Ch. 24
The declaration of war
The Gorton transporter ship exited from Slip space and approached the Gorton War ship. The sole survivor of the attack on Earth laid in the pilot seat nearly unconscious and covered in his blue blood that slowly poured out of his wounds, worse was the wound on his chest, given to him by a human. Just the thought forced Ashtark to grind his teeth so hard that they would break. He took a shallow deep breath which caused the wound on his chest to flare in burning agonizing pain. The pain caused the Gorton to choke on his spit, he coughed up the blue bloody spit and spat it out.
As the transporter came closer to the War ship, Ashtark painfully leaned his body up. He had been sitting in the pilot's seat for nearly five days straight. The blood had dried up and caused his back to stick to the seat, as he leaned up it pulled the skin on his back. Ashtark grunted and forced his body to lean forward even more; resulting in him pulling his back free from the seat, yet some of his skin was peeled off. The Gorton shouted in pain and slammed his hand on the communicator button.
"This…This is Ashtark…Bring…Bring my uncle…To the hanger immediately…I'm badly wounded…" He started to trail off and could feel his body becoming week from all the blood he had lost. He had survived this long by placing absorbent medical rags into his wounds and injecting himself with a syringe filled with a type of medical substance that quickly slowed his heart rate down and put him in a comatose state. With the transporter on auto pilot the Gorton laid back into his sticky bloody seat and laid his head back, he held onto the small black box in his hand tightly.
A few moments later the transporter entered the Hanger. The Gorton War King waited in the hanger for his nephew, he had order the medical team to immediately get Ashtark to the med bay as soon as he landed. As the ship touched down the medical team rushed to the ship and forced the doors open. They noticed Ashtark covered in dried up blood and blood dripping off the absorbent rags that were soaked. One of the medics rushed to him and placed a hand on his shoulder, Ashtark reached over and grabbed the medic by the collar of his uniform, he then held out the black box.
"Tell…Ugh…Tell my uncle…I'm sorry for failing to protect his sons…Yet again." After he spoke Ashtark lost consensus.
"Get him out of here." The medic said to the rest of the team and walked out of the ship. He approached his King who towered over him by three feet. He bowed before the War king.
"My lord, your nephew is gravely injured…Please have comfort knowing that we will not rest until he is back on his feet…I'm…I'm sorry to say that, according to his last words…Your son Jaqun was killed." The medic could hear the sound of the War king let all the air his lungs could hold in a painful gasp. The Medic held out the black box. "He demanded that I give this to you."
The War King held out his massive hand and grabbed the black box from the medic, who then turned and headed back to the transporter. The King looked at the black box and placed his thumb on a small button on the side, suddenly an orange/red holo image appeared before the King. The image caused the King to grow angry and sad, in the image he could see a human holding a staff with a spear tip point and his eldest son Jaqun laying on the ground dead. The War King stared at the image of the human and growled loudly, so loud that ever one could hear and quickly walked away. The War King then slowly crushed the black box with his massive had. The King then looked up at the medical team bringing Ashtark out of the transporter on a stretcher.
"Wait!" He called out and approached the medical team; his gaze landed on the blood covered Gorton. He looked down at the wounded creature and softly placed his hand on his head.
"You, are all that's left of my bloodline Ashtark…If you die, you will be reunited with your mother, my sister, your cousins, Jaqun and Jaqar…But if you live Ashtark, we shall both enjoy the sweet taste of revenge once we destroy the human home world along with the Vixen who killed Jaqar." The King nodded to the Medics telling them to move on. The King held up a communicator device and stated one phrase.
"Ready my army."
Krystal slowly opened her eyes to a blinding white light; she instantly closed her eyes and was shrouded in darkness. She opened her eyes again and was met with the blinding white light, she forced her eyes to stay open and soon her eyes adjusted to the light. She could see she was inside a room; the walls were a light grey color. She could hear the sound of soft beeps beeping every few seconds. Krystal turned her head over to where the beeps were coming from, she then noticed the heart monitor that was connected to her along with an IV. She softly sat up and could feel her gut was a little sore as was her face.
"Hey." A male voice called out, Krystal looked over to where the voice was and saw Fox sitting next to her on a chair. She wasn't angry that he was there sitting next to her, but she wasn't happy about it either.
"What happened?" She asked, and looked away from him and at the celling. Fox lowered his ears, she was still mad at him apparently. Fox sighed and leaned back into his seat.
"You were badly hurt during the attack; you've been in and out of conciseness for almost five days now…How are you feeling?" He asked, he noticed Krystal shifting in the bed and she tried to stand up. "Whoa take it easy." Fox gently said to her and placed his hands on her shoulder and back.
"Easy now, take it slowly." He said and helped her stand up, and then he realized that this was the first time in two years that he touched her. She was wearing a thin white gown that only covered her front and back and only two thin strips of fabric covered her sides. Fox couldn't help but steal a glance at the side of her breast that was slightly showing as she stood up. Fox quickly shook his head to rid the thought from his mind. If Krystal had known what he had just thought of she would have slapped him across the face and yell at him to leave. However she was more focused on trying to stand up then reading his mind.
Krystal managed to stand up and slowly took her first step. She wobbled a little bit but managed to walk on her own, Fox had removed his hands from her so she could walk around a little, but at the first sign that she was about to fall, he would have rushed over and caught her. As Krystal walked around she noticed her mother's emerald necklace laying on a night stand on the other side of the bed. She slowly walked over to the night stand, using the bed's railings as support. Once she reached the night stand she picked the necklace up and tied it around her neck, she then turned to the window and walked over to it, she looked out and saw she was on the Great Fox still inside the bases hanger.
"Why am I on the Great Fox?" She asked and looked over at Fox for a brief second before looking back out the window.
"The humans didn't really know how to take care of you. Col. Ryan and Josh didn't want there to be any chances that something might go wrong so they brought you here." Krystal's ears flickered as Fox said Josh's name. Where was he? Shouldn't he be the one in the room with her?
"Where is he?" She asked.
"He should be in the lounge room getting something to eat…He hasn't left your side since the attack, I don't think he's gotten no more than eight hours of sleep. It was a pain in the ass trying to convince him to go get something to eat…I told him that you wouldn't want to wake up and see a dried up skeleton in his place." Krystal smiled a little, Josh had stayed by her side the whole time, then she looked back at Fox knowing she had to say something to him.
"Fox." She said.
"Yeah?" He asked.
"Thank you for helping stop the Gortons?" She said, Fox instantly smiled but before he could say anything the door slid opened and Josh walked in. He was holding what looked like a Styrofoam cup in one hand and a wrapped sandwich in the other.
"Figured I would just eat in here…" He stopped talking when he saw Krystal standing by the window, he instantly smiled and sat the food and drink down next to the bed and quickly made his way over to her, he gently wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close.
"You okay?" He asked and looked into her Cyan eyes with a caring smile, Krystal stared into his dark brown eyes and smiled back at him, she then placed her hands on his upper arms and gripped the sleeves of his shirt.
"Yeah, I'm okay." The two continued to stare into each other's eyes for a few moments and didn't even realize that Fox had left the room to give them some privacy. Josh suddenly went eye wide as if remembering something.
"Oh, are you hungry?" He asked, "I was going to eat that but if you're hungry than I want you to eat it." He looked back at her to find she was still smiling at him.
"I'm a little bit hungry." She replied.
"Okay." He said and pulled away from her and started to go get the sandwich, but then he turned back around and walked back to her and pulled her into a quick hug which he then finished by kissing her. He pulled away once again and walked over to grab the sandwich. Krystal couldn't help but giggle a little.
'You're so adorable.' She thought, Josh came back to her with the sandwich and Styrofoam cup which was filled with coffee
"Here you go…You should take a seat." He said and handed them both to her, she grabbed the food and drink and sat down on the bed, she placed the drink on the night stand and then looked over to find Josh was still standing. Krystal gently tapped the spot on the bed next to her, telling him to sit next to her. He did as she wanted and sat down next to her. As she unwrapped the sandwich Josh felt of soft fluffy tail wrap around his left arm. He looked over and smiled and placed his right hand over her tail and started to rub the blue and white fur. Krystal smiled at the human and leaned into him and started to eat her sandwich.
A few days had past and Krystal had fully recovered, Josh had continued to stay by her side the whole time and helped in any way he could to help her get better. Trouble had been brewing over the battle that took place between the Great Fox and the Gortons. People were scared and wanted answers; others wanted the aliens off the planet. President Rushford held a televised speech explaining that what happened was a terrible event, but shows that with new technology that we could defend ourselves from such threats in the future. His speech seemed to calm some of the people; however others weren't so easily swayed.
Peppy turned the holo TV off in the lounge room of the Great Fox after watching what some people had to say about the aliens. The old hair had to admit, the humans were just like those in the Lylat when it came to being afraid.
"Peppy." A voice called out, Peppy turned around to find R.O.B at the lounge room exit.
"Yes R.O.B?" he asked.
"We have a problem." The robot said. Peppy raised a brow and stood from the couch then made his way to R.O.B quickly.
"What problem?"
"Sir, you should call for Col. Ryan, Krystal, Joshua Grant and the members of the team, and have them meet in the bridge." He said and walked away. Peppy still had a confused look on his face and reached into his white lab coat and pulled out a small hand held communicator.
"Fox do you read me?" He asked and waited for the Vulpine to answer.
"I read you, what's up?" Fox answered, Peppy took a deep breath before speaking.
"R.O.B thinks there is a problem, he needs the whole team, Col. Ryan, Josh and Krystal to meet up in the bridge of the Great Fox."
It took a few minutes to get everyone R.O.B had asked for to make their way to the bridge of the star cruiser. Once they were there Fox turned his attention to the robotic team member.
"Alright R.O.B we're all here, now what's all this about?" He asked. R.O.B made his way over to the pilot seat and started to push buttons on the touch screen console.
"I received this message almost an hour ago, it came from the Dumber System." R.O.B said
"That's close to Lylat." Falco commented, R.O.B brought up a video message. The Image of the Gorton War King appeared, and he looked pissed.
"I send this message to the people of planet Earth, in the Sol system. I send this message to the Vixen who murdered my youngest son Jaqar." He said, Krystal felt her chest tighten and she gripped Josh's hand tightly.
"I also send this message to the human who murdered my eldest son Jaqun." Suddenly the red holo image Ashtark took popped up next to the War King." Josh felt the hairs on his body stick up, he was getting worried about where the alien was going with this"
"I am The War King to my people…Hundreds of planets have been reduced to ash by my hands, for the death of my sons…Your planet will burn, ready your forces and prepare for a great battle…Enjoy you remaining days of life." He said and then the holo video ended. Everyone in the room had a look of fear, Josh and Krystal looked at each other with the same look looked on their face and thought the same thing. That Earth was about to be attacked, and it was their fault. However it was Ryan that looked in most disbelief.
"This…This didn't happen." He said, Peppy turned to the Col.
"What was that?" He asked, Ryan shook his head.
"This can't be happening." He said, "We have to tell the President…We…We need to tell everyone, they need to be prepared for this." He said and quickly left through the elevator. Josh felt Krystal's hand tighten around his.
"I'm going to be sick." She said and went to the elevator, Josh quickly followed and got in with her, the doors closed and the Vixen looked terrified.
"I caused this…I placed your planet in danger." She said with tears flowing out of her eyes, Josh quickly pulled her into a tight hug.
"No you didn't Krystal." He said, Krystal pushed the human away and sobbed.
"Yes I did…If I hadn't taken that bounty mission none of this would have happened." She cried.
"Then I wouldn't have met you." He said, Krystal shook her head.
"But at least you and your planet would be safe…I'm going to be responsible for what happens…Every human life that dies will be on me." She said and then her knees gave out and she dropped to the floor. Josh quickly bent down and held onto her, he could feel her body shaking as she cried and could feel her tears wet his shoulder. Josh nearly felt broken, if given the chance he knew she would go back and never accept that bounty…Even if it meant they would never have met. Josh used his hands to hold her face up so she looked him in the eyes, her eyes were filled with joy no more than a few minutes ago, and now there was only great sadness in them. Josh rested his forehead against hers and gently stroked her cheeks with his thumbs.
"We will beat this Krystal, I know we can. But I need you to be strong, if not for yourself than be strong for me…As long as I have you in my life I will never stop fighting." He said and pulled away so he could see her face, he could still see the great wave of sadness in her eyes, but she had stopped crying. She sniffled and leaned into him for a hug.
"Right back at you." She said and gently kissed his check.
Ryan had told the president of what was to come and another world leader meeting took place. After given the grave news the leaders went back to their countries. The whole world was on high alert, every country had their military armed to the teeth and waited for the attack.
Fox didn't know much about Gortons, but he knew the humans didn't really stand much of a chance against a whole Gorton fleet attacking them. They would be wiped out within a few days at best. Fox then remembered Josh's and Krystal's mission and had called them and Col. Ryan to the lounge room of the Great Fox. Once they came to the room Fox greeted them.
"Your mission was to go to the Lylat council and try to set up talks for Galactic contact." He said, the three nodded in response.
"That was the plan…But with the pending attack it seems the mission will have to wait." Josh said, Fox looked at the human and spoke.
"It doesn't have to wait…We can still take you to Lylat. You humans don't have the fire power to stand against a whole fleet of star cruisers, you just don't. At best you could take down three, maybe four but by then you would have already lost." He said.
"What are you getting at Fox?" Krystal asked and crossed her arms, Fox looked at the Vixen and for once while he was on Earth, she actually looked at him in the eyes without anger radiating off of them.
"I take you to Lylat, and you speak to the council and ask them for help. With the Cornerian fleet at your side this war will be over with minimum human casualties." He said with great determination in his eyes.
"Then I'll go too." Ryan said and turned to look at Josh, "I trust you can handle it just fine Grant…But being of higher rank its best that I ask them." He said, Josh nodded.
"Of course sir." He replied, Ryan then turned to look at Fox and smiled.
"Thank you." He said, Fox nodded and walked off to inform the team that they would be leaving soon.
And there we have it. I hope you guys enjoy the story so far, a dark cloud stretches over the sky as we come closer and closer to War. As always read and review, 10 reviews in one week equals happy me and four chapters for you guys.
To end things on a brighter note, I had a funny idea of how Krystal would have reacted if Josh walked in on her after she had just taken a shower. I don't know why I thought of it but I did. Head over to my DA account to take a look at it.