Shattered Lylat Prelude: Enter Black Wolf: Part 3
- Disclaimers: See previous disclaimers
Author's Note: I decided to seem a little more creative, and changed the name of Corneria's main continent to Corneus. I've also decided that the year is not 2401, and the year is 2550 (see appendix). But it is still one year after the Lylat War (SF64)
Chapter 15
Black Knight, low Cornerian orbit, 0650 hours
- Ed sorted through the items he was bringing on the mission. He first took his two Omni-Falcons, pistols that could carry any kind of firearm ammo, and loaded them with .45 caliber rounds. He pocketed two extra clips for each pistol. Ed Then fastened on his flak jacket, and donned his flight jacket over it. Ed then decided to set off for the armory, to see if there were any more weapons there. As it was, he didn't think two pistols could stop a regiment single-handedly. When he got to the armory, he saw that Mark, Damien and Karl were also there.
- "What's going on?" he asked
"We're trying to get into the armory, but ROB-2 will not open the door without your consent." Mark replied
"Stupid robot." Ed muttered. He opened a channel to the bridge. "ROB-2, open the armory"
"Yes, sir" the robot replied
"One more thing" Ed said "If Mark, Damien, Karl, or any members of Starfox ask for the armory to be unlocked, do it."
"Ok, sir" ROB-2 replied
The door locks swung free with a massive thunk! And the door panel read "unlocked"
"Well, let's see what's in here" Mark said as he opened the door.
The 4 pilots looked into the fairly large room. From what they could see, they saw 20 pristine K21 Assault Rifles, 10 Rocket Launchers, another 10 Sniper Rifles, another 10 shotguns, and 15 laser rifles. There were also numerous handguns, both ballistic and laser, mounted on the side walls. Ed could also see that there were many crates of grenades, C4, and sticky mines. There were also scopes and laser sights arranged in boxes near the handguns.
"Wow, there's enough here to start a small war" said Damien
"Or end one" Karl added.
"Ok, let's only take what we think we'll need." Said Ed "Don't take any rocket launchers, because we could end up hurting ourselves in close quarters. When you're done, meet me in the hangar."
As they set out gathering weapons and ammo, Ed grabbed a K21 and 3 clips for it. He loaded the rifle, and slung it over his back. Ed also grabbed two frag grenades, and strapped them to his belt. He then walked out of the armory, and made his way to the hangar.
Five minutes later, the rest of his squad joined him. Ed saw that Mark had also taken along his two Omni-Falcons, and his .357 Magnum revolver with scope. In addition to that, Mark had also taken a K21 and 4 frag grenades. Damien had taken a K21, a 9mm service pistol, and 2 frags. Karl had armed himself with a shotgun, a magnum, and 2 frags.
"Everybody ready?" he asked, although it was redundant.
His three squadmates nodded Good, thought Ed, they're all fearless, ready to get the job done.
- "Okay," he said, "let's move out!" Ed donned his shades and opened the cockpit of his Arwing.
The four Arwings rocketed out into space.
***
Stealth Cruiser Phantron, At the same time, Undisclosed location
"You can't be serious!"
Ivan Marlowski's shout quieted the Phantron's ready room. Upon hearing that Shadow Wing's Alpha Company would not be helping out, but instead 8 pilots of the regular line army, Ivan was infuriated.
"I am serious, Corporal Marlowski," said Jason Kage. "Starfox and Black Wolf are the best of the best, next to us. We saw what they did in space, and I think they can help us out here."
"But," said Katya "They aren't even supposed to know of our existence! At least, not yet."
"The fact is, Katya" Jason responded "They might already know."
"What?!" Ivan yelled "How is this possible?"
"It's simple" said Jason "Six months ago, Commander Wallace and Lt. Commander Rendar hacked the CDF mainframe, they had just entered the section outlining Shadow Wing when we managed to cut them out. We don't know if we know about us entirely, but they may have an idea."
"Damn…" said Jack Vong
Jason looked over. Jack usually didn't say much, so when the Komodo Dragon talked, it usually was for a good reason. However, Jason couldn't figure out why Jack seemed so worried about a break-in into the system.
"I think," Jenna said. "That we should use them. Starfox needs no explanation to their skill, and the four Black Wolf pilots are excellent marksmen according to their academy records."
"However," Jack said, "we take overall command of the situation, thereby cutting them out of any classified info…"
"So most of our existence remains secret." Finished Ivan. "I'm convinced."
"Exactly," said Jason. "But we should be friendly to them. I really don't like our view in the army as a bunch of anti-social, trained assassins."
"I agree," Jenna replied.
"So do I," spoke up a lynx sitting in the back row. His name was Dante Davidson (Callsign Shadow-Beta-8), son of Prince Victor. He had joined the CDF to give better relations between the Army and the Royal Family, and was later selected for Shadow Wing. "I gave up a lot of my social life to be in this unit, and I kind of want it back."
Nobody else had any objections. A lot of them agreed with Dante. The Shadow Wing was so secret, some pilots hadn't been allowed to fraternize with regular CDF forces.
"Good," Jason said, "let's move out, we need to meet our help on this mission, and Ivan, try to be friendly"
"Ok…" Ivan said begrudgingly.
2 miles east of Secret Weapons Lab 3, Garuda Desert, Corneus, Corneria, 0715 hours 2550 AD
Flying under the radar, 4 white Arwings and 4 black Arwings landed silently behind a cliff only 2 miles east of Secret Weapons Lab 3. The Lab was just beyond the cliff, situated on a 120 square mile plateau. The sun was just beginning to rise over the horizon as Ed cracked open his Arwing's cockpit and stepped out on to the dry ground of the Garuda Desert.
"Well," said Ed "This is the place. So where is our assistance?"
"I'm not picking anything up on radar," said Damien.
"Great," said Mark "we got set up."
"I don't think so," Fox cut in. "If this really is a Sec-Weap-Lab, then they'd send as much help as possible"
"Well, let's wait then, and keep an eye on the sky." Said Ed.
Nothing happened for a couple minutes, then…
"Something's approaching form the west!" yelled Karl as he put down the field binoculars he was using. "It looks big!"
"Damien…anything on scanners?" asked Ed
"Nothing"
Ed used his binoculars to look in Karl's direction. He saw what appeared to be a light cruiser and 12 Arwings flying in close formation. All of the ships were a dark gray color.
"Think they're friendly?" Karl asked
"Well, they're flying Arwings, aren't they?" said Mark "They must be friendly."
"Yeah…" Ed replied, a slight bit skeptical.
Then the comm channel crackled to life.
"This is Commander Jason Kage of the CDF Special Forces team know as Shadow Wing, we are coming up on your position, can you see us?"
"This is Commander Ed Wallace of Black Wolf, if you guys are that light cruiser and Arwings moving in on us, then yes, we can see you."
"Heh-heh" Jason chuckled "That would be us, sorry if we may have scared you guys by making our approach with stealth technology."
"You didn't scare me!" yelled Falco "With your fancy-ass ships, with their stealth technology…that I wish I had…"
"Shut it," Fox interrupted. "This is Commander Fox McCloud of Starfox, we also see you and are waiting your arrival."
"We'll be landing shortly; don't worry, they still haven't seen us."
"Affirmative" said Fox.
Chapter 16
Same Place, Only 3 minutes laterThe light cruiser and the 12 Arwings touched down next to the Black Wolf and Starfox Arwings. The cockpits of the Arwings cracked open, and the twelve Shadow Wing pilots walked out to greet Starfox and Black Wolf.
A Bald Eagle only slightly taller than Ed walked up to him.
"Commander Jason Kage, I presume?" asked Ed.
"Yes, and you must be Ed Wallace." The eagle responded.
"Correct."
"I'd like to introduce you to the rest of the squadron, so you know who you're working with." Said Jason
"Sounds like a good idea," Ed responded. He wasn't sure what to expect form the members of a company he had just heard of.
Jason led Ed, and the others, over to the 11 other pilots of Shadow Wing. The pilots stared at one another rather suspiciously as they were introduced, but they were courteous about the introductions. Ed was surprised that he knew a couple of people in the squadron. He had been in the same academy class as them, until they mysteriously "graduated" 2 years ahead. One of them was the cougar standing in front of him, Ivan Marlowski. Ivan seemed reluctant to shake paws with Ed, and regarded him with a cold glint in his eyes
Wonder what this is about? Ed thought. His thoughts were interrupted just then, however by two other faces he had seen before, this time of the female persuasion.
Katya Williams had been a competent soldier, and a decent computers expert at the academy, and somehow, the Collie had gotten a position inside the Shadow Wing. Ed knew her only a bit, but had a computer course with her in the academy. Next to her, was Jenna Sandoval, a gray wolf that Ed had dated a while during their first year at the academy. He was dumbstruck by their collective beauty, which he thought had doubled in the past two years since he last saw them, and after shaking hands with them and going through the introductions, Ed still continued to stare at them, until he became aware of somebody snapping his fingers in his face
"This is Ground Control calling Ed, please respond!" Mark said sarcastically.
Ed snapped out of his trance, and moved on to Dante Davidson, the Heir to the Cornerian throne. Ed started to bow, but Dante stopped him.
"Ed, we're on equal ground here," Dante said. "I don't need you to be formal, nor do I really care for it."
"Well, that's your opinion!" Damien Norris interjected. "If I was heir to royalty, I'd take every advantage!"
"Amen to that!" Falco yelled
"Ignore them," said Fox, "they're a little immature, and as such they have no grasp on reality."
Damien and Falco were not amused.
"Well," said Jason interrupting, "We have a briefing to go through, and a counterattack to plan, so let's get to work. We can use the Phantron's briefing room."
"Ok" said Ed
With that the 20 pilots, now turned ground soldiers, walked into the Phantron.
Chapter 16
Briefing room, Phantron, 5 minutes after last chapter- "As you can see, a good amount of the lab is underground" said Jason as he gestured towards the holographic map at the front of the briefing room. "However, some of it is above ground, and that is where the sensor array is. We have reason to believe that the Imperials might be using the array to communicate with their commanders. Teams 4 and 5, with Marlowski in overall command, will secure the top part of the installation. Meanwhile, Team 1, consisting of Vong, Sandoval, Williams, Davidson, and myself along with teams 2 and 3, Starfox and Black Wolf respectively, will secure the lower level. Any secret project data that is recovered will be immediately handed over to me, or any other members of team 1. This is because even though Fox, Ed, and I hold equal rank, Shadow Wing has been placed in command of this operation, and we have specific orders to take all recovered data into our hands."
- "That's crap…," Ed replied "but if you insist"
"So be it," Fox replied
"Glad you are so agreeable" Jason said. "In any event, we are going up the plateau, and entering through the front door, here." He pointed to the map. "Then we will split up at the main access elevators. Any questions?" no one responded "Good, let's move out!"
Side of Spec-Weap-Lab 3 plateau, 10 minutes later.- For the past 10 minutes the 20 soldiers had been climbing up the side of the plateau
- "Were almost there," said Jason
- Just then a hole opened up in space-time and a flower pot dropped into the side of the cliff.
"Why are we walking like this?" Ed asked as he released the rope. To everyone's surprise they had been walking horizontally on the top of the plateau for a full minute.
They immediately set the incident aside, and ran to a rock outcropping 200 meters away. They could see 1 Imperial Soldier guarding the front door.
"Looks easy," Falco commented
"Unless we somehow screw things up and he raises the alarm," Slippy said nervously.
"Leave this to me," Mark said as he drew his magnum revolver. The gun had a scope attached to the top, so he could snipe with it if need be. He used the outcropping to stabilize his arm as he took aim.
"The soldier is wearing Mark 7 Battle Armor." Reported Ivan. "I highly doubt even a .357 slug could…"
BLAM!
Ed watched through the binoculars as Mark fired. The .357 bullet slammed into the armored guard's neck, blowing apart his carotid artery, and putting a good amount of blood on the outside wall of the lab. The soldier crumpled to the ground, dead, as blood sprayed from the wound.
"Holy shit," Jason muttered. "That was some shot."
"Hurry up let's move before they try to find what happened." Ed said as he took off towards the front door "Hurry up already guys!" He eventually did slow down so that everybody could catch up, and so that Shadow Wing would have more time to breach the front door.
"The bullet hit at the part of the neck joint not protected by the armor" Jack Vong reported as he examined the corpse.
While Ivan was busy hacking into the door control mainframe, Fox approached Ed.
"Well, what do you think of this 'Shadow Wing'?" he asked
"Well," Ed replied, "they seem legit, but I don't like taking orders form a bunch of people I just heard of, even though I know a couple of them."
"I agree," Fox said "Something's up,"
"As do I," said Mark as he walked up to them "Ed, haven't you noticed something odd about Jack Vong?"
"Not really, why?"
"Well, apart from a couple of scars on his face, he looks exactly like Dave Cheng!"
Suddenly, Ed looked shocked. He hadn't noticed it at first, but now that Mark had mentioned it, Jack did look almost exactly like Dave.
"No…" Ed replied "It's not possible, Dave died, I saw his fighter crash, there was no way…"
"But you said they never found his body or his fighter" Fox pointed out
"Yes, but still…" Ed responded.
"SON OF A BITCH!!!"
Marlowski's shout broke up the conversation, and the three turned their heads to look at Ivan.
"I got the primary access code to open the primary door locks, but there are still to more locks to crack!" he said, pounding his laptop
"Allow me to assist" Ed replied, as he brought out and booted up his own laptop he had brought from his Arwing.
"Oh, no you don't!" Ivan shouted in challenge as he began to hammer away on his keyboard
Everybody circled around the two hackers as they challenged one another to break the codes first. Ed, needing an idea, spiked Ivan's laptop to get the first code. Ivan shut him out afterwards. For two minutes the typing went on and on until A massive "thunk" sounded deep behind the doors to the lab.
"HELL YEAH!" Ivan shouted in triumph "I broke the codes!"
"Oh really?" Ed said as he showed him his laptop screen
There, in the gate mainframe passcode boxes, It read "Kerrigan Equals God." Ed had broken the codes, not Ivan
"But…how?" Ivan asked disbelieved.
"Know thine enemy." Ed simply stated "He kept calling himself "godlike" when he was in the academy, so I just called up what I knew."
"Well, it appears you do have some skills," Ivan simply stated, then he walked off to the door
"God, what a bastard." Ed said.
"Don't take it personally," Jason replied "He thinks that because he belongs to Shadow Wing, that he should be better than everybody at everything."
"It seems not everybody in the Wing shares this opinion" Ed replied back.
"Well, whatever. Let's just get moving" Jason walked to the door, which was starting to open.
The 20 soldiers unslung their rifles and the doors slowly slid open to reveal…that the elevator room was empty.
"What the hell?" Jack Vong said "Are these guys stupid?!"
"Look, Jack" Jenna shot back "Don't get mad cause we haven't been shot at yet."
"Yeah but…"
"That's enough!" Jason cut in "We're late as it is, Ivan, take your teams upstairs"
"Yes, sir" Ivan and the rest of teams 4 and 5 got in the "up" elevator and headed up to the top levels of the lab.
"Now, let's go" Jason said as he started to step on the "down" elevator
"WAIT!" Ed yelled, pulling Jason out.
"What are you doing!?" Jason blustered
Ed pushed the down button on the elevator, without stepping into it. Without even the doors closing, the elevator fell like a brick. 5 seconds later, a muffled explosion could be heard.
"They sabotaged the elevator" Katya pointed out, "but how did you know Ed?"
"It seemed too easy," Ed answered "Naturally, there is nothing of vast importance on the upper levels of the lab, so they left that alone, but if most of them are on the bottom level, then they wouldn't want any interference."
"Well, now we have to take the stairs." Jason stated
"Wait, how many flights of stairs?" Mark asked
"Oh, 10 or 15, maybe 20" Jason answered.
"Dear god…I didn't sign on to walk up and down a bunch of goddamn stairs just to kill some Imperials." Mark said.
Chapter 17
Same place, 2 minutes laterEd had accepted the fact that they had to take the stairs to get to the lower levels of the lab, he just didn't realize how many stairs there were in a flight. There were about 20 stairs a flight, meaning, at most, 400 stairs. Mark was determined to make this trip as annoying as possible.
"Are we there yet?" Mark asked after the 7th flight
"No" Ed responded
2 flights later…
"How about now?"
"No!"
5 flights after that…
"Yo…"
"Look, don't even ask!" Ed shouted "We are nowhere near there yet!"
Finally, after 20 flights, and about 10 minutes, they reached the bottom of all the stairs
"Whew…" Mark panted, "I'll be glad never to see stairs again."
They walked up to the door and opened it, only to find…another empty room.
"Where the hell are they?" Falco asked, annoyed.
"Let's see what's behind this door!" Jason yelled as he ran up to the door at the end of the hall.
"Wait, DON'T OPEN THAT DOOR!" Ed shouted
Jason stopped "What now?" he said tersely
"That room is occupied by at least 2 soldiers, and a string of proximity mines" Ed responded
"How do you know this?" asked Dante
Ed tapped his shades "These shades have a motion sensor, and the ability to uplink with the K21's threat detector."
"I'm assuming that's not standard issue," Jason said
"Nope, I designed these." Ed replied. "but more on that later. Let me handle this room. Mark, back me up."
"Got it." Said Mark as he took a position near the door.
Ed hit the switch to open the door, and he aimed his K21 at the nearest mine. As soon as it came into view, he fired. The bullets hit the mine, which detonated the rest. Then the Imperial soldiers came looking for the cause to the noise. Mark fired a burst form his own K21 at the leftmost soldier, hitting him in the chest. The Imperial dropped almost instantly. Ed then realized there were still three more soldiers. As the first soldier brought his gun up, Ed shot him in the face with the K21. Then he dove to the ground, dropping the K21, and drawing his twin omni-falcons. He fired simultaneously as the Imperial gunfire landed all around him. He put three bullets into each guard's chest, the .45 slugs punching through their armor. Both guards collapsed, dead. The entire fight had taken maybe 5 seconds.
"Well, there were four soldiers, but I was right about the mines. This room's clear." Ed said.
"You think anybody else heard that?" Jenna asked
"I hope not" Ed replied as he picked up his K21"Otherwise, we'll have the entire Imperial regiment down on us."
Jason brought his team up to the next door, and opened it. The room looked a small storage space, with metal crates strewn all over the floor.
"Anything on the motion tracker, Ed?" Katya asked
- "Intermittent contacts, but nothing concrete." He replied
"Alright, proceed with caution" Jason said. "Fox, take your team right. Ed, go left."
The three squads moved slowly through the room. The lighting had been dimmed somewhat. Might conceal an ambush, Ed thought. Two seconds later, his theory was confirmed. An imperial soldier rose form behind a box at pointblank range, directly in front of Ed. Ed swung his rifle up, knocking the soldier's gun aside, then Ed drew one Omni Falcon and fired into the trooper's forehead. The soldier dropped like a stone. Then Ed's motion sensor flared up.
"CONTACTS!" He yelled "Reading at least 20 contacts on motion tracker!" He gave the signal for his squad to duck down, and they did as Venomian assault rifles fired over their heads. He could see that Starfox and Shadow Wing had done likewise. Ed primed a frag grenade.
"When I give the signal, I want you three to fire to our right, where I'm pointing." He said indicating with the hand not holding the grenade. "3, 2, 1, NOW!!" He yelled as he tossed the grenade in the direction he pointed.
The 4 Black Wolf pilots rose as one and took aim. Ed fired at the soldiers directly ahead, causing them to duck for cover. One, a lizard, failed to duck in time, and received a K21 bullet to his neck. The other three fired at the 10 soldiers on the right. Two fell, the rest ducked. Then the grenade went off. Ed's throw had been near perfect. 4 soldiers had been killed instantly, their bodies thrown into the air by the blast as their blood splashed against the walls. A 5th soldier had been badly wounded and thrown out into the open, his legs torn up by the shrapnel. He pointed his rifle in Black Wolf's general direction, only to be finished off by a blast from Riker's shotgun.
"Okay, Karl, Damien, take out the guys ahead of us. Mark, follow me."
Ed moved to the right, on the 4 remaining soldiers that had not been killed by the grenade. Mark followed close behind. The Imperial soldiers popped up again, looking for targets. Unfortunately, they became targets. Mark and Ed lay down a barrage of gunfire that cut down three of the soldiers, the last trooper, a Jackal, had ducked down again behind the boxes. Ed leapt over the boxes and swung his K21 at the jackal, catching him in the side of the chest. The Jackal staggered, and Ed put him down with a series of Kung-Fu kicks to the head.
The Imperial soldiers to Ed's left saw what happened, and they turned to fire at Ed. This however, presented their backs to Karl and Damien, who came around the corner guns blazing. One imperial caught a shotgun blast in the spine, which exploded his chest outward. His comrade turned to retaliate, but Norris shot him through the chest and neck with his K21. The last imperial, a female cougar, took 2 blasts from Riker's shotgun in the chest. She died without even crying out in pain.
At this point, Starfox and Shadow Wing seized the initiative and attacked the last group of 10 soldiers. The Imperials suddenly found themselves outnumbered and outgunned. They tried to fight back, but their VK assault rifles were no match for the superior K21s the Cornerains carried. The last soldier dove relentlessly at Falco, but Falco was too fast for him. He hit the Imperial in the side of the head with his K21, and then shot him twice in the back. The soldier was dead before he hit the ground.
Ed grabbed the one remaining Imperial left alive, the Jackal he tangled with, and shook him awake.
"All right dirtbag, time to answer some questions," Ed growled "What are you doing here?"
"Up yours, Cornerian scum!" was the reply.
At that point, almost everybody pointed their rifles at the jackal.
"Wait," Ed said. Then to the Jackal: "What are you doing here? Now keep in mind, failure to answer will result in massive blood loss." To make his point, Ed leveled one of his omni-falcons at the jackal's torso, while still keeping a hand on his throat.
"All right, damn you!" the Jackal said. "We were sent here to steal some technology that the Imperial Command was intent on using for further invasion purposes!"
"Oh really?" said Jason. "What kind of technology?"
"General Caine and General Steinburg weren't specific, but Lord Kerrigan said something about a new mobile weapons system, or something." The Jackal continued.
"Where are you getting the technology from?" Ed queried
"Well, we weren't sent to get the technology," said the Jackal. "We were told to hack into the computer systems and steal the plans. I think we jacked into the mainframes 1 level below here."
"One more thing, any hostages?"
"A few scientists, we were told not to harm them."
Ed put the pistol away "Thank you for cooperating…Mark, get me a box"
"Wait, what…" said the Jackal, but Ed suddenly chopped at the Jackal's brachial nerve tie-in (at the neck) with his right paw. The Jackal fell unconscious. Ed then stuffed him into one of the bullet-riddled metal crates that Mark had tossed his way.
"He'll be out for a while," Ed stated, "now let's move out."
Jason walked up to the next door, and activated it. Ed drew his omni-falcons. "There are at least 4 soldiers in the room." Ed said.
Jason nodded, and tightened his grip on the K21 he was holding. The door slid open slowly.
There were indeed 4 soldiers standing guard in the room beyond the door, Ed brought his guns up, and fired at the nearest soldier. The Imperial soldier took 2 .45 slugs to the chest and went down. The other 3 brought their guns up. At this point, Jason and Dante pointed their rifles through the door and fired, catching one of the soldiers on the right in the stomach. Ed dove to the left, both omni falcons firing, the third solder fell, and the gun in Ed's left hand clicked.
Damn, out of ammo, he thought, then he realized his right-hand gun had one bullet left. He quickly pointed it at the last soldier and pulled the trigger. The bullet hit the soldier in the chest, and he staggered, then before he regain his footing, automatic fire from at least 12 assault rifles fired at him. The Imperial soldier seemed to wilt, fold, and fly apart as the slugs from the K21s hit him.
Ed turned around. He saw that everybody else had fired on the soldier. This had probably saved his life. "Thanks guys" he said
A chorus of "no problem" came from the 12 soldiers.
Ed then went to reload his Omni Falcons. He loaded the right one with one of his .45 clips, but didn't reload the left one with the same. He inspected one of the Imperial corpses, and took a 9mm clip, which he loaded into the left gun. As he was reloading his near empty K21, Jason walked up to him.
"Did you just load a gun that shoots .45 bullets with a 9mm clip?" he asked
"Yeah"
"Isn't that not going to work?"
"You'll see," Ed replied cryptically as he flicked a knob on the left-hand Omni Falcon, and left it drawn. He slung the K21 over his shoulder.
Then he went over to the door in front of him and activated it.
It opened to show an enraged Venomian Officer brandishing an energy rifle of some type. Almost too fast to see, Ed brought his Omni Falcon up and fired. The gun shot a 3-round burst of 9mm bullets. The first shot hit the officer in the chest, below the sternum, the next bullet impacted at the top of the sternum. The last bullet, however, slammed into the tiger's face. The officer's face exploded into a red mist as his finger tightened on the trigger. The shot went wild, and the energy bolt slammed into the ceiling, sending down a shower of molten metal as the tiger collapsed, dead.
For a while, no one said anything, then Jason spoke up. "Ed, explain."
"Gladly" he said, "Presenting the omni-falcon, a brand new version of the Falcon pistol currently used by members of the CDF. It is capable of using any kind of ballistic firearm ammo due to the use of microchip controlled polymers that mold the barrel assembly to fire any kind of bullet. What happens is when a clip is inserted, a laser scanner gets the size and caliber of the bullet, and then feeds this information to the microchip. The microchip then signals the polymers to mold to fit the caliber of the bullet so it can fire the bullet. After the polymers are done molding, they harden enough so that the barrel cannot be broken easily."
"How do you know so much about the gun?" Fox asked
"Simple," Ed replied, "Mark and I designed these guns. We figured out in our 3rd year at the Academy that if someone could make a universal ammo-using sidearm, it could be very useful to spec-ops forces and troops caught behind enemy lines. With that in mind, we spent all of our 3rd year and most of our 4th year researching nanotechnology and polymer technology to come up with a new kind of nano-polymer that could be directed by a microchip. This forms the core element of our omni-falcons. We presented this prototype," Ed indicated with his right hand gun, "to Arspace Dynamics and the CDF Chiefs of Staff. They said that they would give us funding to create 3 more prototypes for field testing, and then they would use our test data to make a decision. Arspace did decide, however, to write up a tentative contract in which they would produce the guns, and Mark and I would each make 20% of the profits. This gun, mind you," Ed concluded, "is not made to replace all guns, as it would not be accurate as an assault rifle, but it fills the sidearm and SMG role very well."
"So we have seen," Jason said. "Anyway, we still have a ways to go before we reach the main terminal. Let's get going."
Dante picked up the fallen Venomian's assault rifle. "Hmm…" he said "VK-27P Plasma rifle…wonder what it can do? And what does it mean by 'overcharge'?"
"Only one way to find out." Jack replied.
"Good point." Dante activated the overcharge and held down the trigger. The barrel of the rifle glowed with a pulsing yellow/green light, and a low buzzing noise emitted from it.
Jason activated the door, and it slid open. The room was a relatively empty hallway with minimal cover provided by the outcroppings on the walls, and a few storage containers. Then the door on the other end of the hallway opened and six guards came out, one of them holding twin gattling guns. They spotted the 13 Cornerian soldiers, and brought their weapons to bear.
Dante fired his stolen plasma rifle first, however. A greenish-yellow sphere shot out of the barrel and hit the rightmost guard. There was a hissing nose as he collapsed, with a smoking hole in his chest. Then the guards opened fire, barrages of bullets were sent in the direction of the Cornerians.
"TAKE COVER!" Jason yelled as he ran for an outcropping. Everybody else scrambled for cover amid a hail of bullets. Ed dove behind a container, and to his right Katya dove behind another container. Ed leapt up and fired, his Omni Falcon spraying 9mm bursts in his left hand, and his K21 in his right. All of the Imperials scrambled for cover as well, except the tiger with the gattling guns. He pointed them straight at Ed. Ed saw this and ducked just as another hail of bullets passed through the spot he had just been.
To Ed's left. Mark pulled out his twin omni falcons and fired at the leftmost guard who was coming out of hiding. The guard flew through the air as the .357 rounds tore through his chest. Then Mark ducked back into his outcropping as another guard fired a laser rifle at him. Katya popped up from behind her cover and started firing at the Imperial troops. Bullets and lasers flew all around her as she mowed down a third soldier, and then her gun jammed. As she stopped to try to unjam it, the soldier holding the gattling guns pointed his weapons straight at her.
With almost no time to think, Ed leapt at Katya, while bringing his pistol up in his left hand "Get down, Katya!" he yelled, as he dove at her. As the gattling guns opened up, Ed tackled Katya. Ed fired his gun, spraying a three round burst into the guard on the left, as he fell, the Gattling gunner tracked Ed's movement. Ed felt something ram into his left shoulder just before his right side hit the floor behind some metal crates. Gattling rounds whined off the metal bins as Ed waited for the gunfire to let up. It didn't sound like it was going to anytime soon.
"Are you all right?" he asked Katya
"I'm fine, could've warned me sooner though." She answered.
Jason and Fox stepped out from their cover and opened fire. The guard on the right took 5 shots to the chest and dropped, the Fox shot the gattling gunner in the throat. Both guns clattered to the floor as the gunner slumped to the floor.
"Room's clear, you two can get up now." Jenna said to Ed and Katya.
As Ed stood up, he couldn't help but notice a sharp pain in his left shoulder. "Mark, what are you staring at?"
"Uh…Ed…you're bleeding out of your shoulder" Mark stated.
Ed looked, and suddenly, the pain intensified. "Well, shit," he said as he suddenly slumped back down to the floor.
"You alright?" Katya asked, concerned.
"Yeah," he answered dazedly, "just never been shot before."
Katya looked at the wound, "The bullet went right through, this will only take a moment." Katya produced a medkit, and grabbed a hypospray. "Here, this biofoam will seal up the wound and staunch the bleeding. It also has painkillers in it."
As she sprayed it, Ed felt a burning sensation in his shoulder, but it subsided after a few seconds. "Thanks," he said as she started to wrap his shoulder in a cloth bandage.
"You sure you're all right?" Jason asked, "I mean, you did just get shot"
"I'm over the initial shock." Ed answered "Besides, it's a small price to pay for saving a fellow soldier, especially such an attractive one."
Ed was sure he heard someone make a gagging noise, but chose to ignore it.
"Well, anyway," Fox said, as if he were changing the subject "We still have a ways to go, plus I want to try out this Imperial laser rifle I just picked up"
"Well," Mark said, "I'd like to try out these gattling guns!" He said as he strapped on the ammo belts and picked the guns up. "Come on! I'll lead the way!" He walked over to the door, then stopped.
"Uh…could someone get the door?" he suddenly asked.
"Oh, yeah," Ed said sarcastically, as he went to the door controls. "We got really far while you were leading!"
The doors slid open, slowly, revealing 5 guards, all armed to the hilt with assault weapons. They hadn't counted on Mark standing in the doorway with the gattling guns pointed right at them. He opened fire. 4 of the soldiers flew through the air as the bullets tore through their bodies. The last soldier crouched behind a metal crate and was shouting for backup on his radio before Fox silenced him with a blast from his captured laser rifle.
"Let's move before their backup arrives." Fox said as he ran towards the door. The door suddenly opened up, and 10 imperial soldiers charged through.
"Take cover!" Dante yelled as he opened fire. Everybody scrambled for cover as gunfire was exchanged between forces. Ed was caught in the middle of it all, as he had to find cover behind some crates in the middle of the room. He reloaded his left-hand omni-falcon with 45-caliber ammo, and he drew his right hand omni-falcon as well. He popped up from behind cover and started shooting. Two imperials dropped, but Ed could see at least another ten soldiers streaming through the door.
"There has to be at least a whole company after us!!" Katya shouted over the gunfire.
"We need to give Ed support!" Damien shouted as he started moving amongst the crates to reach Ed's position. Fox, Katya, Dante, Mark and Karl also stated advancing.
Ed continued firing until his pistol ammo was emptied. As he went for his K21, he saw three imperials coming at him. He took out two, but the third soldier dodged left, and brought his rifle down on Ed's injured shoulder. Ed cried out in pain as he fell to the ground, staring up at the imperial soldier. The soldier was about to put a bullet through his head, when a hissing noise pierced the air, followed by a meaty thwack! The soldier fell, a silver shuriken embedded in his throat. Ed then saw Jack Vong vault over him, drawing his katana. Ed struggled to his feet, and saw Jack slash one soldier across the chest, while kicking another one in the neck. Both soldiers crumpled. There were now only 5 soldiers left standing. Jack went to work. Almost two fast to see, he downed one guard with a dropkick, and slashed another one's throat. The lizard then punched another in the face, and the imperial sailed through the air before slamming into the ground. One of the remaining imperials finally got his act together and opened fire with his rifle. Jack deflected the shots with his katana, sending one of the shots into the assailant's head. The last soldier attempted to shoot, but Jack ran him through the chest with his sword. The soldier was dead before he hit the ground.
"Are you all right?" Jack asked Ed
"Yeah…I'm fine…" Ed said slowly.
"Well, we'd better get going, before more of them show up." Jack said as he went to the door. Everybody followed him, but Ed lagged behind a bit. He was still stunned by what he saw. He had witnessed an amazing fighting style that he had only seen once before. The only other person he knew that could fight the way Jack did, with such speed and accuracy, was Dave Cheng.
What the hell is going on here? Ed asked himself as he followed the soldiers through the door.
END OF PART THREE.
Well, I know this part was a long time coming, and I decided to end it before I planned to, which will probably mean I have two more parts to write before I finish this fanfic up.
