AN: and so the mystery deepens, as we begin in an old battlefield…
(Battleship graveyard, near Lylat system edge)
"Wow, so many dead ships…"
"And a hell of a lot of cover for the Faustus. I'm glad I got those jamming devices now…" James mentioned, steering his ship past a chunk of an old carrier's hull.
"Damn, this place has a story to tell…" Krystal said, looking out her side window. An old Hercules fighter had crashed into a chunk of hull, its 'rudder' cutting a gash in the pitted metal. A Pegasus stealth fighter had managed to embed its nose in another fighter, the blood of its pilot still on the windscreen. A huge battleship with a giant hole burned through it slowly rotated, just as dead as its crew; she could see the name on the side: KSA Isis. "These aren't our ships…"
"Nope. Most are from the third great war, where we stopped the NGO from attacking the Lylat system," James explained, checking his wide-beam radar. "Hang on, I'm getting an NGO signature on the scope. It's the Faustus!" James yelled, dodging the Faustus's pulse guns. "I can't shake him!"
"Just a second…" Krystal begged, her onboard computer struggling to get an aspect lock on the Faustus.
LOCKING…
LOCKED
The EMP missile detonated on the Faustus's shields, knocking it for a loop. The ship shut down, only to restart seconds later. "Ok, who the hell is piloting this thing?" James asked.
"Crap, what the fuck happen… Krystal? What the hell?"
Krystal let out a sigh of relief. "You OK in there, Fox?"
"I will be. What the fuck is going on here?" Fox asked, regaining control over his ship.
"Fox, all I will say is that you cannot speak of any of this to anybody under Omega-level clearance. Understood?"
"Yes, sir…"
"Alright, fall in behind me. We'll be out of here in a second… WHAT THE FUCK?!" James yelled, dodging a capital ship's beam cannon. "SHIT! Break formation! We've been duped! Target ID'd as the NGO Iceni, juggernaut class! Keep moving, this thing has more flack than you can shake a stick at!"
"Flack? What the hell? Talk about outdated!"
"Tell that to the fifteen bomber squadrons and five corvettes we lost from it! DODGE!" James yelled, forcibly knocking Fox out of the way of very large red laser beam. "There's a REASON we call that gun the Big Fucking Red!"
James got a hail from the NGO Iceni. "Stand down and dock, or we will destroy you."
"I'll never stand down to the likes of you, Jankowski! Fox, prepare for a suicide dive!"
"Are you nuts?!"
"I'd rather go down fighting these basterds than end up dead for nothing!" James yelled, spinning his ship around and diving at the Iceni. The flack bursts threatened to knock his fighter off course; James stayed steady, launching KD-15 Trebuchet missiles at the ship's beam cannons. Nothing worked; in a rare move for a capital ship of its size, the Iceni had shields. "Damn it, NOTHING works! If we just had a capital ship…"
As if on cue, a large ship jumped in, spraying ion cannon fire. Captain Jankowski struggled to keep himself from falling over as his ship shook about, its shields and weapons loosing some of their power due to the positive ion particles bombarding his ship, stealing electrons from their power systems. "This is captain Jankowski of the New Galactic Order. Identify yourself!"
Wolf O'Donnell appeared on the vidcom screen. "This is Lord O'Donnell, current commander of the cruiser Warhammer. Power down your weapon systems and prepare to be boarded, or we will force you to power down."
"Never! The New Galactic Order will not be pushed around by the likes of you, filth!" Jankowski yelled, spitting at the screen.
"So be it. Lord O'Donnell out."
The Warhammer continued its assault, shutting down all systems except for life support. A small ship moved in on the Iceni, docking and unloading its deadly cargo of combat droids. "You'll never have me alive!" Jankowski yelled over comms.
"All things considered, I don't give a shit if those combat droids that are now on your ship kill you or not. If they do, it makes my job easier. If not… I'll still be killing you. I've got a mission, and I intend to carry it out."
James recognized something about Wolf's statement. "Hang on, go to encryption level three."
"What is it, Freeman?"
"You're with Special Operations Command, aren't you?"
"Bingo! Omega-level, too."
"Same. They never give anybody except a few commanders the list of omega-level personnel. Why a pirate, though?"
"I already was a pirate when I joined SOC, and it was the perfect cover to attack Andross from. And besides, it got that bounty off my head."
James heard a beeping coming from his comms unit. "Direct communication from General Pepper, putting on screen and deactivating encryption."
"James, GET BACK HERE! The Faustus was just a diversion! We're under attack by the NGO Navy AND Andross!"
"CRAP! Alright, people, maximum burn! We need to get back to Corneria, and FAST!"
AN: the power of SNAFU strikes again. Prepare for a ridiculously huge plot twist…