Disclaimer: See the Prologue
Chapter 31 – History
It seemed almost an eternity, with Falco, Peppy, Slippy and Beltino sitting in their cells in the brig. Slippy was going through his PDA, trying his best to amuse himself as he sat there, like as if he was a caged animal, in what Falco put so elegantly 'a zoo.'
"Hey guys," he begun smiling, "Did you know from the design of this ship that…"
"I don't wanna hear it, Slip," Falco chortled, "I don't care about your 'Did you know…?' hot facts at the moment."
"Hmmm…I must say someone's grumpy today," Beltino pointed out.
"What the hell do you think?" Falco exclaimed, "We're prisoners on board an Imperial hunk of flying metal. If we don't get out of here soon, we're dead."
"Try to be patient, Falco," Peppy said, almost exasperated at Falco's continuing retorts which were starting to really wear him down, "We get your message: Life under the Imperium sucks. Just try to make the best of it."
The avian shook his head; "I don't have to."
He then smiled and stretched his hand forwards, with what appeared to be a razor shoot out of his sleeve and into his hand. Slippy's eyes widened.
"Have you gone crazy?" Slippy cried.
"No. Just desperate," he replied, "I don't feel like sitting here waiting around for them to put a slug between my eyes."
He then begun chiselling away at the bar, despite the looks of protest the others shot at him.
"Falco!" Peppy exclaimed, "Stop that. They'll kill you."
"See them try!" Falco replied, "See those motherf…."
Suddenly a shot from a boltgun was heard and Falco felt his razor fly from his hand. Out of the shadows stepped a Space Marine, with his gun smoking. The avian slowly put his hands up in the air, seeing the gun aimed specially at him.
"Courage and honour," Falco quickly said, his pupils wide as saucers.
The Space Marine simply aimed his boltgun at his head, ready to fire.
"NO!" Slippy cried, gripping the bars, "Don't kill him! He's just being stupid!"
Another voice added to the protest…
"Stand down, brother."
They all turned to see Jacques stepping onto the bridge.
"He was trying to escape, Brother Mortensen," the Marine replied, still gripping his boltgun.
"By order of Lord Macragge," Jacques said, "The prisoners are to be freed and treated with the utmost respect."
Luckily the Marine's bewildered face was not seen behind his helmet. He shouldered his gun and complied…
"Yes, brother."
Jacques pushed a few buttons near the door, where Falco, Peppy, Slippy and Beltino's cells opened up. Slippy smiled as he stepped out.
"I never doubted you for a second," the frog said.
Jacques nodded, "I know for sure."
"Same here," Peppy added, smiling.
"Me too," Beltino also added.
"Count me in."
Everyone turned to Falco, where he noticed his team mates empty stares.
"What?"
"Until further notice," Jacques continued, "You are all confined to the Great Fox until we are near Papetoon."
"Oh, that's a relief," Peppy sighed, "I don't think I can last another second on board this craft."
"I second that motion," Falco said, smiling slightly.
Soon enough, Star Fox was fully assembled on the bridge of the Great Fox, except Jacques who was with his 'brothers'. As Fox stared out the window amongst the small fleet that surrounded them, his mind was in a flurry.
The Space Marines were here, the Imperium's greatest warriors. He had heard all the stories about them. About how they would face an even larger opposing force and would destroy it in a matter of hours or even minutes. How they would drop out of the sky and surprise the enemy, putting them down with relative ease.
And seeing how Jacques was possibly the strongest individual he's even seen; a whole army of them would practically be invincible.
'Here's hoping they don't tear Papetoon apart,' Fox thought.
"Hey Fox," Slippy begun, "We've been standing around the ship for almost an hour. Shouldn't we poke around the battleship, I'm feeling curious about their tech."
Beltino nodded, "Yes. We could learn a great deal from the Imperium."
Fox shook his head, "That's probably the reason why we're told to stay here. They want to keep us in one place just to keep their eyes on us."
Already on edge, Falco said, "We should get outta here right now. Let the Marines take care of Papetoon…"
"…and leave a team member behind?" Fox asked, turning around and narrowing his eyes, "That doesn't work for me."
"It does for me!" Falco exclaimed.
Fox sighed, "Falco, if this is about Falconia they destroyed it because…"
He cut himself off there, as he noticed a trace of sadness in Falco's eyes.
"Why, Fox?" Falco asked softly, his voice losing all vehemence and cynicism, "Why?"
Fox sighed, "It was destroyed in order to protect Lylat. Chaos had taken it over. You should know that, Falco, you really should."
"I know," Falco said, "But I just don't want to know."
Krystal couldn't help but feel sad and remorseful for Falco's lost. The power of Chaos had taken many things people love, and themselves didn't want to accept it and spend the rest of their lives repressing their emotions over the subject.
Falco was one of those cases.
The door into the bridge opened and in stepped Jacques.
"Hey," Slippy greeted, "What's up?"
"We are nearing Papetoon," Jacques said, "Calgar wants you to be present while we plan the strike."
Fox nodded, getting up from his seat, "Lead the way."
They all followed Jacques off the Great Fox and back onto the battleship, where once again they took in the sights of the interior of the Imperial craft. How it looked to all of them was fascinating; it was almost a work of art.
Jacques noticed their surprised, wondrous looks.
'What is the big deal to them with the design of the battleship?' he thought, puzzled.
"Hey Jacques," Fox said, "Just curious. How many Space Marine are present for the attack?"
"It is about a three hundred brothers," Jacques replied.
"That's all?" Falco asked, "Three-hundred tin-canned soldiers?"
Suddenly, Roland appeared from behind them, saying, "Yes. Is there a problem with that number?"
Falco shook his head, "Nope."
Roland smirked, "Good. You should be glad that Lord Calgar himself is personally leading this relatively small strike force."
They then stepped through a door into what appeared to be the war room. It was filled with several Marine sergeants and of course, Calgar. They circled around what appeared to be a hologram of the planet Papetoon.
"Brother Mortensen," Calgar greeted, "You and Star Fox have arrived just in time."
"We do our best," Fox responded.
Calgar stretched his hand forward towards some chairs and they gladly sat down amongst the sergeants.
"Alright," Calgar begun, "Brother Augustus, if you may begin."
A black-haired, thirty-something-year-old sergeant stood up, "Most certainly, my lord. Planet Papetoon…"
He indicated the hologram.
"…is one of the outer planets of the Lylat system. It was once the home to a 'respectively' primitive race of beings a quarter of a century ago, until one day they…disappeared. No one has ever determined the true cause of the demise of this world's populace. Today…"
The hologram was zoomed into, revealing what appeared to be satellite views of differing towns and cities.
"…it is colonised by over five-thousand Cornerians, most of which are of the scientific community studying the habitat of which this race once lived on. It is defended by over two-thousand Cornerian Defence Force volunteers."
Calgar nodded, "Go on."
"We suspect that that the Venomian forces along with their Orkish mercenaries has a least a few bases and installations on the planet's surface. One of which is their primary base of operation and where their leader, Andrew Oikonny…"
An image of the ape appeared as a hologram.
"…is cowering."
"Thank you, sergeant," Calgar said, "We will strike one of their forward posts and establish our own frontline headquarters. We will cleanse the other posts one at a time, before we converge on the main base of operations…here."
The hologram revealed what appeared to be a large crater with a massive installation in the centre, and in the centre of the installation itself is what appeared to be a construction site.
He then turned to Star Fox.
"This is where you come in."
"You want us to fly over and deliver laser from the sky?" Fox asked.
"No," Calgar replied, "We cannot strike the base itself because of it's defences and of our limited numbers. We would wish of you to infiltrate the primary base of operations and lower it's defences."
Fox nodded, smirking, "No problem. It's about time we watch them die from up close."
"From what Mortensen has told me, each of you has several unique skills which will contribute to the success of this operation," Calgar continued, "We believe that Toad is of higher importance. As he may be the only one with the expertise to disable their defences; and whatever else they may throw at us."
Slippy smiled awkwardly, unsure, "Er…yeah."
"And if Mortensen says is true about Oikonny creating his own Space Marine legion," Calgar continued, "Then we may have to tread very carefully."
Everyone nodded.
"That is all," Calgar said, "Prepare your squads and be ready at your drop pod launch bays in half-an-hour. Star Fox will be going in with Miller's squad, along with Mortensen. May the Emperor protect us all…"
He then eyed Star Fox, who looked awkward towards what he just said.
"…and whatever higher force you may serve," he finished.
They nodded appreciatively.
Soon as they walked away from the war room together…
"If you guys don't mind," Beltino said, "I'll stay back with Peppy on the Great Fox."
"Just what I was gonna say," Fox mentioned, "You can give us the advanced technical know-how from up there."
Beltino nodded.
"Say Jacques?" Falco said, "How come you and…"
He looked around, hoping no one would notice what he was going to say next.
"…that really big guy are on really good terms."
Still walking and head un-turning, Jacques replied, "He saved my life when my home world was destroyed, which was almost a lifetime ago."
"I'll say," Fox said, "What happened?"
Jacques stopped suddenly, his head bowed slightly. He sighed…
"I can not keep this from you any longer," he said reluctantly, "After all we have been through together, you deserve to know of my origins."
"You…don't have to tell us," Krystal said.
"I do," Jacques said, then looked around, "But not here."
Minutes later, they were all on the bridge of the Great Fox, where…
"What?" Fox exclaimed in disbelief, as what everyone else was feeling.
"The Inquisition saw my family as a threat to the well-being of the Imperium," Jacques exclaimed, standing as everyone was sitting down, "So they carried out an Exterminatus, killing everything on the planet."
"All because your family made friends with non-humans?" Peppy asked, "That's…unnatural."
"How did you survive?" Slippy asked.
"All the children were kidnapped and taken off the planet's surface, just before the Exterminatus went ahead," Jacques continued, "I watched as my own planet died before me. Afterwards, we were all subjected to mind scrubbing, where they erased all our previous memories and sent us off to be trained to suit the Imperium."
"If all your memories were erased, how come you know all this crap?" Falco queried.
Jacques breathed in, before continuing, "My…developing psychic prowess protected my mind from being scrubbed. The Inquisition knew this and contemplated killing me, that is until Lord Calgar offered to take me in and to make me forget through me going through the deadening Blood Trials of the Adeptus Astartes, even though he knew it wouldn't. He spared me from death and I am forever grateful to him."
"How old were…?" Fox begun to ask.
"Fifteen years of age," Jacques interrupted.
"I don't get it," Falco said, "You serve the Imperium, yet they killed your own family. Shouldn't you think about getting even with them?"
Jacques shook his head and said, "Revenge is a fool's game, Falco. If I rise up against the Inquistion, I rise up against the entire Imperium."
"That's sensible," Krystal said, before she looked sad and warmly putting a hand on his shoulder, "I'm so sorry, Jacques."
"Do not be," Jacques said, smiling sadly, "I seek now to redeem the Imperium's sins against the universe by being, what you say, the only 'good human,' and proving once and for all that humanity does have at least some good in it."
"There has to be others like you," Beltino remarked.
"None that I know of," Jacques replied.
Fox nodded, before getting out of his seat and patting the human's other shoulder, smiling warmly, "Thanks for telling us. You really are a good guy."
Jacques nodded appreciatively, "Thank you, Fox."
Slippy checked his watch, "Hey guys, we better get ready. Only fifteen minutes until the assault."
"Right!" Fox exclaimed, "Let's go, team!"
On board the battle-barge, Space Marine armed to the teeth ran through the interior towards the launch bays, where the PA system sounded off…
All squads, prepare for immediate drop.
The fleet was approaching Papetoon, where the twin battleship flew head of the strike cruisers, where they settled above the planet.
Star Fox followed Jacques as they ran towards the nearest launch bay.
"We are with Sergeant Miller's squad," Jacques said, "So try and keep up."
They saw a twenty-something year old sergeant up ahead, waving to them.
"Brother Mortensen?"
He stopped before the sergeant, who nodded seeing them.
"Good to have you with my squad," Miller said with enthusiasm, "I've heard a lot about you."
"Yes," Jacques replied, "We are ready when you are."
Miller looked over Fox, Krystal, Falco and Slippy and shook his head.
"No," Miller simply said.
Falco glared, "What?"
"This simply won't do," Miller said again.
"It's because we're 'alien', isn't it?" Fox sighed, seeing how every human they meet from now on would probably shun them away on account of…
"No," Miller replied, "You can't go into battle dressed in team uniforms and bodysuits."
"Huh?" Slippy cried.
"Follow me to the armoury," Miller said, smiling, "And we'll make you ready for war."