Disclaimer: See the Prologue
Chapter 33 – Blood On The Streets
Lylat's sun known as Solar was soon beginning to rise over Papetoon, where the light started to shine over the destroyed base, and the victorious Space Marines alongside Star Fox. Krystal looked out into the distance, smiling slightly as the star appeared over the horizon.
'Yet another day in Lylat,' he thoughts, 'Counting towards this galaxy's continued survival.'
Her thoughts were interrupted when a Scout Marine ran from out of nowhere towards Calgar.
"My lord," he begun, "There is something you must see which is of great importance."
"What is it, scout?" Calgar replied, looking over at the scout.
"Greenskins."
Everyone suddenly gripped their weapons, ready for another round of merciless killing. Calgar clinched his fists…
"Where are they approaching from?" Calgar asked, his face looked like he is ready to kill.
"Just outside the western side of the base," the scout replied, "And they're already dead."
Calgar eyes widened in surprise, "What?"
"They are all lying in a large trench, dead," the scout replied, "Apparently the Venomians killed them."
Everyone looked around at each other, trying to comprehend what the scout was saying. Jacques wasn't all that surprised.
"It seems the Venomians turned on their hired guns," Jacques said.
Falco grinned, "No shit. Makes this mission all the more easier."
A minute later, Star Fox, Jacques, Calgar and six Marines stood outside the western-side of the base, looking over a large, deep trench; where at the bottom laid almost a thousand dead Orks, each one rotting away slowly. The stench was almost unbearable, with Fox holding a handkerchief to his nose.
"God," Fox moaned, "The least Oikonny could have done is bury them."
"Roger that," Falco replied, his face screwed up in disgust.
Calgar nodded, "These corpses are but a few days old. He is clearly insane not to cover this patch with earth."
"All the more to stop him," Jacques said, "My lord."
"Yes, Brother Mortensen," Calgar said, "We will strike at the other forward bases before we converge on the main headquarters, where Star Fox will go ahead and soften the enemy up for us. And what Jacques had told me earlier…"
He looked glum.
"We may be facing replicant Space Marines, who serve Oikonny and may very well outnumber us a hundred to one."
Fox turned to him, removing the handkerchief, "How could have Oikonny acquired Jacque's DNA?"
"That does not matter now," Calgar said, "We must secure all five other forward posts before this day's end."
"Wait," Krystal said, stepping forward.
Calgar looked at the Cernian Crown Princess.
"What is it, Your Highness?"
"What about the people here on Papetoon?" Krystal asked, "The colonists?"
"Yeah," Fox nodded, "We should warn them and get em' off this rock before the fighting becomes too intense."
"I agree with you," Calgar said, "But for all concerns, they would have been evacuated by now by Pepper or probably dead for as I know."
"Dead?" Slippy cried.
Calgar looked over them, seeing the pleading in their eyes. He sighed…
"You have six hours," he said, "I expect you to regroup with us outside the main HQ in preparation for the final assault. Mortensen…?"
"Yes my lord?"
"Accompany them."
"Affirmative."
Fox smiled, "Thank you, Lord Macragge."
Krystal smiled also, "The nearest town should be six milex ahead. We'll warn the populace there; get them to warn the other colonies and there should be a mass exodus in a couple of hours."
"I hope it goes smoother than the evacuation of Tartarus all those years ago," Calgar remarked, "Anyway, take two of our Land Speeders, and I respectively request…"
He stared down at Slippy…
"That Toad stays here with the strike force. We may have to use his expertise."
Slippy gulped softly, before replying, "Er…okay."
"Do not fret, Slippy," Jacques said, "You can trust the Ultramarines to assure your safety."
Slippy nodded, "Alright."
Unknown to them, someone was watching them from afar through the scope of her sniper rifle. If she wanted to, she could blast their heads with no effort and be able to outrun even the Assault Space Marines. But she had other plans.
"We meet again, McCloud," she said softly to herself, "And I'll make you pay for leaving me in the first place."
And about a hundred miles away, the denizens of Oikonny's headquarters were hard at work in the massive crater base, with building what appeared to be a massive laser cannon, where already they had attached the telescope stolen from the Beltino Research Facility.
And sitting in his office, the ape himself Andrew Oikonny was occupied with his communicator.
"Hey, I assure you Great One," he said nervously, "You'll have what you want in a few hours. Just give me more time.
Time? the other line asked aggressively, We cannot give more time, Oikonny. Just open the damn gate and we'll take over.
Andrew gasped silently, before saying, "No need, Great One. I have everything under control; there's no need to open the gate here at the moment."
Sounds like you're going against our bargain. Why did you think we allowed you to enter Khorne's beloved temple in the first place? You promised us a million new Space Marines plus a clear path to the False Emperor's homeworld. We haven't seen any of those things.
The ape was now sweating uncontrollably, a migraine coming on, "Just give me a few hours. The Megacannon will be complete and if you give me another month, you'll have your million troops, all ready to kick the Imperium's ass."
Alright, then. But still, our ambassador will be arriving at your door soon. You will treat him with the utmost respect.
Andrew smiled, "Ok. We're cool then? Take care now, bye."
He turned off the communicator, before exhaling and leading back in his chair, rubbing his head.
"God, I need some aspirin."
Meanwhile, two Imperial Land Speeders said across the grassy plains, where behind the wheel of the lead speeder was Jacques, whose passenger was Falco, whilst behind them was Fox and Krystal. Krystal was busy tending to her communicator.
"Strange," she said, crossing her eyebrows, "I can't pick up the colony's communication signal at all."
"That means they're in trouble," Fox said, before reaching for his com, "Hey Jacques?"
Yes?
"Can these things go faster?" he asked.
The Land Speeders then took off at double the speed, where Falco held onto his chair just to keep from flying off.
"Don't these things have seatbelts?" Falco exclaimed wildly.
"What is a seatbelt?" Jacques asked, really not knowing what that was.
"Never mind," Falco said, rolling his eyes, "I gave up trying understanding the Imperium long time ago!"
Soon enough…
"There's the colony," Krystal cried, seeing a few tall buildings in the distance.
As they got close, their view of the place became clearer. They saw a few tall building, as well as a bio-dome and a spaceport, which was just outside the colony. To top it off besides the fact that there was no wall around it, it was empty.
The Land Speeders stopped a few meters outside the colony limits, where they all climbed out, weapons at hand. They looked down the barren streets of the colony, where newspapers scampered around with the wind.
"I got a bad feeling bout' this, Fox," Falco said, "Really, I do."
"I know," Fox said, "I'm feeling the same thing."
"You don't think they would have all left already, do you guys?" Krystal queried, still staring down the street, which greeted them, along with the sign right before them…
Welcome to Harrigan's Hope. Population: 1,000.
"Let's have a look around," Fox said, "We've got five-and-a-half hours to do so."
Everyone nodded and they stepped forwards onto the asphalt of the street, where they instantly felt like they've being watched.
'Goddamn,' Fox thought, 'It's always those damn feelings.'
Weapons up, the group travelled down the streets of the colony, where they noticed that every window was boarded up and every door appeared to be locked; the only sounds are that of the feet touching the asphalt road, the wind, and their own heartbeats.
That last bit, was what Jacques' and Krystal could only hear.
They scoured around the colony for almost a couple of hours, finding nothing but emptiness. Fox yawned slightly.
"Alright," he said, "Maybe they did evacuate. They would have immediately when Andrew and his goons landed."
"Yeah," Falco added, "I drink to that."
Suddenly…Jacques felt cold and his mind suddenly screamed at him.
"Emperor's mercy," Jacques said.
"What is it?" Fox asked, noticing sweat rolling down Jacques' forehead.
"I sense Chaos," he said, "It has tainted this establishment."
Fox eyes widened, "Wha…how?"
"It must be from the Chaos temple that Calgar mentioned," Jacques said, "Now I sense The Warp's influence in this town, and it is massive."
"What, right now? This instant?" Falco asked,
Suddenly, they all heard a blood curdling scream, where instantly they gripped their weapons. Krystal exchanged her Existus Rifle for her staff, holstering it over her back. They then heard the blazing of a blaster rifle coming from the one of the buildings.
"There," Krystal cried, pointing to one of the boarded up buildings.
"MOVE!" Fox cried.
They ran towards it, where Jacques kicked down the door. They stormed in, seeing that the house was empty, before going up a flight of stairs, afterward greeted by a blood-soaked hallway…
"God Almighty!" Fox exclaimed, seeing the gore-splattered hallway.
They heard shrill scream come from third door on the left. Fox ran ahead towards it, where he then kicked it down, plasma rifle ready.
"What the heck?"
There was nothing there…nothing except more blood and what appeared to be a rusty scythe lying on the floor, covered in both dried and fresh blood. Fox noticed dripping on his shoulder, where he looked up…
…and his pupils sunk in.
"Fox?" Krystal exclaimed, stepping in the room and noticing him looking up at the wall, "Whats…? God!"
The word CHAOS RULES LYLAT was written in blood on the roof, where Fox noticed the trail on the floor led into the next room, where he slowly stepped up to it, plasma rifle ready. He put his hand softly on the door, where he opened it slowly…
"Holy shit."
…revealing a Cornerian soldier lying in a bathroom next to the tub, his legs missing and he was bleeding profusely from the stumps. The canine was breathing harshly, blood dripping from his panting mouth.
He coughed, "There's…nothing you can…do for me now."
Fox stepped up to him and crouched, "What happened to you?"
"They…they just turned on us," the soldier replied, "The scientists. They attacked the barracks…killing everyone they can find, the bastards. Me and about…HYUKK…"
He spat some more blood out.
"…a dozen other guys, we were captured. They took us…to the main square and…oh God…"
He begun to cry, tears running down his eyes.
"…Davids, Reece, Travis. They nailed them…spilling their blood into the fountains."
"Don't worry," Fox said reassuringly, "We're gonna get you out of here. We just need to stop the bleeding…"
The soldier coughed some more, before growing limp and taking his final breath, dying a botched-sacrifice's death. Fox stood up, eyes wide in uncontested horror. He turned around, seeing Falco, Krystal and Jacques near the doorway, silent.
The vulpine frowned, "Town square, NOW!"
Before they knew it, they were running down the street, their armour creaking in every joint as they ran.
"Jeez Fox," Falco said, "You mind tellin' us what's the rush?"
"Something's going on with this town," Fox replied sternly, "And we're getting to the bottom of this."
The Town Square was just around the corner, and that a moment later they turned it, coming face to face with the most horrible thing they could ever dream of ever seeing in a whole lifetime.
"Oh…my…God," Krystal said.
It was almost hell. Blood was in the fountains, splattered on the grass and the gardens and also all over the statutes. Scribbling of the occultist was drawn all over the place in black paint and to top if off, there was a large pole just in front of the town hall.
And attached to the pole were a dozen dead Cornerian soldiers, their blood leaking down the pole. They were chained to the pole, some of which were even nailed to it.
Falco smiled nervously, "I vote we turn around and leave this city of the dead."
"We can not," Jacques said.
"Why?" Fox asked, them still looking all over the carnage.
"I sense about a hundred Cornerian colonists standing a few meters behind us," Jacques explained, "And they have all become Chaos Cultists, judging from the fact I can sense The Warp embracing them."
They're eyes all went wide.
"Do they know we know they're behind us?" Falco asked.
"No," Krystal replied softly, also sensing what Jacques can sense, "Not yet.
"Are they all armed?" Fox asked.
"Most likely," Jacques replied.
Falco was silent for a second, before saying, "Bring it on."
Still not turning around, they gripped their weapons, knowing about the horde of Warp-infused civilians standing some distance, all armed with knifes, machetes, scythes and even pitchforks; much like an angry mob. They were all snarling, gnashing their teeth and clinching their fists and their blades.
And they soon begun chanting…
"BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!"
"Evacuate!" Fox cried.
They then suddenly made break for it, where the Cornerian colonists/Cultists chased after them, cursing and yelling obscenities at them. They took off down the nearest street.
"Peppy!" Fox cried in his com, "Where's the nearest way out of the town? Peppy?"
He got nothing but static.
"Something's jamming the coms!" Fox exclaimed.
"The energies from The Warp are blocking all communications," Jacques cried, his trigger-finger itching to do some killing.
"Can we save these people?" Falco asked.
"No."
"GOOD!"
Falco spun around, gripping his hell-gun.
"Falco!" Fox cried, "What the…?"
The avian began to fire upon the crowds, cutting down several cultists; men, women and children. He was oping to fire this beauty of a weapon, and now he had the chance; and he was revelling in how the weapon felt in his hands, much to the chagrin of his friends.
And to the horror of Jacques, who knew that those of Chaos enjoy the slaughter.
"C'MON, YOU FREAKS!" Falco yelled, "YA LIKE THAT?"
The Marine had to stop Chaos from taking him as well.
"COME ON, FALCO!" Jacques cried, grabbing him by the shoulder and pulling him along.
"HEY!"
They continued running, the cultists still on their tail. Jacques reached for his grenades…
"Forgive me," he said softly, "Forgive me for what I must do."
He gritted his teeth, pulled the pins and threw them behind the grenade, where upon their detonation sending cultists flying all over the place.
"NOW THAT WAS AN EXPLOSION!"
"Get a grip, Falco!" Fox cried, clipping him over the head.
They soon begun to tire from so much running, so they slowed down, before stopping completely. They spun round to confront the remaining cultists, which were about a few dozen.
The cultists held their ground just a few feet away.
"Lapdogs of the False Emperor!" one of them called out, "Surrender and submit yourselves to the power of Chaos."
Fox glared, "I think not!"
They then roared and charged. Fox closed his eyes as he pulled the trigger of his plasma rifle, hearing the weapons of his friends go off, not wanting to see himself vaporise formerly innocent people. He opened his eyes to see Jacques pull out his chainsword as the cultists went close quarters.
He drew his own blade as they charged Star Fox, thrusting his blade through the nearest cultist. Jacques sliced through another while Krystal swatted one over the head with her staff, before driving it into his chest.
A minute later, the cultists lying on the road, all nothing but smoking and stabbed piles of flesh, blood and even gibs.
Krystal sighed, shedding a tear, "I don't mean to kill innocent people."
Jacques shook his head softly; also sadly, "They were of Chaos. They're was no turning back."
They all turned their backs and begun to slowly walk down the barren street, that was until…
"RAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"
…some cultists threw themselves from the windows above towards them, knocking them all down and bearing their knives.
"FUCK!" Fox cried, dropping his gun onto the floor.
As the cultist were about to slice their fallen opposition, the sounds of a laser sniper rifle cut through the air…and through the cultists, who fell onto the ground, their chests blown out.
"Chaos…consume…us," one cultist managed to say, before giving in towards death's embrace.
Fox, Falco, Jacques and Krystal picked themselves up from the floor.
"What was that all aboout?" Falco exclaimed.
They then heard someone clear her throat, and wast standing up on the roof of a small house. They turned toward her.
Where Fox's eyes widened at the smiling figure.
"Fara?" Fox said, confused.