Chapter 2

Captain Jones stood up from his chair. Looking at the image on the view screen he introduced himself.

“I am Captain Benjamin Jones of the federation starship midway. Thank you for chancing those fighters off”.

“We are pleased to help. I’m Fox McCloud of StarFox. We are not familiar with the federation or with your ship. How is it that you came to be here?” he asked.

“We are not totally sure ourselves, we should have main power back online within the hour, when we do you may dock and come aboard”, the captain said.

“Very well, we’ll contact you then” Fox said as he cut the transmission.

“Mr. Ice, once the sensors are back online try to get a fix on where we are, in the meantime, we should try to repair whatever damage we can”.

The cargo bay was filled with injured crewman, and it was dark. Dr. Demarchess had spent the last 45 minutes treating the more severe injuries. Sean Burton had repaired the captain’s concussion, and the captain has laying on one of the beds. He walked over to another injured crewman; treated electrical burns caused by the discharge.

“Do you know what hit us?” the crewman asked.

“We won’t know for sure until we get main sensors back online, but it looked like a nadion discharge, we aren’t sure how the fighters survived it, other then they likely knew it was coming.” Sean said.

“How bad is it?” the crewman asked.

“You’ll be okay, thankfully we didn’t lose anyone, all these preparation we made for that distress call made us prepared for a lot of injured”, Burton said as he continued to treat the wounded crewman. Dr. Demarchess scanned several crewmen who were resting that had been treated and was noticing something odd.

“Hmmm”, she said. Sean Burton finished treating the crewman, excused himself and walked over to her.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“I’m picking up strange readings in the cellular structure of every crewman I’ve scanned so far.” She said.

“What kinds of readings?” he asked.

“Until we can use the primary medical equipment, I can’t tell for sure, but their cellular structure appears to be exhibiting a state of flux!” she said.

“The wormhole had radiation we could not identify, it may have something to do with it”, Sean said.

“We should keep a very close eye on it” the doctor said.

In engineering, chief engineer Ren Teringa worked hard to get the warp and impulse reactors back online.

“Okay, initiate the impulse startup sequence, watch the plasma flow, the last thing we need is an overload,” he said.

“Yes sir” the engineers said. The impulse reactors slowly hummed to life, the computer reported it progress to Ren.

“10 percent, 20 percent, 30 percent.” He said. Lights began to flicker on all over the ship and power systems hummed to life.

“Good work everyone, we should be able to bring the warp core online, in 10 minutes” Ren said.

Captain Jones sat up in his bed as all of the light hummed to life. Tapping his combage he contacted engineering,

“Captain Jones to Engineering, status?” he said.

“The impulse reactors are online, and are operating at 80% capacity, the suffered some damage in the trip through the wormhole, we should be able to get the warp reactor online in 10 minutes” Ren said.

“Excellent work” the captain acknowledged.

“I’m going back to the bridge,” he said.

“Captain, I strongly recommend you rest for at least 24 hours”, Sean said.

“We don’t have time for that now, Mr. Burton, don’t worry I’ll be fine.” He said as he walked out of the cargo bay. Sean could hear Caleb waking up, so walked towards him.

“Hey” he gently said.

“What hit me?” Caleb asked. Gently petting him on the head, Sean noticed that his hair seemed oddly soft, but dismissed the feeling as his imagination.

“You were stunned by an electrical discharge, but you’re going to be fine.” Sean said, as he put he hands on his shoulders to reassure him.

“Is everyone okay, was anyone um,” Caleb asked, hesitating to ask. Sean sat down beside him.

“No one was killed, all these preparations we did for that ship helped to save a lot of lives.” Sean said.

“I feel strange”, Caleb said.

“The wormhole had strange radiation we could identify, it’s causing something to happen to everyone, but were not sure what it is”, Sean replied.

“Are we going to be okay?” Caleb asked.

“We’ll be fine”, Sean said in a reassuring tone.

“Can we go home yet?” Caleb asked.

“Soon, we want to keep you for observation for the next day” Sean responded.

“Okay” Caleb said.

Captain Jones walked onto the bridge.

“Mr. Kazama, hail the lead fighter” he said.

“Aye Sir” the man manning the tactical station said. The image on the view screen came to life, again showing the humanoid fox.

“We’ve been able to get main power back online. You are free to dock on hangar bay 1, and thank you again for the help,” he said.

“Your welcome, were always happy to help anyone in need”, the fox said.

Josh Wrath, the ships consoler walked towards the shuttle bay. In first contact proceedings he often played the role of showing people around the ship. As he walked down the corridor towards the hangar bay, Eric Draven walked out of turbolift and walked with him. Both were wearing their dress uniforms.

“I hear that these guys look like animals, animals from earth to be exact.” Josh said.

“Yes, were not sure how this is possible.” Eric responded.

“Do we have any idea where we are?” Josh asked.

“No, but stealer topography is still getting scans of the region, we should at least have an idea within the hour”, Eric responded.

The four fighters approached The Midways hangar bay, slowly entering it, and landing on the floor of the large bay. Captain Benjamin Jones stood before the fighters, standing at attention as Eric and Josh entered the bay, standing beside him at attention. The fighters’ cockpit windows opened, and each of the four occupants climbed out and approached the 3 men. Captain Jones extended his hand, to shake Fox’s.

“Welcome aboard our ship.” He said.

“This is my first officer Mr. Draven, and our ships counselor Mr. Josh Wrath, he will give you a tour of the ship after he shows you to your quarters.” The captain said.

“Thank you. But first I believe we should discuss who you are, we’ve never seen a ship quite like yours or people like yourselves.” Fox said.

“Of course” the captain responded.

“First let me introduce my comrades, he said as he pointed out the 3 people behind him” (pointing out the falcon)

“This is my first officer Falco Lombardi” (pointing to the rabbit)

“this is Peppy” (and pointing to the toad)

“this is Slippy”. Everyone shook each other hands, and the 7 of them proceeded.

“We have an observation lounge we can use to discuss our situation,” the captain said.

“That sounds ideal” Fox responded, as the 7 of them exited out of the hangar.

***

Sean Burton sat in a chair reading a padd that had information the sensors had collected. Caleb has since gone to sleep, and he didn’t want to disturb him. Sipping some coffee from the cup he had on the table in front of him, he thought to himself;

“I wonder what their talking about up there, they’ve been up there for 4 hours already.” He read the contents of the PADD, according to their readings they were still in their ‘reality’ but they were in a galaxy some 2,500,000 light years from Earth.

“Not exactly around he corner” he said to himself. He pressed several buttons on the PADD, which gave a display of the wormhole, and the readings took from it. He was still concerned by the radiation they had detected, and he still couldn’t explain the readings he was getting from several crewmen, including Caleb. As he continued to read the PADD, Caleb ran into the room, sounding very upset.

“Sean!” he said his eyes full of tears and his voice trembling.

“Caleb? What’s wrong?” Sean asked.

“I know this is going to sound crazy, but I have a tail!” Caleb answered, as he turned around, showing Sean the long, soft tail, with gray fur and several black rings on it. Shocked at the site of the tail, Sean felt it, it felt warm.

“When did this grow in?” he asked.

“I don’t know I was sleeping and I woke up feeling funny and felt it there”, Caleb replied.

“Common, let’s get to sickbay so we can see what is going on.” Sean responded.

“Okay, say are you okay? Your face looks strange,” Caleb said. Feeling his face, Sean felt something very strange. His face felt warm, especially around his eyes, he had been sitting in the dark because the light seemed to bother his eyes, and he had noticed that he see in the dark far better then normal. He ran towards the bathroom, turning the light on and looking in the mirror.

“My god!” he said. His eyes looked different, almost yellow, and he had a thick coating of black fur around them that looked like a mask. He walked back towards Caleb.

“It’s happening to me too, common, lets go to sickbay.” He said, as he led Caleb out of their quarters and into corridor.

Captain Jones walked from the replicator, carrying his 4th glass of water.

“I’m sorry, I’ve been feeling hot all off the sudden, so where were we?” he asked. Fox turned to him, folded his paws and repeated his request.

“From what you have told us about this ship, it sounds very powerful, such a ship would make a very useful addition to the Cornerian defense force.” He said. Sitting down, the captain looked shocked.

“Unfortunately that would be a violation of the prime directive. It tells us that we cannot get involved in the affairs of another civilization, I’m sorry” he said, sounding genuinely displeased over the fact they couldn’t help.

“I understand, but they already attacked you, doesn’t that make you involved? Captain are you feeling okay?” fox asked, seeing that the captain was now holding his head. Josh Wrath got up and walked over to him. Putting his hand on the captain shoulder, he tried to get his attention.

“Captain?” he said.

“My face!” Benjamin said, as he looked up.

“Mr. Jones! You have a muzzle!” Fox said, seeing the captain’s face. Ben felt his face, gasping as he felt the muzzle, which from what he could tell looked very much like fox’s.

“What is going on?” he said. Josh Wrath suddenly dropped his glass of water, holding his hands out in front of his eyes.

“My hands!” he said. His hands were quickly becoming furry, with small claws on the end of each finger.

“What is going on?” Fox said. Commandeer Draven stood up.

“I don’t know but we’d better to something about it and quickly”, tapping his combage, he called sickbay, reporting 2 medical emergencies.

Sean walked into sickbay with Caleb beside him. What he saw shocked him, there were 8 other people in sickbay, and all of them were showing signs of change some serious then others. Sean walked Caleb to an unoccupied bio bed, and started to scan him with its equipment. Dr. Demarchess walked over to him.

“Doctor, what is going on?” he asked her.

“It appears that the radiation in the wormhole has caused these mutations to occur within the crew” she responded. Caleb looked the doctor in eye, terrified as he held his tail.

“What going to happen to me doctor?” he asked.

“If anything can be done to stop this, we will find it Caleb, don’t worry.” She responded. Looking Sean in the eye, she noticed his changes.

“I see it’s happening to you as well,” she said as she scanned his face.

“This is incredible, the DNA around your eyes and in your eyes had mutated. But that along shouldn’t be causing this.” She said as she continued to scan him, with Caleb watching.

“This, is impossible, yet it’s happening.” She said.

“What is it Doctor?” he asked.

“The cells that have the affected DNA have mutated, reformed,” she said.

“Into what?” he asked.

“Going by what his tail looks like, and the fur around your eyes and your eyes, yes I’ve confirmed it, the DNA and cellular structure is that of a raccoon, but it seems slightly different somehow,” she said.

“We’re turning into raccoons?” Caleb asked.

“It looks that way,” the doctor said. Caleb held onto Sean’s hand tightly saying,

“I’m scared”.

“Me too, me too. But whatever happens we’re going to make it. I promise you that”, Sean said, noticing that a mask was starting to grow around Caleb’s eyes.

“Doctor!” one of the nurses called.

“Excuse me”, she said to Caleb and Sean, as she walked over to the nurse.

“What is it?” she asked.

“Were getting a call from the observation lounge, the Captain and Counselor are experiencing changes” she said. Another alarm sounded, as the doctor ran over to the patients whom the alarm was indicating changes in.

“My god! It’s spreading!” she said, as the ensign’s face started to sprout black fur that added to his long tail with black fur.

“Nurse Peters, go to the observation lounge to check on the captain and consoler!” she order.

“Yes sir!” the nurse said, as he picked up several pieces of equipment and headed out the door.

Commander Ren Teringa was working on repairs in engineering, repairing the impulse reactors so they could get them up to 100% capacity. He was lying on his back under a conduit replacing burnt out circuits, already having a pile of them at his feet.

“Lt. Müler, hand me the hydrospanner” he said, his face suddenly feeling strange. He reached up to his face to scratch it and he nearly jumped when he felt fur.

“What is going on?” he thought to himself, as the woman handed him the tool. He continued to make adjustments and finally had replaced the last burnt out circuit when he hard someone gasp. Managing to get himself out from under the conduit, he saw what was going on. Two of the engineering crew were changing. One’s pants had ripped in the back as a large gray tail had grown out, and the other had removed his shirt, to reveal a pelt of black fur on his chest.

“What is going on?” he asked as he scratched his face, again feeling fur.

“Commander! Your face and your ears!” one of them said. Feeling his face, where his nose and mouth should have been, he felt a small muzzle, with buck teeth inside, he felt several whiskers on the side of the muzzle. He reached up to the top of his head and felt 2 long furry ears. He felt for his human ears only to find that they were gone.

“What the hell?” he said to himself, as he ran over to a mirror, so he could see more clearly what was going on. What he saw frightened him; his ears were covered in a soft pelt of white fur, as was his muzzle.

“This is crazy, is anyone else experiencing this, whatever this is?” he said as he looked at the other two officers who were changing.

“I don’t know” one of them said.

“We need to report to sickbay”, Ren said. 2 other officers walked climbed down the ladders from the second level.

“Commander!” one of them said.

“You two are changing as well?” he asked.

“Yes, look”, one of them said as he turned around to reveal a large black tail with 2 stripes running down it. The other one pulled her sleeve up after showing Ren her hands, her finger nails now sharp claws, and her covered in brown fur.

“Okay, Lt. Müler, your in charge until we get back, common” he said, gesturing to the other changing crewman,

“lets all get to sickbay”. As they walked out the door, his chest started to feel itchy, as he looked down to scratch it, he could see white fur starting to grow.

Ice sat in the darkened room at the console. He pressed the proper sequence to again open a channel without anyone knowing. As he pressed the command sequence, he waited for a response. He looked at the black fur on his arms and on his chest, petting it. Grabbing the long black tail that had sprouted from his tailbone, he petted it. The image appeared on the screen.

“Ah Mr. Ice, I’m glad to see your ship survived the trip intact. I see the additional ‘effects’ of your trip are becoming apparent,” it said.

“Yes, over 75% of the crew is experiencing it so far” Ice said.

“Very good, it’s about time for the exchange to take place. Take one of your ships fighters and meet up with our squadron at the following co-ordinates in 2 hours. We will be waiting” the figure said as he broke the connection. Sitting back, Ice folding his hands, which were now covered in fur together, pondering weather what he was doing was the right action or not.

Greg Saotome walked down the corridor with Richard Galain. Richard was taking readings of the bulkheads in at attempt to figure out why these mutations were happening, while Greg made security preparations, for a possible attack after having learned of the situation in the system they were in. Greg was scratching his head, scratching the fur-covered ears that had since grown on top of his head, replacing his human ears. He felt the white fur that had grown on top of his hands, and the black fur that had grown on his arms.

“Do we have any idea why this is happening?” he asked.

“It would seem that the radiation from the wormhole somehow caused it, but we don’t know how or why. Radiation is not supposed to cause this, yet somehow it is.” Richard Galain said, looking at his own changed, having grown red feathers on his arms and chest, and hands looking a lot different, the skin more scaly and his nails very long and incredibly sharp, it made using the tricorder very difficult.

“Changes or not, this area is a war zone. That ship that caused the wormhole might have been trying to steal out technology, hoping to capture the ship while we were disabled.” Greg said. Scanning another bulkhead, Richard’s tricorder beeped, sounding an alarm. Looking at it, his expression became that of someone who’d read something very disturbing.

“What is it?” Greg asked.

“I’m picking up strange readings coming from deck 2 section 6, it almost looks like a transmission. It’s strange though, it’s not going though the standard subspace transmitters, it’s being, masked somehow,” he said.

“But if it’s being masked then how did you detect it?” Greg asked.

“There is some damage in that section, whoever is sending the signal may not realize it, without the damage it would be almost impossible to detect” Richard said.

“What is on deck 2, section 6?” Greg asked.

“Commander Burtons quarters, Mr. Ice’s quarters, Captain Jones quarters and commander Draven’s quarters” Richard said.

“Mr. Burton is in sickbay and the Captain and first officer are in a meeting. The only one unaccounted for is Mr. Ice.” Richard said. Greg’s expression became that of grave concern. Tapping his combage he attempted to contact Mr. Ice.

“Mr. Ice come in, are you there?” he started to become even more concerned when there was no response.

“Computer locate Mr. Ice.” He said.

“Commander Ice is in his quarters” the computer responded.

“Security, meet at Mr. Ice’s quarters”, Greg said.

“I’ll stay here and continue my scans”, Richard said as Greg ran off down the corridor.

Benjamin Jones sat on his chair while the nurse scanned him.

“Are you in any pain?” he asked. The captains face has since changed considerable, his face was fully covered in fur and its shape look similar to fox’s, his ears at the top of his head, his teeth very shape. His eyes were a deep shade of green. He noticed how much better his hearing and sense of smell was. He was surprised that he still had no problem talking. He could see grayish brown fur growing down his arms and chest. Looking at the nurse, whom he could see was changing as well, his face having grown into a short muzzle with whiskers and his ears having grown much larger and round, and gray fur growing on his face.

“Surprisingly no, it doesn’t hurt at all,” he said. Fox approached the Captain.

“Captain, we have several medical facilities on our Capital planet, Corneria, perhaps they could do something, we also have a space station in orbit that can assist you with repairs.” He said.

“Thanks for the offer, I think taking you up on it would be a good idea for us all” he said.

“It’s the 4th planet in this system” he said.

“Thank you Mr. McCloud.” He said, tapping his combage he called to the bridge.

“Mr. Tombrey, lay in a course for the 4th planet in this system, full impulse” he said.

“Aye sir” the ensign responded. The nurse walked over to commander Draven who had since started to change himself, with black feathers having covered much of his torso and arms. His hands looked more like talons then hands.

“I’m not in any pain either, you’d think something like this would hurt yet oddly it doesn’t,” he said. Falco Lombardi, the humanoid Falcon, found it very amusing seeing someone else becoming what was obviously a type of bird. He made a sarcastic comment to which Fox responded with a rather unpleasant glare. Josh Wrath felt has been looking at his arms feeling the soft brown fur that had grown on them and on his chest, his face was starting to feel strange, he reached up to feel it and felt the beginnings of a muzzle. The nurse scanned him.

“Judging from the DNA patterns in this fur, and the cellular structure, it looks like your becoming a coyote, The Captain’s DNA is odd, is seems to be a hybrid of wolf and dog DNA. Mr. Draven’s’ appears to be that of a crow”, the nurse said.

“And what about you?” The captain asked. Scanning himself, the nurse replied, sounding almost disappointed.

“Looks like a chinchilla”.

“Nothing wrong with chinchillas, their cute”, the captain said.

“Good point” the nurse responded.

Sean Burton stood by Caleb’s side. Caleb’s changes had extended down significantly; his entire torso was now covered in gray fur. His head looked very different, he had a muzzle, and his nose was small and black, and his ears were now at the top of his head. His clothes seemed too big for him. He sat on the bio bed looking at Sean, whose changes had since increased as well. His entire head was shaped much like that of a raccoon, and his entire body was covered in reddish brown fur, and he had a small stub at the base of his spine.

“Just how far is this going to go?” Caleb asked, noticing that his voice sounded slightly higher pitched.

“I really don’t know” Sean answered. Ren Teringa sat beside Caleb. Sean walked over and scanned him. By now, most of his body was covered in white fur. His fingers had thickened slightly, and he was petting fur, amazed at how soft it was.

“I’m pretty sure you know what you are becoming, as for how far it will go, I’m not sure.” He said.

“Can we go home then?” Caleb asked.

“I really think we should stay here, in case we find a way to do something about this”. Sean said. Caleb pouted slightly.

“But it’s boring in here and I’m hungry!” he said, the frustration in his voice evident.

“I know, but I need to stay here to help all these people, and you’d be alone in our quarters” Sean said.

“I can stay with him, I can call if the situation gets any worse.” Ren said.

“Well okay, I’ll drop by in an hour or so to see how you two are doing” Sean said.

“Cool!” Caleb said as he jumped off the bio bed and took Ren’s hand and the two of them walked out. Dr. Demarchess walked over to Sean, the changes in her body evident. Her skin had been replaced by green scales, and her face was starting to reshape itself into a long snout with incredibly sharp teeth, she seemed to be moving more slowly and was more sluggish.

“What are you becoming?” Sean asked.

“I can’t be sure, but from the physical appearance of the changes, I’d say a alligator or crocodile.” She responded.

“I see” he responded, as he started to scan 2 of the engineers that had come in with Ren. Their changes had also become more evident. He scanned the ensign, who now had a full pelt of black and white fur to go with his black and white tail.

“It’s so hot in here!” he said.

“I know, I find it warm as well” Sean said.

“It’s all that fur, it’s keeping you warm” the Doctor said. A Lt. with black fur on his chest turned around to revel that he know had a thick and streamline black tail.

“I guess you could say I’m wearing am mink coat” he said, embarrassed at his situation, but also semi amused but the fact that was he more or less a humanoid animal and was talking to 3 other humanoid animals.

Ren and Caleb walked down the corridor towards Caleb and Sean’s quarters. They suddenly heard several people running in their direction from behind them. They turned around to see Greg Saotome run up to them. He seemed to preoccupied to notice the white tipped black tail that he now sported behind him, although he was slightly itching his now back fur covered chest.

“What’s going on?” Ren asked.

“We have reason to believe Mr. Ice may be responsible for all of this, he’s in his quarters and were going to arrest him. We need you to clear this corridor in case he resists”, he said.

“Of course, good luck” Ren said.

“Common Caleb, lets go to the holodeck, I’m sure there’s a program we can try out”, Ren said to Caleb, who seemed to have lost some height in the past several minutes.

“Cool” he responded, apparently not realizing his voice was nearly an octave higher then before.

Greg and his security team had assembled outside of Ice’s quarters. Greg walked up to the door control panel and pressed the ringer. Ice did not respond. Greg scanned the area with his tricorder, turning to his men he said,

“he’s in there”. Again pressing the ringer, he demanded Ice come out. Again there was no response. Pressing several buttons, he heard a buzz.

“It’s locked,” he said.

“Computer open door 2-6-4 authorization Saotome delta 56 sierra”, he spoke. The doors to the quarters opened. All of the lights were off.

“He motioned to the security officers to move in, slowly.” Slowly he entered the room, listening for any signs of where Ice was hiding. He walked towards the console, seeing the display Ice had used to contact the ships, the display was static. He looked at the buttons, one of his men pressed several and got no response.

“It looks like he’s been covering his tracks,” he said.

“He has to be in here somewhere,” Greg said, as he walked towards the other end of the quarters. He became aware of a sound coming from the bedroom; he motioned for his men to stand ready. Walking into the bedroom, he reached for the control’s turning on the lights. Suddenly from behind the bed, Ice leapt up, his body now covered head to toe in fur, his face having become a muzzle, and his ears looking like cat ears. Before Greg could get a shot off, Ice leapt at him, striking him, causing him to fall backwards violently. Grabbing his phaser, Ice ran out into the room, and fired it with it set to wide beam, stunning all of the security officers. Greg picked himself up, and looked at the scene before him.

“Saotome to bridge, security alert, we must apprehend Mr. Ice, it appears that he is somehow responsible for this.” He said. As he walked over to each security officer, relived to see that they were only stunned. He walked out into the corridor, and saw an open access port.

“Bridge, he appears be to be using the jerferies tubes, he may be trying to leave the ship, post security all access points to both hangar bays” he said.

Mr. Ice crawled through he crawlway, reaching into his pocket to pull out a padd. Sitting down he pressed several buttons on it.

“A very interesting deployment” he said to himself as he saw the display, which showed the position of each security officer around the launch bay. Suddenly seeing a possible hole in security, he smiled and continued to make his way through the crawlway.

Greg ran down the corridor with several security officers behind him, the security alerts played continuously. As he walked up to the doors to the hangar bay, the security officer gave his report.

“Sir! We can’t track him, he masking his life signs somehow, but the last readings we had indicated that he is headed in this direction.” He said.

“Lock down the hangar bays doors” he said. Suddenly the ship rocked to the side.

On the bridge, the captain and first officer had taken their stations.

“Report!” The captain said, while his changes had progress considerably. His entire body was covered in gray fur, and his fingernails were now much more like claws. He had a medium length bushy gray tail with a white tip on the end of it.

“4 fighters have opened fire on us sir, shields are holding”, the man who had manned the tactical station said.

“On screen!” the captain said. The four fighters approached the ship and fired again. The captain turned to Fox and asked,

“Who are they?”

“That’s the Star Wolf squadron, one of the most dangerous element of our enemy” he responded as the ship shook again.

“Captain, I suggest you return fire”, he said.

“Very well. Mr. Kazama lock on to the lead fighter and fire phasers” he said.

“Aye sir” the tactical officer said.

Mr. Ice neared the exit from the crawl space into the hangar bay.

“The perfect distraction”. He said to himself as the ship rocked again. Looking through the gate, he saw 3 security officers in the hangar. 2 were station on either side of the grate. Slowly opening it, he threw a photon grenade out. The security officers attempted to get away, but they were both knocked out by the blast. Climbing out he ran for the nearest fighter, shooting at 3 security officers that had heard the blast and had come running. The blasts impacted against the side of the fighter. Again the ship rocked. Pressing several buttons on his PADD, he was beamed aboard the fighter. Quickly powering it up, he slowly raised it above the ground, the 3 officers fired at it, but he had raised its shields, making their phaser fire useless. One of their tricorder beeped loudly. Taking it out, he immediately called for everyone to evacuate the hangar bay.

On the bridge, the shipped rocked again.

“We’ve disabled the lead fighters weapons and engines, it’s adrift. One of the others engines are also offline.” Mr. Kazama reported. Suddenly the ship rocked violently.

“Sir someone just blasted the doors of Launch Bay 1 open, an unauthorized fighter launch is in progress. Emergency force fields are in place,” he said. The fighter flew over the disabled Star wolf fighter.

“Sir whoever is in that fighter is beaming aboard the occupants of the disabled fighters,” Mr. Kazama reported.

“Disable it!” The captain said. Mr. Kazama fired the phasers, but they were too late, the federation fighter, along with the 2 remaining fighters had gone to warp.

“Should we pursue?” Mr. Kazama asked. The captain was about to say yes when Fox warned them.

“I recommend against doing that, they’re likely heading for Venom, they have heavy defenses there. We should get reinforcements and complete repairs on your ship” Fox said.

“Very well, continue on course” The captain said, very angry over what had just transpired.

***

“Captain’s Log stardate 56632.3: It has been 24 hours since Mr. Ice escaped from us. We have since arrived at the planet Corneria. The hospitality of the inhabitants of this planet has been most pleasant. They have given use of a repair facility to repair the remaining damage to our ship, including the hull breech. Whatever has infected the crew, causing mutations has now affected the entire crew. Most of the crew has transported down to the planet to seek medical attention, in hopes of reversing them mutations.”

Captain Jones walked down the corridor and into sickbay where The Doctor and most of his senior staff was working with 2 doctors from Corneria.

“the wormhole that took us here has since vanished from our sensors and we have no apparent way of opening it. I am told that this system is 2.5 million light years away from Earth. A trip that even at Maximum warp, would take thousands of years to complete. It would seem that, even if we can reverse these mutations, that we are forced with the dilemma of either staying here or trying to find an alternate way home, if any exists.”

Chief Engineer Teringa looks out a window of the repair facility, he looks like the man he was and looks much more like a humanoid rabbit, working with other humanoid animals, which are normal on Corneria has made dealing with it much easier. He pressed a few buttons, which extends 2 arms from the station, repairing the hull breech quickly.

“The chances of encountering a planet with humanoid life that greatly resembles Earth animals seems impossible, yet below us is a planet with a population of 8 billion of them, it would seem that almost every animal on Earth is well represented. If we do decide to stay here, we will have plenty of company.”

Caleb sat on the biobed with Sean standing beside him. Caleb’s changes had also extended significantly; he was much smaller now, about the height of a human of about 6 years. His voice’s pitch seemed to confirm that not only had he had been regressed to more then half his age as well as the other changes. He had since simply worn his shirt as his clothes were now far too big for him. Sean walked up to him, and made one more scan with his medical tricorder.

“It looks as if your changes have stopped, the same seems to be true for most of the crew. I’m still uncertain how the radiation could have caused this to happen to us, radiation destroys cells, it doesn’t cause to happen.” He said. Caleb looked at his clothes, and pouted slightly.

“I need new clothes,” he said.

“We’ll have to replicate you a whole new set,” he said, admiring just how cute Caleb looked like this. Demarchess walked over to the two of them, her entire body now covered in green scaled, and her face haven grown into a long snout with very sharp teeth, she now had a long and wide scaly tail.

“I’d say most of the crew is going to need a new wardrobe if we can’t find a way to reverse these mutations” she said. The doors to sickbay opened and Richard Galain ran in.

“What is it Mr. Galain?” the captain asked. The captains changes had completed as well, his entire body was covered in a pelt of grayish brown fur, he had a long busy tail, and his feet looked more like paws then feet. Richards changes seemed complete as well his entire body covered in red feathers, he now had a beak, and his arms looked like wings, but his hands still slightly resembled hands, his legs looked like a thicker version of bird legs and his feet talons. Flight was very likely now possible for him.

“I think I know why our changes happened, and why the radiation caused it and why each of us became something different and” he said, as the captain cut him off.

“Slow down, you have our undivided attention”, he said as everyone looked in Richards’s direction.

“2 weeks ago, someone accessed the life support system. They did it very covertly, but I have been able to determine that they released a virus very selectively. They released it into the quarters of every person that was sleeping, for each person, the virus was slightly different. The virus alone would have taken weeks if not months to take effect. It was a very well designed virus, almost impossible to detect, only a level 8 scan would detect it. No level 8 scans have been done on any crewman since the virus was released. The radiation in the wormhole was not really radiation, I don’t know for sure what it was but it appeared to be a transgenic particle field. This field activated caused a cellular flux in each of us, and activated the virus. This allowed changed that would normally take weeks, if not months to occur to happen over a matter of hours” he said. The captain turned to the doctor.

“I’m afraid my medical training is a bit rusty, how do this sound to you doctor?” he asked. The doctor seemed lost in thought for a few minutes.

“Doctor are you okay?” Sean asked.

“Yes, I’m sorry. I was just thinking of a theory I heard that could explain this” she responded, then breathed deeply before continuing.

“3 years a scientist named Frol Golovin discovered a curious virus in the Mcarther system on the 6th planet. This virus had mutagenic properties and was highly adaptive. He theorized that it could be used to treat any number of genetic diseases, when exposed to a tansgenic particle field it mutated and accelerated wildly.” She said.

“So what became of this virus?” the captain asked.

“He collected a sample of it and brought if aboard his ship. They set course for Starbase 47 and were never heard from again. 2 months later debris from their ship was found, it was destroyed by a weapon that couldn’t be identified.” She said.

“The how did it get here?” The captain asked.

Suddenly the doors to sickbay opened and Commander Draven walked in with Falco beside him.

“I believe we can answer that,” he said.

“How could you have heard us?” The Captain asked.

“Apparently crow’s have excellent hearing,” he said. His appearance has similar to Richard, but he was a bit smaller and his feathers were jet black and his Talons were less prominent.

“Carry on” the Captain said.

“The ship was destroyed, but there was no evidence of the virus in the debris, a transporter trace was detected. The warp signature of the ship that left the scene and presumably destroyed the ship was federation,” Eric said.

“Federation!” The captain said, sounding very upset.

“Not just any federation ship. We believe the ship belonged to Section 31, examinations of Mr. Ice’s quarters seem to point to his involvement with the group.” Eric said.

“J’Tuguisa 5” the captain quietly said to himself.

“J’Tuguisa 5?” Sean asked.

“Several months ago, a very good friend of mine, Captain Timothy Barns alone with 10 other people, Including Greg’s brother Trunks, disappeared in the J’Tuguisa system. A transponder was found from their ship on J’Tuguisa 5. There were no signs of any of them found other then ripped clothing. Strange readings were found on the clothes, fibers whose cells seemed to be in a state of flux, fibers that weren’t human. There is a transgenic particle field around that planet, but it’s very difficult to detect because of interference from the asteroid field around it.” The Captain said.

“But we were sucked into a wormhole, not stranded on a planet. And if they ended up like us why did they hide or disappear?” Caleb said.

“Perhaps they didn’t, they could have been changed into almost anything.” The doctor said.

“They did detect wild life on that planet, but due to interference the actual species could not be identified”, The Captain said.

“But why would someone strand 11 people on a planet and turn them into animals? What could be gained from it? And why strand us here, 2.5 Million light years from Earth?” Sean asked.

“It would seem that is the question of the hour” the Captain said.

Greg Saotome sat in the captain’s chair beside Josh Wrath. Mr. Kazama manned the tactical station with Lt. Powel at ops and Ensign Fowler at the helm. Mr. Kazama changes had completed, he had a furry mane, was covered in orange fur and had a long brush tipped tail, his species lion. Greg’s changes had also since completed, he looked very much like a humanoid cat with white hands and feet, and a white tip on the end of his tail with black fur everywhere else. Josh Wrath looked very much like fox, but with gray fur instead of red his appearance was similar to the Captains.

“Commander, I’m picking up something strange on long range sensors.” Mr. Kazama said.

“What is it?” Greg asked.

“It’s difficult to tell for certain, there is a great deal of interference, but it appears to be a large number of ships, range, 4 light hours” Mr. Kazama said.

“On screen, maximum magnification” Greg said. The view screen shows the image of the ships, it was a large group of fighters, with several cruisers.

“Their all headed this way and their weapons are all charged” Mr. Kazama said. Greg stood up, and ordered battle stations. The bridge went dark and the red alert klaxons sounded.

***

Greg Saotome walked into Sean Burton’s quarters where he was having a talk with Caleb.

“Hey Greg” he said. Greg walked over to him and handed him a phaser rifle and blaster. Sean looked at the blaster.

“What’d this?” he asked.

“They called it a blaster, similar to a phaser, but it only has 2 settings, stun and kill, best not to confuse them” Greg responded.

“I just hope we won’t have to use these” Sean said, to which Greg nodded him head. Sean holstered the weapons and turned to Caleb, putting a paw on his shoulder.

“We need you to go to the planet, the Cornerian defense force is assuming position and we will be joining them in 20 minutes, the attacking fleet will get here in 1 hour.” He said.

“But I wanna’ stay here with you!” Caleb said.

“I know, but it’s going to get very dangerous here and I don’t want to risk putting you in the line of fire. If we get boarded things could get very dangerous”. He said.

“I thought they didn’t have transporter technology?” Caleb asked.

“For all we know Mr. Ice as given it to them” Sean responded.

“But I wanna’ stay!” Caleb protested.

“I know, I know. But it’s not safe; you’ll be safe on the planet. Common, Ill walk you to the transporter room.” Sean said.

“Well, okay” Caleb said, resigning himself to having to leave the ship.

The captain and first officer arrived on the bridge. Mr. Kazama was handing out phaser rifles to everyone. The Captain had holstered a pistol. As they sat down, Eric noticed the weapon at the captain’s side.

“What’s that thing?” he asked.

“It’s called a Naginita, it’s like a Bo, but with a blade. A very nasty weapon. It was invented in Japan in the Feudal Era, usually used by Samurai.” he said. Richard Galain took the helm as Mr. Kazama handed him a weapon.

“Looks like we’re going to need some advanced evasive maneuvers” the captain said.

“Don’t worry captain, I have training in some good ones” Ren responded.

“Rion, I’ll need to cover Mr. Burton if we get boarded, the longer we keep firing the better” The Captain said.

“Aye sir, I won’t let anything happen to him.” Mr. Kazama responded.

The doors from the turbo lift door to the bridge opened and Greg Saotome along with Sean Burton and a security team walked out. Sean took his post and Greg instructed the security team to take defensive positions.

“Caleb wasn’t too happy about having to leave the ship, but I was able to convince him.” Sean said. Opening a small closet behind the tactical station, he pulled out the weapon.

“A batlef?” Mr. Kazama asked.

“Yes, I find them to get excellent for close combat. And if we get boarded, I have a feeling I’m going to need it” he responded.

The turbolift doors again opened and Josh Wrath walked onto the bridge. The captain turned to him.

“Are the evacuations complete?”

“Yes sir, most of our personal have been evacuated. The Star Fox team has disembarked and assumed a defensive position off our dorso bow. We are ready to proceed and rendezvous with the Cornerian defense fleet,” he said.

“Very well then Mr. Galain Lay in a course and engage at full impulse” The captain said.

“Aye sir” the helmsman responded as he entered the commands and send the ship into motion. The Star Fox team was proceeding slightly above the ship with 28 of The Midway’s fighters on either side of her.

In engineering, Ren Teringa prepared the ship for the battle.

“Lt. Müler, are the ablative armor generators fully functional?” Ren asked.

“Yes sir!” the Lt. responded. < /p>

“All weapons systems are ready sir.” One of the other engineers said.

“Good work everyone,” Ren said.

In sickbay, Dr. Demarchess was preparing sickbay and giving instruction to her medical staff.

“If we get boarded we can expect any number of injuries. Lacerations, phaser burns and broken bones. Just remember you’re training and stay calm, we can do this.” She said, as she handed each person a medi-kit.

***

The Midway approached the Cornerian Defense force, taking a position along side of them and awaited the attacking fleet.

“What is the ETA of the attacking fleet?” The captain asked.

“5 minutes sir, the Cornerian fleet reports they are ready,” Sean responded.

“Very well then.” He responded. Tapping a series of buttons on his chair he addressed the crew.

“To all hands, we are about to engage the enemy fleet. I know the odds are against us. But perhaps what has happened to us has happened for a reason. 2 days ago we had never heard of Corneria or the Lylat star system. But now, as we have all seen, it is a beautiful planet, which a rich culture and heritage that worth fighting for. I know that we can do this. I wish you all luck”.

“All weapons answering ready sir” Sean said.

“Captain, were being hailed by one of the enemy cruisers” Lt. Powel said.

“On screen” The Captain ordered.

The image of Mr. Ice appeared on the view screen. He looked very much like a humanoid panther, although he did have one odd feature, a pair of wings.

“Ah captain, I see you’ve joined forces with Corneria’s fleet. I suggest you surrender now, it will prevent a lot of bloodshed.” He said.

“You don’t honestly expect me to surrender to a traitor” The Captain responded.

“The Venom army is strong! Their weapons research is exemplary, they could make an excellent addition to starfleet!” Ice responded.

“From what I have read and heard about them, it seems all they care about is oppressing and destroying, not exactly values starfleet stands for!” The captain responded.

“This could have been amazing, we could have established a presence in this system. The resources on Corneria alone could create and sustain a fleet of thousands of ships for decades! It is time for the federation to expand and to put an end to it pacifist nature.” Ice argued.

“The federation was not created for conquest! I’m sorry you can’t see that.” The captain said.

“And I am sorry that the only way to show you that I am right is with your destruction!” Ice exclaimed as he cute the channel.

“Sir! Their entering weapons range!” Sean said.