Author's Note- I'm sorry it took me this long to realize, but I've been using the wrong title at the start of each of these chapters. I had to change the story title from Starfox Evil to Starfox Extinction due to the fact that there was already a story on site called Starfox Evil.

I know it's kind of petty, but if you would kindly leave a review telling me if I should change it or not.

U.F.

Starfox Evil

Chapter Nine: Disturbing Truths

It took five days for the Tranquilityto arrive. And the waiting was excruciating. Every day, almost all day, the Hellraisers were running drills, doing laps, sparring, anything to keep from going stir crazy. And for Fox and the others it was no easier. Falco was practically itching for something to do. Slippy at least had his little gizmos and stuff to work on. Krystal was bored out of her mind laying in that bed, and she hadn't been sleeping well. To combat this Fox had moved an empty bed beside hers so he could sleep there with her.

Corporal Mayson had been returned to duty day one, although he would remain on board when they went back down to ensure that the patch on his wrist would hold, and Private Buckinson had been released on day two. So Fox and Krystal were basically alone for the first three days.

And no, things did not go where most people would think they'd go when two foxes are alone for any length of time.

The two spent most of the time just sitting together on their 'bed', watching the planet beneath them turn, talking and planning their wedding. But on day three Krystal could tell that Fox was starting to get edgy from lack of activity.

"Fox, you're getting antsy. Why don't you go run some holo-games with Falco or something?

Fox sighed and paced the room, "I don't know. I just don't think playing some game is going to be much help while people are dieing down there. And it definitely isn't going to calm me down."

Krystal sighed and flopped back down. She was so tired of this room. Then suddenly she had an idea, "Fox."

The male stopped pacing, "Yeah?"

Krystal sat up, "What if it wasn't a game?"

Fox thought for a second, then it clicked, "A mission run through", he mumbled. Then he cracked a smile, ran over, and hugged her, "Krystal I love you! You have quiet possibly saved our necks from chronic boredom."

Krystal rolled her eyes and smiled, "Yeah yeah. Go on then, I'll be waiting for you here."

Fox kissed her and ran out the door. Krystal sighed and swung her feet over the bed. Diana's hologram appeared beside her, "Now now Krystal. You're not to get out of bed for at least another twenty-four hours."

The blue vixen just waved her hand, "Oh sod off Diana. A little walk around the room isn't going to kill me", then she stood up. Her legs felt shaky beneath her so she grabbed an I.V. stand to help hold her up, "At least I hope it won't."

The holographic bear rubbed her 'temple', "You and your fiancé are so much alike it's not even funny. He never listens to medical advice either."

Krystal smirked and wrapped a white robe around her shoulders. Then she shuffled over to a large view screen on the wall, "I guess that's why I love him so much", she flopped down in a chair and sighed, "I miss the stars", looking to her left as the hologram floated to her side she said, "Would you be a dear and display the aft starboard camera please?"

Diana's visage nodded and then the view screen clicked on, showing a large shot of star-scape behind the planet's moon. Krystal sighed, "Just like I remember."

Fox walked quickly down the corridor towards the elevator. As he hit the control panel he tapped his COM badge and said, "Hey Silver Queen."

The AI's voice came back over the small device, "Yes Captain, what can I do for you?"

Fox stopped the elevator and stepped out onto the holo-deck…

A/N: on this version of the Great Fox II the holo-deck is actually an entire deck in the center of the ship. The only thing connecting it to the rest of the ship is the two elevator shafts and the network of emergency/maintenance corridors. And Lylatian holo-decks differ from the ones from Star Trek in the sense that these chambers actually project an energy field that bends reality to the parameters displayed in the program's coding. Basically it means that there are no walls for people to run into, and they can be as far away from each other as needed within reason. Just needed to clarify. And I couldn't remember if I'd told you this already or not. Now back to your regularly scheduled insanity…

…, "I want you to come to the holo-deck. I've got a project for you."

After a few minutes of waiting the portable holo-grid drifted through the doors into the massive blank space, "Oh my", the small image said, "Captain McCloud, this is an inefficient use of space for a combat vessel."

The vulpine turned around. He was standing in front of a floating control panel with various statistics, numbers, and words drifting by on several screens, "Well the Great Fox IIwasn't primarily intended for combat. It's just supposed to be a launch platform for our fighters", then he turned back to the panel, "But back to what I called you for. You said Wesker was in a city called Tokyo?"

The child drifted closer and nodded, "That is correct. Do you wish for more information on the facility?"

Fox smiled, "Sort of. I want you to put everything you have on the city in a ten block radius around the facility along with the facility itself into this computer so it can construct an accurate reproduction of the area."

The hologram shrugged, "Simple enough to do", she started to extend her self controlled data port, just to have it drift right through the control panel.

Fox said, "Oh sorry. Just touch the panel, it's a special kind of hologram designed for use by other holograms."

The child nodded and reached a hand out and touched the panel. She was surprised to find that her hand didn't pass through it, and all the information she needed to run the appropriate programs for her task flowed into her, "Wow. I've never had access to this intricate of programming before", turning her head she said as she severed the link, "How can you be sure my positronic net can handle this amount of data?"

Fox shrugged his shoulders, "Call it a hunch. In any case it would have to be you or your sister to do this anyway because you two have the best idea of what we'll be up against when we go back."

The hologram nodded, "Understood Captain", she paused then said, "You do know that I can only give you a basic idea of the facility's structure, right? Each hive is a little different to ensure that, should one of us be captured or hacked, the rest of them would still be secure. Specific locations and area functions will have to be determined manually upon entry into the facility."

Fox nodded, "That's fine. Just give us what you can. We'll also need you to upload the specs for every weapon we can expect to face at the facility. Then give a ballpark estimate as to how many infected we'll have to deal with upon arrival. I want to turn this into a mission prep simulation."

The child nodded again before typing commands into the holographic keypads and data-screens. Fox said, "Alert me once you're done", before he left and returned to sickbay.

He walked in and saw Krystal sitting in one of the chairs watching an image of the stars drift by. He smiled and walked over to her, wrapping his arms around her from behind, "Don't worry", he said as she took his hand, "You'll get to see them up close again, real soon."

Krystal squeezed his hand and smiled, "Yeah", then she stood up, her free hand holding the I.V. stand, just in case, "And by the way. I think you are going to be very busy waiting for the AI to call you back."

Fox smiled and placed his own free hand on her hip, "Oh really? Doing what?"

Krystal leaned in and kissed him. When she pulled back she said, "What do you think?"

An hour and a half later the two foxes were lying in Krystal's bed, snuggled up to each other. Krystal sighed, "Incredible."

Fox smiled and squeezed her tighter, "Yeah", then his COM badge beeped and he groaned, "Great", he grabbed the device off of the small table and said, "McCloud."

The Silver Queen's voice came back over the COM, "Captain, I've completed the program. It is ready for a test run whenever you are."

Fox sighed and sat up, "Alright. I'll be down in a few minutes."

"Acknowledged."

Fox put the badge down and said, "Well I guess I better go", he turned and gave Krystal a kiss, "I'll be back later."

Krystal smiled, "Bust some holographic heads for me?"

Fox laughed and nodded, "You got it babe."

Then he got dressed and walked out of the clean white room while Krystal walked into the bathroom to clean herself up. Fox stepped onto the elevator and said, "Cargo bay", as the lift descended Fox started thinking about how he was going to run these sims. When the lift stopped he walked into the cargo bay and saw the Silver Queen floating by the control panel.

The AI looked over her shoulder at the sound of the door opening, "Good! I was just double checking my calculations and am ready to run the program whenever you are."

Fox stood next to her, "Start it up."

The child nodded and typed in the command. The elevator doors hissed closed and then the blank room faded and blurred, before changing and focusing back into a cityscape. Tall dark buildings, with faded signs and broken glass, surrounded the two as they appeared in the middle of the street. The AI looked around and said, "Loading complete. Feel free to walk around Captain."

Fox did just that, walking over to inspect one of the massive skyscrapers, "And you're sure this is an accurate representation of the city", when the AI nodded Fox said, "Good. But where are the infected? I said I wanted this to be a mission sim."

The Ai said, "Oh they're around. Remember, they're drawn to signs of life, things like lights, loud sounds, movement. There is also an instinctive pull to any life form in the area. We never were able to determine how that works. It might take a few moments for them to realize we're here."

Suddenly a groan was heard from a building across the street from the two and Fox said, "Maybe not."

A few undead shuffled out from an alleyway. They were mostly short, black haired, and of lean build, with a few exceptions. Fox started walking towards them, "You did a good job with their movements Queen", he started to move around the small group. As one they all turned to follow him, albeit shakily and on unsteady legs, "And they act just like the real thing in terms of intelligence", he stopped and said, "Pause program. Reset", the undead vanished from in front of him and he said, "Bring the Hellraisers up here. I'm going to take a look around and try to find a good starting point."

The portable holo-grid drifted over to a wall and the holodeck door appeared. Fox walked into the nearest skyscraper. It took him a few minutes but he eventually reached the top and stepped out onto the roof. He looked around, "Dang, roof's too small", looking around the cityscape he saw that there were no real rooftops of acceptable size or shape for an LZ, and the streets were all too narrow, "I guess we'll have to split up then."

He started back down, and reached the street just as the door reappeared and the Hellraisers entered, "Gentlemen", Fox said, "To relieve our mild case of cabin fever I have decided that we are going to run some sims of our upcoming mission", then he said to the computer, "Diana, some weapons please, mission specific."

The bear's voice appeared to come from everywhere, "Sure thing boss."

Suddenly weapon crates appeared around the soldiers. Fox opened one of them and pulled out an MP5, "We are going to be using human weapons for this op, so memorize these weapons, you may have to use any one of them during the course of the run", he put the weapon down then said, "You have fiveminutes select a weapon and memorize it, then the program will activate and we must punch through to the facility. Our objective, breach the primary doors, in under five minutes with no casualties", he selected an M3 shotgun like the one that was currently sitting in the armory and filled it, "Oh and one other thing, the holo-decks on my ship have no safety protocols. Just keep that in mind", then he pumped the slide and slung the shotgun.

As none of the soldiers had their armor on, just their fatigues, they had to use the slings provided. At the five minute mark Diana's voice said, "Warning, thirty seconds to program activation."

Fox said, "Alright marines. Let's see what you've got."

Then the crates disappeared and left the soldiers standing in the middle of the street. They got ready and Fox said, "Let's move out."

They moved quickly over to an alley and waited by the corner before slipping in. The simulation ran smoothly, with no casualties and no real firefights. Then they rounded a corner and saw the building that hid the main entrance to the hive, "Holy crap", Sergeant McClain whispered.

There were hundreds of them milling around. Fox sighed, "Great. Wasn't expecting that."

Just then one of them saw the soldiers and started shuffling towards them. And then more and more of them joined it. The soldiers aimed their weapons at the large group. When they were close enough Fox said, "Fire."

A cacophony of gunfire sounded and zombies dropped by the dozen. But it seemed for every one that fell two more shuffled forward to take it's place. Suddenly a group of them broke through the doors of a building beside them and blindsided the soldiers. As soon as a few soldiers were knocked to the ground Fox barked, "Pause program!"

The soldiers relaxed. Several swore. Gunny let out a nervous chuckle and said in a hoarse voice, "Would somebody mind getting this bastard off me?"

Fox looked down. The husky was laying on his back with one of the infected laying on top of him, and it's jaws clamped down in his throat. As soon as the holographic zombie was pulled off of him he stood up and growled, rubbing his neck, "What the hell sir!? What if that thing had managed to bite me? I'd be dead on the deck!"

Fox shouted right back, "How do you think I got to be the best? It sure as hell wasn't by pussyfooting around with a safe simulation. We have at best forty-eight hours until the Tranquility arrives and we head back down. And once we touch down there are no second chances, no safety protocols."

He looked around at the congregated soldiers, "I mean come on guys. You are the Hellraisers. The most elite unit in the entire Corp. You have experienced this kind of combat less than four days ago. And yet you just lost roughly half your unit in less than ten seconds. What is the deal?"

When nobody gave him an answer he sighed, "We are going to do this again and again until we can get a perfect run. Now Diana, reset program", as soon as the buildings had finished rearranging Fox said, "Let's go again."

Back on Cornaria…

High General Scott T. Pepper was sitting in his home office staring at his computer, which was where he had spent the last few days. The device was displaying the data that Fox had sent him, "Where have I seen this before", he said closing his eyes and searching through his memories. Sighing he opened his eyes and looked at the picture of his wife that was sitting on his desk. He picked up the image and smiled fondly, "Oh Minnie, if only you were here. You could always help me remember", the aging bloodhound's smile turning into a frown as his eyes welled up with tears.

When the Apparoids had attacked he and his wife had been together at the time. And while his own injuries had been reparable, and thus he had survived, his wife had been completely assimilated by the cybernetic infestation. Though it had only been six months since her death, to the general it felt like it had been a lifetime. He wiped his eyes and sniffed, looking back to the picture, "I really miss you Minnie."

The bloodhound stood up and paced his office as best he could. Ever since his near death experience he had developed a nasty limp in his left leg. As he walked around his office he wracked his brain, trying to remember where he had seen that information before. Suddenly his inter-COM unit beeped and he sighed. Activating the small holopad he said, "General Pepper here, who's calling?"

The face of his feline secretary came into view, "General, I finished looking for commonalities between all the files in your record and the information you gave me about that system. There were none", the bloodhound sighed, "However, there was one file, marked operation Redroot, from about sixty years ago that did match. I was able to get a little ways into the file and it was very interesting. Apparently the imperial science division sent a small group of science ships through the wormhole to perform some research or something. However when I tried to get the details it came up as classified."

General Pepper furrowed his brow, "Under who's authorization?"

The feline shuffled a few papers around before saying, "Um one High General Samuel William Weston. Wasn't he your predecessor sir?"

The bloodhound nodded, realization coming to him, "I have to go Jenifer. I want you to get rid of those papers and forget you ever went looking for anything. Understand?"

The feline nodded quickly, "Yes sir."

General Pepper wrung his hands as Jenifer's face dissolved into the small disk sitting on the table. As soon as the disk's surface had stopped glowing he pressed the surface and said, "Dial Sam."

After a few moments of silence the face of an aging macaw parrot appeared, "Scott! To what do I owe the pleasure? I wasn't expecting to see you again until we got together to play cards next week."

The bloodhound leaned onto his desk and said, "Operation; Redroot."

The smile left the parrot's beak and his eyes narrowed, "Didn't expect that either."

Scott Pepper said, "Through your connections you know about the missions I recently dispatched through the wormhole", when the parrot nodded Pepper said, "So you know who I sent and where I sent them."

The avian sighed, "Yes I do. What's your point?"

"My point is what happened over there sixty years ago. Captain McCloud sent me a data stream. The information in the stream", he grunted as he walked over to a file cabinet, a slight limp in his step. He pulled out a folder and said, "That information matched several key points in this file. Sixty years ago", he slapped it down on his desk, "you sent two science vessels through the wormhole. You remember, you had my battle group escort those ships through the wormhole, before you called us back, leaving them in unexplored space. At the time I didn't question your orders. But now I am officially curious. The time when what destroyed this planet was discovered and the arrival of our ships correspond. What was on those ships?"

The parrot sighed again, "You know I'm not at liberty to discuss that file. It's classified."

General Pepper slammed his hand down on top of the folder, "God's damn it Sam! We have people over there dieing! Now I need to know what was on those ships. The data tells me that those ships were carrying obsolete weapons to be destroyed upon locating a suitable dump site. However it does not say which ones. Now I need to…"

He was cut off as the parrot sighed once more, "I knew it would come back to bite me", he pulled out a pen and started fiddling with it, "Fine. If you really want to know", he cleared his throat and said, "Those ships weren't being sent to dispose of weapons. They were there to test a new one, a biological weapon meant to incapacitate large quantities of combatants at once. A planet of similar environment to Cornaria was selected for the initial test site. The weapon was first deployed in a very diluted solution, intended to infect one person, just to test it's effectiveness. It was very effective. At first it was considered a successful test, the test subject had been neutralized, although the team would have preferred that he had survived. Then the side effects arose, and quite rapidly. The weapon thrived in the atmosphere, and quickly spread to the other subjects in line, and they too fell quickly. Again it seemed like a success, although a much smaller one, due to the rapid infection rate."

"Then the second affect arose, and things quickly escalated. Four scientists were killed. The remaining crewmembers fled back to the ship, where they used the cannons to blast the area to a smoldering crater. They thought they had eliminated the contaminant from the surface", the parrot put the pen down and rubbed his eyes, "Apparently the high heat from the plasma had just caused it to go dormant, because the natives seem to have found it, or whatever is left of it. Upon their return the scientists explained the situation to the emperor and the substance was blacklisted and all samples were loaded onto an unmanned pod and launched into Solar, where they were destroyed."

General Pepper furrowed his brow, "Are you saying we're responsible for what happened to those people?!"

The parrot looked at his friend, "Among other things yes, that is what I'm saying."

The bloodhound swore, "And what am I supposed to do? Is there a way to contain this?"

Sam Weston nodded, "There is one way."

Pepper shook his head, "No. Besides that. I mean like a cure, or treatment."

The parrot shook his head, "Not as far as I know."

The general swore again as he stood up and turned around, "Well that's just great! I can't believe I didn't recognize those figures when the Angelsent them to me the first time. And now, because of that, there are more Lylatian lives on my head. And now the people's heroes are over there, probably fighting for their lives against an enemy they can't beat."

From behind him he heard Weston say, "I'm sorry about those men. But sometimes sacrifices must be made", then he heard a blaster discharge.

Pepper whipped around to see the small hologram displaying the smoking end of a blaster barrel with the visage of the elder parrot with half his head missing behind it. Then it cut out, "Ah hell", he grumbled. He looked back out the window and sighed, "What am I going to do?"

Back on the Great Fox II…

Fox slumped into the medical bay with Sergeant McClain, Gunnery Sergeant Mitchell, and Private Trident right behind him. All of them were supporting bite wounds of some kind, except Fox, who just shook his head as Diana wrapped their injuries with the medibot.

"I swear", the AI said, "Fox goes a littleoverboard with the realism in those holo-programs."

Fox just flopped down in a chair and sighed, "Diana please. I don't need this right now", then he turned his attention to the marines, "Go and rest up gentlemen. We pick this up again tomorrow."

The soldiers nodded and said, "Yes Sir", before they left.

Fox stood back up and stretched before walking into the bathroom and showering. As he stood in the hot water he thought about what those sims had shown him. They had shown him that they were in trouble. And he was starting do doubt whether or not they could pull this off.

"But still", he thought, "it has to be done. He is responsible for the deaths of our crewmembers, and that of his civilization's downfall."

He felt a pair of arms slip around his soaked waist. Krystal rubbed her forehead against his back, "How'd it go?"

Fox turned around and slid his arms around her shoulders, "Not bad, all things considered", he kissed the top of her head, "How're you feeling?"

Krystal nuzzled in closer, "Mmm, not bad. My head still hurts a bit, though."

Fox rubbed her shoulders, "Nice to know."

The two vulpines dried each other off before they settled down to bed. Just as he started to drop off to sleep Fox's COM went off. The foxes snapped upright and Fox shouted, "Oh Gods damn it", he rubbed his eyes as he snatched up the device and snapped, "McCloud speaking."

General Pepper's voice came over the small speaker, "Fox, is this a bad time?"

The vulpine captain dragged his hand down his cheek as he looked at Krystal. His fiancée sighed and nodded to him and the captain stood up, "No. It's fine", he walked to the other end of the room and flopped down in one of the chairs, "What's up General?"

Fox could hear that the bloodhound was a little distressed as he said, "Fox, I've got some very disturbing news for you. I've been looking through some of my old files. And, well, I think there's some things you should know…"

As Fox sat there listening he covered his mouth in shock. He was so flabbergasted that he couldn't even shield his mind, which meant that Krystal knew everything he did. As the general finished speaking Fox mumbled, "Ho-lee shit."

By that point Krystal had joined him and she said, "That changes a lot of things general."

The bloodhound sighed over the speaker, "I know. The only real person who would have been held accountable was Sam Weston. And he's already…uh, taken care of."

Fox rubbed his brow and said, "Thanks for letting us know general. Listen, we've got to go. The Tranquility'll be here tomorrow and we'll need to be rested to be at our best for the run down to the surface."

Over the speaker the general said, "Of course. I'll speak to you later Fox. Good luck, and Godspeed."

Fox nodded even though the bloodhound couldn't see him, "Thank you sir."

He deactivated the device and leaned back in the chair. Krystal rested her hand on his shoulder, "What are we going to do?"

Fox shook his head, "We go ahead as planned. Albert Wesker still has to pay for his crimes", he stood up and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, "C'mon. we need to try and sleep."

The two walked back over to the bed and climbed into the bed falling asleep in each other's arms…

End Chapter nine

Review if you please-Undead Fox