This is a Re-post, 'cause I'd realised I'd forgotton some small details and it was bugging me.
Starfox Evil
Book II
Chapter Nineteen: Whispers in the Dark
David Schwartz, current Emperor of the System of Lylat, stood on the main observation deck of the city-station Pavilion. In front of him were dozens of news crews and cameras, behind him, the massive windows that looked down on the planet Cornaria. The massive explosions that had rocked the surface an hour ago had left massive columns of smoke in the air, along with an unknown quantity and quality of T-virus.
"I am sorry, people of Lylat. You chose me to be your emperor. And as your emperor it was my duty to orchestrate the defense of the empire. I have failed at this. As many of you are aware, two weeks ago a viral agent know as the T-virus was released in Cornaria City. It was contained. Now the man who released that initial outbreak has finished the job. With his dying breath Albert Wesker unleashed his plague upon us, intending to take the entire planet with him. In order to stop him I have ordered the immediate evacuation of the planet's surface. I have called the entire armada back to Cornaria in an attempt to speed the process.
If each citizen will please proceed directly to their nearest spaceport or military base, there you will be scanned and given a dose of the anti-virus if found to be infected. The uninfected will be immediately evacuated while the infected shall be moved to quarantine. Due to the highly contagious nature of the T-virus, I implore you all, to avoid contact with any known infected, and avoid the victims of the virus at all costs. If you do not think you can make it to any facility then our search and rescue teams will find you.
I'll turn the floor over to Mr. Fox McCloud."
The various cameras turned to Fox as he walked up and stood to David's right.
"Thank you Emperor Schwartz. I have been brought in to warn you about these things."
Fox took a breath before walking over to a large monitor. After touching the screen an image of Cornaria City popped up.
"This is footage from a traffic camera during the outbreak in Cornaria City."
Touching the screen again Fox played a short clip, "As you can see, the infected are highly aggressive and very fast. The virus also increases their physical strength, and completely removes their dependency on their vital organs, such as the heart and lungs. Thus the infected are extremely difficult to kill, so avoid them at all costs. They are attracted to sound, so stay as quiet as possible. Also, depending on the infected's species and olfactory condition upon death, they will also be able to smell you, so stay downwind when possible.
If you are faced with an infected and cannot get away, there are ways to kill them. Sever the top of the spinal column", the screen changed to show a C.G. image depicting a neck being snapped, "Or shoot them in the head", again the image changed, "Again, avoid the infected whenever possible, These tactics are absolutely your last resort. This message will be repeated over all television channels on a constant basis. Stay safe everyone."
Fox then stepped back into the crowd, a few cameras following him as David again took the center to take questions. Fox moved quickly thru the crowd and headed back towards his quarters, where Krystal and the children were waiting. As he entered the room Fox heard Emily crying and Krystal whispering to her.
"It's alright baby. I know how it hurts."
Walking to the bedroom Fox leaned in the doorway and said, "How is she?"
Krystal looked up at him and gave a small smile, "Better. I've got her telepathic center under control, but it's still going to be hard on her", looking over her shoulder at Falco, who was sitting by Emily's side and holding her hand, Krystal said, "Her mind is so strong Fox. Far stronger than it should be at her age."
The two adults walked back out into the living room where they sat on the lone sofa, Fox cradling Krystal in his arms. The blue vixen looked up at her husband and said, "What about you? How are you recovering?"
Fox sighed and held out his left hand., concentrating. After a brief moment a small silver ball, maybe an inch across formed, "That's about all I can do. Whatever Wesker gave me has damaged my abilities beyond their ability to heal. At least I can still sense your wellbeing, even if I can't talk to you anymore."
Krystal nodded, "Yes. At least there's that."
After a minute of silence Fox patted Krystal's shoulder to get her attention and said, "I'm going to ask Captain Price for a shuttle. I'm going to help in the evacuation."
Krystal started to speak but stopped, sighing, "Fine. But be careful."
Fox chuckled and kissed the top of her head, "When am I not?"
On the surface…
In nearly every city and town on the surface police sirens wailed as the infection spread. Most major cities were in total anarchy as people tried to evacuate as cops and soldiers fought the ravenous dead. Small towns were bloating to enormous size as refugees swarmed to them on their way to the military bases. The nuclear explosives, which Wesker had built himself from advanced Lylatian materials, had produced EMP waves that had fried every single active piece of technology on the planet that didn't have military shielding. Nearly all cars, both air and ground models, became so many useless hunks of metal. Power circuits blew out in houses all over the planet, plunging it into a darkness it hadn't seen for millennia.
Only emergency generators kept the hospitals and prisons running, not that it mattered. The hospitals were the first to be overrun, as the virus's airborne strain infected anyone with a weakened immune system, and it burned thru them quickly, killing and reviving them to spread the virus again.
As the civilians poured into the military bases later that day hundreds of shuttles lifted off, carrying their maximum capacities back up into space.
Emperor Schwartz had seen the numbers, and they sickened him. Conservative estimations had shown a sixty-five percent fatality rate, simply because there weren't enough ships available to evacuate everyone. Even with a large supply of antivirus available, a fortuitous decision by Fox and Peppy years ago, the bases would still be overrun. These things never tired, never faltered in their determination, whereas the survivors did. As David stood on the observation deck onboard Pavillion he watched the crown jewel of his empire burn and fall.
Behind him he heard the doors part and someone enter and he smiled as he recognized the slight limp, and the sound of a cane.
"General Hare. Nice to know you made it quickly."
Peppy snapped to attention as best he could and saluted, "The Leonidus is at your service Sire."
David glanced at the interceptor floating into orbit and nodded, "Start your landing process immediately. Gather as many survivors as you can, we'll treat them up here. Unless they are obviously infected bring them up."
Peppy arched his brow and said, "And if it's obvious Sir?"
David looked over his shoulder and said grimly, "Then put them down."
Peppy nodded grimly and saluted, before turning and marching out of the room…
Twenty minutes later The Leonidus touched down on the landing pad at Military Outpost 35. As they lowered the main boarding ramp and started letting in survivors they heard blaster fire start from atop the walls. Each refugee was quickly scanned by a guard. If found to carry the virus they were separated from the group, sometimes none too kindly, and placed in another group, where they were given a dose of the anti-virus and told to wait. As the day wore on if they showed no more symptoms then they were boarded and sent away.
It was in the final waning hours of daylight that Fox's shuttle touched down at that same outpost and the vulpine disembarked, moving towards the officer's mess to grab some much needed food. As he flopped down at one of the plain metal tables, his tray full of simple food, a sandwich, bowl of soup, and a single soda. After eating and feeling refreshed he walked back towards his shuttle. As he passed the group that had failed the scans Fox closed his eyes and did his best to ignore the cries coming from that group. Suddenly he heard another warning shout from the walls.
"What the hell is that thing?"
Drawing his sidearm out of reflex Fox ran over to the stairs and mounted the wall. Right as he reached the top he heard a distinct roar and had to duck as a Landmaster came flying thru the air and crashed on the landing pad.
"Good Lord there's another one!"
Fox finally looked over the wall and balked at what he saw. Turning to the soldiers he said, "Don't just stand there! Fire!"
Fifteen blasters targeted the massive Tanks and opened up. But the small rounds had little effect as the twin beasts roared again and began pounding on the front gates, each impact causing the foot thick steel doors to shake and vibrate in their frames. Fox swallowed hard as he saw that the rifles didn't have the firepower to drop the behemoths, So thinking quickly he turned and vaulted off the wall, rolling as he hit the ground twenty feet below and running straight for his shuttle. Running in the open rear hatch, past the civilians who'd been cleared and loaded, Fox heard the gates give a warning groan as they prepared to fail .
And as the shuttle's engines roared to life, lifting it from the ground, those gates finally caved. Four hundred Marines had gathered in the courtyard and each began firing at the gates, but it was futile. With a final, thundering roar the gates flew open and in poured the flood of zombies. The sprinting undead quickly reached the defensive lines. And the soldiers did their best to fend them off.
But for every zombie that fell, it seemed as if three more took their place. Seeing this Fox swung the shuttle over and powered up it's wing tip cannons and fired into the rushing swarm. The undead numbers thinned under the heavy blasts, and even the Tanks fell, blown to bits by the balls of burning energy. As the people below recovered Fox set the shuttle to hover and leaned out the back hatch, shouting.
"Get everyone on-board the Leonidus!"
Non-combat personnel and civilians began to run up the loading ramps and into the frigate while the surviving guards and marines protected them from the undead that managed to pass the bombardment of Fox's cannons. The doors slid closed as the last one ran aboard, however a group of six soldiers had gotten separated from the others and made a run for the wall. Fox opened a COM to the leader and said, "Get up high. I can't land this thing with those bastards in the yard."
After getting an affirmative from the sergeant in charge Fox unlocked the controls and swung the shuttle to hover above one of the guard towers, watching as the Leonidus lifted off with it's extremely precious cargo. He again locked the controls and set the shuttle to hover. Moving back into the troop bay he opened a weapon's locker, yanked out a carbine, loaded it and began firing on the hoard members that had caught up to the surviving marines. Fox growled as he watched one of them get tackled by a zombie and fall, screaming into the open air as the creature tore at his long lapine ears, until Fox put a bolt between it's eyes and it went still, falling from the wall as the soldier scrambled to his feet and ran.
The sergeant dropped to a kneel and turned, firing to cover his men as they ran into the ship. The marine fired until his weapon ran dry, and when it did he grasped the barrel in both hands and swung it like a bat, catching one of the infected in the jaw and sending it cart-wheeling off the ledge. He then threw the empty weapon at the hoard and drew his CEB-8, still firing. As the last marine fastened his harness Fox shouted, "Sergeant! Time to go!"
The vulpine moved back to the cockpit and unlocked the controls, lifting off as the soldier stepped on board. However, as they pulled away from the tower, swinging over the courtyard, a Tank leapt into the air and grabbed the closing rear hatch. Fox lurched in his seat as he felt the sudden doubling of the weight and fought with the controls as the shuttle began to spin. In the troop bay the sergeant, who had yet to fasten his harness, fell to the floor. At the sound of the rear hatch failing he rolled over and drew his side arm again and pulled the trigger.
The rear hatch tore away, along with a good portion of the hull as the Tank fought it's way inside. As the door began to fall the marine released the trigger, sending the overcharge straight into the Tank's roaring face. The resulting explosion tore away the back half of the shuttle, ripping away the tail section and sending the shuttle into a fatal spiral and sending the sergeant sliding into the boots of three of his men. Forcing his way to a seated position the marine watched as the seat opposite him, the one containing the wounded rabbit, tore away from the deck and both chair and soldier went sliding towards the opened back.
Throwing himself forwards the sergeant slid along the deck and out the back, grabbing a piece of the shuttle's frame just as his gloved hand slapped into the outstretched hand of the falling marine.
"T-thank's Gunny. Thought I was a goner."
The sergeant jerked his head up, "Climb yer skinny ass back inside Burns, I ain't holdin' ya all day!"
The rabbit nodded and quickly released his harness, sending his seat falling down to earth as he scrambled up into the crippled shuttle, which had roughly leveled out. After he helped his sergeant back inside the marine walked up to the cockpit and said, "Nice flyin' buddy."
Fox didn't look back as he said, "Don't thank me yet. That Tank did a number on us. We've lost our port thruster and obviously our hull integrity is fucked. We're not getting of the surface in this shuttle."
Pointing at the weapon's locker Fox said, "Green box in the bottom of that locker. There are some anti-virus injections."
The sergeant nodded his helmeted head and followed the directions, pulling out a single vial of the green serum. Fitting it into an injector gun he moved carefully out into the troop bay as the dying shuttle gave a sudden lurch. Behind him he heard Fox say, "Pavillion this is Retrieval One-One-Seven. Come in over."
Standing next to the re-seated Burns he gave him the dose and said, "That should do ya Private."
The rabbit rolled his neck and rubbed the injection spot, "Thanks Gunny."
Fox swallowed. This was bad. It was only a few hours until the quarantine would be set and the surface locked down. Pressing the COM he tried to raise the Pavillion, "Pavillion this is Retrieval One-One-Seven. Come in over."
He let out a relieved breath when he heard a response, "Retrieval One-One-Seven this is Pavillion, why are you not returning to orbit?"
Fox jumped as the fuel warning light flashed on, blinking LOW FUEL, "Pavillion! We have suffered terminal damage to our hull. We have a fuel leak, have lost our port thruster and the rear hatch is gone, we cannot break orbit. Request pickup and rescue at the coordinates I'm sending you."
After Fox activated the emergency transponder there was a brief pause, then, "Retrieval One-One-Seven, we have you at coordinates 30 degrees by 25 feet 36 inches North, 79 degrees by 40 feet 25 inches West. Please confirm."
Fox grunted as the dying engines gave a jolt, "Coordinates confirmed."
"Roger, Coordinates confirmed for the town of Spindal. We will send rescue upon your arrival at those coordinates. Over and out."
Then the link closed. At that moment Fox felt the engines die completely. For a moment there was a feeling of weightlessness, then they fell. The shuttle nosed over into a dive and Fox braced himself against the control panel.
In the back the marines and civilions did the same did the same, buckling themselves in tightly and crossing their arms over their chest to keep their harnesses tight. When the shuttle hit the ground, it's forward momentum caused it to dig a trench nearly three hundred yards long.
When it finally came to a rest the sergeant pulled himself from the wreckage first and looked around with his side arm drawn. Inside Private Burns grimaced at all the civilians, who had no armor t save them from the Gforces of the crash. stepping over a dead crow he rapped on the cockpit door, whispering, "Pilot! Are you alright?"
From inside he heard, "The door's jammed."
The young marine winced and muttered, "Great. We're gonna need a torch to get him out."
One of the other marines shrugged, "Then I guess we leave him."
Burns turned and looked at the faceplate of the one who had spoken, "I can't believe you said that Keiser. This guy risked his life to get us out of there and you want to just leave him to die?"
The marine shrugged again, "Well we can't get to him. And the quarantine is gonna kick in in about six hours, so we don't have the time to try a bypass. We don't have a choice…"
Then there was a loud thud and a dent appeared in the door. The marines all jumped back and pointed their weapons at the door as more and more dents appeared, until finally a bloody hand appeared , punched clean thru the door. That same hand hooked the edge of the ragged hole and they heard a grunt of pain from inside as the arm attached to that hand gave a hard yank and the hatch slid to the side. Then Fox stepped out and batted the nearest rifle away.
"Put that damn thing down!"
The soldiers watched as he peeled the damaged skin off his right hand, revealing a gleaming skeletal prosthetic. Looking around he said, "Introductions, while we've got a minute."
Just then the sergeant came back in, "I'm Gunnery Sergeant Dorian. That's Sergeant Tomas and Corporals Keiser and Sampson", turning he pointed at the final two, "And these are the twins, Sam and Tom Burns."
Then he looked to Fox and asked, "Are you really Fox McCloud?"
Fox nodded, "Yes I am", he brushed past the marine that wanted to leave him and pried open a crushed weapon's locker. Pulling out a HBC he checked it to ensure it was still functional before grabbing an armor harness and fitting it over his tattered shirt. When he was done he said, "You should re-supply now. It's a long walk to the evac point."
Then he stepped off the shuttle as the marines gathered what weapons and ammo they could before running out into the grassy fields and scattered trees, leaving no shadows, like whispers in the dark…
End Chapter Nineteen