General Pepper cupped his hand to his face as he lit the fresh batch of assorted powders in his pipe and tried to let the smoke calm his chaotic mind. The front lines had taken casualties from the Brotherhood artillery barrage but nothing serious, the real problem was the effect Pepper was sure the situation would have on his troops. Being stuck in some bunker or ruined building listening to the sounds of artillery shells exploding all around them for days on end, praying that one didn't come down right on your head and all the while waiting for the enemy to make their inevitable final thrust and overrun their positions wasn't a very healthy thing for the mind or the body. With the Cornerian fleet in shambles and a sizable portion of the city under Brotherhood control morale was alarmingly low, and even the best propaganda broadcasts could do little to help, worse there were rumors of civilians being rounded up by the hundreds and taken to brutal forced labor camps deep within Brotherhood controlled space. Pepper returned his gaze to the holomap of Cornerian City and the swarms of colored shapes that moved within the miniature, semitransparent city. According to the few Cornerian spy satellites that the Brotherhood had not found and shot down another battalion of Brotherhood infantry had joined the gathering forces at the edge of enemy controlled territory on the far side of the no man's land, with the rest of the area already swarming with more hostiles. Pepper sat back in his chair, even though the odds had become extremely lopsided he still had another card to play. If the commando team that had been dispatched two days ago could somehow complete their mission and knock out the camp were the Brotherhood artillery was stationed, or better yet destroy the communication relays than they would disrupt the Brotherhood's organization and give his forces a chance to do some damage, maybe even score the victory his forces needed to increase morale. All things considered he would give the team a one in twelve chance of success, but the thought was comforting just the same. If the team failed well then Pepper would make sure that those Brotherhood bastards paid a few hundred lives for every block they took. The contents of his pipe ran dry and Pepper retrieved a small bottle of the stuff from his pocket and began to refill his pipe, there had been countless wars in this system and if the latter case came true then it a twisted way it would be fitting that this system would end in violence.
The alleyway was the identical to countless others that connected the numerous streets of Cornerian City. It was littered with rubble that had fallen from the buildings that surrounded it and the collection of empty bullet casings that lay strewn about one of the entrances bore testament to a firefight at some time or other over the past month. The relative silence was broken by the sound of rubble crunching underfoot. Fox McCloud propelled himself from around the corner and performed a three hundred sixty degree Special Forces turn as he quietly ran behind a rusted dumpster. The vulpine mercenary peeked out from his hiding place and when no enemy fire came held up his hand gave the all clear signal. The small group of Cornerian commandos along with Bill, Katt, Falco and the somewhat incorporative Wolf O'Donnell sprinted half crouching into the alley and moved on to the entrance at the far end, checking carefully before sprinting across the empty street into the next alley. Fox checked his PDA as the group slipped into an abandoned building for a nav check, Krystal sat down beside him.
"Only four more blocks to go."
"What do we do if the other team isn't there when we get there?"
"One step at a time, I'm just hoping that they don't manage to bring half the Brotherhood army down on us when they arrive."
"Hopefully, but if they do than we can come one step closer to avenging the deaths of so many innocent people."
"I want that as badly as you do Krys, but we have to stay focused on the mission."
"I know, it's just that whatever happened at Cerenia I was too young to anything to stop or even remember, here I can do something to make a difference."
"Don't worry Krys, when we raid that Brotherhood base, we'll get our chance to make a difference and until then you have to remember that nothing in the Cornerian military ever goes as planned."
Wolf O'Donnell sat in the corner, silently watching the exchange. A flurry of weapons fire sounded in the distance and he instinctively ducked and muttered a curse as he banged his head on light that was hanging from the ceiling. The walls began to vibrate as a loud rattling sound came from somewhere outside, it sounded like heavy treads of some kind, most likely Brotherhood armor. The commando watching the street ducked away from the window.
"Everybody get down, Brothies coming up the street!"
Wolf dropped to the floor and crawled towards a small crack in the wall, his hand going for the blaster on his belt as the rest of the rooms occupants hid and readied their weapons. The rattling increased and through the crack he could see a dozen Brotherhood soldiers clustered around an APC, Wolf gritted his teeth as the APC's powerful treads rolled by about twenty feet from his face. He didn't dare move a muscle for fear of being seen though most of the soldiers seemed bored and less than alert. The patrol finally turned the corner and continued on to the next street and Wolf let out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. The rest of the group cautiously emerged from their hiding places and Wolf slid his blaster pistol back into its holster.
"They're gone."
Fox ignored him and took a quick look down the street that the Brotherhood squad had taken.
"We didn't expect to encounter very many Brotherhood forces in this sector, this might complicate things."
Another burst of weapons fire, this one much closer and longer than the last sounded somewhere off to the northeast.
"What are they shooting at?"
"Hell if I know, could be Cornerian soldiers that have been cut off back here, could be civilian resistance fighters, could be the marines we're trying to link up with."
The group moved back outside into the alley and crouched in the shadows. They sprinted across the street one by one, just as they had on the last street, and the one before that and the one before that and who knows how many more. Wolf's turn came and he sprinted across the street and into the shadows to wait for the last few commandos and then repeat the process until they reached the rendezvous point.
General Osborn walked along the perimeter of the camp admiring the state of destruction and chaos that the city stretched before him was in. There was a particularly large amount of smoke rising from the Cornerian controlled section of the city today, a sign that the soldiers manning the artillery were doing their job well. Another full battalion of troops had been sent in along with a few a small division of tanks to prepare for the next probing attack on the Cornerian lines and soon enough the final push that would crush their defenses and come swarming into their section and storm their bases, ripping off the head of the Cornerian beast so that the body may die. Osoborn turned and walked back into the camp, past the row of mortar tanks and the group of engineers who were working to piece together four fixed artillery batteries that had arrived disassembled this morning. According to the recent reports a platoon of elite shock troops, another platoon of regular infantry, and a small division of armor would arrive tomorrow to further prepare the Brotherhood forces for the attack. Osborn walked past a group of soldiers who were trying to wrestle camo netting over two of the mortar tanks, not that they needed it but it was always good to not underestimate one's adversary. One of his aids hurried up to him with another report, Osborn accepted it as he entered the command tent.
"The attack had been moved up?"
"Yes sir, orders came in from the High Chancellor himself, he wants this planet subdued within four weeks."
"Get me Grand Admiral Stanford."
"Yes sir, he'd expecting you sir."
One of the technicians pushed a series of buttons and a few moments latter the image of the Grand Admiral appeared on one of the holoscreens. Osborn didn't hesitate despite the Stanford's higher rank.
"What's all this about Admiral?"
If the Stanford was offended by Osborn's bluntness or being called admiral instead of Grand Admiral he didn't show it.
"Aww General, how goes the campaign down there, well I presume."
"A message came in this morning saying that three weeks have been shaved off my time table for subduing the Cornerian ground forces, I presume you know why."
An alarm of some kind sounded from outside of the camera's reception radius and Stanford turned and bellowed an order before turning back to the camera.
"Of course I do General, but first do you consider all personnel in the room with you to be trustworthy."
Osborn's skin slowly began to take on a lighter green color, a sign that he was interested.
"Yes, I would say they all check out."
"Good, High Chancellor Grandeur has decreed that this planet must fall in four weeks so that additional forces can be sent to Venom."
Osborn realized what this had to mean.
"Are our forces meeting heavy resistance in that system?"
Stanford leaned a little closer to the camera.
"They're meeting a lot more resistance than we thought they would; I've heard rumors that they've even pushed our forces back in several areas and our forces were unprepared for a series of harsh windstorms caused by the large volcanic ash content of the atmosphere."
"Has Grandeur suspended his original plan in favor of an immediate frontal assault?"
"No he said to continue the bombardment as planned but move the main attack forward ten days, I am also told that soon more effective artillery rounds will be coming in which should achieve results more quickly and compensate for the bombardment being shortened."
"Very well, Corneria will fall in four weeks."