Disclaimer: See the Prologue
Chapter 28 – The Chase
General Pepper was practically pacing the floor of the control room of Cornerian Central. He knew that they would open up with their guns soon and that the cost will be incredibly high, but at he gave his word that no innocent Cornerian or planet would be destroyed.
Pepper knew why he destroyed Evergreen and Falconia and that is was vital for the continued survival of Lylat, but he just couldn't accept it, causing him to completely loathe the guy, as did much of Lylat for that matter.
'Please, Macragge,' he thought, 'No more deaths. Just get rid of Oikonny and whatever godless allies he's got.'
"Sir," an officer called out, "Defence Station #45 have picked up a lone fighter on a course to planet Papetoon. It may be Wing Commander Grey."
Pepper nodded, then ordered, "Deploy a cruiser down there to apprehend or neutralise him immediately. That planet is full of innocent…"
"SIR!" the officer practically cried out, "The Imperial Taskforce is also approaching Papetoon."
Peppy turned his head towards the officer and the terminal he was standing next to. He walked over to it.
"What?"
"Eight human-produced starships," the technician replied, "Six Strike Cruisers and two Battle-Barges. They appeared to be surrounded by a dozen fighter craft."
"If they're heading for Papetoon, then that means Oikonny is there," Pepper said rubbing his chin, "But why is Grey himself heading there?"
"Sir," the technician said, "Sensors are picking up one more ship. It's…Star Fox's mothership."
Peppy turned to the terminal screen, where sure enough he saw the Great Fox moving slowly towards Papetoon from the south, where some distance away and approaching form the north-east was the small Imperial Fleet.
"The Imperial Taskforce is changing course!" the technician exclaimed, "It's steering towards the Great Fox."
"What?" Pepper cried, "Good Lord. They're coming for Mortensen…"
Sure enough, the fleet of Imperial craft sailed through the void towards, where they could see their target, the Great Fox, in the distance. And on board the majestic Battleship, which revealed in it's glory it's massive size and powerful Lance cannon…
"My lord. We've detected a Cornerian cruiser some distance away, and it heading towards our destination."
"It must be Pepper. We do not need assistance from him, sergeant."
"But my lord, one of our own brothers is on board that ship."
"What?"
"Our sensors detect six xenos and one human. The human appears to be a Psyker or a Librarian, as we've also detected psionic emanations from him."
"No alien has ever taken one our own captive and has ever gotten away with it. Steer the fleet towards that ship and we will rescue our brother."
"Yes, my lord."
Meanwhile on board the Great Fox, Krystal was sitting on his bed, where she meditated, clearing her mind of all-negative thoughts and energies, and readying herself for what is to come:
More violence, more bloodshed and possibly more ritualistic mutilation, that though brought upon by her experience in the tower of MacBeth. Her eyes were closed, but not tightly, as she exhaled lightly, focussing on what she was fighting for: For Lylat, for her friends, for the memory of her homeworld Cerinia, and for life.
She was interrupted when she heard a knocking on her door. She frowned and sat up from the bed.
'The guys should no better than to not interrupt my med…oh!'
Standing outside her door was, of all people, Fox.
"Hey Krystal," Fox begun, "Sorry if I'm interrupting anything."
Krystal smiled slightly, "Not that I can't catch up on later. What's on your mind?"
Fox cleared his throat, before saying, "Nothing much. Just wanted to ask you to be careful once we get to Papetoon, and that er…well…"
Krystal eyes narrowed in confusion. Normally he'd say these kinds of things before they leave the Great Fox during the mission, not hours before it.
"Er…thank you, Fox," Krystal said.
Fox was completely tongue-tied; the subject of her and Jacques being involved somewhat romantically was tearing away at his mind. He had to clear it up.
"Is…there anything between you and Jacques?" Fox suddenly asked, albeit quickly and slightly hesitantly, knowing he shouldn't be asking her this.
Krystal's eyes widened, "What?"
Jacques, who just happened to be around the corner, froze in his tracks. He hugged the wall and looked over the corner, seeing Fox standing outside a slightly shocked Krystal. He glared slightly.
'If you do anything rash, McCloud,' Jacques thought, hand edging towards his blade, 'I will put you down in an instant.'
"What is Jacques to you?" Fox asked, "I need to know."
Now it was Krystal's turn to not say anything, as dozens of thoughts ran through her head, all about her, Fox and Jacques.
'Does he think I'm in love with Jacques?' Krystal thought, 'Oh God…Fox.'
Fox knew that what he just said was running through her mind, so he let her take her time to process her response…which was quick and to the point.
"He's…my closest friend," Krystal replied, looking deep into Fox's eyes, "He's like a big brother to me."
Fox's eyes softened at those words, as did Jacques, who slowly moved his hand away from his sword and listened on.
"I owe him my life," Krystal continued, "And I enjoy every second of his company."
Fox downcast his eyes, feeling ashamed for questioning the one he loved, and hoped that she would return his feelings.
It was true what everyone thought of him and the vixen; he was in love with her. The second he gazed up at her when she was trapped in the rupee a year ago on Sauria, he became infatuated with her. Over time, as they learnt more of each other, Fox felt something different for her, something…weird.
It didn't take him long to realise it was love. And this was the perfect opportunity to tell her that.
"I see," Fox said, "I'm…sorry if I imposed on you."
Krystal smiled lightly and stretched his hand forward, caressing his face.
"That's alright, Fox," Krystal replied, "It's understandable that you asked me that."
By this time, Jacques was walking away, letting them be; with that knowledge that Krystal was safe and that Fox was the kind of guy for the opposite sex to hang around.
'She is all yours,' Jacques thought, smiling slightly.
But deep down, he wasn't all that glad, especially when he heard what Fox said next, and with that he walked away twice as fast.
"What am I to you, then?" Fox asked, smiling.
This was it. The both of them knew it was time to tell the other of how they felt.
"I think…" Krystal begun, "I think of you as more than a…"
Suddenly, Fox's communicator beeped.
"Goddamn it," Fox cursed softly, reaching for it and asking heated, "Yeah, what is it?"
Harsh, Fox, Falco replied cynically, We got a bit of situation here. Some starships are approaching us at breakneck speed.
"Well," Fox begun, "How nice of Pepper to send us reinforcements."
Err…Fox, Falco said dumbfounded, Since when did Cornerian ships have the Omega symbol crossed over a skull imprinted on the side?
Fox and Krystal's eyes widened upon hearing that. They looked at each other, before dashing down the hallway, where along the way and they banged on Slippy's door.
"Coming," Slippy said from the other side.
They ran onto the bridge, where they found a nervous looking avian and hare waiting for them, along with Jacques, who was leaning against the wall, arms crossed.
"What's going on?" Fox asked.
"They found me," Jacques responded glumly.
"What?"
Jacques nudged towards the window, where Fox stared out…and for a few seconds he couldn't breath at all.
The Great Fox was staring down eight ultramarine-blue coloured ships, two of them, the battle-barges, was even larger than the strike cruisers. And every second they became closer…
"Hey, guys," Slippy said chirpy, as he stepped onto the bridge, "What's going…oh."
The Imperial craft were soon only some distance away, the twin battle-barges looking the most intimidating, especially with their hundred plus cannons and their deadly Lances, which were capable of rendering a whole Cornerian captial ship in half.
"What do we do?" Slippy asked meekly.
For a few seconds, Fox couldn't make his tongue work. When he did…
"Send them a message," Fox answered, "One word."
Peppy nodded, "I know which would you're thinking about."
The hare typed HELLO and pressed Broadcast. Then ten seconds later, the Great Fox had all guns trained on them.
"Incoming transmission from…the Lord Macragge."
Jacques eyes shot open, 'By the Emperor…anyone but him.'
Unidentified xenos ship, an authoritative voice begun, This is Lord Macragge, Chapter-Master of the Ultramarines, highest servant of the Emperor, ruler of the benevolent Imperium of Man. You have one of our brothers hostage and we demand you release him. Otherwise, we will board your miserable craft and purge all on board. You have twenty seconds to comply.
All heads turned to Jacques, who shook his head slowly.
"Do not believe him," Jacques said.
"Why not?" Fox asked, rushed.
"He plans to kill you all anyway," Jacques answered, "He believes vengeance must be enacted on those who dare hold hostage one of the Emperor's highest servants."
"How do you know that?" Krystal asked.
Jacques breathed softly, before replying; "I can read his thoughts from here."
All eyes turned wide at those words.
"You…you're a psychic?" Peppy asked, feeling like he was traumatised, that all this time the Space Marine could have been reading all their minds and their deepest, darkest secrets.
Jacques nodded hesistantly.
Fox frowned, "Just when were you planning to tell us that little fact, Jacques?"
"Eh…guys?" Slippy said, pointing at the window.
The Imperial ships' Lances were all beginning to charge, energy slowly sprouting.
"All in favour of getting outta here?" Falco queried.
Fox nodded, before darting forwards towards his chair and jumping in, strapping himself in and gripping the controls, which extended from underneath his keyboard. He pushed few buttons on the screen.
MANUAL PILOT ENGAGED
"Hold onto something," Fox cried, "We're getting hell outta dodge!"
Everyone nodded, sitting down and fastening seatbelts. Jacques did his best to compose himself, seeing how his own kind was now out to kill his friends.
"Jacques," Slippy cried, "Has anyone every outran the Imperial Navy?"
"Not to my knowledge," Jacques said, "And I pray that we do."
Fox then glared and gripped the controls firmly, just as the Lances finished charging up
"PUNCH IT, FOX!" Falco yelled, "THOSE GUNS ARE MEANT FOR US!"
Just as Beltino entered the bridge…
"Hey, what's going on…WHOA!"
The Great Fox, which was flying towards the Imperial ships, activated it's booster rockets and performed a massive U-turn, and begun to fly away from them. On board one of the battle-barges'…
"They are getting away, my lord!"
"They are not. OPEN FIRE!"
The ships all opened their weapon: Laser cannons, rockets and missles, and the Lances fired, the Great Fox barely missing those deadly weapons, which only succeeded in blowing off the tail of the ship.
"GO, FOX, GO!" Falco cried, "GET US THE FUCK OUTTA HERE!"
"HOLD ON!" Fox yelled, gripping the controls.
Beltinto put his back to the wall, knowing the ship was about to go it's fastest.
The Imperial strike cruisers begun to give chase, where they begun firing at the Great Fox. The Great Fox begun to vibrate as it felt several lasers hit from the rear.
"Rear deflectors holding," Pepper announced from behind his terminal, "But they're still onto us."
The strike cruisers who still on their tails as they continued to fire upon them. Where on board one of the cruisers…
Sergeant, prepare you and your men for Deep Strike assault.
"Yes, my lord."
On board the Great Fox, the vulpine was pushing the Great Fox to it's limits, as every bolt in the hull vibrated and the engines begun to heat up immensely as the ship went more faster than it's ever been in it's short history.
"Go faster, Fox!" Falco cried, "They're still behind us."
"I can't," Fox replied, "The Thunderhawk's slowing us down. We'll have to detach it."
Jacques unbuckled himself from his seat, standing up.
"Leave that to me," Jacques said, "Just keep us all ahead of the Imperials."
Fox nodded.
"Be careful," Krystal sounded off, gripping the base of her chair.
Jacques left the bridge, trying to not fall over as the ship rocked from being hit by so many Imperial weapons. He shuffled down the hallway, before a missile impact sent him falling forward.
He grunted, before picking himself up. He knew what would happen if his brothers would catch up with them and board the Great Fox. They would kill everyone around him, assuming they had kidnapped him.
'I won't let them do that,' Jacques thought.
Meanwhile, on the bridge…
"Rear deflector's weakening," Peppery cried, "A few more hits from behind and we're finished."
'C'mon, Jacques,' Fox thought.
Jacques reached the left side of the ship, where he stood outside the airlock's controls. He pushed few on a terminal until a message appeared on the screen.
DETACH CHAMBER FROM SHIP?
Jacques pressed enter, and could hear the airlock's chamber retract from the Thunderhawk, leaving it floating in space as the Great Fox sailed away.
'Goodbye, faithful craft,' he thought, 'You were not much, but you saved my life those years ago.'
He then suddenly felt the ship move faster, as he almost lost his footing for a second.
"He did it," Slippy squealed happily, "We're going faster than the cruisers now."
Fox smirked, "We'll be outrunning these bastards after all."
Suddenly, one more missile the rear of the ship, which caused a massive explosion near the airlock system, sending metal and debris everywhere. Jacques covered his face, and as he uncovered he felt a piece of metal hit his forehead.
He fell onto his back, where he was knocked out once again, leaving a large gash across his forehead.
"There was an explosion near the airlock," Peppy cried from behind his terminal
"Is it destroyed?" Fox replied.
"No," Peppy said, "The electrical system near it blew. And it's…knocked out Jacques!"
He saw a camera image of Jacques lying down on the ground, bleeding from the forehead. Suddenly, the Great Fox slowed down some more, before coming to a complete stop, where the Imperial behind them begun to catch up.
"Shit," Fox said softly, "I think the engine's dead?"
"What?" Krystal cried, "But…how?"
"The engine's being overheated," Beltino pointed out, before exclaiming, "You blew out the engines! Oh God, we're doomed!"
Fox knew that little fact himself. The Imperium was coming for them, and their first target would be the unconsciousness Space Marine known as Jacques Mortensen.