Chapter Four: "The Fourth Planet"
"Are you crazy, Celest?! You don't just waltz into Metgiacon and hack their computer mainframe! You're already outnumbered, what, one to one hundred?"
Celestra pulled a gray tank top on over her sportsbra and eyed Bill calmly through the G-Diffuser screen. "Listen Grey, if I can't get out of working with these clowns, I might as well use them to my advantage. If Slippy is as good at computers as Fox insists he is, then I cam reclaim Metgiacon single-handedly while their mainframe is down." Seeing she had Bill more worried than convinced, she continued, "Look, it's only a matter of time before Pepper stations us on Katina, so the quicker we liberate Corneria, the quicker you get to see me."
"And the consolation prize is--?"
"--That if you don't quit talking and agree with me, I'll make sure you get fired. Pepper hired me, remember?" Celestra finished dryly.
The faintest of haggard smiles found Bill's face; he was exhausted from working with the frontline base lieutenants, but had still avoided sleep to accept his best friends' call. "Okay, leave my job outta this! Go forth and conquer. Just make sure you kill the guys on the other team, capiche?"
Celestra grinned and waved to him. "Yeah, I know. We've been through this."
~~*~~
When Merrick, chief correspondent for Venomian forces infiltrating Metgiacon, gave the order for his men to shift into a defensive posture about the skyscraper, he wasn't too worried that his actions weren't exactly matching Andross's designs. He didn't care much that he was disobeying specific orders, and he hadn't even bothered stopping to ponder the dire consequences of his behavior.
He knew only that Star Fox and the assassin Marquette were en route to spoil their plans, and that filled him with fear.
"Seal off all the elevators and main stairwells!" Merrick dictated loudly, swiftly traversing the hallways spiraling through the ground floor. "And make certain that we're covered on the ground, these guys are the best!"
Barely fifteen minutes previous, the usurpers of the vast Metgiacon empire had been almost bored with their seemingly uneventful takeover; they had suspended all exports of weaponry to outer Corneria and the frontline base on Katina, and had even succeeded in drawing the primary assault away from the army base, where even now General Pepper was being backed into a corner. What they hadn't planned for was the sundering of the offending forces, for while Celestra and Slippy were no doubt wending their way toward Metgiacon, Fox, Falco, and Peppy were readying to strike the base itself, in hopes of delivering the general to safety.
Now the enemy within Metgiacon was falling into complete disarray, all but tripping over themselves to follow Merrick's half-hearted orders. Rather than remain in their lookouts on both the ground and in the sky, the Venomians shifted into a completely ground defensive, leaving the highest floors only meagerly guarded.
Merrick had never met Celestra Marquette and Slippy Toad personally. He could not know that no matter what he did, he would lose.
~~*~~
"So when are you going to let me in on this brilliant plan of yours?" Slippy questioned peevishly.
Celestra subconsciously tightened her hands about the joysticks controlling her Arwing and did well to hide her annoyance. Didn't these guys ever explore their options before launching any attacks? Doing her best to remain composed, the assassin asked, "Slippy tell me something--in all of the Metgiacon command center building, do you happen to know where all the computer systems are located?"
"You bet," said Slippy, wondering vaguely how this was relevant. "Floor fifty-nine, the topmost section of the complex."
"Very good," Celestra remarked, and didn't offer any more information right away. The radio silence between her craft and Slippy's, Acid Rain, soon wore away at her patience, though, and with a sigh she elaborated.
"I'm sending the enemy formations to your computer now. Study them and tell me what you see."
A holographic map of Metgiacon displayed itself on Slippy's G-Diffuser; outlined in great detail were the positions of every Venomian fighter within or guarding the perimeter of the area. Slippy's eyes perused the defensive postures down to every last detail, then re-engaged his accomplice in their battle plans.
"Very heavy on the ground force," he observed. "What little of their forces that remain inside are guarding the lowest levels."
Celestra nodded her approval, thankful that Slippy wasn't as dense as she had anticipated him to be. "Very good indeed. And have you spotted the one tragic flaw in their entire setup?"
Slippy gasped almost immediately, positively stunned. "They've left the mainframes vulnerable!"
Tapping several more buttons on her G-Diffuser console, Celestra brought up a skematic of the highest floor for Slippy's benefit. "The mainframe can only be physically accessed from this location, and none of their guys are in any position to defend it."
"Yeah, but--" Slippy began uncertainly; surely Celestra had a point?
"Listen, kid," Celestra interjected heatedly. "Once we open fire on Metgiacon, the guys in charge will send transmissions to Pepper's base, alerting the rest of the force. Once they have confirmed that we're in no position to retaliate, they'll close in on Pepper and this war will be over before it's even begun.
"So my next question is--how good of a computer hacker are you?"
Slippy's already bulging eyes widened considerably as he considered this last question. "You want me to hack the Metgiacon mainframe?!"
"Yes I do," said the assassin coolly. "That is, if you can handle it."
"What does this have to do with rescuing Pepper?!"
This time Celestra chuckled, a soft, wicked sound that sent an icy chill down the mercenary's spine. "It's my plan, kid. Once we hack their systems, their aircraft will tell them that Metgiacon's defenses have been breached. They'll have no choice but to head up to the mainframes and get them back online--if they can--because without that system, they can't send transmissions."
"So the enemies at the base won't know when it's safe to move in on the general!" Slippy breathed.
"Exactly," Celestra confirmed. "That will cover your three friends as well; they'll remain unnoticed until we give them the green light." The pair weaved through a thick copse of trees, remaining concealed as Metgiacon loomed nearer. "So are you in? 'Cause there's only one right way to do this."
Slippy bit his bottom lip fervently, still studying the 3D map of the fifty-ninth floor of the Metgiacon empire. Celestra's plot was undeniably brilliant, he had to admit, but how many people had attacked Metgiacon's computer systems and lived to tell about it afterward? It would be a critical first strike against Andross, but--
"Beyond your talents, eh, Slippy?"
The mercenary scowled. "It most certainly is not."
And he began uploading a computer virus.
~~*~~
Several miles away, Falco Lombardi was drumming insatiably on the dash of his Arwing's helm. He, Fox, and Peppy had been cruising inconspicuously high above the Cornerian army base, waiting tensely for any word from Celestra or Slippy concerning the situation at Metgiacon. Regardless of Fox's pleading, Celestra had slyly refused to let him in on what she was planning, so naturally the leader of the Star Fox mercenaries was more than a little on edge.
'Guy's got a good reason to be nervous,' Falco thought to himself, setting his spacecraft, MeteoRiot, on a rather sluggish autopilot and humming absently to his makeshift beat. 'Of course, if it was me, I would've beaten the whole scheme out of her . . . '
So it was that Falco found a new way to pass the empty minutes by; high above the base, he toyed with the prospect of learning the assassin's motives using brute force.
~~*~~
Celestra watched Acid Rain land lightly upon the rooftop of the Metgiacon skyscraper from the shadow of several slender birch trees. She had landed her Arwing unnoticeably within the deepest boughs of the forest and had trekked the last mile to the lofty structure on foot. The assassin was well armed for the crucial tasks ahead of her; on a utility belt encircling her narrow waist sat a holstered pair of liquid plasma laser guns, a grappling hook, a coil of rope, and two deadly switchblades. Nestled within her magical boots were a pair of butterfly knives for close combat, and she had donned a miniscule communicating device that was connected to the same frequency as Slippy's G-Diffuser. Celestra was nearly four hundred feet from her destination now, poised excitedly and awaiting Slippy's first signal.
Ten nerve-racking minutes slipped by before Slippy managed to contact her. "The virus is attacking the mainframe now. Once the primary defenses have been liquidated, I'll hack the rest of the system."
"As foolproof as I had planned," Celestra murmured to herself, then she terminated the transmission and continued her stealthy advance through the swiftly thinning trees. To Merrick's credit, he had been intelligent enough to post sentries at intervals of fifty feet all along the inside of the treeline, but Celestra wsn't particularly concerned. Her black boots, although crushing twigs and leaves, made not a sound at her mental command, and she was a mere twenty steps away from the first guard before he had even sensed her presence. At the first sing of unease, Celestra stilled her approach, scanned her surroundings, and effortlessly scaled a large beech tree that, conveniently enough, possessed serveral sturdy branches that hung just above her target's head.
She was reaching for one of her switchblades when one of her feet brushed against an adjacent branch, causing the leaves to rustle ever-so-slightly. Cursing her carelessness, the assassin leapt down from her perch, tackling the Venomian flat and wrestling him into submission. Her communicator issued a shrill beep just as she drew the wicked blade across the unfortunate man's throat.
"Tell me that you've hacked it, and I'll leave you alone for awhile," Celestra whispered, wiping the knife on her victim's vest and melting back within the cover of the trees.
Slippy sighed in resignation. "The ground forces are filtering back into the lower levels. As soon as they've re-activated the elevator systems, they'll all relocate to the highest floors and back themselvess into a corner."
"Meaning what?"
"The system is down. I can sustain it long enough for you to make your way to the top floor, provided that I have no cyberspace intrusions."
"Stand by for further instructions," Celestra ordered, then she once again terminated the link and darted out of the trees. Her footfalls were so silent that she sprinted the final short distance into Metgiacon's main entrance without attracting any attention from the remaining scouts. She pivoted sharply to the right once inside, crouching to the ground and removing the handheld plasma guns from her belt.
The corridor in which she was standing bisected many other side hallways in a perpendicular fashion, all of which were lined with private offices and laboratories. At one end of the hallway Celestra spied a set of four elevator compartments, at the other end, the main stairwell the connected all fifty-nine floors of the complex. Figuring that the stakes were too high to take any chances with the elevator, Celestra inaudibly crossed to the staircase and began her spiraling trek upward, plasma lasers at the ready, ears cocked for the slightest sound.
Her caution never wavered; when she set foot on the threshold of the twentieth floor her only motion was to pause and quietly inform Slippy of her current location. And so her patient pursuit continued until she eased the door open at the fifty-fifth floor; taking a quick glance down the principal corridor her caution rewarded her as she slipped, unnoticed, into the nearest sunk-in doorframe, lasers in a ready position in her slender hands.
A dozen soldiers were grouped in the center of the hall, a couple standing, some sitting comfortably, and a few milling about, seemingly bored or indifferent. To ever-observant Celestra, the handful of Venomians sprawled out on the floor posed the most immediate threat; when the encounter came to blows they would have a better angle at her legs, meaning that she would more than likely need to be quick on her feet. Fixing her gaze upward she confirmed that there were no escape routes through the ceiling, which meant that the only means of desertion were the elevators and the staircase just behind her.
Assuming they could beat her to either location.
Brushing a strand of ebony hair away from her glittering aqua eyes, the assassin raised her guns and made her way out of the office alcove. Under another circumstance the situation may have been laughable; there she stood, perhaps thirty feet away in the center of the hallwy, and those in her sights remained conveniently unaware of her.
She fired once with each weapon, simultaneously striking two different targets and killing both instantly. Then, with a speed unbeknowst to her enemies, Celestra dove to her right and rolled into the shelter of another alcove. With a unified shout the rest of the group assembled and, instead of wading around into the girl's line of fire, focused their lasers on the wall of the sanctuary closest to them, slowly wearing away at the rock of Celestra's hiding place.
Always anticipating a turn of events, Celestra holstered one gun and drew out one of her switchblades, then sprinted out and into the next awning, throwing the deadly blade as she went. Thankfully it caught one of the men in the jugular, and with her plasma gun Celestra disposed of two more with simple rapid fire. Deciding to test the odds (for in the openiong minutes she hadn't been in the least bit impressed with their aim), the assassin leaned around the corner of her new alcove, taking careful aim and firing a trio of shots that burned three little holes in one soldiers' forehead. Drawing out her other switchblade as she continued her assault, Celestra dove and skidded into her next hiding place, all the while lessening the space between her and her adversaries.
Her next move overwhelmed all but one of them. Celestra leaned out to one side and threw the switchblade into the crowd. It sailed through the center of their tight-knit formation, but had been meant purely as a distraction. As the soldiers watched the blades' path through the air, Celestra killed five of the remaining six with several skillful blasts of her plasma lasers.
The last Venomian, clearly older and higher of rank, dodged one shot and let fly with a stream of his own. Celestra dove stomach-first to the tiled floor, letting one of the handheld weapons skitter to the side so she could break her fall, and fired twice at vital areas of the man's body as all of his shots hit the wall behind her harmlessly high. Within three minutes the hall had withdrawn into a more quiet air, the only sound being Celestra's light, slightly quickened breathing.
As she padded about, retrieving her weapons, the communicator assaulted her ear and she pressed it in annoyance. "What is it this time, Slippy?"
"Merrick's got hackers of his own tailing my frequency. I don't know how much more time I can buy you, Marquette."
Celestra's mind did a few quick calculations. "Can you give me ten minutes?"
A short pause followed; Slippy had assumed she would require at least half an hour. "I think so."
Celestra smirked to herself. "Perfect. Give them hell."
"Roger that. Over and out."
~~*~~
"Hey Falco, wake up!"
The avian jerked in surprise and bolted upright; in his impatience he had accidentally dropped off to sleep in the cockpit of his Arwing. Rubbing sleep from his ever-intense eyes, Falco regained his controls and brought the craft into a loose formation with Fox and Peppy. "What's so important that you find it necessary to scare me half to death?"
"Slippy just contacted us. He says that Celestra had him hack the Metgiacon computer systems--"
"That chick did what?!" Falco cut in.
"--And it worked. The mainframe is completely disabled, and Celestra's got the lot of them trapped in the higher levels," Fox finished, undeterred.
Falco's beak dropped open in astonishment as he considered the words. "But how can on girl last out against roughly two hundred Venomians?"
"She's not just 'one girl'," Peppy corrected in an affronted tone. "She's the most efficient assassin Pepper has ever employed, and she's never failed at a mission."
The avian's face grew stern at the obvious confrontation. "Got anything else to say, old man?"
"Let it go, you two!" Fox pressed as Peppy opened his mouth in anger. "Regardless of what we think concerning Celestra, it's clear that she's doing her job right now. We need to focus on our half of the scam; in ten minutes Celestra and Slippy will have regained control of Metgiacon, and on their signal, we sneak in and rescue the general."
~~*~~
Celestra, thankfully, met no further resistance on the next three floors, so naturally she was very on her guard when she peeked through a crack in the door of the summit floor and spied swarms of Venomians crowding the hallway. Not that she hadn't expected their swelled ranks; the basis of her plan had called for the bulk of the force to trap themselves in the same room as the mainframe. There was, however, one minor predicament the normally flawless assassin had overlooked: how was she to execute all two hundred Venomians without letting any slip past her?
'Quick yet effective', she pondered, tapping her foot impatiently in the stairwell doorframe.
It hit her all at once--if she could get her hands on just one high-quality detonator, she could reclam the complex with a bang. Retreating halfway down to the next floor, Celestra gingerly pressed the communicator chip in her ear. "Slippy, I need you."
Slippy, waging a private war with Merrick's own computer hackers, cursed in frustration and obliged grudgingly. "How can I serve Your Highness?"
'If I wasn't so exhausted, I'd let him have it,' Celestra told herself. Instead, she said, "I've got an idea. Hack the mainframe so hard that you leave it temporarily disabled."
"What?!" Slippy cried in astonishment.
"Before you do that, I'll need to speak with your wing commander. I'm going to set off an explosive, but I need him to supply me with one. If the mainframe is off-line, it won't be harmed in the explosion."
Slippy was so taken aback that he lost considerable ground against the hackers. It was impossible! Assassin or not, Celestra could never hope to pull off such a drastic offensive plot!
And yet . . .
The young technician terminated the link with Celestra and immediately re-routed the transmitter frequency to Fox McCloud's Arwing.
~~*~~
Fox nearly leapt out of his fur when a shrill beep resounded through the cockpit of his Arwing, SpiritNova. Glancing wildly at the G-Diffuser console, Fox discerned that a tiny green light was flashing rapidly, under which there read the words, 'incoming transmission'. Wondering with more than a little nervousness who was attempting to reach him, Fox accepted the call with a lengthy, "Commander Fox McCloud, Star Fox."
Celestra snickered despite the situation. "How very formal, commander."
The pilot's eyes widened in shock and relief. "Marquette! You're okay!"
"Only for the moment being, but I'm in a rush, I must say. I'll get right to the point--you wouldn't happen to have a Titanian detonator, would you?"
Fox felt his eyebrows draw together in a frown. "Why--?"
"--I don't have time for this, McCloud," Celestra interrupted. "My profession calls for unbridled success, and let's just say that these guys will get away if I don't find a bomb soon."
The mercenary dug through every pocket on his flight vest and finally unearthed a single, fist-sized detonator. "I've got one here, but it's a Zonessian model from a couple years back. Will it work?"
Celestra, so used to the best technological warfare from her own private stores, sighed in defeat. "It'll have to work."
Fox loaded the miniscule bomb into a canister on his helm labeled 'import/export', but didn't send it right away. His hand hovering millimeters from the send command, he asked, voice dripping with suspicion, "What is it for?"
The assassin narrowed her eyes in such a vision of manic ferocity that Fox feared she would leap out of his G-Diffuser screen and throttle him, but he did not waver from his doubts. In the end, Celestra bared her teeth and said, "I'm going to--ah--purge the top floor." This time Fox screamed aloud; in their Arwings not so far away, Falco and Peppy stared. "You can't set off a detonator in the Metgiacon Department! Our superiors will murder us!"
Celestra laughed maniacally; Fox was suddenly rather frightened of her and this drastic change. "They'd never touch me, McCloud. Now send me that bomb, now." When the male mercenary still did not comply, she continued acidly, "I am not getting paid to follow your noble ideals, McCloud. I'm getting paid to win. So, for the last time, teleport that bomb or there will be hell to pay for your insolence."
The Star Fox leader cursed and bared his teeth, but the assassin was used to empty threats and was therefore not intimidated. Then he jammed a button above the canister and terminated Celestra's frequency without any further objections.
From a rather hefty watch on Celestra's wrist materialized a metal orb that fit snugly in her fist. Indeed, the bomb was several years old; it was scuffed on all sides and the words 'fine explosives--Zoness' could barely be deemed legible. The assassin cared not, though, and clenched it in her fist as she raced back up to the top floor, all caution forgotten in the final throes of her ecstacy of battle.
She kicked the stairwell door open without a passing thought, and they stared at her stupidly as she stood before them all, smirking. Merrick, overseeing the defense of his formidable hackers, was the only one who had enough sense to duck under a desk before Celestra squeezed the tiny red button, threw the object with all her strength, and dove back down the stairs for all her life.
~~*~~
Having just disabled the Metgiacon mainframe, Slippy clearly felt the vibrations of the explosion below as he reclined in his Arwing, awaiting instructions. Knowing that to be as explicit of a signal he could ask for, the technological mercenary fired the engines of his craft and manuevered back into the air, throwing all caution to the winds. Celestra's reputation preceded her, and Slippy knew that no Venomians remained in the area to oppose him.
~~*~~
The assassin, believing her exploits to be successful, allowed herself half a minute to catch her breath as she lay sprawled facedown on the staircase. Her rest was short-lived, though, as her ever-keen senses detected another presence just above her limp form. With unrivaled speed, Celestra swiveled into a flat position on her back and brought both plasma guns spinning into her hands.
It was Merrick, with a laser leveled at her forehead from a point-blank range. "Marquette. I expected no less from Andross' most wanted."
"Merrick," Celestra returned with a slight tilt of her head to acknowledge the compliment. "I must keep my reputation, you'll agree."
The Venomian inclined his head with a sadistic grin to her. "Surely I understand." Then, indicating his gun, he said, "But a million of Andross' supporters have as much value as your demise."
"It is there that I must disappoint you," the assassin retorted, and with unbelievable reflexes she kicked the laser from his trembling hands. The weapon sailed down the stairs, where it clanged off the handrail and out of sight. Merrick's eyes shone with panic, and he bolted downstairs at full speed.
Celestra found her feet fairly quickly and fired multiple shots at his back, all of which missed as the man vaulted over the rail and rolled to break his fall. The assassin, never missing a beat, mimicked the move and tackled him to the ground, losing the grips on her guns in the process and willingly letting them fall away from their scuffle. Merrick's left fist found her jaw, but Celestra was not made of glass and accepted the blow as she struggled with her boot, which was tucked beneath her at an awkward angle.
Merrick lurched forward sickeningly then, glancing down at his abdomen. Celestra had not forgotten her butterfly knife. Drawing him close to her face, the girl whispered in his ear, "I'll be certain to let Andross know how quickly you ran from conflict with one of his most despised adversaries." With that sentiment, Celestra gave a brutal twist of the tiny blade and then ripped it out of the man's stomach.
The last Venomian with the Metgiacon Department fell dead at the assassin's back as she continued her descent.
~~*~~
"Fox, come in. We made it out."
Peppy and Falco perked up when they heard Celestra's indifferent voice; the three mercenaries had been growing increasingly more bored with the extensive wait. Now, though, Fox moved quickly to accept the transmission. "What happened in there, you two?"
Slippy and Celestra, already in the air again and leaving Metgiacon behind, shared a sarcastic laugh. "Let's just say that I've got an enormous migraine, and that our newest ally is now wearing a red tank top," Slippy snickered.
"We're en route to the base at this moment," Celestra continued. "Get in, get Pepper, and get out; we'll cover you in the air."
With a nod to Falco, Fox waved Peppy to the rear of the base, where he circled and then landed on a pad made for just that purpose within the trees. Fox motioned to the avian, and the pair sped toward the front of the base, splitting at the center and sweeping the ground forces with a deadly barrage of blue and yellow lasers. "How soon will they be here?" Falco growled through a tight beak.
"Ten minutes, Lombardi," Celestra informed him. "Over and out."
Off to one side, Peppy had emerged from the trees and was waving Fox down with wide arm circles. When the way was mostly clear, Fox and Peppy snuck, unnoticed, into the land force bunker and began traversing the tunnels within, leaving Falco to wait for the remainder of the team and aid int he air strike when Pepper was out safely.
Celestra and Slippy flew flawlessly and made it to the base in six minutes, just in time to see Fox and Peppy escorting General Pepper to safety. Then the mighty air strike commenced, blow after blow forcing the Venomians further into the base. Falco and Celestra secured the perimeter with a meticulous ease as the other three mercenaries surrounded the outer rim of the Cornerian base.
Those Venomian forces still alive after the initial assault surrendered the base within half an hour.
"Are you crazy, Celest?! You don't just waltz into Metgiacon and hack their computer mainframe! You're already outnumbered, what, one to one hundred?"
Celestra pulled a gray tank top on over her sportsbra and eyed Bill calmly through the G-Diffuser screen. "Listen Grey, if I can't get out of working with these clowns, I might as well use them to my advantage. If Slippy is as good at computers as Fox insists he is, then I cam reclaim Metgiacon single-handedly while their mainframe is down." Seeing she had Bill more worried than convinced, she continued, "Look, it's only a matter of time before Pepper stations us on Katina, so the quicker we liberate Corneria, the quicker you get to see me."
"And the consolation prize is--?"
"--That if you don't quit talking and agree with me, I'll make sure you get fired. Pepper hired me, remember?" Celestra finished dryly.
The faintest of haggard smiles found Bill's face; he was exhausted from working with the frontline base lieutenants, but had still avoided sleep to accept his best friends' call. "Okay, leave my job outta this! Go forth and conquer. Just make sure you kill the guys on the other team, capiche?"
Celestra grinned and waved to him. "Yeah, I know. We've been through this."
~~*~~
When Merrick, chief correspondent for Venomian forces infiltrating Metgiacon, gave the order for his men to shift into a defensive posture about the skyscraper, he wasn't too worried that his actions weren't exactly matching Andross's designs. He didn't care much that he was disobeying specific orders, and he hadn't even bothered stopping to ponder the dire consequences of his behavior.
He knew only that Star Fox and the assassin Marquette were en route to spoil their plans, and that filled him with fear.
"Seal off all the elevators and main stairwells!" Merrick dictated loudly, swiftly traversing the hallways spiraling through the ground floor. "And make certain that we're covered on the ground, these guys are the best!"
Barely fifteen minutes previous, the usurpers of the vast Metgiacon empire had been almost bored with their seemingly uneventful takeover; they had suspended all exports of weaponry to outer Corneria and the frontline base on Katina, and had even succeeded in drawing the primary assault away from the army base, where even now General Pepper was being backed into a corner. What they hadn't planned for was the sundering of the offending forces, for while Celestra and Slippy were no doubt wending their way toward Metgiacon, Fox, Falco, and Peppy were readying to strike the base itself, in hopes of delivering the general to safety.
Now the enemy within Metgiacon was falling into complete disarray, all but tripping over themselves to follow Merrick's half-hearted orders. Rather than remain in their lookouts on both the ground and in the sky, the Venomians shifted into a completely ground defensive, leaving the highest floors only meagerly guarded.
Merrick had never met Celestra Marquette and Slippy Toad personally. He could not know that no matter what he did, he would lose.
~~*~~
"So when are you going to let me in on this brilliant plan of yours?" Slippy questioned peevishly.
Celestra subconsciously tightened her hands about the joysticks controlling her Arwing and did well to hide her annoyance. Didn't these guys ever explore their options before launching any attacks? Doing her best to remain composed, the assassin asked, "Slippy tell me something--in all of the Metgiacon command center building, do you happen to know where all the computer systems are located?"
"You bet," said Slippy, wondering vaguely how this was relevant. "Floor fifty-nine, the topmost section of the complex."
"Very good," Celestra remarked, and didn't offer any more information right away. The radio silence between her craft and Slippy's, Acid Rain, soon wore away at her patience, though, and with a sigh she elaborated.
"I'm sending the enemy formations to your computer now. Study them and tell me what you see."
A holographic map of Metgiacon displayed itself on Slippy's G-Diffuser; outlined in great detail were the positions of every Venomian fighter within or guarding the perimeter of the area. Slippy's eyes perused the defensive postures down to every last detail, then re-engaged his accomplice in their battle plans.
"Very heavy on the ground force," he observed. "What little of their forces that remain inside are guarding the lowest levels."
Celestra nodded her approval, thankful that Slippy wasn't as dense as she had anticipated him to be. "Very good indeed. And have you spotted the one tragic flaw in their entire setup?"
Slippy gasped almost immediately, positively stunned. "They've left the mainframes vulnerable!"
Tapping several more buttons on her G-Diffuser console, Celestra brought up a skematic of the highest floor for Slippy's benefit. "The mainframe can only be physically accessed from this location, and none of their guys are in any position to defend it."
"Yeah, but--" Slippy began uncertainly; surely Celestra had a point?
"Listen, kid," Celestra interjected heatedly. "Once we open fire on Metgiacon, the guys in charge will send transmissions to Pepper's base, alerting the rest of the force. Once they have confirmed that we're in no position to retaliate, they'll close in on Pepper and this war will be over before it's even begun.
"So my next question is--how good of a computer hacker are you?"
Slippy's already bulging eyes widened considerably as he considered this last question. "You want me to hack the Metgiacon mainframe?!"
"Yes I do," said the assassin coolly. "That is, if you can handle it."
"What does this have to do with rescuing Pepper?!"
This time Celestra chuckled, a soft, wicked sound that sent an icy chill down the mercenary's spine. "It's my plan, kid. Once we hack their systems, their aircraft will tell them that Metgiacon's defenses have been breached. They'll have no choice but to head up to the mainframes and get them back online--if they can--because without that system, they can't send transmissions."
"So the enemies at the base won't know when it's safe to move in on the general!" Slippy breathed.
"Exactly," Celestra confirmed. "That will cover your three friends as well; they'll remain unnoticed until we give them the green light." The pair weaved through a thick copse of trees, remaining concealed as Metgiacon loomed nearer. "So are you in? 'Cause there's only one right way to do this."
Slippy bit his bottom lip fervently, still studying the 3D map of the fifty-ninth floor of the Metgiacon empire. Celestra's plot was undeniably brilliant, he had to admit, but how many people had attacked Metgiacon's computer systems and lived to tell about it afterward? It would be a critical first strike against Andross, but--
"Beyond your talents, eh, Slippy?"
The mercenary scowled. "It most certainly is not."
And he began uploading a computer virus.
~~*~~
Several miles away, Falco Lombardi was drumming insatiably on the dash of his Arwing's helm. He, Fox, and Peppy had been cruising inconspicuously high above the Cornerian army base, waiting tensely for any word from Celestra or Slippy concerning the situation at Metgiacon. Regardless of Fox's pleading, Celestra had slyly refused to let him in on what she was planning, so naturally the leader of the Star Fox mercenaries was more than a little on edge.
'Guy's got a good reason to be nervous,' Falco thought to himself, setting his spacecraft, MeteoRiot, on a rather sluggish autopilot and humming absently to his makeshift beat. 'Of course, if it was me, I would've beaten the whole scheme out of her . . . '
So it was that Falco found a new way to pass the empty minutes by; high above the base, he toyed with the prospect of learning the assassin's motives using brute force.
~~*~~
Celestra watched Acid Rain land lightly upon the rooftop of the Metgiacon skyscraper from the shadow of several slender birch trees. She had landed her Arwing unnoticeably within the deepest boughs of the forest and had trekked the last mile to the lofty structure on foot. The assassin was well armed for the crucial tasks ahead of her; on a utility belt encircling her narrow waist sat a holstered pair of liquid plasma laser guns, a grappling hook, a coil of rope, and two deadly switchblades. Nestled within her magical boots were a pair of butterfly knives for close combat, and she had donned a miniscule communicating device that was connected to the same frequency as Slippy's G-Diffuser. Celestra was nearly four hundred feet from her destination now, poised excitedly and awaiting Slippy's first signal.
Ten nerve-racking minutes slipped by before Slippy managed to contact her. "The virus is attacking the mainframe now. Once the primary defenses have been liquidated, I'll hack the rest of the system."
"As foolproof as I had planned," Celestra murmured to herself, then she terminated the transmission and continued her stealthy advance through the swiftly thinning trees. To Merrick's credit, he had been intelligent enough to post sentries at intervals of fifty feet all along the inside of the treeline, but Celestra wsn't particularly concerned. Her black boots, although crushing twigs and leaves, made not a sound at her mental command, and she was a mere twenty steps away from the first guard before he had even sensed her presence. At the first sing of unease, Celestra stilled her approach, scanned her surroundings, and effortlessly scaled a large beech tree that, conveniently enough, possessed serveral sturdy branches that hung just above her target's head.
She was reaching for one of her switchblades when one of her feet brushed against an adjacent branch, causing the leaves to rustle ever-so-slightly. Cursing her carelessness, the assassin leapt down from her perch, tackling the Venomian flat and wrestling him into submission. Her communicator issued a shrill beep just as she drew the wicked blade across the unfortunate man's throat.
"Tell me that you've hacked it, and I'll leave you alone for awhile," Celestra whispered, wiping the knife on her victim's vest and melting back within the cover of the trees.
Slippy sighed in resignation. "The ground forces are filtering back into the lower levels. As soon as they've re-activated the elevator systems, they'll all relocate to the highest floors and back themselvess into a corner."
"Meaning what?"
"The system is down. I can sustain it long enough for you to make your way to the top floor, provided that I have no cyberspace intrusions."
"Stand by for further instructions," Celestra ordered, then she once again terminated the link and darted out of the trees. Her footfalls were so silent that she sprinted the final short distance into Metgiacon's main entrance without attracting any attention from the remaining scouts. She pivoted sharply to the right once inside, crouching to the ground and removing the handheld plasma guns from her belt.
The corridor in which she was standing bisected many other side hallways in a perpendicular fashion, all of which were lined with private offices and laboratories. At one end of the hallway Celestra spied a set of four elevator compartments, at the other end, the main stairwell the connected all fifty-nine floors of the complex. Figuring that the stakes were too high to take any chances with the elevator, Celestra inaudibly crossed to the staircase and began her spiraling trek upward, plasma lasers at the ready, ears cocked for the slightest sound.
Her caution never wavered; when she set foot on the threshold of the twentieth floor her only motion was to pause and quietly inform Slippy of her current location. And so her patient pursuit continued until she eased the door open at the fifty-fifth floor; taking a quick glance down the principal corridor her caution rewarded her as she slipped, unnoticed, into the nearest sunk-in doorframe, lasers in a ready position in her slender hands.
A dozen soldiers were grouped in the center of the hall, a couple standing, some sitting comfortably, and a few milling about, seemingly bored or indifferent. To ever-observant Celestra, the handful of Venomians sprawled out on the floor posed the most immediate threat; when the encounter came to blows they would have a better angle at her legs, meaning that she would more than likely need to be quick on her feet. Fixing her gaze upward she confirmed that there were no escape routes through the ceiling, which meant that the only means of desertion were the elevators and the staircase just behind her.
Assuming they could beat her to either location.
Brushing a strand of ebony hair away from her glittering aqua eyes, the assassin raised her guns and made her way out of the office alcove. Under another circumstance the situation may have been laughable; there she stood, perhaps thirty feet away in the center of the hallwy, and those in her sights remained conveniently unaware of her.
She fired once with each weapon, simultaneously striking two different targets and killing both instantly. Then, with a speed unbeknowst to her enemies, Celestra dove to her right and rolled into the shelter of another alcove. With a unified shout the rest of the group assembled and, instead of wading around into the girl's line of fire, focused their lasers on the wall of the sanctuary closest to them, slowly wearing away at the rock of Celestra's hiding place.
Always anticipating a turn of events, Celestra holstered one gun and drew out one of her switchblades, then sprinted out and into the next awning, throwing the deadly blade as she went. Thankfully it caught one of the men in the jugular, and with her plasma gun Celestra disposed of two more with simple rapid fire. Deciding to test the odds (for in the openiong minutes she hadn't been in the least bit impressed with their aim), the assassin leaned around the corner of her new alcove, taking careful aim and firing a trio of shots that burned three little holes in one soldiers' forehead. Drawing out her other switchblade as she continued her assault, Celestra dove and skidded into her next hiding place, all the while lessening the space between her and her adversaries.
Her next move overwhelmed all but one of them. Celestra leaned out to one side and threw the switchblade into the crowd. It sailed through the center of their tight-knit formation, but had been meant purely as a distraction. As the soldiers watched the blades' path through the air, Celestra killed five of the remaining six with several skillful blasts of her plasma lasers.
The last Venomian, clearly older and higher of rank, dodged one shot and let fly with a stream of his own. Celestra dove stomach-first to the tiled floor, letting one of the handheld weapons skitter to the side so she could break her fall, and fired twice at vital areas of the man's body as all of his shots hit the wall behind her harmlessly high. Within three minutes the hall had withdrawn into a more quiet air, the only sound being Celestra's light, slightly quickened breathing.
As she padded about, retrieving her weapons, the communicator assaulted her ear and she pressed it in annoyance. "What is it this time, Slippy?"
"Merrick's got hackers of his own tailing my frequency. I don't know how much more time I can buy you, Marquette."
Celestra's mind did a few quick calculations. "Can you give me ten minutes?"
A short pause followed; Slippy had assumed she would require at least half an hour. "I think so."
Celestra smirked to herself. "Perfect. Give them hell."
"Roger that. Over and out."
~~*~~
"Hey Falco, wake up!"
The avian jerked in surprise and bolted upright; in his impatience he had accidentally dropped off to sleep in the cockpit of his Arwing. Rubbing sleep from his ever-intense eyes, Falco regained his controls and brought the craft into a loose formation with Fox and Peppy. "What's so important that you find it necessary to scare me half to death?"
"Slippy just contacted us. He says that Celestra had him hack the Metgiacon computer systems--"
"That chick did what?!" Falco cut in.
"--And it worked. The mainframe is completely disabled, and Celestra's got the lot of them trapped in the higher levels," Fox finished, undeterred.
Falco's beak dropped open in astonishment as he considered the words. "But how can on girl last out against roughly two hundred Venomians?"
"She's not just 'one girl'," Peppy corrected in an affronted tone. "She's the most efficient assassin Pepper has ever employed, and she's never failed at a mission."
The avian's face grew stern at the obvious confrontation. "Got anything else to say, old man?"
"Let it go, you two!" Fox pressed as Peppy opened his mouth in anger. "Regardless of what we think concerning Celestra, it's clear that she's doing her job right now. We need to focus on our half of the scam; in ten minutes Celestra and Slippy will have regained control of Metgiacon, and on their signal, we sneak in and rescue the general."
~~*~~
Celestra, thankfully, met no further resistance on the next three floors, so naturally she was very on her guard when she peeked through a crack in the door of the summit floor and spied swarms of Venomians crowding the hallway. Not that she hadn't expected their swelled ranks; the basis of her plan had called for the bulk of the force to trap themselves in the same room as the mainframe. There was, however, one minor predicament the normally flawless assassin had overlooked: how was she to execute all two hundred Venomians without letting any slip past her?
'Quick yet effective', she pondered, tapping her foot impatiently in the stairwell doorframe.
It hit her all at once--if she could get her hands on just one high-quality detonator, she could reclam the complex with a bang. Retreating halfway down to the next floor, Celestra gingerly pressed the communicator chip in her ear. "Slippy, I need you."
Slippy, waging a private war with Merrick's own computer hackers, cursed in frustration and obliged grudgingly. "How can I serve Your Highness?"
'If I wasn't so exhausted, I'd let him have it,' Celestra told herself. Instead, she said, "I've got an idea. Hack the mainframe so hard that you leave it temporarily disabled."
"What?!" Slippy cried in astonishment.
"Before you do that, I'll need to speak with your wing commander. I'm going to set off an explosive, but I need him to supply me with one. If the mainframe is off-line, it won't be harmed in the explosion."
Slippy was so taken aback that he lost considerable ground against the hackers. It was impossible! Assassin or not, Celestra could never hope to pull off such a drastic offensive plot!
And yet . . .
The young technician terminated the link with Celestra and immediately re-routed the transmitter frequency to Fox McCloud's Arwing.
~~*~~
Fox nearly leapt out of his fur when a shrill beep resounded through the cockpit of his Arwing, SpiritNova. Glancing wildly at the G-Diffuser console, Fox discerned that a tiny green light was flashing rapidly, under which there read the words, 'incoming transmission'. Wondering with more than a little nervousness who was attempting to reach him, Fox accepted the call with a lengthy, "Commander Fox McCloud, Star Fox."
Celestra snickered despite the situation. "How very formal, commander."
The pilot's eyes widened in shock and relief. "Marquette! You're okay!"
"Only for the moment being, but I'm in a rush, I must say. I'll get right to the point--you wouldn't happen to have a Titanian detonator, would you?"
Fox felt his eyebrows draw together in a frown. "Why--?"
"--I don't have time for this, McCloud," Celestra interrupted. "My profession calls for unbridled success, and let's just say that these guys will get away if I don't find a bomb soon."
The mercenary dug through every pocket on his flight vest and finally unearthed a single, fist-sized detonator. "I've got one here, but it's a Zonessian model from a couple years back. Will it work?"
Celestra, so used to the best technological warfare from her own private stores, sighed in defeat. "It'll have to work."
Fox loaded the miniscule bomb into a canister on his helm labeled 'import/export', but didn't send it right away. His hand hovering millimeters from the send command, he asked, voice dripping with suspicion, "What is it for?"
The assassin narrowed her eyes in such a vision of manic ferocity that Fox feared she would leap out of his G-Diffuser screen and throttle him, but he did not waver from his doubts. In the end, Celestra bared her teeth and said, "I'm going to--ah--purge the top floor." This time Fox screamed aloud; in their Arwings not so far away, Falco and Peppy stared. "You can't set off a detonator in the Metgiacon Department! Our superiors will murder us!"
Celestra laughed maniacally; Fox was suddenly rather frightened of her and this drastic change. "They'd never touch me, McCloud. Now send me that bomb, now." When the male mercenary still did not comply, she continued acidly, "I am not getting paid to follow your noble ideals, McCloud. I'm getting paid to win. So, for the last time, teleport that bomb or there will be hell to pay for your insolence."
The Star Fox leader cursed and bared his teeth, but the assassin was used to empty threats and was therefore not intimidated. Then he jammed a button above the canister and terminated Celestra's frequency without any further objections.
From a rather hefty watch on Celestra's wrist materialized a metal orb that fit snugly in her fist. Indeed, the bomb was several years old; it was scuffed on all sides and the words 'fine explosives--Zoness' could barely be deemed legible. The assassin cared not, though, and clenched it in her fist as she raced back up to the top floor, all caution forgotten in the final throes of her ecstacy of battle.
She kicked the stairwell door open without a passing thought, and they stared at her stupidly as she stood before them all, smirking. Merrick, overseeing the defense of his formidable hackers, was the only one who had enough sense to duck under a desk before Celestra squeezed the tiny red button, threw the object with all her strength, and dove back down the stairs for all her life.
~~*~~
Having just disabled the Metgiacon mainframe, Slippy clearly felt the vibrations of the explosion below as he reclined in his Arwing, awaiting instructions. Knowing that to be as explicit of a signal he could ask for, the technological mercenary fired the engines of his craft and manuevered back into the air, throwing all caution to the winds. Celestra's reputation preceded her, and Slippy knew that no Venomians remained in the area to oppose him.
~~*~~
The assassin, believing her exploits to be successful, allowed herself half a minute to catch her breath as she lay sprawled facedown on the staircase. Her rest was short-lived, though, as her ever-keen senses detected another presence just above her limp form. With unrivaled speed, Celestra swiveled into a flat position on her back and brought both plasma guns spinning into her hands.
It was Merrick, with a laser leveled at her forehead from a point-blank range. "Marquette. I expected no less from Andross' most wanted."
"Merrick," Celestra returned with a slight tilt of her head to acknowledge the compliment. "I must keep my reputation, you'll agree."
The Venomian inclined his head with a sadistic grin to her. "Surely I understand." Then, indicating his gun, he said, "But a million of Andross' supporters have as much value as your demise."
"It is there that I must disappoint you," the assassin retorted, and with unbelievable reflexes she kicked the laser from his trembling hands. The weapon sailed down the stairs, where it clanged off the handrail and out of sight. Merrick's eyes shone with panic, and he bolted downstairs at full speed.
Celestra found her feet fairly quickly and fired multiple shots at his back, all of which missed as the man vaulted over the rail and rolled to break his fall. The assassin, never missing a beat, mimicked the move and tackled him to the ground, losing the grips on her guns in the process and willingly letting them fall away from their scuffle. Merrick's left fist found her jaw, but Celestra was not made of glass and accepted the blow as she struggled with her boot, which was tucked beneath her at an awkward angle.
Merrick lurched forward sickeningly then, glancing down at his abdomen. Celestra had not forgotten her butterfly knife. Drawing him close to her face, the girl whispered in his ear, "I'll be certain to let Andross know how quickly you ran from conflict with one of his most despised adversaries." With that sentiment, Celestra gave a brutal twist of the tiny blade and then ripped it out of the man's stomach.
The last Venomian with the Metgiacon Department fell dead at the assassin's back as she continued her descent.
~~*~~
"Fox, come in. We made it out."
Peppy and Falco perked up when they heard Celestra's indifferent voice; the three mercenaries had been growing increasingly more bored with the extensive wait. Now, though, Fox moved quickly to accept the transmission. "What happened in there, you two?"
Slippy and Celestra, already in the air again and leaving Metgiacon behind, shared a sarcastic laugh. "Let's just say that I've got an enormous migraine, and that our newest ally is now wearing a red tank top," Slippy snickered.
"We're en route to the base at this moment," Celestra continued. "Get in, get Pepper, and get out; we'll cover you in the air."
With a nod to Falco, Fox waved Peppy to the rear of the base, where he circled and then landed on a pad made for just that purpose within the trees. Fox motioned to the avian, and the pair sped toward the front of the base, splitting at the center and sweeping the ground forces with a deadly barrage of blue and yellow lasers. "How soon will they be here?" Falco growled through a tight beak.
"Ten minutes, Lombardi," Celestra informed him. "Over and out."
Off to one side, Peppy had emerged from the trees and was waving Fox down with wide arm circles. When the way was mostly clear, Fox and Peppy snuck, unnoticed, into the land force bunker and began traversing the tunnels within, leaving Falco to wait for the remainder of the team and aid int he air strike when Pepper was out safely.
Celestra and Slippy flew flawlessly and made it to the base in six minutes, just in time to see Fox and Peppy escorting General Pepper to safety. Then the mighty air strike commenced, blow after blow forcing the Venomians further into the base. Falco and Celestra secured the perimeter with a meticulous ease as the other three mercenaries surrounded the outer rim of the Cornerian base.
Those Venomian forces still alive after the initial assault surrendered the base within half an hour.