Chapter 18 Return to Arms
Sez lay in his bed looking into the darkness. Had he really done what he
thought he did? He knew he was attached to Felina as a friend,
but he didn't know that he had loved her til only a few hours ago. She also
said she had loved him too. He shifted onto his side.
He knew he shouldn't start a relationship but he really loved her and wanted
to be with her. He shifted onto his back again.
His eyelids were starting to get heavy. He drifted off to sleep thinking of
Felina.
He awoke in the morning to the usual hustle
and bustle of morning activities. Sez rolled out of bed and grabbed his
uniform out of his footlocker. He showered and dressed then
headed out to breakfast. He got his food and scanned the room for a place to
sit. Sitting at a table was Vixo, wrapped in bandages,
chatting with Solrilya. He took a seat beside Vixo who was waving a fork
full of egg around while talking. "Hey Vixo! See you made it
out of the med bay." Vixo looked over at him taking a bite as he did. "Yea.
I can't fly for a while though. I tried to argue with them
but they still said no. Solrilya here was telling me about her piloting
career." The tiger girl smiled at Sez.
"Hehe we've met. She's about as crazy as you are." She laughed as did Sez.
Vixo merely looked puzzled. Sez then started explaining about
his mission and how he fought with Tsiras. During the middle of his story a
man dressed in a blue uniform walked up to the table and sat
down beside Sez. He had 4 stars across the left side of his shoulder. This
meant he was a 4 star general. Sez stood and shouted
"General on the deck!" while saluting. Every other soldier stood and
saluted. The lupine general said calmly "At ease men."
They all sat back down and the loud chattering resumed. "Sir to what do I
owe the honor?" The general smiled at him.
"Corporal you have been reassigned to the front lines. A third squad mate
has been added to your team. His name is Corporal Rasif Solari.
Your other friend Corporal Corl seems to have recovered enough to assist you
on the next mission. When you are done eating
I need you to come to briefing room 5 to receive info on your next mission.
There you can also meet Corporal Solari. Well enjoy your meal Shardeth."
The general nodded to him and stood. He then spun around and left the room.
Vixo looked over at him a piece of egg hanging from the corner of his mouth.
"Back on the front lines again eh Sez.
You better make it back alive from your next mission ya here me?" Sez nodded
and stood.
"Well guys Im gonna go ahead and get over to the briefing room. I'll see ya
later." Sez dumped his tray into a trash can and left the room waving to
Vixo and Solrilya.
He strolled the halls in the direction of the briefing room. He felt happy
now, almost like something was missing in his life had finally appeared.
He arrived in the briefing room a few minutes later to find it empty except
for a box the size of a foot locker at the front of the room.
Once again curiosity got the better of him and he walked up to it and pulled
the top open. Inside were new suits of clothes and a full helmet.
The clothes seemed to be made of some black plastic fabric. The helmet still
had the orange faceplate but now covered the entire face area.
He grabbed the sleeve of one of the shirts. The material felt weird. It was
almost like a fluid. He heard the door open and dropped the shirt.
When he turned around a leopard had walked in dressed out in his uniform.
The rank badge on his shoulder told Sez that he was a Corporal 2nd class.
On the same tag it said Solari. "Hey there you must be my new squad mate.
Rasif wasn't it?" The leopard looked at him. "Yes. That's me."
Sez could tell he really didn't want to talk so he let him be. The door
opened again and a familiar gray fox walked in. "Cy! You look great man!"
Sez half walked half ran to him. "Sez haven't seen you in a while. Heard you
had to go on a mission." Sez started going into detail about his mission.
"So you had to fight your brother? That must have been tough." He shook his
head. "No it really wasn't. I always hated him."
Once again the door opened and a the lupine sarge that they had come to know
walked into the room with a folder in hand. "Well since
everyone is here Im going to go ahead and get started on filling you in on
your new equipment." The sarge opened up the footlocker and pulled out
a shirt. "Now this may look like a normal shirt to you but it is really the
latest in protective gear. The fabric is really micro-tubing that contains
a liquid inside. This liquid is photo-absorbing so it can take blasts from
other lasers with ease. But that's not all.
The liquid also hardens on contact preventing projectiles or even
hand-to-hand weaponry from penetrating. The aparoid soldiers use plasma
weaponry
though. The fabric also can absorb a tremendous amount of heat before
melting. In tests it took up to four shots to melt through. New
nanotechnology
has enabled us to link the armor to your helmets heads up display letting
you see the status of your armor." He laid the shirt down. "Now you will
still be wearing your old armor over top of this for extra protection as
this new armor weighs virtually nothing. Now your new helmets are full
helmets
as you can tell. They are able to create an water tight seal around your
neck if the need to submerge in water arises. And it will on this mission.
On the back is a hook up for virtually every breathing apparatus known to
the Cornerian Military.
Now onto your mission. You are to infiltrate an aparoid intelligence
facility. We believe that the traitor Tsiras Shardeth is there.
We have received information from Corporal Shardeth that he has created a
replica of the Star Fox teams Arwing. We thing he plans to sell this fighter
to the aparoid military. If so he could turn this war into a massacre of our
fleets. Your first objective is to find out if the
Arwing is indeed there.
If so you are to destroy it. Your second objective is to find out whether
Tsiras Shardeth is really there. If so you are to assassinate him
for high treason. And lastly you are to set charges at strategic location at
this base to destroy it. You will have to download the facilities
map from the computer there and find out the strategic bombing areas on your
own." The sarge pulled a small clicker out of his pocket. He pressed
the button and the lights dimmed. A second click turned the wall projector
on showing a map of an aparoid facility. A river ran straight through
the middle. "You will be inserted here." With a laser pointer the sarge
pointed to an area about half a mile north of the base. The red dot was
directly in the center of the river. You will make your way underwater into
the base. You will enter here." The red dot fell on a building very
close to the river. "This entrance area should lead you into the underground
portion of the base. Once inside you will find a computer node and
download the blue prints of the facility. You will use these blue prints to
complete your mission. Is there any questions?" Sez raised his hand.
"Ah yes Corporal Shardeth." "Sir wouldn't they see the jump chairs?" "Good
question Corporal. You wont be using jump chairs. You will be descending
via rope into the river from an L.A.A.T. You will be provided cover by
Anomaly Squadron. Even though they are down one member they should make
enough
noise to prevent you from being seen." Once again Sez raised his hand.
"Corporal Shardeth again." "Sir where will this mission be taking place?"
"On Macbeth. Any further questions?" When nobody raised their hand the sarge
spoke up again. "You will meet up in Hangar 2 at 2000 hours. DISMISSED!"
The soldiers stood and left the room. Sez returned to his room to find a
package sitting on his bed.