Disclaimer: See the Prologue
To Antigravity-5-1-0: Remember in one your reviews when you asked if Fox is going to become a Space Marine? Well, this comes close…
Chapter 32 – Might of the Imperium
In the armoury, Fox, Slippy, Falco and Krystal watched as Miller slapped some armour onto the table. Miller blew the dust of it and reached inside of it, pulling out several cobwebs. They looked at it, incredulous.
"This brand of power armour doesn't require the black carapace to function properly," Miller said, "It's slightly outdated, but it'll protect you from a dozen or so hits. We've got a few of these and one size should mostly fit all."
Falco looked at him as if he was crazy, "You expect us to wear that museum piece?"
Miller looked at him sternly, "If you want to survive the massive battle that comes after we land on the surface of Papetoon, then yes."
"Fair enough," Falco responded.
Fox nodded, "I'll try it on."
"You might want to hose it out, first," Jacques remarked.
Everyone watched as Fox, after cleaning out the insides, put on the power armour; starting from the leg plating up to the waist, where then he attached the torso armour, then the arm plating, which surprisingly fitted him well enough.
Fully adorned in the armour, he looked slightly taller and buffer and that really impressed the others…especially Krystal, who smiled suggestively.
"How do I look?"
"You look like you can take on the entire Venomian army," Slippy said.
Soon Falco and Slippy were adorned in power armour, where the frog looked slightly awkward, where his head was sunk slightly into the torso piece. He wore a worried frown on his face.
"How do I look, Falco?" he asked, his face muffled slightly.
"Like shit, froggy," Falco said, before looking at himself in the mirror and smiling, "I'm sorry I ever doubted Imperial tin cans. God damn…"
He flexed his arms, seeing that the armour made him look slightly taller and more muscled.
"…do I look good or what?"
Miller then turned to Krystal.
"Oh, I don't need armour," Krystal said, smiling appreciatively nonetheless, "What I'm wearing is fine."
"That is a shame," Miller said, "Because we have this suit specially made…"
He pressed a button.
"…for someone like you."
A sealed door opened to reveal another suit of power armour, only that it was made for a woman instead of a man. Krystal looked in awe at it.
"One of the Sisters of Battles, the warrior-nuns of the Emperor, left this behind," Miller explained, "I don't she'd mind if you used it, seeing as she's probably dead now."
Krystal nodded, "Alright."
She stepped forwards towards it and handled the torso, noticing the boys' still staring at her. She turned around...
"Do you mind?" she asked in mock seriousness.
They all suddenly turned the other way, listening to her hum as she unzipped her blue bodysuit and slipped out of it, which was starting to really turn Fox on. He blushed slightly.
Five minutes later…
"Ok, you guys can turn now," they heard her say.
They did so, seeing Krystal in the power armour, where Falco instantly gave a whistle of approval, where she blushed slightly. Fox glared at Falco…
"Hey," Falco smirked, "Just showing my approval."
"So," Krystal said smiling, "How do I look?"
Jacques stepped forward and said, "In my opinion, like the defender of Cerinia."
"Thanks," Krystal replied.
Miller cleared his throat and said, "Since you're here, you might as well arm yourselves as well. Because Space Marine weaponry is too bulky for you to handle…"
'Tell me about it,' Falco thought, remembering how Jacques tossed him his boltgun and he had to strain in order to let off a few rounds.
"…here's some Imperial Guard weaponry."
He pushed another button and an armoury appeared…which revealed in all it's glory it's Imperial-made arsenal.
"Sweeeeeeet," Falco said, rubbing his hands together.
Lasguns, Hellguns, grenade launchers, shotguns, plasma rifles, flame-throwers, Exitus sniper rifles, grenade launchers and are whole heap of swords all greeted Star Fox. Falco stepped forward, where he smiled as he picked up a Hellgun – which consisted of what appeared to be a rifle attached to a battery pack.
He put the pack on his back, where he surprisingly found it was light.
"Now this is what I'm talking about," Falco said, "And I thought the Imperium all used bullets and slugs."
"Think again, birdbrain," Miller replied, letting off a smirk of his own.
Fox grabbed a plasma rifle, followed by Slippy, who grabbed a shotgun.
"You pump and you fire, right?" Slippy asked Miller, who nodded.
Krystal stepped forward next and handled an Exitus Sniper Rifle, holding it firmly in her hands. Fox then reached for a sword safely in it's sheathe and tied it around his waist. He then pulled the blade out, seeing how long and sharp it was.
"Watch it, Fox," Krystal said, seeing the blade almost skim her face.
The vulpine cringed, before sheathing the sword, "Sorry, Krys."
"Alright, we're all loaded up," Miller said, grabbing a boltgun and tossing another to Jacques, "Let's hook up with my squad in the drop bay."
They were soon in the battle-barge's drop pod centre, where the three-hundred Space Marines stood proud and strong in the large bay, where they all stood in line before several hundred drop pods, each one ready to be deployed down the chutes. Star Fox looked around as they walked through, taking in the fact that they were among the normally hostile human race.
And none of them seemed to notice the power-armoured Lylatians stepped past them, escorted by a formally exiled Jacques and Sergeant Miller, where they stepped up towards Miller's squad, which was waiting for them.
"Sergeant Miller," Roland greeted them, "Brother Mortensen."
"Brother Roland," Miller responded, "Star Fox will be accompanying us, so is there plenty of room in the pod?"
Roland nodded, "Yes, brother."
Slippy sighed, "Something tells me we're not gonna like the drop."
"After about a hundred orbital drops," Jacques assured him, "You will get used to it."
"Oh, goody," Falco mumbled.
First Wave, prepare for deployment.As if on cue, about a hundred Marines all begun to pile in; with Star Fox getting into their pods, along with 4 other Marines, including Miller, Roland and Jacques.
Fox couldn't help but smile, seeing how this was going to be his first orbital drop…ever. He gripped his lasgun in his hand and closed his eyes, breathing steadily as the pod's doors closed, enveloping the squad in darkness.
Slippy shifted uncomfortably in his armour.
"You actually go out in these?" he asked the other Marines, his mouth slightly in the torso piece.
"Well, what do you suggest?" a Marine asked, "Tight-fitting spandex?"
They then felt a slight rumble vibrate the pod.
"Prepare yourselves," Miller said, "We are going in."
They all lurched forward as the pod make it's fast descent down.
Meanwhile, miles below the fleet on the surface of the planet Papetoon, inside yet another large, walled base, two Venomian soldiers stood in a guard tower, their blaster rifles slung over their soldiers. One of them lit up a cigarette as they stared up at the night sky…and the stars.
"Beautiful, aren't they?" one of them asked.
"Yeah," the cigarette holding soldier replied, exhaling smoke, "Beautiful…just beaut…going completely off topic…"
The other soldier turned to face him.
"…are they all dead? Every single one of them?" he asked, slightly nervous
His companion nodded, "They're all taking a nice long dirt nap, courtesy of the new Marines
"Oh thank God," the ciggie asked, "Still, those humans give me the creeps."
They looked up at the sky, where they noticed several floating lights in the sky.
"Hey what the hell are those?" the ciggie asked, where raised his zoom-goggles to his eyes.
His blood suddenly went cold upon seeing what they were.
"Oh fuck me," he said, still looking up at the sky.
He then saw several smaller lights descending towards them.
"Hey, lemme see!" the other soldier exclaimed, snatching the goggles and looking up, where suddenly his muscles froze, "Holy shit!"
Suddenly, a drop pod smashed through the tower, splattering them completely and sending a shockwave through the entire base, instantly waking apes and lizards of different kinds up. The base commander woke up with a start.
"What in God's name was that?"
Suddenly, almost a dozen drop pods descended onto the base, landing around and directly in the base, where the Ultramarines tore out, armed to the teeth. It was their loud battlecry…
"COURAGE AND HONOUR!"
…that made the Venomians quickly scramble, grabbing their weapons and struggling to put their clothes on, all the while panic begun to sweep over them, as Space Marine swarmed over the base, kicking down doors and opening up with their deadly bolter weapons. In one barracks, everyone was quickly grabbing their weapons, their leader barking orders…
"Come on, you assholes," a sergeant cried, "We're under attack here. Move your asses…"
…when suddenly four Space Marine tore through the door, armed with a pair of heavy bolters.
"SPACE MARINES, ATTACK!" they cried, before letting loose rocket-propelled lead death, which quickly tore through the Venomians like butter, sending blood, gibs and body-parts flying, leaving only the sergeant standing.
He could only stand there as one of the Marines unsheathed his sword and sliced him across the chest, killing him almost instantly.
Star Fox's pod landed outside the base, where they tore…or rather…fell out, with Jacques, Miller and the other Marines stepping over them. They were practically gasping for breath, even Krystal.
"That…was…some…rush," Fox managed in between gasps.
"No…shit," Falco said, also trying to catch his breath and trying to ignore the headache he now had.
"Come on, men," Miller cried out, chainsword in hand and pointing towards the fort, "The battle is over there! TO VICTORY!"
His squad cheered as they ran towards the fort, weapons in hand. Star Fox quickly composed themselves, finding that Jacques was with them.
"Alright, let's go!" Fox exclaimed.
With their Imperial weapons at the ready, they ran towards the fort, their armour surprisingly allowing them to jog. The gates into the base opened, where about a hundred Venomian soldiers ran out, blaster rifles in hand.
"Oh shit!" one of them cried, "More of them!"
"C'MON," a lieutenant cried, "WE EITHER FIGHT THEM OR WE DIE HERE! CHARGE!"
The Venomians let out a war cry and run towards Miller's squad, who was then joined by two other Marine squads. As they ran towards each other, they begun exchanging blaster, bolter and missile fire. While running, Krystal looked through the sight of her Exitus rifle, zooming in on the lieutenant.
She gritted her teeth and pulled the trigger, the recoil sending her onto the ground, and the top of the lizard's head exploding, sending his corpse falling backwards onto the ground. Fox stopped to help her up.
"Nice shooting, Krys," Fox said, holding her hand and lifting her up.
Krystal smiled, before crying, "LOOK OUT!"
A burly lizard lunged at them, grenade-launcher butt in hand. Fox dodged his swing and pulled out his large sword, burying it deep in the lizard's chest and through the heart. He then pulled it out, the blade covered in red and allowing the lizard to topple over, dead.
"Let's go," Fox cried, grabbing her hand and running towards the battle…
…where by this time, the Venomians and the Space Marines were going hand-in-hand. The humans had the upper hand, but still were surprised at how combat-effective these aliens were at close quarters. One Marine swung his blade, smiling behind his helmet.
"Take this, furry scum!" he cried out.
Suddenly a spider monkey leapt at him, knocking him to the ground. The Marine let go of his sword to wring the monkey's neck, not realising until too late the monkey put a charger on his chest.
"Oh shi…ARGHHHHHH!"
The resulting explosion sent Space Marine flying, where Falco shielded his eyes, before firing his hell-gun, mesmerised at it's raw, seething power and how it cut through the enemy.
"YEAH!" he cried out, smiling evilly as his finger squeezed the trigger, "I'VE GOT TO GET ME ONE OF THESE!"
Slippy felt nervous around Falco and how he was drawn to the heat of the battle. He breathed as he fired his shotgun at the nearest enemy, cutting through his kevler vest, before pumping it and firing again.
Jacques was swinging his chainsword, cutting through several enemies in half, even decapitating one unlucky monkey, slicing through his neck, his blood staining the ground. Fox and Krystal tore into the Venomians, sword and staff in hand.
Soon…
"WE SURRENDER!" the remaining Venomian cried, dropping their weapons and falling to the knees, "DON'T KILL US, PLEASE!"
"Stay your hands, brothers!" Miller cried.
The Marines kicked the Venomians into a circle, where they aimed their guns down at the frightened Venomians, some of which were gravely wounded.
"Consider yourselves prisoners of the Imperium of Man," Miller sounded off.
"Alright," another sergeant cried, "Into the base. CHARGE!"
Except Miller's squad, the Marines charged forward, running past the open gates, where they joined the other Marine in slaying the enemy. Miller looked over at Jacques and Star Fox.
"You can join them if you want," Miller said, "We can handle the prisoners."
Fox nodded, before they ran into the fortress.
"I hope they don't kill all of them," Krystal cried, "Surely they'd surrender."
"Do not worry," Jacques replied, "I am sure Calgur would want to interrogate…oh."
When they stepped through the gates, they found the base littered with Venomian death, strewn about the ground.
"Damnation," Jacques said softly, gripping his chainsword.
Fox, Krystal, Falco and Slippy all had glum looks on their face. Apparently mercy isn't one of the Imperium's highlights in war.
"Hey look," Slippy said, pointing to a lizard in his underwear, being dragged from his barracks and thrown amongst the corpses, where he was quickly surrounded.
The commander clinched his hands and got on his knees.
"Please, have mercy," the lizard begged them.
He then felt the barrel of a plasma handgun against his forehead, courtesy of a Marine sergeant.
"Be silent, lizard," the sergeant ordered, "Our master wants to converse with you."
As if on cue, a drop pod fell from the sky and before Star Fox, sending them off their feet.
"Ah!" Fox cried, "That almost crushed us!"
Out stepped Lord Calgur, equipped in his Terminator armour, with the Ultramarine banner on his back. He stepped forward past the crowd and towards the commander, where he looked down at the miserable creature.
"Tell us all what you Venomians are doing on this planet, and we may yet show you leniency," Calgur said.
"We're…building a large Megacannon," the commander replied, nervous, "And we're creating…"
He didn't have time finish, when suddenly bolter rounds tore right through him from above. He fell face first before Calgur's feet, where he suddenly looked up in the air…and where his airs widened.
"By the Emperor…!"
They all saw a jetpack equipped Marine holding a smoking boltgun. His armour consisted of the colours green and red and had the letter A on his left shoulder-plate. He suddenly flew off into the distance.
"What was that?" Fox cried, running up to Calgur, before looking down at the corpse of the commander.
"An enemy Space Marine," Calgur replied.
Star Fox's eyes widened, where Jacques was the most panicked.
'No!' he screamed in his mind, 'They could not have. DAMNATION!'