Shattered Lylat: The Fragmentation War
Chapter 5
Finally,
Your final resting day
Is without me
I weep
And think of brighter days
What about me?
You can't take back, the one mistake
That still lives on after life it takes
In that one day, that changed our lives
And bitter memories are left behind
The Offspring
- "End of the Line"***
Ed flew his Arwing out of the Black Knight's hangar bay and headed down to the surface to commence patrols. He noticed that the Imperials weren't trying anything, and that made him nervous. They aren't even sending out their own patrols. What the hell is going on here?
He didn't know that two hours from now, his worst fears were about to come true.
***
"This is Fox, nothing going on over here, moving to next sector. With all respect, Lt. General Davidson, I don't like this one bit."
Fox was patrolling along with his squadron and Rouge Farrell's Fortune Squadron. They were patrolling the northeast sector of reported Imperial LZs, but so far, nothing showed up.
"I don't like it either" came Rainier Davidson's voice over the comm. "That's why we need to find the Imperials and see what they're up to."
As Fox flew on, his thoughts turned back towards Fara. He hadn't proposed to her, but he had asked hypothetically if she ever wanted to marry. She said she wasn't sure, said it all depended on what was going on. This hardened Fox's resolve to find a quick solution to this war so that he could propose to her. He was sick of every day seeming like wasted time, time that he could've spent trying to propose.
What Fox didn't know is that this war would neither be quick nor simple, and he was going to lose a lot more than time in the long run.
***
Across the lines, CDF bombers made attacks on Imperial dropships, destroying 15 and a large number of groundcraft as well. This didn't elict a response from the Imperials, however, save for defending gunfire.
***
Cornerian Orbit, 1130 hoursFighter patrols reported to Admiral Collins that the situation had not changed, the Imperial warships seemed to just be hanging back, not even sending patrols of their own out. This doesn't add up! The arctic fox thought to himself. This could only mean they might be gearing up for something big…
Collins opened a channel to Admiral Smith on board the Prometheus and told him his thought
"I agree" Smith said "The Imperials are up to something. I'll try and get their attention."
***
Admiral Kevin Smith moved his battlegroup of 8 Bayonet cruisers into range of one of the Imperial fleets. The fleet simply consisted of an Aggressor carrier and three Intimidator Cruisers. When in range, the panda had all the cruisers fire their heavy naval laser cannons. The beams punched holes through all 4 ships, ripping apart the carrier and two of the Intimidators. The last Intimidator slowly limped after the DSF ships, scouring some armor off of the Prometheus with its own heavy naval laser. Smith dropped his cruisers back…and the Intimidator stopped pursuing.
What the…
the Admiral thought. Then the realization hit him. "Admiral Collins, the Imperials are marshalling their fleets for a massive attack! That's why they didn't pursue me!""Oh…shit!" was all Collins could say. He knew that a mass assault would be devastating, and the CDF/DSF Naval Forces could not hope to win such a fight. "I'm letting General Pepper know about this right away!"
***
Fox did a high-speed flyby of numerous Imperial LZs. He saw that it looked like the forces were grouping But for what? He thought. Then it hit him. He contacted Ed. "Ed, you were right! The enemy ground forces are organizing for a major offensive…ALL OF THEM!!!"
"Fuck…I didn't think they'd try it. They really want us to be killed here." Ed responded
***
Ed got a communiqué from ROB-2, stating that the enemy fleet was massing for assault, and as per Ed's orders he had contacted all military commanders to tell them that Ed wanted to meet with them immediately.
Ed radioed in to General Pepper "General, enemy forces massing for major assault. I am returning to base in 2 minutes. I want to meet with every military commander when I get there."
"Why?"
"Because I have a plan to get us out of this shit alive."
"I'll see what I can do."
***
Briefing Room, CDF Military Base Alpha, Corneria City, 2 minutes laterEd was talking to all the CDF and DSF generals and admirals, either in person or by vidcom. He also had asked that Fox and Jason show up for the meeting, since he valued their input.
"Trying to defend against this massive assault is suicide, plain and simple." Ed said "In all aspects we are vastly outnumbered."
"So what do we do?" asked Vice Admiral Jason Gestahl.
"We run. I hate the idea, but now it's our only option. Let the Imperials have Corneria, and work out a way to take it back, because right now, playing defense is just going to get us killed."
"Unacceptable, merc," Gestahl's voice was dripping with contempt. "This is our home, we can't let it go."
"You aren't listening to a damn thing he's saying!" Fox shot back as he leapt to his feet "If we dig in, they'll just run us over! If we retreat, then we can live to fight another day!"
"Where would we go?" Admiral Collins asked
"Well, the Imperials bypassed Katina, that's a good place to start." Ed said
"What do you mean, to start?" Asked Mike Wilson
"The Imperials may or may not be satisfied with taking Corneria. If not, they'll want Katina next. So we need another location to fall back from Katina to."
"I suggest Zoness." Jason Kage said
"Too open…for the entire CDF." Ed said "Sector X is our safest bet. There is enough EM interference to prevent Imperial scans from detecting us easily."
"I agree," said the DSF Air Force commander, General Miles Locke. "But maybe splitting the fleet and sending about a third of it to Zoness first would be a nice distraction. "
"And…with it being close to Venom, the Imperials would fear a sneak attack and have to divert their fleets…good…very good." Admiral Collins said.
"What about civilians?" Gestahl asked
General Pepper cut in. "Arspace Dynamics has created an 'ark ship' that we were going to use for deep space exploration…but now we should use it to take civilians with us…just in case. We can take 75,000 from Corneria, and 75,000 from Katina. Arspace is handling all that as we speak."
"I think we should also keep a small force here to carry out guerrilla actions against the Imperials, you know, piss them off." Lt. General Magnusson said.
"I have a candidate." Pepper said as he hit a button opening another vidcom window. It displayed a red fox wearing a CDF uniform and had the rank of Colonel.
"Colonel J.R. Ackerson of the 5th CDF Rangers Battalion reporting, sirs." The fox said.
"Colonel, the situation on Corneria is, as you know, grim. We have decided to retreat from the planet and try to resist the Imperials elsewhere. What we need you to do is have your battalion stay on planet, and operate from the underground bases to carry out guerrilla actions against the Imperial occupation forces."
"I won't let you down sir. My men are the best at this line of work." Ackerson said. "Save for…the Shadow Wing."
"Well, we're going to need them where we're going, assuming Alpha Company ever signals us back." Magnusson said.
"Back to the issue at hand. Who will we send to Zoness?"
Magnusson responded "I'll take the 5th, 7th and 8th air wings there. All we need now is naval support."
"Let's have Commodore Snipes take the 4th fleet there." Admiral Collins said "They are largely undamaged."
"Okay then. We move out as soon as possible. Collins, make preparations to break the fleets out of orbit." Pepper said "As for you three." Pepper said to Ed, Fox, and Jason "We need you, as well as the rest of the defense teams, to buy time for the Royal Family and the command staff to evacuate."
"Got it." Ed said
"You can count on us" Jason responded
"Won't let ya down" Fox said
"Good, everyone is dismissed." Pepper said. The soldiers couldn't clear out fast enough.
***
5 minutes laterThey came by the hundreds. The ground and air forces of the Imperials were converging on Corneria City. Of course, they were 5 minutes early, but Caine didn't give a shit at that point.
Meanwhile, Ed was flying head-on at the oncoming fighters and combots, ready take them all on, and he was not alone.
For 10 minutes a massive aerial and ground battle raged. Nova Bombs exploded all around. Laser fire was exchanged, ARCHER Missiles and artillery rounds demolished tanks and MACS alike. Then the fighters of the CDF and DSF began to fall under the superior numbers, as did the tanks. Ed was relieved when he got the call to retreat to the base, where ships were waiting to evacuate them. As he flew back, Ed noticed gunfire in the middle of the city, and he flew down to investigate.
***
2 minutes earlierLieutenant William Black was a pilot of Husky Squadron, and the unit's chaplain. This had earned him the nickname "Bishop" by his wingmen. Currently, he was on injury leave due to a chest wound he got during the Battle of Corneria 3 months prior. He spent this time by serving as the priest at St. Mary's church in Corneria City. He had voluntarily chosen to stay behind after the city was evacuated, since he was still a soldier of the CDF. When he saw two Diamondback Tanks, two Flanker MACS, and 10 Imperial soldiers heading for the church, he grabbed the rocket launcher and K21 that Captain Grey had let him appropriate from surplus storage. He also grabbed a megaphone. The gray fox got up on the balcony of the cathedral and shouted into the megaphone.
"Hear me, Imperial scum! As God as my witness and as my protector, thou shalt get thine ass kicked!"
With that, he opened fire with the K21. The Imperial soldiers flew through the air as the bullets hit them, and they crumpled over dead. Machine gun fire from the tanks forced Black to take cover, and he returned it with the rocket launcher, destroying one of the Diamondbacks. As the three remaining units brought their guns up, 4 black Arwings thundered overhead, using lasers and LRMs to reduce the MACS and the tank to scrap metal.
"Well, if it isn't Billy "Bishop" Black." Ed Wallace's voice came over the external speakers "Long time no see."
"Good timing, Ed. And you're right; it has been a while. I haven't seen you since the Academy." Black responded
"Listen, things have gone to hell here, so the CDF is deciding to get out of here. Head to the base and board the Black Knight." Ed said
"Okay, I'm on my way there" with that, Billy ran towards the base
***
2 minutes later
Ed was not surprised to see the ships waiting were the Great Fox, the Black Knight (which he knew about), and the Phantron. Ed parked his Arwing in the hangar bay of his cruiser and was glad to find that his squadron had survived unscathed, as had Shadow Wing and Starfox. However, Ed found out Fox had seized the base's comm unit and was frantically shouting into it.
Ed then found out why that was.
***
Cornerian PlainsFara and her squadron had been trapped by the enemy, and were unable to disengage. The squad was down to Fara and two other pilots, and they were trying to stop the enemy from reaching the ships, as well as stay alive.
Fara's comm crackled. It was Fox. "Fara, get the hell out of there!"
Fara rolled to avoid gattling fire as she responded "I'm sorry, but I can't! Things are too hot up here! Go without me!" Fara could see the base from where she was, and she knew Fox could probably see her as well.
"Fara, I'm begging you, please get out of there! We're all ready to go!" Fara could see Fox was on the verge of breakdown. She didn't even see the particle beam that hit her Arwing's cockpit. The glass exploded out, and consoles blew up. Fara felt a sharp pain in her right side, and noticed a shard of glass had stabbed her in the torso, blood flowing profusely from the wound. She was hit with a wave nausea, her vision tunneling.
"FARA!!! Are you okay!?" Fox shouted
"Hit…pretty bad. I'm sorry Fox but there's only one course left for me now. I'm going to take my ship right into the middle of the oncoming forces…and…"
"No! You can't!!!"
"I have no choice now. Goodbye, Fox. I love you." Fara said as she disabled the comm. Fighting unconsciousness, she flew at the oncoming ships, gunfire tearing away at her Arwing. She flew dead on at a Shogun Warlord MAC, released a nova bomb, then rushed to meet her oblivion as the MAC and her Arwing crossed paths.
***
Looking through field binoculars, Fox watched as Fara's Arwing sliced through the Shogun Warlord, and was then thrown into the air as it was consumed by the nova bomb, along with numerous Imperial vehicles. The last thing Fox saw of Fara was her flame engulfed fighter falling to the ground. "No…" Fox said as the binoculars and the comm unit slipped from his grasp. "I'm going after her!" Fox said as he ran towards his Arwing.
Ed caught up to him "No you aren't, that's suicide!" he said grabbing Fox by the arm.
"I don't fucking care!" Fox shouted as he tried to pull away, tears running down his face.
I can only imagine how bad he must feel, but we don't have time for this shit.
Ed thought.Ed brought his fist back and caught Fox on the jaw, knocking the vulpine unconscious. Ed picked up his unconscious comrade and ran over to the Great Fox. He handed Fox over to Falco "Put him in his quarters, lock 'em down, and don't leave any guns or sharp objects in his reach." Ed said.
"Uh…sure…whatever." Falco said
"I'm not kidding. He's tweaked. He just saw Fara die, and I don't think you want to leave things to chance." Ed said.
"Right." Falco said as he pulled Fox inside the ship and shut the door.
Ed heard explosions nearing, and decided to get moving back to the Black Knight.
***
Black Knight, 30 seconds later- "Is everyone on board?" General Pepper asked once Ed stepped onto the bridge
"Everyone…that could make it." Ed said solemnly. "Fara was the only wing commander out of the 6 CDF defense wings that didn't survive. In fact…Phoenix Squadron is all gone. All members of the royal family did make it, however." Ed had learned that the Phantron was being used as the temporary transport for the Davidsons. Makes sense, Dante is in Shadow Wing, and a stealth ship would be ideal for transporting VIFs. Ed thought. He was also glad to have learned that Billy had made it as well.
"Well, then we must get moving." The General said "All ships prepare to move on outbound vector towards Katinan jump point near Meteo."
As the ships began to take off, an emergency call came in from Vice Admiral Gestahl. "The Imperial Fleet is hitting us pretty hard! Don't know how long we can take this!"
"You just need to hold for 15 minutes." Pepper said
"We'll do what we can." Gestahl responded.
END CHAPTER 5
