Starfox Evil

Chapter Five: Comrades and Courage

…As he crested the hill Fox stopped for a moment, "By the Gods."

There were hundreds of the cannibals converging on the LZ. Krystal continued running, coming to a stop next to the wolf with the other Gatling gun and firing into the approaching tide of bodies, cutting them down by the dozen. As if they were oblivious to Fox the marines all ran past and began firing into the crowd.

Bolts of bright blue energy flew from the collection of weapons, while a golden energy sprayed from the twin Gatling guns. And though bodies were dropping and foes were being killed, the flood of bodies was still fast approaching. Some of the younger marines were beginning to panic, their fire becoming erratic and inaccurate.

Upon seeing this Fox snapped out of his shocked daze and dashed down to the front lines, taking aim and firing, hitting one of the predators in the throat and blowing it's head off, "Remember", he said over the team-COM, "Aim high, hit them in the head."

Then the marines began taking their time, being sure to aim for the head, and the younger ones calmed back down and started aiming again. Fox opened his link to Cap. Lemming, "Michael, once you've dropped of Falco and Trident, how about you to swing back over and provide some air support?"

"You got it boss, on my way", the pilot replied.

Fox killed the link then turned just in time for a bright red, high velocity sniper bolt to go flying into the throat of an enemy, severing his head, continuing on and blowing another one in half. Fox opened a private COM to Falco, "Damn dude! That was a helluva good shot."

"That was Mr. Eagle Eye hear, I swear, Trident is a god with that thing", Falco responded. Another bolt went ripping downrange to hit one of them in the shoulder, knocking it down and blowing it's arm off, Falco sighed, "That, was me. Man, I need to practice more often."

Fox chuckled as he disconnected the transmission. He continued to fire bolts downrange, then he looked up as the drop-ship drifted overhead. The ball turrets in the wings rotated to come to bear on the swarm below it. A bright green ball of energy collected and grew in a black divot on each sphere, before exploding out and down, digging a crater fifteen feet across and nine feet deep. The pilot's voice came over the COM, "Hoo-Yeah! That's what I'm talkin' about!"

Fox raised his hand above his head, "Push on through", he shouted throwing his hand forward. The Marines all ran forward, into the nearest crater, and up the other side. Their fire was continuous as they ran for the center of crowd. Then they stopped for a moment, "Michael! Hit 'em again!"

"My pleasure", Lemming said, following it up with a maniacal cackle and two more balls of crackling energy slamming into the dirt, blowing another pair of large holes in the writhing mass of stumbling bodies. Once again the soldiers ran forward.

Fox opened a COM to Falco and Trident, "Hey we're getting into a lot of dust and smoke here, make sure to check your targets before you fire, over."

"Copy that bro."

"Acknowledged sir."

Fox dropped to a knee and sighted on a target that came running straight at him, firing two shots, the first of which missed by a hair, but the second bolt hit right between the eyes. The creature stopped running, lurched forward another step then fell on it's face.

Through the throng of bodies Fox could see a cluster of wooden structures. Suddenly over the COM Fox heard someone scream, "Get it off me! Get it off me!!!"

Then the scream was cut off by a pained gurgle, and Fox knew what that meant, "Man down, Man down", someone shouted over the COM.

"Marines, move on the painted location", Fox then threw a Laser Locating Beacon over the crowd and against the nearest structure. There came no responses but Fox saw several marines make a break for it, hopping the fence. Some of them turned to fire through the metal wire and provide cover for their approaching friends, while some fought off the creatures that were already on that side of the fence. When Fox reached the fence he clipped his HBC onto the locks across his chest, "Lucky I don't plan on running like this", he muttered to himself.

With the way the rifle was set against him, the rifle laying diagonally across his body, the barrel running across his thigh, pointing at the ground, and with the stock of the rifle up near his shoulder, it would indeed have been very awkward to try and go anywhere like that, however Fox could still boost his friends up and over the fence. He laced his fingers together and braced himself as the rest of his comrades came tearing out of the crowd, shoving bodies left and right. The first marine came running up to him but turned and stood beside him, firing on any would-be attackers that got too close.

"Thanks Sergeant White", Fox said. As he looked forward Krystal ran up and placed her boot in Fox's waiting hands, where she was then propelled up the fence. As Fox brought his hands back down he saw that several other soldiers had taken a similar approach each of them helping speed their comrades' advance. When it was down to just them on this side Fox said, "Alright, up and over marines!"

None of them replied over the COM but each of them moved to his location where he and Sergeant White began to propel them up onto the fence. The marines on the other side of the fence were having an increasingly more difficult time keeping the swarm at bay. As the last marine dropped over the fence Fox turned to White, "You're up Joanna."

"Aye sir", she said and stepped into his hand and clambered up the fence, followed quickly by Fox, who had to jump to avoid a cluster of snatching hands. When they dropped on the other side Fox unfastened his HBC. He noticed that the wolf with their other Gatling gun wasn't there, but there wasn't time to mourn or be worried, so the surviving marines all turned and shot their way through the much thinner crowd to the marked building. When they got to the door Fox stepped in to find a group of about ten of the snarling creatures clawing at the floor in the center of the room. And seven of them were Lylatian.

'Damn. Must've been the ground crew', Fox thought as he plucked a frag grenade from his belt, pressed the arming button and rolled it into the group, "Fire in the hole", he shouted as he stepped back out the door and behind a wall.

The explosion that followed blew all of the monsters apart, shattered every window that wasn't already broke, and ripped a massive hole in the floor, exposing a shaft that dropped down into the dimly lit depths. About seven hundred feet down there was a lift and a door, "Alright Hellraisers. Prep for rappel and rapid descent."

"Yes sir", came over the COM, after which about half the marines rushed over to the shaft and, using a palm sized pneumatic hammer, drove ten inch support spikes into the side of the shaft before attaching drop lines.

When they slipped over the edge and down into the dark, Fox activated his external speakers, "The rest of us must hold this position until we get an all clear from the others."

The Marines responded by pulling back, into the wooden building. Krystal was the last to come through the door. As she backed inside her Gatling gun stopped firing, "Crap", she shouted, "That's it, I'm out. All five thousand rounds."

She pressed a button on the back of the gun and chucked in out the door as it began to beep menacingly, shouting, "Heads Up!"

Everyone covered their eyes for a second as the weapon exploded, then they immediately resumed firing. Krystal drew her staff, took aim and began firing out the door, picking off targets quickly and methodically with bolts of fire.

They all gave a sigh of relief when the all clear signal came from down below, "Fox! We're good down here, just need a moment to cut the door open", Panther said over the COM.

The next few moments passed without a word, the only sound being that of blaster fire from eighteen different weapons. When Panther called up again Fox shouted out the order to go. All but one marine did so, one Staff Sergeant Marlin, "What the hell are you doing David? Get down there", Fox shouted at him.

"But sir, I have an idea that will slow them down", the marine said.

Fox rolled his eyes inside his helmet, "Fine Sergeant, but make it quick", he aimed his HBC out the doorway and blew the head off the nearest attacker. He let his eyes drop for just a moment to see that Marlin was hooking up a remote detonator to a Nova bomb.

"Done! Let's get out of here sir", David said grabbing a rope and hopping into the hole, Fox following suit.

When they were a few dozen feet down Marlin flipped open the detonator and pressed the button. Nothing happened, "What the", the marine looked down at the small screen on the trigger switch, "Dammit!"

"What happened", Fox asked, still descending till he was even with the angered Marine.

"There's a malfunction at the source. I have to go back up and reset the system", David said as he looked back up at the opening.

"That's not a good idea", Fox told the marine.

"I know sir, but if I don't get that reset then they might find a way down there and then everybody dies, or worse."

Fox thought for a moment, then he said, "Fine. But you get up there, fix the problem, then get your tail inside."

The soldier nodded, "Aye sir."

As Fox continued his decent, Sergeant Marlin clambered back up and onto the lip of the shaft. Running over to the bomb David pulled the power from the small transmitter and put it back in, resetting the system, this time however, he noticed a small indicator light that he failed to notice before.

Inadequate power for wireless detonation.

The Marine swore to his bad luck, he had mistakenly grabbed an old power pack from his supplies instead of a fresh one. He pressed his hand to the node on the side of his helmet that opened a private COM, "Captain McCloud sir?"

"Marlin! What the hell is taking so long?! We're all already inside!"

David inhaled a sharp breath, "I'm sorry sir, I can't fix the remote detonator."

Fox swore, then, "Well forget about it. We'll think of something else."

As the Sergeant heard this one of the creatures shuffled through the door and in his direction. He quickly drew his CEB-7 and but a bolt just above the creature's left eye. Then, with his arm still raised, he looked at the gun and knew what he had to do.

"Goodbye Captain."

Marlin removed his helmet, cutting Fox off as he said, "Don't you da…"

Then he undid the first clasp of his BPF uniform top, reached inside and pulled out a small, gilded ring, with a clear, crystal triangle set inside it, "Sweet Goddess Mariana", he said, holding the pendant over his heart, "Please, close your all seeing eyes and forgive me for what I must now do."

He looked out a window to his right at the setting sun, tears welling in his eyes. He heard a telltale thump from behind him, "I hope that my Goddess sees it in her heart to forgive me", he turned towards the monster to his left, "But if she doesn't", he raised his blaster, "then I shall see you in hell", he fired just as the creature lunged at him, the bolt hitting the bomb and setting it off.

The explosion blasted the marines below down the corridor, collapsed the shaft, and took out the primary power to part of the underground compound they had just entered. It also turned a half mile of desert in every direction into shimmering black glass, reflecting the red light from the setting sun…

End Chapter Five

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