Chapter 7: Remember the Senate
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Bill paced around the small private room moving his hands while he spoke rapidly, "As
of now not much information is getting in and out of Corneria, as Pepper has put a fairly
tight grip on things."
Wolf glanced at Fox, "Bill can you tell us how exactly he took control of Corneria?"
"Good question, but the pieces of information that we have uncovered are somewhat
disturbing." Bill walked over to the opposite facing wall and pressed a small button.
As he did a portion of the wall slid up slowly revealing a large screen.
"Computer, access satellite reconnaissance data, Corneria delta two five."
The computer beeped for a moment as small menus appeared.
"Select file C-34." Soon, a fairly large satellite image flashed onto the screen. However it
was simply a picture of a benign looking crater.
Fox strained his eyes a bit as he stared at the screen, "What exactly are we looking at
Bill?"
"This is a picture of the Cornerian Senate building."
Fox and Wolf gasped in unison as their mouths fell open.
Bill lowered his head slowly, "Or at least...what's left of it."
"45 senate members from ever major city-state in Corneria were inside the building at the
time including the head Chancellor. Judging from the debris pattern we can only assume that an
orbital defense station was used to destroy the building, most likely with a heavy PDL."
"PDL?" questioned Wolf.
"Planetary Defense Laser"
"Wait wait, none of this is possible Bill. The PDL can only be fired with strict authorization,
and that authorization has to come from the highest ranking military offic......" Fox's words
faded before he could finish the sentence, realizing that General Pepper was the highest
military official.
Wolf lowered his head to hide his eyes from the haunting image on the screen, "They had
no idea what hit them."
"Computer, access file C-38." A new image appeared on the wall, this time it was a wide
street with a large plaza connected to it, however it was full of small cratered holes and
random debris.
"There were mobs directly after Pepper destroyed the senate building. The citizens of
Corneria City rioted in the streets for hours. The information is a bit sketchy, but we can
infer from this image that Cornerian fighters loyal to Pepper carpet bombed the mobs."
Fox took a deep breath as he continued to gaze at the image.
"We can only imagine the death toll was in the thousands."
Wolf looked off to the side, "I'm going to guess that the people of Corneria haven't
questioned Pepper's leadership after an event like that."
Bill shook his head slowly. "Most likely not, because as you can probably figure, the
citizens of Corneria are terrified right now. Our team here on Fortuna has thought of
scenarios to maybe get the General out of power by making his regime collapse from
within. Perhaps by staging a revolution, but he has Corneria wound up so tight that it would be
imposs..."
There was a loud knock at the small door before Bill could finish his sentence. The door
opened swiftly as a short gray female squirrel wearing a brown leather jacket and baggy
pants rushed in frantically shutting the door behind her, "Commander Grey, Troikas is
dead."
"What?! How?!"
The squirrel, ignoring Bill approached the screen on the wall.
"Computer, patch into sub-space frequency 221 delta, Corneria to Zoness public broad
channel."
The screen flickered for a moment as an image of Pepper appeared.
"Ah, Zonessians, as you may know, I am General Pepper, leader of Corneria. I am
saddened to tell you of the loss of your great leader, Calar Troikas."
All four of them gasped as they listened intently without blinking.
Pepper lowered his head as though showing remorse,
"He was killed earlier this morning in a tragic accident here in Corneria City. The
circumstances of that accident will be revealed later as we conduct an investigation into
what exactly happened. Such tragedies do not go without answers."
Pepper paused as if to allow the people of Zoness, who were most likely watching this
message on every image screen and comm channel on their planet, to absorb what he had just said.
When Pepper looked up his face was different, it had a look of viciousness and evil.
"The universe is a cold...dark...dangerous place...but I, General Pepper, will bring
order to your lives as your new leader."
"WHAT?!" screamed Fox as he stood up abruptly, staring at the screen.
"Do not be alarmed or shocked Zonessians, but I hope you will accept me as your new
high power. I will be sending my fleet to your planet to...protect...yes to protect you. I
like how that sounds." Pepper bit his lip to hold down a laugh that was creeping up inside
him.
"Oh my God," whispered Bill as he continued to listen.
Pepper removed his sunglasses showing his eyes which had a twisted expression of pain
mixed with pleasure. The paralyzing glare writhed throughout his face.
"...Good day to you all."
The screen flickered as the words 'Message Terminated' blinked.
Wolf turned around with a confused expression, "Sending a fleet to protect Zoness?"
Bill frantically started rushing towards the door, "We have to get to Zoness now!"
The gray squirrel ran out the door behind him, "Bill wait!"
"Um...I guess we should follow them?" said Wolf as he turned around.
Fox had already started to run out the door brushing past Wolf, "Come on let's go!"
**********************************************************
*In Corneria City, The Capitol Building*
"I think that was good for my first stated address to our newly annexed territory? Don't
you agree?"
The meek advisor, wearing a red coat with gold trimming brushed the sweat off his
forehead, "Oh yes I agree whole heartedly, it was wonderful General, wonderful
speech...truly a masterpiece...spectacular."
The General rubbed his chin for a moment and took a sip of his wine. Soon a guard
appeared inside the large office, "General, a mob is forming outside in the street, what
should we do about it?"
Pepper broke the glass in his hand with a swift crush.
"Take me to them."
"Yes, right this way General."
The General, his advisor, and the guard walked briskly down the hallway until they came
to a large door, the guard opened the door to a wide balcony with a podium overlooking a
large street plaza. There was a crowd of at least a thousand people jammed in the plaza.
Pepper stepped up to the podium while the guard and the advisor stayed behind.
"There he is!" cried a mousy woman from the crowd.
"Hello my fellow Cornerians..."
"...You tyrant!"
"...Murderer!"
"...Oppressor!"
The crowd's shouting began to overlap, as they became rowdier. Inside the General's
mind, he began to boil with rage as he gripped the sides of the podium while he grinded
his teeth together.
"Remember the Senate! You massacred them all!" screamed a small fox with long red
hair as he shouted out over the yelling.
"Yeah! The Chancellor too!"
"Killed!"
"Gone!"
"You murdered them!"
Soon everyone began to chant the phrase repeatedly, over and over.
Remember the Senate!
Remember the Senate!
Remember the Senate!
Pepper began to growl with rage.
Remember the Senate!
Remember the Senate!
Remember the Senate!
Instantly he grabbed the microphone and ripped it off the podium in a flash of anger
crushing it in his hand. The crowd stopped their chanting and began to howl and heckle at
Pepper.
The General swiftly turned around and stomped away from the podium. As he walked
slowly back through the door, he looked at the guard and drew his finger across his neck
while clenching his teeth. The guard nodded affirmatively and ran out onto the balcony. Soon 20
other guards appeared lining the rooftop of the building above.
The crowds continued to shout and yell as some even began throwing small objects at the
balcony.
Synchronously the guards drew out their bulky laser rifles and pointed them at the crowd
below. The guards propped themselves against the railing looking through their sights. The crowd
continued to shout not taking notice of the guards above them,
"Us Cornerians, we believe in democracy!"
"...Ready!"
"We believe in the rights of the people!"
"...Aim!"
"You cannot stop the people General Pepper!"
"...Fire!" Instantly hundreds of laser shots blasted through the air.
Chaos erupted as the crowd's angered yelling turned into terrified screams of anguish.
The people frantically trampled through the plaza trying to get away from the shots
blasting through the air.
Random citizens dropped to the ground as they were struck by the laser shots that rained
down around them. The people stampeded away from the building desperately as they ran
for their lives.
Pepper walked down the hallway smoothly with a bright smile planted on his face as he
could hear the muffled shooting and screams through the walls...
"Advisor?"
"Y...yes General Pepper sir."
"Get me a shuttle to my capital ship, we're going to Zoness."
"Yes, right away general."
****************************************************
"Bill will you stop!?" cried the gray squirrel as she panted out of breath.
Bill frantically shuffled through papers and old schematics of Cornerian squadron ships,
"We don't have time to argue Elena!"
"You're right we don't, but do you at least have time to at least look at this?" Elena
pointed to a computer screen which showed a radar display of half the Lylat system.
Hundreds of blue dots in a massive group were slowly creeping toward Zoness.
"There are over a thousand fighters and at least two dozen heavy cruiser ships."
"So what!? Don't you see Elena? We have to stop him before he gets to Zoness!"
"Look around you Bill. Elena quickly shifted her eyes around the room.
"There's only 20 of us!"
Fox and Wolf finally caught up with the two right as Elena spoke that line.
"You only have 20...fighters?" questioned Wolf with a hint of fear in his voice.
Bill threw the schematics he was holding to the floor, "Yeah, we only have 20 fighters."
Fox clenched his eyes shut, "How are we supposed to save Zoness with a contingency so
small?"
Bill looked down for a moment as the tension in his face subsided, he looked up with a
more refreshing look on his face, "We aren't going to need 20 fighters."
"...What?"
Bill walked over to a door a few meters away and punched a sequence of keys causing
the door to unlock. The door opened to a small room of some sort that the other three
could not see into. Elena, Fox, and Wolf stood idly as they could hear Bill rummaging
through it. He finally emerged holding a small device.
It was spherical...
...triangular grooves...
"Where did you get that?!" cried Wolf as he felt his heart stop.
"We stole it from an old cargo drifter a few months back. I figured I'd need it some
day...Problem is, none of us know how to work it, we only know that it's a fusion bomb
of some sort."
Fox put his arm around Wolf as he smiled brightly, "Oh Wolf knows."
Wolf pulled himself away from Fox as he cringed, "No, I've had enough of bombs,
remember what happened the last time we ran into one of those, no thank you, I'll pass."
"Yea I remember that you saved all of us."
"Just barely!"
"We're still here aren't we?"
Wolf paused for a moment and looked at Elena who was still standing next to Bill.
"Alright...what's the plan?"
"The plan is to cut off the snake's head," said Bill with confidence in his voice.
"I don't understand, what do you mean."
Elena walked over to a larger computer screen. "Computer, tactical overview of Lylat
system please."
A large map appeared on the screen showing the same schematic that she had shown Bill
earlier. She approached the screen and pointed to a larger blue dot that appeared at the
front of the massive group. "This is General Pepper's personal capital ship. I'm fully
convinced that Pepper is on this ship at this very moment."
"...You want me...to go on General Pepper's ship...plant a bomb on it...and then
escape?"
Elena and Bill looked at each other and nodded.
Wolf let out a small chuckle while he lowered his head shaking it from side to side, "No,
I don't think that's going to happen."
"Yes, it will happen, because you're going to do it."
Wolf looked at Bill unconvincingly.
"We have a modified Cornerian fighter that can mask its own sensor signature, and you're
going to fly it. This is our only chance to stop General Pepper, save Zoness, and
perhaps even the rest of the Lylat system."
Wolf looked at the floor for a moment thinking, "It can mask its own sensor signature?"
"Yup, you'll be completely invisible; they won't even know you're docking with them."
Fox put his arm around Wolf again, "C'mon Wolf, this seems like our best shot, don't let
us down."
Wolf chuckled while shaking his head, "God damn all of you."
"Does that mean you'll do it?"
"Fine...I'll do it."
Bill and Elena's faces brightened as they became giddy with joy. "Alright we have to
leave immediately, let's move out!"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This chapter was partially written with DreamShadow's review in mind (Thanks for the review!)
I wanted to show him or her, the Cornerian people's voice in all of this. Look for Chapter 8 soon.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bill paced around the small private room moving his hands while he spoke rapidly, "As
of now not much information is getting in and out of Corneria, as Pepper has put a fairly
tight grip on things."
Wolf glanced at Fox, "Bill can you tell us how exactly he took control of Corneria?"
"Good question, but the pieces of information that we have uncovered are somewhat
disturbing." Bill walked over to the opposite facing wall and pressed a small button.
As he did a portion of the wall slid up slowly revealing a large screen.
"Computer, access satellite reconnaissance data, Corneria delta two five."
The computer beeped for a moment as small menus appeared.
"Select file C-34." Soon, a fairly large satellite image flashed onto the screen. However it
was simply a picture of a benign looking crater.
Fox strained his eyes a bit as he stared at the screen, "What exactly are we looking at
Bill?"
"This is a picture of the Cornerian Senate building."
Fox and Wolf gasped in unison as their mouths fell open.
Bill lowered his head slowly, "Or at least...what's left of it."
"45 senate members from ever major city-state in Corneria were inside the building at the
time including the head Chancellor. Judging from the debris pattern we can only assume that an
orbital defense station was used to destroy the building, most likely with a heavy PDL."
"PDL?" questioned Wolf.
"Planetary Defense Laser"
"Wait wait, none of this is possible Bill. The PDL can only be fired with strict authorization,
and that authorization has to come from the highest ranking military offic......" Fox's words
faded before he could finish the sentence, realizing that General Pepper was the highest
military official.
Wolf lowered his head to hide his eyes from the haunting image on the screen, "They had
no idea what hit them."
"Computer, access file C-38." A new image appeared on the wall, this time it was a wide
street with a large plaza connected to it, however it was full of small cratered holes and
random debris.
"There were mobs directly after Pepper destroyed the senate building. The citizens of
Corneria City rioted in the streets for hours. The information is a bit sketchy, but we can
infer from this image that Cornerian fighters loyal to Pepper carpet bombed the mobs."
Fox took a deep breath as he continued to gaze at the image.
"We can only imagine the death toll was in the thousands."
Wolf looked off to the side, "I'm going to guess that the people of Corneria haven't
questioned Pepper's leadership after an event like that."
Bill shook his head slowly. "Most likely not, because as you can probably figure, the
citizens of Corneria are terrified right now. Our team here on Fortuna has thought of
scenarios to maybe get the General out of power by making his regime collapse from
within. Perhaps by staging a revolution, but he has Corneria wound up so tight that it would be
imposs..."
There was a loud knock at the small door before Bill could finish his sentence. The door
opened swiftly as a short gray female squirrel wearing a brown leather jacket and baggy
pants rushed in frantically shutting the door behind her, "Commander Grey, Troikas is
dead."
"What?! How?!"
The squirrel, ignoring Bill approached the screen on the wall.
"Computer, patch into sub-space frequency 221 delta, Corneria to Zoness public broad
channel."
The screen flickered for a moment as an image of Pepper appeared.
"Ah, Zonessians, as you may know, I am General Pepper, leader of Corneria. I am
saddened to tell you of the loss of your great leader, Calar Troikas."
All four of them gasped as they listened intently without blinking.
Pepper lowered his head as though showing remorse,
"He was killed earlier this morning in a tragic accident here in Corneria City. The
circumstances of that accident will be revealed later as we conduct an investigation into
what exactly happened. Such tragedies do not go without answers."
Pepper paused as if to allow the people of Zoness, who were most likely watching this
message on every image screen and comm channel on their planet, to absorb what he had just said.
When Pepper looked up his face was different, it had a look of viciousness and evil.
"The universe is a cold...dark...dangerous place...but I, General Pepper, will bring
order to your lives as your new leader."
"WHAT?!" screamed Fox as he stood up abruptly, staring at the screen.
"Do not be alarmed or shocked Zonessians, but I hope you will accept me as your new
high power. I will be sending my fleet to your planet to...protect...yes to protect you. I
like how that sounds." Pepper bit his lip to hold down a laugh that was creeping up inside
him.
"Oh my God," whispered Bill as he continued to listen.
Pepper removed his sunglasses showing his eyes which had a twisted expression of pain
mixed with pleasure. The paralyzing glare writhed throughout his face.
"...Good day to you all."
The screen flickered as the words 'Message Terminated' blinked.
Wolf turned around with a confused expression, "Sending a fleet to protect Zoness?"
Bill frantically started rushing towards the door, "We have to get to Zoness now!"
The gray squirrel ran out the door behind him, "Bill wait!"
"Um...I guess we should follow them?" said Wolf as he turned around.
Fox had already started to run out the door brushing past Wolf, "Come on let's go!"
**********************************************************
*In Corneria City, The Capitol Building*
"I think that was good for my first stated address to our newly annexed territory? Don't
you agree?"
The meek advisor, wearing a red coat with gold trimming brushed the sweat off his
forehead, "Oh yes I agree whole heartedly, it was wonderful General, wonderful
speech...truly a masterpiece...spectacular."
The General rubbed his chin for a moment and took a sip of his wine. Soon a guard
appeared inside the large office, "General, a mob is forming outside in the street, what
should we do about it?"
Pepper broke the glass in his hand with a swift crush.
"Take me to them."
"Yes, right this way General."
The General, his advisor, and the guard walked briskly down the hallway until they came
to a large door, the guard opened the door to a wide balcony with a podium overlooking a
large street plaza. There was a crowd of at least a thousand people jammed in the plaza.
Pepper stepped up to the podium while the guard and the advisor stayed behind.
"There he is!" cried a mousy woman from the crowd.
"Hello my fellow Cornerians..."
"...You tyrant!"
"...Murderer!"
"...Oppressor!"
The crowd's shouting began to overlap, as they became rowdier. Inside the General's
mind, he began to boil with rage as he gripped the sides of the podium while he grinded
his teeth together.
"Remember the Senate! You massacred them all!" screamed a small fox with long red
hair as he shouted out over the yelling.
"Yeah! The Chancellor too!"
"Killed!"
"Gone!"
"You murdered them!"
Soon everyone began to chant the phrase repeatedly, over and over.
Remember the Senate!
Remember the Senate!
Remember the Senate!
Pepper began to growl with rage.
Remember the Senate!
Remember the Senate!
Remember the Senate!
Instantly he grabbed the microphone and ripped it off the podium in a flash of anger
crushing it in his hand. The crowd stopped their chanting and began to howl and heckle at
Pepper.
The General swiftly turned around and stomped away from the podium. As he walked
slowly back through the door, he looked at the guard and drew his finger across his neck
while clenching his teeth. The guard nodded affirmatively and ran out onto the balcony. Soon 20
other guards appeared lining the rooftop of the building above.
The crowds continued to shout and yell as some even began throwing small objects at the
balcony.
Synchronously the guards drew out their bulky laser rifles and pointed them at the crowd
below. The guards propped themselves against the railing looking through their sights. The crowd
continued to shout not taking notice of the guards above them,
"Us Cornerians, we believe in democracy!"
"...Ready!"
"We believe in the rights of the people!"
"...Aim!"
"You cannot stop the people General Pepper!"
"...Fire!" Instantly hundreds of laser shots blasted through the air.
Chaos erupted as the crowd's angered yelling turned into terrified screams of anguish.
The people frantically trampled through the plaza trying to get away from the shots
blasting through the air.
Random citizens dropped to the ground as they were struck by the laser shots that rained
down around them. The people stampeded away from the building desperately as they ran
for their lives.
Pepper walked down the hallway smoothly with a bright smile planted on his face as he
could hear the muffled shooting and screams through the walls...
"Advisor?"
"Y...yes General Pepper sir."
"Get me a shuttle to my capital ship, we're going to Zoness."
"Yes, right away general."
****************************************************
"Bill will you stop!?" cried the gray squirrel as she panted out of breath.
Bill frantically shuffled through papers and old schematics of Cornerian squadron ships,
"We don't have time to argue Elena!"
"You're right we don't, but do you at least have time to at least look at this?" Elena
pointed to a computer screen which showed a radar display of half the Lylat system.
Hundreds of blue dots in a massive group were slowly creeping toward Zoness.
"There are over a thousand fighters and at least two dozen heavy cruiser ships."
"So what!? Don't you see Elena? We have to stop him before he gets to Zoness!"
"Look around you Bill. Elena quickly shifted her eyes around the room.
"There's only 20 of us!"
Fox and Wolf finally caught up with the two right as Elena spoke that line.
"You only have 20...fighters?" questioned Wolf with a hint of fear in his voice.
Bill threw the schematics he was holding to the floor, "Yeah, we only have 20 fighters."
Fox clenched his eyes shut, "How are we supposed to save Zoness with a contingency so
small?"
Bill looked down for a moment as the tension in his face subsided, he looked up with a
more refreshing look on his face, "We aren't going to need 20 fighters."
"...What?"
Bill walked over to a door a few meters away and punched a sequence of keys causing
the door to unlock. The door opened to a small room of some sort that the other three
could not see into. Elena, Fox, and Wolf stood idly as they could hear Bill rummaging
through it. He finally emerged holding a small device.
It was spherical...
...triangular grooves...
"Where did you get that?!" cried Wolf as he felt his heart stop.
"We stole it from an old cargo drifter a few months back. I figured I'd need it some
day...Problem is, none of us know how to work it, we only know that it's a fusion bomb
of some sort."
Fox put his arm around Wolf as he smiled brightly, "Oh Wolf knows."
Wolf pulled himself away from Fox as he cringed, "No, I've had enough of bombs,
remember what happened the last time we ran into one of those, no thank you, I'll pass."
"Yea I remember that you saved all of us."
"Just barely!"
"We're still here aren't we?"
Wolf paused for a moment and looked at Elena who was still standing next to Bill.
"Alright...what's the plan?"
"The plan is to cut off the snake's head," said Bill with confidence in his voice.
"I don't understand, what do you mean."
Elena walked over to a larger computer screen. "Computer, tactical overview of Lylat
system please."
A large map appeared on the screen showing the same schematic that she had shown Bill
earlier. She approached the screen and pointed to a larger blue dot that appeared at the
front of the massive group. "This is General Pepper's personal capital ship. I'm fully
convinced that Pepper is on this ship at this very moment."
"...You want me...to go on General Pepper's ship...plant a bomb on it...and then
escape?"
Elena and Bill looked at each other and nodded.
Wolf let out a small chuckle while he lowered his head shaking it from side to side, "No,
I don't think that's going to happen."
"Yes, it will happen, because you're going to do it."
Wolf looked at Bill unconvincingly.
"We have a modified Cornerian fighter that can mask its own sensor signature, and you're
going to fly it. This is our only chance to stop General Pepper, save Zoness, and
perhaps even the rest of the Lylat system."
Wolf looked at the floor for a moment thinking, "It can mask its own sensor signature?"
"Yup, you'll be completely invisible; they won't even know you're docking with them."
Fox put his arm around Wolf again, "C'mon Wolf, this seems like our best shot, don't let
us down."
Wolf chuckled while shaking his head, "God damn all of you."
"Does that mean you'll do it?"
"Fine...I'll do it."
Bill and Elena's faces brightened as they became giddy with joy. "Alright we have to
leave immediately, let's move out!"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This chapter was partially written with DreamShadow's review in mind (Thanks for the review!)
I wanted to show him or her, the Cornerian people's voice in all of this. Look for Chapter 8 soon.