Chapter 10
"There once was a man from McGras..."
"Who's balls were made of fine brass."
"And in stormy weather they both clang together..."
"And sparks flew out of his ass."
-It's Irish and I don't know- (But it's still funny.)
Fox woke to the sound of the intercom, calling him to the bridge...some still weren't used to the fact that he wasn't captain of the ship anymore. As he looked at Krystal he couldn't force himself to wake her...whatever she saw last night must have been bad. He slid out of the bed and put on his clothes from the previous day...vowing to change later. He kissed the sleeping vixen on the muzzle causing her lip to twitch, and made his way to the bridge, where he entered with a deep yawn...
"What's up O'Donnell?" He asked noticing that Wolf was still on the bridge. "What time is it?"
ROB answered his second question first, "The current Cornerian time is 3:38 am."
Wolf signaled Fox over to the window that overlooked the asteroid field, "Look at that..." He said pointing near a large asteroid in the distance.
Fox tried to see what he was pointing at but couldn't, "You know not everyone has a bionic eye..." Fox said turning to ROB, "Hey ROB zoom the screen in on that large asteroid near sector 4..." Fox said pointing to the spot Wolf had shown him.
After a few key taps the two way window, and screen displayed a small square that grew until it was as large as the screen itself. Now displayed was the image of a small ship about the Great Fox's size on the southernmost part of the asteroid, it had an elongated square body with a rounded front end, and two small wings near it's dead engines...it seemed to be riding the large asteroid the way they were.
"Completely bypassed our scanners..." Wolf said.
"ROB give us a read out on that thing." Fox said jumping in the captain's seat.
After a minute or so he looked at the seat's laptop screen, "It's Titainian...destroyer class cruiser..." Fox's eyes widened for a moment, "...That thing's got a Neutrino Laser."
Wolf turned in shock, "On a ship that small?" He asked making his way to the laptop. "How in the hell is she powering it without killing off her fuel cells?"
"Hang on..." Fox said pushing the laptop aside, "If she is Cerinian...what if she were feeding her magic through the weapon's intake drive?"
"Hmmm..." Wolf scratched his neck for a moment, "...magic has it's limits you know. I know you have to be of specific inheritance to use it but...using too much at once could still kill you."
"Yeah but...I remember Krystal telling me something about her staff..." Fox started, "...she told me that every clan in on Cerinia had one or in some cases a few. She said they were like...magic enhancing mediums, the more powerful your family line the stronger the staff...what if she's using on routed into the weapon's main intake drive. Then it would take only a small amount of power to fire the weapon."
"Either way...this is no idle matter," Wolf said looking back at the small ship, "That thing's a planet killer."
"Even if she has no intention to use it...we have to get that thing offline if it's active."
000
Fox went back to his room to find Krystal was still sleeping; he lightly chuckled at the very low snore coming from her, it was so soft and quiet one could have mistaken it for simple breathing. He gathered together his uniform then as he promised himself he headed into the bathroom for a hot shower. When he emerged he wasn't surprised that Krystal was still sleeping...she'd given him a pretty bad scare last night. Fox had no doubt in his mind that what she said was true...if he fought Cursed he was going to die...for the time he simply pushed the thoughts aside. He was simply happy that he'd woken up next to her. Fox quietly headed out of the room and to the galley for a very early breakfast as he sat down to a light breakfast of bacon, eggs and toast he noticed the clock that hung over the door to the galley...4:04. He was well aware of Krystal's normal sleeping schedule, she wouldn't be up for at least another four hours...and they wouldn't be able to make a move on that ship until Cursed lifted it's shields.
As Fox sat there sipping at a cup of fresh coffee he was called to the bridge. As usual the walk only took a few minutes before he made his way onto the bridge, as soon as he was inside he noticed the viewing window...a small craft was heading toward the large ship they'd been watching.
"So what's the plan?" Wolf asked.
Fox's natural quick thinking kicked in before he could remember he wasn't the captain, "You lead her off in a chase and Krys and I'll go in and take out that weapon then when you retreat and she heads back we'll trap her."
"She's not that stupid Fox she'll just reactivate the shield..." Wolf replied.
"I'm certain she will.." Fox replied with a cocky smirk. "...just get ready I'll wake Krystal up."
Fox rushed out the door and down the hall to his room where he heard the same near inaudible snore as before...
He made his way to her bedside and shook her a bit, "Krys...Hey! Krystal!" She woke for a moment and smiled before falling back to her pillow snoring again, "Krystal it's show time...we gotta go!"
Again he received no response but, this time he though of something. He threw the covers off of her and lifted her into his arms, still asleep, then he carried her to the bathroom and lay her in the tub. He reached for the control pad and pressed the temperature to 44degrees. As soon as the icy cold water met her fur she leapt from her sleep flailing about for a moment like a fish out of water, before tumbling out of the tub and onto the floor shivering...
She gave Fox a look that could have killed, "What the hell Fox!!?" She yelled slugging him in the arm.
"Sorry but you wouldn't wake up.." Fox replied rubbing his now bruised arm.
"Still you didn't have to go so far." She replied shivering.
"Well...we just spotted Cursed. So we kinda need you awake."
Krystal removed the soaked nightgown she'd been wearing and threw it in his face causing him to throw it quickly to the ground as it felt like ice, "W-w-w-w well...y-you go g-get mmm-my uniform...I th-th-think a warmer shower's in o-o-order." She stuttered from the chill that gripped her.
Fox did as she asked and brought her uniform from her room and lay it on his bed, he started to leave the room when he heard something. An almost hypnotic melody being sung in a mesmerizing beautiful voice coming from the bathroom...he was dumbstruck, he'd never heard her sing before, but the song was so familiar. Though the words were in Cerinian it didn't seem to matter the sheer tone of the melody made him...it made him want to cry for some reason. It was a sad melody, it made him feel like he was the only person in the universe. He became so lost in though from the song as he stared at the floor that he didn't even notice when she came in and began to get dressed...
Krystal noticed his downhearted look as she finished putting on her outfit, "What's wrong Fox?"
"What was that you were singing in there?" He asked looking at the floor still.
"A Cerinian song...it tells a story...it's called "The Last Requiem"..."
Fox sighed as he looked up, "I'd like to hear that story some day."
"Well..." She said taking her staff from the wall...she'd given it to him some time ago, "...if you remember to ask me after we finish this mission maybe I'll tell you."
As soon as they reached the docking bay, they noticed that Wolf had already left and Sarah was waiting for them near Fox's arwing.
"You get what we needed?" Fox asked.
"Yeah Wolf's leading her away right now...as soon as you call me I'll patch the codes through and get the shields lowered and the docking bay opened."
At this point Fox and Krystal were already aboard their different arwings, "Good we'll contact you as soon as we get in range of the ship."
000
Their trip to the ship was not long after coming in range of it's scanners Fox opened a transmission to the Great Fox which was picked up by Sarah.
"You ready?" She asked.
"Yeah..."
The override codes would only last a few seconds before the other ship's computers caught on and eventually locked down the ship's systems. As soon as the doors began to open the two arwings engines flared with a blue light, and they shot forward with incredible speed...Fox's notions had been correct the door wasn't open for ten seconds before they slowly began to close. Krystal's arwing barely made it through the narrow opening of the doors, but, Fox lost part of a wing as it collided with the thick closing doors. His ship slammed into the landing area with jarring force and he could hear the sharp screech of the belly of his arwing scraping across the metal floor...it came to a sudden stop as his ship collided with a far wall.
As soon as the bay doors were closed Fox jumped out of his wrecked ship, all those repairs for nothing. As he turned to Krystal's ship the vixen was already wrapped around him in a tight hug...
"Fox are you okay?!" She shouted.
Fox pulled her away, now was not the time, "Krys I'm fine..." He said with a smile, "...I've walked away from worse landings. As for now though we need to find and take out that weapon."
The massive hanger was bigger than that of the Great Fox by several times, it's walls were more rusty though, there were no ships in the large room but, it was stacked high with large metal crates. Fox approached one and studied the large white words printed on it's side; Corneria Armed Forces...that was odd. He looked to another Katina Armed Forces...
"Weapons smuggler." Fox almost whispered.
"I thought she was a bounty hunter." Krystal pointed out as she touched one of the crates.
"So did I but...the question is...Who is she delivering for?" Fox asked, "These are munitions...more than enough to start a war...I mean look at this..." Fox said moving from one crate to another, "scud missiles, chain guns, blaster rifles, grenades, everything. She's got enough high explosives here to take out a small city."
They kept themselves armed, Fox with his blaster and Krystal holding her staff...the green jewel on top lit with the magic that coursed though it, ready to strike at a moment's notice. The halls of this ship weren't quite as narrow as the ones on the Great Fox...but Fox was familiar with the layout as he'd been aboard the particular model before. It was a much older ship...possibly selected to keep up low appearances.
"Where do you think this cannon is located?" Krystal asked as they began to approach an elevator.
"By the placement on the ship...third deck." Fox said as they summoned the elevator, "These older ships had only about two or three decks. They were used for drug running too much though and were out molded...I'd like to know where she found this thing in this year. It's obviously been modified to a highly illegal level. Who the hell is she working for?"
They rode the elevator down to the third deck...Fox was amazed to realize that the entirety of the ship's third deck had been reconstructed around the large weapon but something wasn't right about the cannon's intake system. It's back end was roughly square in shape but, there was an enormous conduit plug...like it was meant to be fixed to another ship...this was only a transport item...she was delivering it, it was just too large to use an normal cargo. They could have shipped it in separate parts but whoever wanted it wanted it instantly operational.
Fox leapt onto the weapon and began to climb...
"What are you doing up there?" Krystal asked.
"Looking for the intake drive..." Fox answered as he suddenly stopped, "...if I crosswire the intake relays it'll blow as soon as they try to fire it." He said going to work on removing a large panel.
Within a minute he had replaced the panel having done his job and jumped down...he nodded to Krystal and the two headed back toward the docking bay. But as they approached the large metal doors there was a familiar sound, engines cutting out, and bay doors closing. Fox and Krystal walked inside and quickly hid behind one of the large crates, the ship that had landed was a modified Wolfen...and now standing beside it was the spitting image of Krystal that Fox had seen before...though this Krystal was a bit taller and was filled a bit more in certain places. She was dressed in a black and blue uniform...
"I can't believe I lost him!!" She screamed in furry kicking the side of her ship.
As she frustrated lay her forehead against the side of her ship she noticed something on the ground and picked it up to study it. Part of an Arwing's fuselage...this drew her attention to the still smoking arwing that lay against the docking bay's far wall, as well as the perfectly docked one that was docked several yards away. As she saw this a rather perturbed expression wiped over her face, from behind her she produced a small golden staff, it was less than half the size of Krystal's but then something moved a thin blade slid from each end of the staff...now they were roughly the same size. She spun the bladed staff around once bringing it to a rest tucked behind her arm. As she began to slowly walked through the docking bay she sniffed about the air...
"There is no use in hiding..." She shouted to the hiding vulpines, "...Computer total lockdown on docking bay. Your only way out now is through me."
As the two hid Fox slowly drew his sword, "I'll stall her you find us a way out of here."
"Fox..."
Fox cut her off with a rather powerful kiss, "Don't worry I didn't forget..."
As Fox stepped from behind the crate he scraped the tip of his sword against the ground, the katana's tip screeched horribly as it peeled away a small thin curl of metal...The vixen smiled insidiously as she saw his face, it was a distant but familiar smile...something from his past...
She let out a maniacal laugh, "Is that you McCloud? It's been what...five years?"
Fox's confused look was enough to tell he had no idea what she was talking about...
"Oh come now McCloud...we've had such a colorful past..." She gathered a disappointed look, "...oh don't tell me you'd forget such an old friend..." As she kept talking her voice seemed to change from one similar to Krystal's to a dominating male voice that boomed through the room, "...OR DOSE THIS HELP!!"
The sheer sound of the voice dropped Fox to one knee as memories began to flood back again, as they did fresh blood began to drip from his nose and his eyes momentarily rolled into the back of his head. Once he recovered from the shock his face snarled into a menacing stare, his lips curled baring his teeth and the hair on the back of his neck stood on end...
"Andross..." He growled clutching his sword in both hands.
"Hmmmm...interesting side effect perhaps the nanites are not perfect after all..." Andross voiced through the Cerinian girl, "...Oh well. Now where is that stunning young creature you've been spending so much time with. These Cerinians make such useful slaves...it's too bad their little planet had to go isn't it?" He finished with an evil chuckle.
"It was you...you destroyed Krystal's home."
"Krystal? Is that her name?" Andross asked looking toward the vixen as she was attempting to open the doors, "I think I'll keep her...instead of destroying her."
Fox's expression grew even more feral as he blocked Andross's view of Krystal, "Don't you dare touch her!" Fox growled swinging the point of his weapon into position in front of the possessed vixen's face.
Andross sighed heavily, "Now Fox...don't tell me you went and made the same stupid mistake as that half wit James...falling in love with a Cerinian. You McClouds will settle for nothing but the best will you? That was why your father had to die, as well as your mother."
As Fox listened his anger soon piled into a rage, he felt his grip growing ever tighter and soon for some reason the sleeves of his jacket burst, his arms had doubled in size in a matter of seconds. Fox could feel every muscle in his body burning with the desire to kill this person but, as he recalled Krystal's desperate words the other night his rage subsided, his arms returned to their original size. Andross readied his weapon for a fight but, Fox did not share his enthusiasm. He looked back to Krystal and then back to her double, he shed a tear as his weapon fell to the ground..."I trust you Krystal..." His words were cut off by the flames of pain that shot through his body as the incredibly sharp blade of Andross's staff slid through his abdomen just below his ribs and exited his back.
000
Krystal had only found the door impossible to open when she turned to see the grizzly sight of a spray of blood exploding from the blade's exit wound in Fox's back. Her horror was only multiplied as she watched his lifeless body fall to the ground spilling a pool of blood. Nothing else mattered now, she rushed toward him ignoring the vixen that was now poised to strike her down. As she ran toward Fox's downed body she noticed the vixen began to swing at her head in a spinning motion, but in a single motion Krystal dropped to her knees sliding under the blade at the same time extending her collapsed staff now kneeling behind the vixen Krystal thrust the smaller tip of her staff into and through the vixen's chest narrowly missing her heart. Krystal's double let out a painful scream before collapsing to the floor, but at the moment Krystal could care less. She sat by Fox's side and lifted his head into her lap stroking the fur on his face...
"Krys...stal..." He moaned reaching to her face with a blood-soaked hand.
"Shut up..." She said grabbing his hand, "...you need to save your strength."
There were fresh tears streaming through the delicate fur on her face...
"I'm...sorry..." Fox said in a weak voice, "...I...just wish...I could see your face...one last time." Fox almost whispered as his sight had left him moments before she arrived.
"Don't talk like that..." Krystal ordered him choking back the sobs that were hiding behind her tears, "...you're going to be fine."
Fox's hand grasped hers as he smiled, "I...love...you."
As the last words fell from his lip his body went limp and his had slid from hers leaving behind the ring he'd given her before. She shook him...desperately trying to wake him up, her sobs no longer hidden echoing through the halls of the unfamiliar ship...
After a few moments she began to violently shake the fallen vulpine shouting at him, "Fox wake up!!! Wake up!!" She said sliding on the ring and holding it in front of his face, "Look I'm wearing your damned ring just please..." Her sobs came again as she collapsed against him, "...wake up."
"FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOX!!!!!"