Chapter IX
Eric swiveled the Silent Arrow around to face his assailant. Getting a good view of his foe, it definitely seemed like Fox with glowing red eyeballs. Out of a reflection on the glass of the windshield, he could still see the Great Fox descending under some clouds. Drat. He tried poking the communications button to get a hold of him…
"This com system requires new long-range software. Consult your local dealer." Eric stared blankly at the button and was torn between chasing after Fox, yelling some profanity, or breaking the flight stick. He finally settled on his favorite TV quote.
"D'oh!"
He turned to fly to the GF when a virtual laser wall stopped him from progressing. The other ship had sprouted a cannon and was blocking his turn route! Skidding around in midair, he turned to face his assailant and slammed on the brakes, causing his ship to hover.
"Who are you?" Eric demanded.
"Our third encounter and you don't know who I am…" It said, drawing out the words.
"Third?!"
"Don't play nonsense! You don't seem to remember our meeting in the street… lovely sword, your blade is, pity none of us can use it."
"You were that rat? Hmm. The form fits the personality." Space was filled with a horrible laugh, like that of a predator closing on prey.
"I always let the new victims know their assailant. I am Sanskort." At that he shape shifted behind the glass, into a scrawny, purple humanoid with veins running across its surface like a DesertRunner motorcycle. It's eyes were glowing red, burning with an intelligent urge to kill.
Eric stared. He edged for his manual, knocked it out of his pocket and glanced at the title. "Doppelganger," it read. He didn't have enough time to go into any more details as Sanskort's ship twisted, the wings turning into arms and the cockpit becoming the head. The jet boosters in the back were still there.
"Well. Nice ship. I'll be sure to let the junkheap know they've been victim of a robbery." Eric taunted.
"Well, human, now comes the time to end your reign of heroism. Embrace The End!" And with that, the torso-like ship reached out with both arms, ready to crush Eric's ship into a pancake.
Had the Silent Arrow been slower, it would have met it's doom right then. An ArWing might have been able to escape, but it probably would be limping with a missing engine. Any slower than that and it would have been nothing but assorted parts.
U-Turning, Eric let loose several laser blasts. They were about half the width of an ArWing's shots, and not nearly as long. It didn't seem to scratch Sanskort's ship much, which Sanskort was all too pleased to rub it in for.
"Hmm. How feeble." Sanskort said, getting his ship to scratch where the Eric just had shot. Foosball! Sanskort brought his ship back and backhanded the Silent Arrow. The red lights indicating shields were at critical status started flashing, and the hull didn't seem like it could take more than the shields. Administering coolant to the shields, the power of the SA was tapped.
Getting as far away as humanly possible, Sanskort clapped his ships hands together and started to look like it was charging up a laser. Barrel-rolling out of the way, a blue beam lit up space like a solar flare in a perfectly dark room. A random meteor floating by got in the way of the laser, and was instantly cremated. There were no visible remains, and if there were, they wouldn't fill a teaspoon designed for Lilliputians, if that!
Sanskort lumbered forward with his jets on full blast. Eric took note of the poor maneuverability but the force that could be felt when it takes a swing.
Boosting around, the swerved it and U-turned, letting loose a plasma bomb at Sanskort's torso-like ship. It flew past him by a millimeter, and even though Eric mashed the button again to detonate it early, it didn't respond.
"Crap." The Silent Arrow must have no way to pre-detonate bombs, and when the bomb finally did, it was too far away to do any damage. Eric tried to bank off when his Sanskort's dull brown ship suddenly went black-and-white. Uh oh…
There was the image of Sanskort's arm coming at Eric, then blocking out the view window. When the precog vision was over, Sanskort was already halfway to smacking the SA!
There was no way in the nine hells any ship could have escaped, and the SA was no exception. The long, metallic fingers wrapped themselves around the SA and started squeezing the life out of the ship. Eric heard one wing :::snap:::, then the other one as it slowly started crushing it. Shields were down so far Eric was surprised he still had some, while the world seemed to stop when the glass started to crack…
"This is the Cornerian Patrol! We have made it to the site of the battle reported by Sir Fox McCloud and his companions! And… Jesus tap-dancing Christ! What in the name of hell IS that thing?!? It looks like some twisted torso with hands! And there's a ship in his hands!"
Sergeant Tracy Chalmers, head of the Cornerian Patrol, had answered the call headed out by Bill. Now arriving, there seemed to be nothing more than laser traces, except for that… that… thing…
"Units Alpha-1 and Beta-3, open fire! Don't hit its hand! Alpha-2, try and get a tractor beam out there and get that ship out of there!"
(Eric)
Suddenly, it didn't seem like it was holding on so tight anymore… in fact, it seemed like it was loosing its grip… huzzah!
Eric boosted out of the fingers so fast for his ship's battered condition it wasn't even funny anymore. The wings were broken, the glass was holding onto by a shard… Slippy would be working on it for weeks, if not longer. The pressure was going down, for crying out loud! Not as fast as back on the Great Fox, but still, he'd have maybe five minutes before he started to feel it.
"Halt!" Came through on the comlink. Eric was about to belt some remark into the not-working comlink when he found it was targeted at Sanskort's ship. The torso and arms turned again into the body of the ship and wings, and the head became the cockpit. The ship was clearly battered, the CP did a job…
U-turning, Sanskort's ship opened the hatch on the back to let loose a ton of minefields. One of the Beta ships tried to follow and managed to fly out with the hull and shields in critical condition. Lasers got absorbed by the mines and Sanskort's chilling yell could be heard as he got away.
"We'll meet again, human!"
(Back on Katina)
Eric landed successfully after his encounter with Sanksort. He had immediately gotten the ship to the hangar successfully and had used the short-range communicator to relay what happened after they left to Fox. He went in to check on Eclipse while, as Eric got out, struggling to undo the seatbelt, put to the mercy of Sarah and Krystal. Katt, Falco and Bill were already there to congratulate him, but kept giving Sarah and Krystal somewhat fearful looks. The two looked murderous.
The Silent Arrow's cockpit opened and Eric leaned over the back to grab Murasma. The ship went dead as soon as he did so and the blade's fire was nearly gone. It must have lost some power fueling the ship. Eric was about to step down and accept a well-won victory, but his face fell as soon as he saw Sarah and Krystal, both of which looked EXTREMELY peeved.
"Eric, you low-lying cheapskate! I thought you were hurt!" Sarah's voice was trembling with barely-contained rage.
"Yeah, who would have thought he didn't want Krystal's hands on him?" Falco put in.
The next sentence was unanimous through the group. "Shut UP, Falco!"
"What in the name of Krazoa where you doing?!" Krystal demanded.
"Hey, uh, you know me…" Eric said, trying to decide whether he was going to burst into uncontrollable laughter or become humbled even more. "If there's something interesting happening, I'm gonna end up there…"
"Eric… mother of god, are you REALLY that bored on… where we come from?" Sarah exploded.
"Hey. What's happening?" Fox said, walking from the hangar with a slightly bandaged Eclipse.
"This… this… roguish… guy," Sarah shrieked at a loss for words. "Is supposed to be resting!" Eric tried to look less in pain than he was, but jumping down off of the Silent Arrow was a bit much for his battered body. Instead of landing gracefully, he hit the ground, then stumbled. He staggeringly got to his feet.
"Eric is lucky he's not dead, do you want to know exactly how we found him?"
Fox nodded as Krystal pointed to an incredibly small trail of blood drops that led out of the hospital wing into the hangar where the marks of a ship that had just left were there.
"Hey, Fox, he reminds me of you." Bill said, chuckling. "Doesn't give up no matter how hopeless the situation.
"Yep, that's me. Hey, I'll be going now-" Eric said, trying to duck out of the situation.
"NOT SO FAST!"
Fox cringed at Sarah's freakishly loud voice, ears twitching. "Lay off, the odds that WE would have survived if he wasn't there are slimmer than his survival odds-"
"HEY!"
"-Are now," Fox continued, oblivious to Eric's interruption. "He saved Falco… er… again, and the rest of us wouldn't have held out much longer."
Sarah looked conflicted, then bit her lip. "Fine. As long as he's okay. Eric?"
"Sheesh, I didn't know you cared. Yeah?"
"Of course I care. Now DON'T EVER DO THAT AGAIN!" She screamed. "I'm not supposed to grow gray hairs until I'm old!"
"At this rate, that'll happen in no time!" Falco put in, mock-cheerfully.
"Shut UP, Falco!"
Krystal rolled her eyes. "Try living with your whole body covered in hair. Eric, get your attempted-hero ass back in the hospital ward."
"But-" Eric tried to object.
"Now!" Krystal and Sarah yelled at the same time. Eric sheepishly sheathed Murasma and walked, knuckles dragging on the floor, into the hospital wing. Falco, Bill, Katt and Eclipse followed him. Krystal and Sarah stayed to talk with Fox.
"Jeezum crow, Sarah, you sound like his mom."
"Sorry, Fox, it's just I was worried. I'm almost two years older than him, and since I've known him he's either been getting beaten up, slipping into an inferiority complex or talking about things he would do if given the chance."
"And is this not something he's doing, helping people?"
"I didn't think he would actually DO it!"
Fox laughed while Krystal put in: "Seriously, he's been talking of doing things like this?"
"Pretty much, yeah, I didn't know he was such a thrill-seeker!"
"I didn't know I was going to be one too, until my dad showed me the beauty of an ArWing." Fox said.
"Let's just mellow out. Worry will do us in if we don't focus. And I'd better get my staff and patch Eric up. Again." Krystal said wearily.
They walked inside in higher spirits than most of them had been recently. And to think, Sarah thought, she owed it to one of her best friends off on a seemingly suicidal mission…
(Eleven O'clock, Solar Cycle A.
That evening.)
Eric was tossing and turning in his bed. Not from insomnia, but rather the chains Krystal had used to secure him. He couldn't squeeze out and Murasma was too far away. Oh well. Eric let himself fall into a sleep, deeper than one he'd been into for awhile now.
Or would have.
Opening his eyes, he found himself being thrust through a milky gateway, Sharpclaw club in hand. Tumbling head over heels, his last encounter in dream world with the hooded figure was fast-forwarded to where he was in the blink of an eye.
"…Don't you?" It said. Eric took another look at it as it removed its hood.