need to be there for security."

Marcus took another sip of his coffee and stood from his chair. "All right." He said. "Give me a few and I'll clean myself up." Marcus stood from his chair and approached Sierra. He handed her the coffee mug and entered the bathroom next door. "You can have the rest if you want. I'm going to wash up."

"Need some company?" Sierra flirtatiously asked.

Marcus chuckled at her advancement and gently tapped into her thoughts. Though a part of her was willing, she also had other things to take care of before she could indulge herself. "You've got other things to take care of." He said to her. "We'll play later."

Sierra took a sip from Marcus's mug and smiled. "Your loss." She said as she walked away.

Marcus smiled and nodded his head to the side. As he closed the door to the bathroom and removed his top, he looked into the mirror next to him. He could see scars around his upper torso and abs, and memories of past fights slowly crowded his mind. "I wish I could forget about the war." He thought to himself. "But, I guess I'll never have that luxury."