XV
Sitting at the circular briefing table, Fox, Krystal, Falco and Slippy watched three of the surviving leaders walk into the dimly-lit room.
The first one was a leopard, yellow fur spotted black in some places. His features were soft, and he had large green eyes. It was hard to tell his age. He reminded Fox something of Panther from Star Wolf, except this guy didn't have that hard, cruel look in his eye. And he wasn't after Krystal.
The second was a fox, older than Fox or Krystal. She had icy blue/white fur, accented in some places by blue streaks. She had sharp features, her eyes almost as cold as her fur, but with a recognizable pain behind them. Both of them wore a light tunic of some sort with long, flowing pants. The third one, however…
"Tigris?" Fox inquired, addressing the last person. He smirked.
"Right on the money, Fox. How ya doing?" Tigris was half tiger, half canine. You could tell he took after the tiger side of the family, but with some definite canine features, such as the muzzle and floppy ears. His fur was a dark orange, with black stripes. He wore a brown t-shirt with a green vest, and fighter goggles on his head.
"What happened to Husky Unit?" Fox asked. That was where Fox had met Tigris, with Bill's Husky Unit. Tigris frowned.
"Disbanded after the war with Andross. That's when I got send to Hellborne with my squadron. It's been quiet here, until, well, now." He shrugged.
The ice-colored vixen cleared her throat. "We have to get down to business, ladies and gentlemen." The three sat down.
The leopard spoke first. He had a deep, smooth voice. "Before recent events, Hellborne was a jungle world with a fast rotation, causing many of the volcanoes that give the planet its name, as you may know." Krystal nodded, and spoke. "We've done a bit of research, but we need to know what happened."
"Yes, I'm getting to that. We're not sure what happened, but recently, about a year ago, the Aparoids attacked. We defended well against them, but we were loosing. An Aparoid colony appeared in one of the volcanoes, assimilating the geothermal equipment we had their. That's when they attacked…" The panther fell silent, and looked saddened.
The vixen took on where the panther left off. Her voice was strong, but calm, like a diplomat's. "The Aparoids, apparently, set off something that took the notice of some of the native peoples who live here. We had had no contact with them before, so we knew not that they existed. They destroyed the Aparoids, and when we went to contact them, they attacked." She paused for a moment, seemingly lost in thought. "They seem to use little technology, or cleverly disguised technology. We're not sure."
Tigris held up a hand. "Whatever they're using, Fox, they can rip through a starfighter's hull with their claws. They slaughtered us." Anger crept into his voice. "They killed most of my unit, and captured the rest."
"They also captured many civilians, though they seem not to know the difference," said the leopard.
Fox nodded. "Do you guys have anything that can be of help?" he asked. Tigris nodded.
"You guys seem to be a bridge commander short." He smirked. "I can do that better'n you." Fox nodded in grudging agreement. He'd rather be in an Ar-wing than sitting in the Great Fox.
"None of the people that survived, other than Tigris, are soldiers. I'm sorry," the leopard told them. Krystal responded, "That's ok. We don't want to endanger your people."
The ice blue fox and the leopard got up, said goodbye, and left. Tigris remained. "So, what's the plan, Fox?" Everyone looked at Fox at this point.
"Well, we need to rescue the civilians and Tigris's remaining team. Then, we have to shut these guys down. Any ideas?"
The end of chapter XV, explaining a lot. I'll try and add more chapters soon.
Black Swordsman342