Disclaimer: See the Prologue

Chapter 7 – Screwdriver, Scalpel and a Space Marine

The Venomian craft approached the stricken Great Fox and it's attached cargo: The Imperium transport ship. The commander sat gleefully on the bridge.

"Status report," the reptilian commander said.

"The Great Fox has been incapacitated," a tech replied, "The W-Cannons have done their job and the ship should only be running on backup power."

"Deploy the boarding party," the commander ordered, smiling, "And send some champagne as well!"

In the hangar of the capital ship, a squad of heavily armed soldiers shuffled into the nearest dropship, where they strapped themselves in.

"Hey," one of them, a chimpanzee said to another, "Is there really a human on board the Great Fox?"

"Yeah," the other replied nervously, "I heard the humans are real badasses."

The officer leading them, a large gorilla, intervened…

"Can it, soldier!" he ordered, "Intel reports the 'Space Marine' is act of action, so we want it alive."

"Yes sir!" the soldiers cried out.

"As for the rest of the mercs," he said, "They must all die…horribly."

He then loaded his large plasma cannon and sat down.

"And I'll see to that personally!" he exclaimed, smiling.

The dropship left the hangar and flew towards the Great Fox, planning to enter from the back…literally.

Meanwhile, ROB had managed to set the ship on the right angle.

"The Great Fox is now aligned properly," ROB announced.

"Damage report!" Fox exclaimed, picking himself up from the floor and rubbing his forehead.

"All systems are currently frozen," ROB announced, "Engines have stalled. Weapons are offline. Backup power is currently on-line, enough to power the doors and the security system and cameras."

"It was that energy beam!" Slippy cried, "It's practically fried everything here."

Fox turned to the frog.

"Can you restart the systems?" Fox asked.

"It'll take a while, Fox," Slippy replied straightening his cap, "The effects of the beam should wear off eventually."

ROB suddenly went ballistic.

"WARNING!" ROB suddenly blurted out," UNIDENTIFIED PERSONNEL DETECTED IN HANGAR AREA."

All eyes went wide, except Jacques.

"Fucking boarders more like!" Falco growled, cocking his blaster.

Fox pulled out his own gun as they walked over to the camera video screens, seeing Venomian soldiers stepping out of a dropship.

"Jeez," Falco groaned, "Are they soldiers or demolition guys."

The Venomians then saw the camera where they were looking at them out of. They aimed at it and fired.

"Damn," Falco sighed, seeing the static-filled screen.

Jacques knew what was happening: The Forces of Disorder were coming for him. But why?

'I will not risk the princess, he thought, 'Or anyone here for that matter.'

"Alright," Fox said, "Let's take these pricks out!"

"McCloud?"

Fox turned to Jacques suddenly; hearing the human was addressing him by his last name.

"Open the bridge door. I will take care of these intruders."

"By yourself?" Slippy asked, bewildered.

Jacques nodded, "I will need a blade, though."

Krystal was slightly amazed, with this human, him wanting to take on a whole squad of Venomian commandoes.

Jacques then eyed Slippy's screwdriver on his belt.

"Toad?"

"Y…yeah?"

"May I burrow that?"

The Venomians looked over the small hangar, where the Arwings were located. The gorilla sneered seeing them.

"Alright," he begun, "Pyles, Gomers; you've got the medical area. The human is most likely lying in there. Secure him for immediate extraction."

"Right away, sir," a chimp and a frilled-neck lizard armed with blaster rifles replied in unison.

"The rest of us will hunt down those bastard mercs. But as for the pretty one herself…"

He smiled evilly.

"We'll have a little fun with her. Move out!"

Two groups, one of which was Gomers and Pyles, split up and headed for the doors out of the hangar, unknowing that someone had overheard them, hiding behind another door.

And he was not amused what they were planning to do with the princess. He bared his screwdriver.

Gomers and Pyles traversed the dark hallway towards the infirmary. They had gone over the Great Fox's schematics, so the way to the infirmary was a breeze.

"Jeez," Pyles muttered, "Did the W-Cannon have to knock out the lights?"

"Shhh," Gomers hushed him, "Keep your eyes open."

They approached the infirmary door, where they took a deep breath…and busted through, guns primed.

They sighed and smiled. The human was lying there on the table, eyes closed and peaceful as a corpse left in a freezing chamber.

"He's a big, ugly one isn't he?" the chimp known as Gomers remarked.

Pyles smirked, "He sure is."

Pyles then pulled faces at Jacques, where Gomers then flicked the Space Marine's nose.

"So this is a so-called Space Marine?" Gomer asked, crossing his arms.

"Doesn't look like much, does he?" Pyles said, turning his head towards the chimp, "He's not so tough!"

"You got that right!"

"Yes, I am."

Suddenly, they looked at Jacques, whose eyes were open and his face flashed a grimace. Before Gomers and Pyles could react, Jacques drove his screwdriver into the lizard's skull.

The lizard toppled backwards, blood staining the white floor. Gomers screamed and turned to run, only to feel himself being yanked back by his tail and feeling a blue-metallic fist in his face.

Everything to him then went black.

Meanwhile on the bridge…

"Holy shit!" Falco exclaimed, seeing all that happening on the security camera screen, "He just nailed him in the mouth!"

Fox nodded, "Indeed."

Krystal could only smile, seeing that the Space Marine will deliver these Venomians the beatings of their pitiful lives.

"Uh-oh," Slippy groaned, eyeing the main hallway camera screen, "Incoming."

The gorilla and his squad marched towards the bridge, guns primed.

"Bridge door locked, Slip?" Fox asked, not looked away from the screen.

"Double-bolted," Slippy replied, "Hey…look!"

They looked at the screen covering the infirmary doorway, and saw Jacques stepping out, holding what appeared to be a scalpel.

"That bastards' crazy!" Falco said, bemused.

"You saw what he just did with that screwdriver," Krystal argued, "Jacques, and all Space Marines, are capable of anything."

Falco just snorted childishly.

"He can keep that screwdriver," Slippy said groaning, seeing where it was now: through the forehead of a lizard, "I don't want it back any more."

Suddenly a loud banging came from the other side of the door.

The gorilla slammed his fist on the steel door.

"Hand me a charger," he ordered to the howler-monkey behind him.

The Venomian handed him a disc-like bomb, which he attached to the door.

"In two minutes, two inches of steel door will cease to exist," the gorilla smirked, "And much of the bridge for that matter. Stand back."

They turned around to see a seven-foot human clad in power armour standing before them, holding a medical scalpel.

The Venomians throats closed up in panic, even the gorilla's at the sight of a fully awaken Space Marine. Jacques smiled, sensing the fear well up inside of them.

Jacques then cried out and charged…

"FIRE!" the gorilla cried, "OOF…"

The human then tackled the whole squad down, instantly cutting the throat of a spider-monkey, before ramming his fist against the chest of a kamoda-dragon.

The howler-monkey pulled out a blaster, then feeling Jacques grab his hand and crushing it.

"FUCCCKKKKK!" he screamed.

He was then head-butted and collapsed on the floor. Jacques then swung his scalpel, slicing 2 more Venomians. He then stepped back, armour covered in blood.

Only the gorilla was left standing. He charged at the Marine, knocking him down and brushing his scalpel off.

"I'm a gonna kill ya!" the gorrila cried, "Stinkin' human!"

He brought his fists down on the Marine's armour, not even cracking it. Jacques kicked him off, before getting up and delivering a crushing blow to face, breaking the gorilla's nose and throwing him to the ground.

The Marine then raised a foot and brought it down on the Venomian's chest, shattering it. He was killed instantly. Fox and company were almost breathless, seeing him take down an entire squad only armed with a scalpel.

"I have to admit," Falco smirked, "That was pretty good."

They then saw Jacques tear the bomb off the door, walk down the corridor, and turn left.

"Now where's he going?" Falco said.

"He's heading for the hangar," Slippy answered quickly.

"Let's join him," Fox said, "Open the door, ROB."

Meanwhile in the hangar, the pilot of the dropship, an alligator with a helmet and visor on, was getting impatient.

"How long does it take to capture one pitiful human and polish off a bunch of mercs?" he asked aloud.

Then out of the corner of his eye, out of the canopy, he saw him…holding a disc-shaped bomb.

"What the…SHIT!"

Jacques threw the bomb like a frisbee, which connected with the dropship. One explosion later it was rendered it into burnt pieces of scrap metal.

Fox and company arrived just in time to see Jacques looking over his handiwork.

Slippy whistled sharply and smiled, "Not what was how an explosion should sound like."

I thought that was the Great Fox this time, Peppy's voice was heard over the communicator.

"Nicely down, Jacques," Fox said, We'll take it from here."

Jacques nodded. Fox eyed the Arwings.

"Let's go, team!"

Falco smirked, "About time, too."

Fox, Falco and Slippy walked over to the Arwings, while Krystal turned to Jacques.

"Thank you, Jacques," Krystal said, where she smiled appreciatively.

Jacques nodded again, "A Space Marine's duty is never fulfilled, Your Highness."

He then nudged towards the Arwings. Krystal nodded, smiled and walked to her Arwing. She jumped in and strapped herself.

"What was that all about, Krystal?" Fox asked, "Between you and Jacques?"

"Just saying Thank You," Krystal replied, smiling softly at the vulpine through the communicator.

"Riiiiight," Falco chimed in.

Krystal rolled her eyes, catching what he meant very quickly.

Jacques watched as the Arwings took off and flew out of the hangar, eyes fixated on Krystal's ship. He then stepped out of the hangar and towards the bridge.

Venomian fighters circled around the Great Fox…

"What the hell is going on in there?" one pilot asked, "Lost contact with the squad inside."

I dunno! Another exclaimed over the coms, OH CRAP!

Four Arwings flew out of the Great Fox's hanger, weapons charged. Taking the lead, Fox instantly scored a kill, blasting a Venomian strike fighter into dust.

"Let's go, team!" Fox cried, "Take em' all down!"

The Arwings headed straight for the miniature fleet of fighters with Falco launching a homing bomb and annihilated a quad of fighters.

"How'd you like that?" Falco laughed at the burning enemy craft.

"Don't get cocky, Falco!" Fox reminded, "Everyone, target the main ship."

In the 'main' ship, the commander was sweating in his seat. Everything was going wrong once again, and he didn't want to stick around to pay for it.

He turned to the chief pilot, "Set a course for Cython IV and step on it!"

"But sir," the pilot replied, "What about our fighters? And our objective."

"Follow my orders," the commander said, "I have a plan, and it does not involve us all being blown in space."

The capital ship steered away from the Great Fox…

"Hey!" Falco exclaimed, "They're getting away!"

Fox glared and headed straight for the ship, "Not this time!"

The Arwings destroyed the remainder of the fighters, with Krystal wiping out the last one with a lock-on laser blast.

Slippy checked his terminal…and his eyes widened.

"Uh-oh!" Slippy cried, "It's going to make a jump!"

The capital ship vibrated, before blasting away and creating a shockwave, which blew the other Arwings away.

"Whoa!" Krystal cried, gripping her controls and luckily able to steer her ship right, as did the other guys.

"Damn!" Falco cursed, "Just before we really got started."

"The least we could do know is wait for the Great Fox to restart itself and try to catch up with them afterwards."

That is logical, McCloud, Jacques voice rang over the coms.

"Jacques?" Krystal said, surprised to hear his voice over the communicators.

The Space Marine stood in the bridge, all this time watching the action between the Arwings and the Venomians. He was greatly impressed with the performance from these mercenaries and their fighter-craft.

He was more impressed with Krystal.

'The Machine Spirit must favour these aliens,' he thought, 'And the princess.'

Jacques cleared his throat, before continuing.

"I may have a way to find out where they went. And what they want with me."

How? Fox asked.

It was Peppy's turn to speak.

"Jacques kept one of the boarders alive," Peppy explained, smiling lightly, "And is begging for mercy."

Fox smiled in his Arwing, "We'll be right there."