Chapter 7:The other side
Krystal focused the power of the spell stones once more to warp out of the hall, she found herself after the warp finished outside the oceanic force point temple. Tricky beside her, the two walked out into cape claw a dark feeling loomed over Krystal when she unleashed the energy wave the aparoids were destroyed. But she saw another fleet headed towards Sauria. "Tricky we need to leave Sauria now! The aparoid fleet is coming I saw it when I used the spell stones. Tell your father to get as many people off world as soon as he can I'm going to stay here and try to stop the aparoids you however need to insure that the others will survive incase I fail." Krystal said in a distressed tone
Tricky shook his head in confusion, "Wha…? How do you know?"
"I don't have the time to explain Tricky, trust me." Krystal replied in the same distressed tone. Tricky bolted out of cape claw running as fast he could, Krystal sighed she ran back into the force point temple. She found the warp stone and transported herself back into the great hall. Phoenix! Are you there? I need your help with this.
I am here, I know about the aparoid fleet I do not know how to help. But the Antares is in orbit over Sauria your energy wave succeeded, hmm…Krystal I am coming to the force point temple I have an idea.
You're coming? You can? Never mind that's not important, I need to know what this planet is capable of…
"Captain! I've got three aparoid battle fleets on route to Sauria!" Lieutenant Dyson said in an alarmed tone.
Captain Raynor's face fell he closed his eyes briefly and sighed, "How long?"
"We've got about three days." Dyson replied
"Issue an evacuation order we need to get as many people out of here as we can. Take on as many civilians as we can, we cannot fight them. Pull Fox back from the surface."
Dyson activated the com relay and issued the order, Raynor looked out into space contemplating the situation.
Fox down on Sauria got the message and headed for his Ar-wing; he hopped in, closed the canopy and took off. His team close behind him…
Krystal stood in the hall, Phoenix standing near they were focusing what they could of the energy into a weapon with no success. Phoenix stood pondering the power stored inside Sauria, "How could some source of power so incredible been overlooked for so long. Your people have great scanning devices and you could not find this?" Phoenix asked.
Krystal shrugged, "I don't know, Fox said that sometimes a plant's surface may be too deep for the sensors aboard ships to detect." Krystal replied. She focused her thoughts on the energy field, but she couldn't focus another energy wave on the coming aparoid swarms. It had been 2 days since the first alarm of the enemy fleet had been issued.
Phoenix inhaled deeply and closed his eyes focusing on the energy field himself attempting to help Krystal destroy the aparoids. He failed, "Krystal, this is pointless. The aparoids will be here in a matter of hours, if we don not do something soon we will die."
"I know!" Krystal cried, "I don't want to see anything happen to this world. But I can't focus the field the same way I did before." She ran her fingers through her hair in a distressed manner.
Phoenix raised an eyebrow he thought for a moment, "Krystal what exactly were you feeling when you focused the blast?" He asked
Krystal tried to remember, "I think I was feeling angry, and worried about Fox." Said Krystal
"And there it is your emotions affect the field." Phoenix answered
"Well that's no help, I can't replicate emotions." Krystal said
"Then we will die, unless you can force yourself to control the field." Phoenix said
Krystal shook her head and tried to focus the field again, "I can't! We need to get out of here now!"
Phoenix replied, "Krystal we have some time just focus."
Krystal focused on the energy field again trying to tap into some power. Voices began to pour into her mind, thoughts of people and creatures. Including Phoenix's, Krystal gasped at his thought patterns, they were dark full of hate and malice, through the field she could into people's minds. "Phoenix! You bastard, you've been using me!"
"I'm sorry you had to find that out…" Phoenix's eyes began to glow dark black his orange feathers fell away his avian body transformed to the figure of a wolf it was Titan, he held out his hand and black tentacles extended from it. The tentacles wrapped around Krystal, "You have heard too much, it is a shame though you would have made a great servant. Now you belong to them." Titan turned Krystal around to face the eastern side of the wall, and aparoid climbed down and others followed.
"What are you going to do to me?" Krystal asked
"Why, you will lead my army against my enemies." Titan answered, he chuckled. He let Krystal down and the aparoids swarmed upon her.
Fox sat aboard the bridge of the Antares looking out into space as his ship and the thousands of civilian ships carried refuges from Sauria. "When will it end? We sit here and watch as these monstrous things take over and murder the innocent." Fox sighed
The crew on the bridge remained silent; Captain Raynor closed his eyes and sank into thought. Fox is right this war cannot continue any longer. If it keeps going like this our world and way of life will end as we know it. "Lt. Dyson, to my ready room now." Raynor ordered, as he got up and walked to his office on the left side of the command bridge.
Dyson got up and followed, "Valenti assume command of the bridge." Dyson entered Raynor's office and the door closed behind them." The room was small; it had a desk towards the rear two chairs out in front of it and one behind, a computer sat on it. There was a window behind it and the carpet was gray so was the rest of the room. It was well lit, and Raynor sat behind the desk and motioned for Dyson to sit down.
"Lieutenant, I understand we are out of most ammunition based weapons am I correct?" Raynor asked
Dyson nodded, "Yes sir."
"Now, I know we are near an arms depot. We need to rearm; we are going to take all the nuclear bombs from the depot. Now this action may get me and any officers who support me a court martial considering the way I intend to use them."
"I'm with you to end sir." Said Dyson
Raynor nodded with approval, "Do we still have the coordinates for the aparoid home world?"
"Yes sir we do. I have the coordinates for the arms depot as well." Dyson replied
"Good, take over the bridge. And bring Fox in here I need his help."
Dyson nodded, got up and left the room he sat in the captain's chair and told Fox to go to Raynor.
Fox got up from his seat and walked into Raynor's office, "You asked to see me Captain?"
"Yes, sit please."
Fox sat and waited for Raynor to speak.
Raynor cleared his throat and began to speak, "Fox, I am planning to attack the aparoid home world, with a full scale nuclear bombardment."
Fox inhaled sharply. "Is it a retaliatory attack?" Fox asked
Raynor nodded, "Yes, I need some targets to hit on the planet's surface and a battle plan to get close enough to the planet to attack with being killed by the aparoid armada."
"You'd have to be fast, coming at maybe a thousand kilometers per minute and have the nukes set for firing all at once. We'd need fire support from gunboats and cruisers maybe a nuke or two to hold off their battleships." Fox said
"Thanks Fox, I'm not asking anyone to come with me on the mission and as soon as we evacuate the refuges on Corneria I'm going to attack." Raynor replied
Fox smirked twisted pleasure, "Oh, I'll be there you can count on it."
"Alright then issue a message to all military personnel onboard." Raynor said, putting his hand on the desk in front of him.
Fox saluted and walked out of the office.
The ship made it to Corneria and let the refuges off; Raynor took it the arms depot and loaded Antares with two thousand nuclear warheads and four thousand high explosive missiles. Dyson set course for the aparoid home world, five hundred of the two thousand man crew remained. A voice crackled over the ship's intercom "Attention all hands, we are preparing to attack the aparoid home world ready all weapons for engagement."
A bright blue field of energy expanded around the Antares pulling into hyperspace on a direct course for the aparoid home world. It took two long stressful hours to reach their destination; Raynor looked out the forward viewport on the bridge. The aparoid world slowly came into view, it was surrounded by thousands of platforms shaped like jagged rocks and covered in blue crystalline objects and larger weapons platforms surrounded those.
Aparoid battle ships numbering in the thousands sat in orbit, millions of fighters flew in tremendous patrol formations. "God help us." Raynor said
"Captain, what's our plan?" Fox asked
"We are going to charge the line, and deploy the fighters in autopilot no pilots of course. Then we will fire all forward cannons into the center of the enemy formations and follow it up with a few nukes and some missiles. We will then accelerate through the gap and bombard the planet with everything we have and then make a run for that star out there." Raynor replied
The Antares sped up towards the planet its shields were powered to full and the fighters were deployed in autopilot they began firing on the aparoids drawing their attention. The Antares charged the line blasting away with its main guns destroying several weapons platforms, the fighters were struck down in short order.
Raynor gave the order to unload several nukes into the aparoid formation, the nukes slammed into the aparoids massive flashes of light filled space.
Antares shook violently as the shockwave from the bombs impacted it; missiles began launching from the mighty warship following up the nuclear blast with a punishing explosive spectacle. The Antares pushed through the defenses of the aparoid world descending into low orbit, "Fire all weapons towards surface targets!" Raynor commanded. All of the nuclear missiles began to fire in what seemed like a wall of metal headed for the planet, the crew waited watching for a sign.
And it came, a massive flash of light followed by an orange cloud engulfing the atmosphere radiation levels skyrocketed. The aparoids on the surface were disintegrated; the topography of the already smooth surfaced world was obliterated. The attack worked, but it was certain doom for the triumphant Antares.
"This is Captain Raynor to all hands, ready battle stations. Activate all rail guns, and arm razors for battle. We're going out fighting." Raynor paused he pulled his finger from the com button, "Dyson, divert all power from engines to weapons target the aparoid flagship. We've created a gap in their lines; it's time to exploit it."
Dyson nodded punching keys on his console. Fox looked gravely at Raynor; he got up and motioned for Slippy, Falco and Rhys to follow. "Captain, Star Fox requesting permission to launch." Fox said saluting
"Star Fox permission granted for launch, Godspeed and good luck." Raynor replied saluting
The Star Fox boarded the elevator headed for the flight deck, they entered and the doors closed behind them. "Okay this is it, we are the finest of all pilots ever to exist. This is our last hour, our greatest we are making history united as one against an oppressive enemy. It has been an honor to serve with you all, Star Fox." Fox said encouragingly.
Falco nodded approvingly, "Let's give these bastards something to think about."
"It was an honor Fox; see you on the other side." Slippy said
Rhys thought for a moment, "Thank you Fox," Rhys paused, "For making me part of the team."
"It was my pleasure Rhys." Fox replied, forcing a smile to his face hiding his fear and rage against the aparoids.
The elevator stopped and the doors slid open, the flight deck came into view Fox stepped forward and donned his helmet it was very much like an F-16 pilot's helmet with a dark black visor. Star Fox marched one last time to their Ar-wings preparing for death they each climbed into the fighters, the canopy on each fighter closed. Each fighter took off and accelerated out of the shield protecting the hangar.
Fox flew out ahead, Slippy formed up on his left flank, Falco on his right and Rhys behind him they accelerated towards the aparoid battle group beside the Antares. The aparoid swarms grew closer and closer until Fox could see the fine details of the warships, he held his finger on the firing trigger. His formation slammed into the swarm firing repeatedly shooting down several aparoid fighters. "Star Fox break formation and attack fighters." Fox ordered.
The formation broke and Fox pulled a hard turn to the right rolling and zigzagging through endless streams of flak, he looked up stared for a moment at the massiveness of the aparoid fleet and the surface of their world. The contrast of colors was a stark reminder of the battle at hand; he dove below the battle and came back up underneath a small squad of enemy fighters. He shot them down and moved onto the tail of another he looked over his shoulder and saw twelve plus fighters behind him.
Fox rolled and dodged, his Ar-wing shook with impact he'd took a hit not serious though he continued dogging his prey struggling to keep up with his determined enemy. He weaved and rolled through the endless swarms of monstrous beasts striking many of them down after giving up on the one he'd been chasing. Fox observed Falco tangling with a fierce aparoid behind him. He fired a rocket at it blasting it apart; he turned his attention back to fighters.
The Star Fox team actually had an advantage, there were so few of them and so many aparoids that only a few could engage them at a time and there were always some exposed to fire. "Falco lob a bomb into that formation off to my right." Fox commanded
"Roger that Fox, one 'hot one' coming up." Falco replied flipping a switch and typing in a number on the keypad next to him. The bomb flew out from under Falco's wing and plunged into the aparoids incinerating them quickly. Falco maneuvered around the explosion and pulled up over a small fighter group and dove behind them unleashing a hail of plasma on them shooting down two and damaging four more.
Rhys flew his bomber towards an enemy frigate he armed his bombs and prepped a vicious salvo from his neutron cannon he flew low just above the hull of the vessel and unloaded his bombs on the hull. He pulled a back flip and fired his neutron cannon into the hull breach he'd just created tearing the shattered hull apart, he pulled up quickly and continued his bombing run.
Slippy flew into the fight and fired his plasma chain guns into the enemy fighter formations, chain guns fired at twenty times the normal rate of a cannon but were slightly weaker. He rained down a wall of the deadly particles into the bulky aparoid formations slaughtering them in great numbers.
The Antares pressed on through the formation of warships firing its fearsome weapons into the aparoid ships bringing the lighter ones in great numbers but to no avail. "Captain, shields are failing! We have a hull breaches on decks 12, 3, 4, 8 and 98 forward rail guns are offline and rear torpedoes are expended." Lt. Dyson said.
Captain Raynor grunted angrily as sparks showered the bridge following vicious shaking and rolling, "We've got their attention, divert all power from weapons to engines set a course maximum possible speed to the nearest star. Contact Fox tell him to do the same." Raynor ordered
Dyson acknowledged his order and did so, "Yes sir!" The Antares charged its powerful cruise engines and sliced through the aparoid fleet evading all fire and sailed towards the bright star in the distance.
"Are they following?" Raynor asked
"Sir, there are twenty plus aparoid ships tailing us Star Fox is one kilometer off our port bow." Dyson replied
"Good prep the mines lay a field behind us, we need to get out of here. The second we reach the star wait for thirty seconds that should be all it takes for Fox to land back onboard with his team. As soon as they do, we need to get the hell out of here. Plot a course for venom." Raynor said
Fox and the team flew in tight formation slowing catching up with their flagship which arrived at the star Fox stopped his fighter and watched his friends land onboard the Antares. "Attention Antares, I am not landing. I repeat leave without me do not wait under any circumstances." Fox said he switched to radio silence and diverted towards the chasing aparoid battle group.
Falco heard Fox's words as he landed it felt like someone had just shoved a knife through him. "Damnit Fox now is not the time to play hero!" Falco cried angrily
Fox ignored him and pressed on he had four bombs onboard his fighter he fired them all at the oncoming assault force. This is it, now you die. Never again will I go a day without her…my vengeance will be worse than the hell that awaits you. Fox rolled into the formation pounding away with his cannons his shots bouncing off of the crab like battleships and their escorts. Fox dived and pulled left then quickly accelerating and making a strafing run along the port side of the lead ship doing little to nothing against it.
Aboard the aparoid ship leading the battle group against Antares aparoids crawled around the deck as the mammoth vessel pursued its prey. The bugs were however crawling to the rear of the ship; the first arrived into a large compartment. The room was structured similar to a cargo hold, it was tall but not very wide and it was covered with the same blue crystals. In the middle was a large chrysalis like object, it was pulsing like a heart beating slowly the surface began to crack.
Until the top part fell off hitting the stark blue floor with a thud, a hand reached out of it covered in strange ooze the hand was blue covered in fur but with green crystalline objects protruding from the wrist and knuckles. The rest of the chrysalis began to break apart it fell away revealing the body of a strange creature, covered in blue fur and crystalline growths its eyes purple with hate.
Large dragon like wings extended from the body which was covered in an obscure armor like plating which was a dark crisp blue. It stood up looking at the aparoids that stood before it; it was Krystal now the queen of the aparoids….