Disclaimer: See the Prologue
Chapter 34 – Fara
Slippy watched from the gates of the base as the Ultramarines cut down the Venomians as they tried to flee from them, feeling bolt blasts and chainswords rip through their fur-covered and scaly forms, mesmerised with the glory of battle.
'Dear God,' Slippy thought, almost sickened at how the Ultramarines could keep on fighting, and that a couple hours ago they had already smashed a base and took only five casualties.
"STOP HIM!" one Marine cried, seeing a Venomian run towards Slippy, armed with a blaster.
Reacting quickly, Slippy raised his shotgun and fire, blowing the Venomian's head off. The Marine caught up with Slippy, where he looked over the frog and the corpse.
The Marine smiled, "Nice shooting, froggy."
"Er…thanks, I think," Slippy replied hesitantly.
Slippy then turned to Calgur, who was busy pummelling Venomians with his power-gloved hands, where he gave one unlucky bastard a slap, sending him flying into the air and landing almost a mile away…
…at the feet of what appeared to be another Space Marine, where his armour was green and red and he was equipped with a laser chaingun. The Venomian looked painfully up at the Marine, and smiled.
"Re…reinforcements," he choked out, before dying.
The Space Marine, before being joined by almost a two hundred others, looked into the distance the besieged Venomian base, and where the Ultramarine was finished securing it.
"The Imperial pigs shall not reach the crater and the megacannon," the Marine spoke with high authority, in a familiar tone of voice, "My brothers, let us wage to WAR! FOR EMPEROR OIKONNY!"
They all cheered, before drawing their weapons consisting of heavy laser rifles, chainguns, rocket launchers and large blades. They then began to march towards the fray.
Meanwhilst back at the colony known as Harrigan's Hope; Fox, Falco, Krystal and Jacques looked up at the golden-coloured vixen standing up on the roof of the house, holding a smoking laser sniper rifle and dressed in a purple bodysuit. Behind them laid the splattered bodies of the Cultists
"Fara?" Fox begun, bewildered.
The vixen smirked, "Got yourselves in deep, eh McCloud?"
Fox grinned awkwardly; "You could say that."
The vixen leapt down from the house before them, shouldering her rifle and still smiling. She composed herself.
"Long time no see," she said, "McCloud."
Fox nodded, "Yeah. Long time."
"You just saved our lives. We owe you a depth of gratitude…" Jacques said, cutting himself off when he realised he didn't know her name."
She sensed it, "Fara. Fara Phoenix; Cornerian Army Special Forces."
"Brother Jacques Mortensen of the Ultramarines," the Marine introduced himself.
Fara surprisingly extended her hand towards him, which Jacques accepted, shaking it hesitantly.
"Nice to see one of the infamous Space Marines in the flesh once again," Fara said, frowning, "Or rather, the power armour. After Evergreen, I was sure we'd seen the last of your kind."
"Er…thank you," Jacques responded in kind, "And no, you have not."
Fara looked over at Falco, "Hey Falco."
"Fara," Falco replied.
She then noticed Krystal, before narrowing her eyes.
"And who is this?" she asked, smiling.
"Oh," Fox said, "This is Krystal, first newest member of Star Fox. I'm sure you've heard of the incident on Sauria, with General Scales and Andross' short-lived return."
"Oh yeah," Fara said, crossing her arms, "The last of the Cerinians."
Krystal smiled lightly, "Nice to meet you. Fox mentioned you at one time."
"I'm sure," Fara said, "So, you two…er…how should I put this?"
She looked over the both of them.
"Serious about each other?"
Fox and Krystal both turned red at her words.
"Err…no," Fox answered, smiling softly and awkwardly.
"I hate to put an end to this reunion," Jacques said, "But we must make contact with Lord Calgur and the strike force. This whole planet has gone made with the power of Chaos."
"I know," Fara said, "Pepper sent me to keep an eye out on this rock. Those Ultramarines are kicking Venomian ass alright, they don't stand a chance."
"What about that big hole in the ground?" Falco asked, "They look like they're building some kinda gun."
"They are," Fara said, "I tried flying over it and they almost shot down my fighter. I managed to see them attaching the stolen telescope onto it, like as if this is a really large sniper rifle."
"What about the other colonies?" Jacques asked.
"I checked out the other colonies and they've been butchering the Cornerian Defence Force volunteers up."
She then frowned, "Why hasn't General Pepper sent any reinforcements?"
"He has probably handed over the protection of this world to the Ultramarines," Jacques explained, "Seeing how their souls cannot be corrupted by the power of Chaos so easily; just like our souls can never be touched by The Warp, as we are of Order."
"Goddamn it," Fara said, rolling her eyes, "You actually believe in that near-satanic crap?"
Jacques suddenly glared and reached for his chainsword, "Are you mocking my beliefs, Phoenix? I can not allow that!"
"OK!" Fox quickly cut in, sensing the brewing hostilities between Fara and Jacques, "Let's just get back to Calgur and help them clean this place up."
Jacques nodded, his hand inching away from the chainsword sheathed over his back, "You are right of course, Fox."
And so they trekked back through the dead and bloodied streets of the town, towards where they parked their Land Speeders outside the other end of the town. All the while Jacques fought hard to keep the anger out of his heart, where he frowned and gritted his teeth slightly.
Krystal noticed this and walked with him.
"You ok, Jacques?" Krystal asked with concern.
"Mmm?" Jacques begun, turning to her, "Yes, I am. I should have known better than to lash out at Phoenix."
Krystal narrowed her eyes at the other vixen, who was walking with Fox, "Well, she should have known better than to say that."
"Let us say we were both out of line," Jacques said, "And leave it at that."
Fox and Falco still had their weapons up, where they expected than at any time more Chaos cultists could appear and charge them. They hade seen first-hand what Chaos could do to people: Reduce them to almost mindless zombies and wouldn't care if you flashed a gun in their face.
Just then, a manhole cover suddenly opened and several arms reached out and grab Fox by the legs.
"What the…ARRGH!"
The others suddenly turned Fox' way, where he was suddenly pulled down to his waist.
"FOX!" Falco cried, "SHIT!"
"HELP ME!" Fox screamed.
Jacques ran over and grabbed Fox by the edge of his power armour, hoisting him up along with a cultist who cling to his waist.
"COME DOWN TO HELL, IMPERIAL PAWN!" the cultist cried, laughing deliriously.
Falco punched him across the face, where he fell to the ground, where Jacques put a foot out and pinned him to the ground. The avian aimed his hell-gun into the manhole and pulled the trigger, blasting whatever was still down there.
Fox was struggling to catch his breath, clutching his heart, "M…mother…fucker…!"
Jacques looked over at Fox, before glaring downward towards their struggling captive cultist.
"Do not struggle," Jacques warned, "Or I will hurt you."
"Go to hell, False Emperor's lapdog," the cultist sneered.
Jacques, unamused, aimed his boltgun at his head and fired, blowing the top of his head off. He then turned to Fox.
"Are you alright, Fox?"
"Yeah," Fox replied, catching his breath, before standing up and seeing what Jacques just did, "You killed him!"
"Yes," the Marine said, "There was nothing we could do for him. Once of Chaos is always of Chaos."
Fox was about to say something suddenly Falco felt a blaster bolt hit him from behind.
"Ah!" he cried, falling forward.
There were a group of ten cultists barging out of a housing building's door, one of which was armed with a blaster rifle. Falco smirked, getting up.
"Ever heard of power armour, assholes?" Falco cried, firing off his hell-gun.
The cultists, who all appeared to be young people, charged.
"BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!" they chanted, "SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!"
"After you!" Fox cried, raising his plasma rifle.
The group all fired at the cultists, where a few dropped like flies before getting up close and personal with Star Fox. Fox drew his blade and sliced through the nearest cultist, where Fara delivered a crushing kick to one's forehead, sending him flying.
Falco shoved his hell-gun into the gut of the nearest cultist, pulling the trigger and the laser tearing up his cut. Jacques swung his chainsword, slicing a cultist down to size while Krystal charged up her staff and let loose a devastating melee attack, sending about four cultists flying as they felt the staff energies fry their insides.
Afterwards, the group looked over the dead cultists sprawled on the street.
"Maybe we should just a make a break for it," Krystal suggested, still clutching her staff.
And that was what the group was doing a few moments later, where after ten minutes they reached the Land Speeders, breathless.
"Never…thought…I…run…for…that…long…before," Krystal coughed out, hands on her knees and trying to catching her breath.
"Come…on," Fox cried.
They jumped into the speeders, where Fara got into Fox' speeder, where she sat in between Fox and Falco, given the amount of space usually occupied by two Space Marines. They then fired up the engines and roared off away from the damned colony.
With Fox in the lead, he tapped away at his communicator…
"Peppy?" he begun, "Can you hear me?"
A faint image of the hare appeared over Fox's wrist, slightly distorted.
I'm here Fox, the hare replied, Darn, I thought once again we lost you.
"This whole planet's gone to hell!" Fox exclaimed, "Those colonists attacked us. We could sure use some help…"
And Slippy needs yours! Beltino cut in.
"What?" Fox cried.
Andrew's Clone Marines just smashed Calgur, Slippy and the Ultramarines, believe it or not, Beltino explained, almost stressed, There were hundreds of them. You gotta help my son now.
"Alright, calm down," Fox said, "Where was the Ultramarines last position?"
I'll send the coordinates to your PDA, Peppy said, You've gotta pick up the pace. Sensors on the battle barge detect massive amounts of Warp-infused energy sweeping over the planet.
"Don't worry," Fox said, smiling slightly, "I won't let ya' down!"
Peppy's image disappeared, and Fox put his fist down on the dashboard in frustration.
"Fuck!" he exclaimed angrily, "Not Slippy, not him!"
"Relax, Fox," Fara said, "We've seen Slippy wriggle his way out of far worse situations."
"Yeah," Falco said, also heated, "But he didn't have to avoid hulking, gun-toting canned meat cloned off the only good human."
Fox put the pedal down and the speeder went twice as fast, where Jacques was surprised at his sudden jump of speed, as he and Krystal still trailed behind them.
"Something has happened," Jacques said, turning to Krystal.
The vixen nodded, "Yes."
Meanwhile at the crater base…
ATTENTION: CORNERIAN AIRCRAFT APPROACHING…"How many?" Andrew asked, standing around in the control room.
"Only one?" an officer replied.
"One?" Andrew queried, questioningly, "Whoever's piloting it must have a death wish or something."
"Sir!" a tech exclaimed from behind his terminal, "Chaos emanations are coming from within it's hull."
Andrew then smiled, "Then that must be the ambassador."
Some distance away, a squad of four Scout Marines overlooked the crater from a cliff hedge and seeing the Cornerian fighter hover above the base, before the hangar doors built into the ground opened up and allowing it to enter.
"A Cornerian space-based fighter?" one of the Scouts said, lowering his binoculars, "What is this treachery?"
"I'm not sure," another replied, "But the base itself, it's massive. We don't nearly have enough forces to overwhelm it."
"Good thing we'll be playing it stealth once those furries get back," another added, then said, "Let's go."
By this time Star Fox had reached the coordinates Peppy had sent them, which was of another razed Venomian base. They slowly steered the speeders towards the gate, where they saw the one hundred and forty-five Space Marines dead.
"Oh crap," Falco moaned slightly, lying back in his seat.
Fox frowned, before leaping out of the speeder, plasma gun drawn and his armour clunking some. Fara and Falco followed suit, as did Jacques and Krystal.
Jacques was shocked upon seeing his lying, unmoving brothers, "By the Emperor. No!"
He ran ahead of the group, gripping his boltgun. Slowly he felt anguish overwhelmed him, which heightened when he saw the extent of the damage: Marines with their chests blown inward and even outwards, where some had the armour ripped off them.
He quickly composed himself, turning towards Star Fox.
"SLIPPY!" Fox called out, "WHERE ARE YOU?"
Guns drawn, they walked into the base, where they begun to dread over both Venomian and Marine dead. Falco looked over the bodies, glum.
'Come on Slippy,' he thought, 'You can't have let the big, bad replicator humans get ya.'
He then put another foot down…
"AH! GOD!"
…before quickly stepping back, gun pointed at whatever he stepped on. He smiled happily.
"SLIP!" Falco cried, "You're alive!"
The frog was underneath a whole lot of Venomian bodies, where he let himself be known further with a cough.
"Don't just stand there, birdbrain," Slippy cried, "Help me up!"
Falco smirked and stretched an armoured hand, helping the equally but awkwardly armoured frog up. He then brushed the dust of him.
"God, I can barely see in this thing!" Slippy exclaimed.
"Slip!" Fox exclaimed happily, him and others running up to Slippy, "You're alive."
"Heh," Slippy chuckled nervously, "I don't let a bunch of walking tin-cans bring me down."
"Tin-cans?" Jacques asked.
Slippy turned to him, almost shocked upon seeing him, "Yeah. These…Space Marines attack. They all sounded and fought just like you. We didn't stand a chance."
"Where's Lord Calgur?" Fox asked.
"Calgur?" Fara thought, "Oh God. Not Lord Macragge! Not 'The Exterminator of Evergreen!'"
The next person to speak up really made them freeze in both surprise and terror.
"Yes. I am him. Not that I am proud to be him!"
They turned around to see the Terminator-armoured chapter-master himself, his fists still clinched and his bolters still smoking. Fara glared upon seeing him.
"You are a bit too late to catch the battle, McCloud," Calgur said, "Our plans are now complicated."
Fara stepped forward, gripping her sniper rifle.
"You son of a bitch!" she cried, "How dare you show your face here!"
Calgur looked surprised, "Have we met, bold Cornerian vixen?"
Fara screamed, "YOU SON OF A BITCH HUMAN!"
She charged at the chapter-master…
"FARA, NO!" Fox cried.
…and directed a jump kick to his exposed face. Calgur slapped her in midair, sending her falling to the ground. Fox ran over to her and helped her uo.
"Fara, what the hell is wrong with you?" Fox cried, almost in anguish, "You could have been killed."
"HE DESTROYED MY HOME WORLD!" Fara cried, tears streaking down her face, "He burnt it to the ground."
Calgur sighed, "It couldn't have been helped. And surely you'd know why it was done."
Fara face once again turned to anger, "I'LL KILL YOU!"
Jacques ran in front of Calgur, chainsword in hand.
"You will not harm Lord Calgur, Phoenix," Jacques said, frowning, "You would have to go through me."
"Step aside, Jacques," Calgur ordered; "This is between me and the vixen."
Jacques looked up at Calgur, before nodding and stepping aside. The chapter-master looked down at the vixen as he stepped up to her.
"I understand your feelings towards me," Calgur begun, "But we have time to discuss emotions and history later, for our situation here has worsened."
"I hear that," Falco said, "Hey…"
All eyes turned him to him.
"Do you hear that?" the avian said, listening carefully
"Yeah," Fox said, his ears twitching, "Sounds like…jetpacks."
Suddenly flying over the wall of the base, about a dozen armoured-being appeared and landed before the groups, large machete like blades and axes drawn.
"It's them!" Calgur exclaimed, "The Venomian Space Marines!"
He clinched his fists as he prepared for war, while the others were in a state of disbelief at what they are seeing.
'Emperor of the Imperium,' Krystal thought, 'If you really do exist, we could use some divine intervention right now.'