Chapter 9:
Back on Earth, Kreatz and Mauk were flying towards the Unova Region in America in order to search for and apprehend another of their persons of interest that Chairman Elric had directed them to capture. The two Watchmen officers looked back at the energy cage behind them, which contained the prisoners they had recently captured. The chained Donkey Kong was already straining to free himself from the chains, even though he knew that there was no way he would break through the energy bars. They both sighed at the sight of the prisoners as they looked back at them, glaring. They knew what was going through the prisoners' minds. The prisoners knew that they were innocent of any crime, and that their captors knew of their innocence. This was merely a crackdown of opposing thought. Members of the Pokémon League had sided with President Richardson and Councilman Williams and spoken out against Elric's actions. The thing that concerned the others, though, was exactly why an intelligent ape like Donkey Kong had been captured. That also concerned Kreatz and Mauk as well.
The two turned their attention back to their flight and let the other Watchmen soldiers onboard worry about the prisoners. They doubted that the prisoners would be able to escape. After a few moments, the image of Chairman Elric appeared on their screens once more. "Commanders Kreatz and Mauk," he boomed.
"Yes, Chairman, sir," the two answered, bolting to attention upon seeing the Chairman.
"What is your current situation?"
"We are currently going to America so we can apprehend Councilman Colin Williams," Kreatz answered. "We are currently crossing Earth's Pacific Ocean."
"Belay that order," Elric bellowed. "I have a new assignment for you."
"What is it, sir?" Kreatz asked.
"You are to execute the prisoners you have in your possession immediately and dump their bodies into the ocean, where the likelihood of them being found is highly improbable," the Chairman commanded.
This brought expressions of shock to the faces of Kreatz and Mauk. "Executed now?" Mauk asked, aghast at what he was being commanded to do. Some of the prisoners were children.
"Yes," Elric roared. "Kill them! Now! Once that is finished, go to the Capitol Building in Washington D.C. in America and have you and your soldiers assist my Watchmen in taking over the building. Forget about capturing Colin Williams. If you have a shot, kill him! From there, you are to program Earth's Defense Grid to fire on any and all Striker-class Assault Gunships. You will also program it to fire on any and all vessels that try to offer any support to any such gunships. Do you understand?"
"Yes sir," Kreatz and Mauk answered in unison. Mauk then pointed out, "Sir, you do know that Samus Aran flies a Striker-class Assault Gunship, right?"
"Yeah, so?" came Elric's response.
"So, what if Samus comes to Earth for whatever reason?"
"She won't!" Elric bellowed. "Now, carry out my orders, all of them!"
The two officers could not help but note that Elric was sounding desperate in his explanation to them. "And what if the defenses around the Capitol Building don't recognize our authority and prevent us from entering?"
"Then use whatever force you deem necessary to get in and take control of the Defense Grid!" Erlic boomed again. "Even if it means you have to kill people! You already killed one prisoner! And she was a kid! You're gonna kill some more. What's your damn problem? I chose the two of you because of your skills. You have your orders, execute them!" The screen then went blank.
Kreatz and Mauk then slumped back into their chairs. "What are you going to do now?" they heard Cynthia ask from inside the cage. "You won't be able to waffle any longer. Now's the time you must choose."
The two Watchmen looked back at her. They then scanned all of the prisoners, Cynthia, the intelligent and powerful ape Donkey Kong, who was still being held by energy chains fastened to his wrists and legs, Captain Falcon the F-Zero racer and part-time bounty hunter wearing a blue suit with a red helmet with the symbol of a falcon, and an opaque visor; Dawn, Brock, and the others who were merely relatives of those who had spoken out too boldly against Elric's policies. They knew that Cynthia was right. They both remembered the captures of most of the prisoners. Cynthia, Donkey Kong, and Captain Falcon had put up the greatest amount of resistance, even killing some Watchmen in their attempts to flee. In Cynthia's case, she had stayed behind in order to cover the escape of other targets of interest. The two panned their eyes over the younger captives, Brock, Dawn, Ethan, and Lyra.
"Children," Kreatz muttered. "He wants us to kill children."
"Not kill…murder," Mauk corrected venomously.
They then glanced over at the other Watchmen officers. They appeared to have no issues with Elric's orders. Some of them were even joking with each other, saying, "Man, it's about time. I thought we'd never get to finish it."
Two officers, one in gold armor, another in silver, had taken control of the shuttle and slowed down the shuttle until it was merely hovering several hundred meters in the air. "We've come to a stop," the new pilot said matter-of-factly as he rose from his station. "Time to get to work. There's little enough time for it."
The pilot and his copilot then drew their energy pistols and approached the energy cage. Four other officers soon followed suit, drawing their assault rifles. Kreatz and Mauk followed the others, but stayed behind them. They watched as the others waved their guns at the prisoners. The officers had not even bothered to put on their helmets. Each of them leered sadistically at the prisoners, especially the children. Man, it seems as if only wackos are part of this squadron, Kreatz thought darkly. One look into Mauk's eyes showed that he shared his friend's sentiment. The two noticed that the younger prisoners were particularly afraid of the fate that they were about to suffer. In the end, it was Mauk who broke the silence first. "Wait!" he called, holding up his hand.
The other officers turned back and glared at him. "Why? We were given a direct order to kill them!" one of the Watchmen, a Cat-Man barked at the Simian.
"But some of these prisoners are only children," Kreatz contested, going to Mauk's defense.
"So what?" the Cat-Man Watchman retorted. "These orders came from Lord Elric, himself."
"I thought he was still merely the Chairman of the Galactic Federation Council," Captain Falcon corrected.
"You seem to be under the mistaken impression that Elric has limits on his power," the Cat-Man corrected in return. "Elric may still call himself the Chairman of the Galactic Federation Council, but in reality, he's the new King, or Emperor of the new Galactic Empire."
"Stop!" another Watchman, a humanoid frog-like alien, called out in warning. "That woman is recording your speech," he cried, pointing to Cynthia.
The Cat-Man looked over and saw the small device in Cynthia's hand. The woman glared at him and grinned. "Your secret's going to get out. And then, you'll be seen as the monsters and criminals that you are. Enjoy your fun while you can."
The Cat-Man and the frog-like Watchman then grinned. "Too bad our little secret will never get out," the Cat-Man said as he pointed his assault rifle at the cage. He turned to one of the officers standing near the terminal that controlled the cage. He did not notice that Cynthia was subtly placing her hands behind her back, as if she were trying to jostle something loose. She subtly glanced over at Kreatz and Mauk, half pleading, half alerting them to get ready for something. They both nodded, indicating that they saw her and understood what she was communicating to them.
The Cat-Man approached the cage, gun in hand, and told the guard at the power terminal, "Okay, cut power to the cage. Time to get these executions over with."
The bars of purple energy that represented the force field that separated the prisoners from their captors disappeared and the field of energy that contained the prisoners vanished. The Cat-Man and the other four Watchmen that came over gave sadistic grins as they leveled their weapons at the prisoners. The terror in the children's eyes was evident, though Cynthia, Captain Falcon, and Donkey Kong were far more stoic about the ordeal. Kreatz and Mauk, knowing that they had to do something, yelled, "Wait!"
The Cat-Man grunted in frustration and turned to face Kreatz, and his friend, Mauk. The other Watchmen also turned to face them. "What is it now, Commanders?" the Cat-Man roared.
"At least spare the children. They've done nothing wrong."
"They're relatives of known enemies of Elric. That makes them enemies. Now stop bitching about how you can't bring yourself to kill a few kids and let the professionals show you how it's done."
The Cat-Man then turned back to the prisoners, a grin plastered on his face as he leveled his gun at the prisoners once more. He waved his gun around for a few seconds until the youngest of the prisoners, an eight year-old girl with black hair and gray eyes, caught his attention. He grinned. "Well, may as well get the youngins out of the way first," he chortled.
He was surprised that the girl was no longer cowering in terror and merely backing away cautiously. He arced his head to the side, but never saw the attack that took his life coming. Kreatz drew two batons from his trench coat and pushed their activation buttons. Two orange energy whips emerged from the batons. But Kreatz did not use them to begin the executions of the prisoners. Instead, he flicked his wrist and sliced the Cat-Man's head in half with one of his whips. The other was used to take down the frog-like Watchman. The other Watchmen quickly turned to see Kreatz take down two of their comrades. They quickly turned their attention away from the prisoners and pointed their weapons towards Kreatz, but Mauk was there to cover him. He unleashed a volley of plasma fire from his plasma cannons that took down two more Watchmen. However, it was not going to be enough, for soon, the rest of the Watchmen onboard the shuttle entered the battle and began firing on both Kreatz and Mauk. Several blasts struck them but both Kreatz and Mauk were wearing shield generators on their arms so the energy blasts only managed to bounce off of the shields.
Unbeknownst to the Watchmen, Cynthia had not been captured without all of her Pokémon. A single Poké Ball fell to the ground from her belt on her back and opened, revealing a Pokémon identified as a Garchomp, a Pokémon that looked like a cross between a humanoid and an Earth shark. It had a Hammerhead Shark-like head and dark blue skin. It also had a red underbelly which covered the middle of its abdomen. Beneath the red underbelly was a gold diamond patch of skin. Another gold pattern appeared on the creature's head. Its appendages also resembled jets, planes, and sharks. It also had spikes on its hind limbs and arms. Cynthia then told the other prisoners, "Stay behind me!"
Without Cynthia even issuing a command, her Garchomp opened its mouth and an orange ball of energy formed inside of it. The Garchomp then launched the ball of energy at a dozen Watchmen, who were coming to reinforce their allies, who were being faced down by Kreatz and Mauk. The ball of energy left the Pokémon's mouth and streaked towards the Watchmen. It quickly split into multiple smaller balls of energy that were still more than sufficient to annihilate the Watchmen that were reinforcing their comrades. The balls struck the approaching Watchmen and blew them apart, those that were not completely vaporized by the attack. Of the dozen Watchmen that were going to reinforce the first group, only four remained alive.
Captain Falcon and Donkey Kong were not about to let Kreatz, Mauk, Cynthia, and Garchomp have all the fun, though. They both quickly charged out and charged straight into the four remaining Watchmen, one a Star Elf, two Simians, and even a human. The human and Star Elf scattered upon Donkey Kong and Captain Falcon's charge. The other two, however, leveled their rifles at the charging fighters and prepared to open fire. Falcon pulled back his right arm and curled his hands into a fist. As he did so, flames began to appear around his fist. Moving at nearly super-human speed, he charged one of the Simians and yelled, "Falcon Punch!" He immediately thrust his fist forward and a falcon-shaped flame erupted from his fist as he thrust it forward. The flaming punch caught the golden armored Watchman in the chest and proceeded to destroy him, reducing the Watchman's now shattered body to ashes.
Donkey Kong, meanwhile, was engaging his own Watchman guard. He rushed his Watchman and before the Watchman could level his rifle at him, he grabbed the gun and jerked it out of the Watchman's hand. He then tossed the gun away, and fortunately towards Cynthia. He then began to swing his right arm around, charging a punch as he held the unfortunate Watchman in his left hand. As soon as it was at full charge, Donkey Kong unleashed the punch upon the Watchman. DK's fist struck the armor, which offered no protection against a punch of such power, and he let the Watchman go, allowing the punch to send him flying. The Watchman took off and immediately flew into the access hatch of the shuttle, flying through it, causing the air to rush out for a few moments, before an emergency force field was set in place. The Watchman, however, did not experience his long fall into the Pacific Ocean, for he was instantly killed by the initial strike of Kong's punch.
As for Cynthia, when Donkey Kong absently tossed his Watchman's assault rife in her direction, she quickly leaned down and grabbed the weapon. She then took aim at the two remaining unengaged Watchman and promptly mowed them down as if she had been trained for years in the use of the weapon. The bullets that were unleashed from the gun tore into the two remaining Watchmen, their silver armor offering next to no protection against the magnetically accelerated slugs. After a few seconds, the shuttle was cleared of Watchmen, save for Kreatz and Mauk. After the fighting was over, both Watchmen took off their Watchman insignias and placed Galactic Federation insignias back on their chests.
They then looked over the prisoners in order to make sure that no one had been hurt during the fighting. They knew that Cynthia, her Garchomp, Captain Falcon, and Donkey Kong were fine; their concern was for the children and other Pokémon Trainers that had been captured. "Everybody okay?" Mauk asked.
The others then took stock of themselves and nodded in unison. They each then heard Captain Falcon's voice call from behind, asking them, "What took you guys so long, anyway? I knew from the moment you came that you weren't like the others."
"We needed to have more evidence of what was going on," Mauk answered. His answer surprised Kreatz.
"What?" Kreatz asked in shock. "You mean you were never loyal to the Watchmen at all?"
"Never," Kreatz's friend responded. "I merely needed to gather the necessary evidence to show the excesses of the Watchmen, and of Elric. I got more than I could ever have hoped for." He then took his friend aside and told him, "I'm glad you turned out to be on my side as well. Going against you would have been the hardest thing I ever would have had to do."
"One question," Kreatz said, not indicating whether he was angry or happy at the recent turn of events. "Were all of the captures planned or was this all spur of the moment?"
"The captures were not planned," Mauk answered. "But I was less than thorough in ensuring that they did not have weapons, as I can see you were, too. Nice job on not examining Cynthia more thoroughly."
Kreatz gave a bashful smile. Something about Cynthia reminded him of another friend of his, Samus Aran. They then heard Cynthia call over from the pilot's station, saying, "I hate to break up your conversation, but we're still stuck in hover mode and I have no idea how to fly this shuttle."
The two Federation Police Officers then rushed over to the pilot and copilot's seats and relieved Cynthia. Taking the seats, they then deactivated the shuttle's hover mode and turned the shuttle back towards Japan. "We'll be taking you all back to Japan so you can disembark. From there, though, we're going to America. We received orders from Chairman Elric that we were to support an attack on a building called the Capitol Building."
Cynthia and the other humans gasped. "That's where the controls for Earth's planetary Defense Grid can be overridden," Cynthia told them. "They could target any approaching ship they desire."
"We know," Kreatz told them in a downcast tone. "Elric explained it to us over the radio. But still, we know we have to keep the Watchmen from being able to take control of Earth's Defense Grid, but we don't want to take you and the others into a war zone, for that's our next destination."
"I understand," Cynthia replied. "But hurry. While Earth's soldiers are stationed at the Capitol Building, I doubt that Elric would order only a small force to storm the building and take control of it. Once they start fighting, then it's going to be civil war."
"We know," Mauk said glumly. With that, the two piloted the shuttle back to Japan, where they would deposit the newly freed captives.
Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, California, the Watchmen sat in their headquarters, awaiting instructions from Elric. The headquarters was a nondescript building that was located in one of the slums of L.A., one of the few slums that still existed on Earth. It had been here that the Watchmen had recruited most of the human members of the force. Now, they were awaiting contact by Elric with instructions. He had told them that they had a mission to perform and that it had to be done in the utmost of secrecy. While they had not been told much more, each and every member of the Watchmen knew that the mission was going to be extremely important. They had already heard about civilians fighting Watchmen in Japan, England, Russia, and now in America. They wanted this unrest to be settled quickly, before further force was necessary. They also felt, though, that should a conflict come with the rest of the people of Earth and the planet secede from the Federation and/or declare open war against Elric and his forces, that they would lose the ensuing fight.
The Watchmen inside the hideout patiently waited for the screen to light up and for their next set of orders to arrive. Their patience was soon rewarded as Elric's face soon appeared on the screen and he told them, "I am sending you an encrypted file whose code changes every five seconds, have your computers keep up."
"Yes, sir," a Caucasian male answered for the rest of the Watchmen present. There was a smaller screen below the main viewer on the console. The files soon appeared on the screen. "We've got it," the Watchman told Elric.
"Good, Colonel Tashin. This is data on your next mission. You are to support an attack on the Capitol Building in Washington D.C. You must go quickly and study the data on the way. Time is of the essence on this mission. You will be assisting half of the Watchmen on Earth, and other allied forces as well. The other Watchmen are preparing for another operation that will be taking place shortly after you are successful. Once you have control of Earth's Defense Grid, you are to join the rest of the Watchmen at the coordinates that I gave you in the file. After that, you are to join the others at the Radio Tower in New York City. Hopefully, you won't be necessary in a combat role. However, should you be needed, know that you will be fighting to kill Samus Aran. She has information that is harmful to the Galactic Federation and she will be spreading it should she succeed in landing at the Radio Tower. Do you understand?"
"Yes, sir," Colonel Tashin responded.
The screen then went blank. Tashin then turned to the others and told them, "Alright men, we've got the signal. Gather your weapons and armor, we're heading out now!"
The Watchmen then made their way to the armory and put on their armor, either gold or silver in color, and armed themselves with assault rifles with underslung grenade launchers. Once they had equipped themselves, they proceeded to a small underground hangar. Inside the hangar was a large shuttle, with its wings folded up in order to fit in the hangar, capable of holding the more than one hundred Watchmen. The Watchmen quickly boarded the shuttle and after a few minutes, once they were all onboard, the shuttle's hatch closed. The hangar doors quickly retracted, revealing the city before them and the shuttle lifted off, hovering a few feet off of the ground. The ship then turned towards the exit of the hangar and rocketed forward. After it cleared the hangar bay, its wings folded down into flight position and it rocketed forward, away from the hangar and towards Washington D.C. What the Watchmen did not know, however, was that they were being watched by spies for Earth's government, as well as the Federation. One of the spies watched the shuttle leave the bay and then touched a small button on his wristwatch. He then spoke into the watch, saying, "This is Echo Two-One-Four, reporting in. We've got a Watchman shuttle headed towards Washington D.C. It seems to be large enough to hold more than a hundred Watchmen. It looks like they know of what's coming guys."
"We copy Echo Two-One-Four. You did well today. Now get out of there," the voice of a general from the Capitol Building answered.
"Roger that," the spy replied. With that, the spy proceeded to leave his hide and proceeded back to his base.
Back in the Capitol Building, President Richardson and Councilman Colin Williams were discussing their plans for transmitting the data Samus was going to bring them when a four star Earth general came into their meeting. "Sir, we have a report," he called as he ran over to them. "Elric knows of Samus's transmission and that she has vital data and they are taking action to stop her. To that end, Elric is calling all of his Watchmen on Earth and telling them to attack, both here and at the Radio Tower. One of our spies has currently sighted a shuttle leaving a known Watchmen hideout in Los Angeles and is making its way over here. ETA, about one hour."
"What is Samus's ETA?" Councilman Williams asked the officer manning a communications terminal in the office.
"About one and a half hours, sir," the officer answered.
"Crud," Colin Williams lamented. "They'll arrive here before Samus." He then turned back to the officer and asked, "Any sign of Federation One yet?"
The officer checked his instruments. "No sir," came the reply.
Good, Williams thought. That meant that he would not have to deal with a possible orbital strike. While he knew that the Watchmen were coming to take control of the Planetary Defense Grid, he had a bad feeling that even if his Watchmen failed, that Elric had a backup plan.
"You should get ready," President Richardson said, going over to Williams, handing him the stick. "The Watchmen will arrive before Samus does, so we'll likely be getting into a fight. If you want to leave, now's the time to do so, sir."
"No," Williams answered, shaking his head. "Earth's my home and I will defend it with my life if necessary. I'm staying."
"Well, be careful. The Federation can't afford to lose you. Or anyone else who sided with us, for that matter."
"We will," Williams assured his friend.
Not long after, Madeline Powell came over, dressed in a Kevlar C shirt, jacket, and pants. She was also carrying an energy pistol. She told him, "Colin, I highly recommend wearing some armor and arming yourself. We could be getting ourselves into a firefight, here."
"I am," Colin Williams responded, revealing a Kevlar C vest and shirt along with an energy pistol underneath his jacket. With that, the two proceeded to make the necessary calls to secure the use of Platoon 07 and their equipment before making the relatively short trek to the Radio Tower in New York City.
President Richardson waited in his office in the Capitol Building for about one hour, preparing himself for the eventual arrival of the Watchmen. He knew that many Watchmen viewed themselves as being loyal to the Federation, but he also had a sneaky suspicion that many were also in on some of Elric's darker secrets. The fact that the Watchmen in Los Angeles had no problems with Elric using Space Pirates in addition to his own personal forces only made it worse in his eyes. Even if Elric could be stopped and the truth did get out, he knew that the Federation could be in for a long and bloody civil war. Elric had gained a lot of allies in the last six months by allocating vast amounts of wealth from some of the more affluent worlds, such as Earth, Aliehs III, Corella 5, and others, to poorer worlds that, while still rich in resources, did not have as much in terms of industry that could allow them to exploit their bounty. Many poorer worlds had jumped to Elric's defense during the preliminary hearings to Elric's trial on the illegal development of bioweapons banned by the Galactic Federation as well as the accusations of him having assassinated former Chairman Keaton. He then sat back in his chair, waiting for the fighting to begin, for he knew that the chances of avoiding the upcoming fight were slim. He checked the energy levels of the energy pistol he kept in a drawer of his desk and proceeded to take his final precaution against the enemy managing to breach the Capitol Building. He typed in a series of commands into the Defense Grid computer and proceeded to wait for the battle to begin.
Outside the Capitol Building, Earth and Galactic Federation Marines lined the walkways that led to the Capitol Building. Each Marine, Earth and Federation, wore identical types of power armor, the only thing differentiating the Earth and Federation Marines being the insignias that they wore over their chests. Anti-aircraft defense turrets and missile launchers were already deployed and charged, ready to fire on any approaching hostiles. Each of the soldiers present hoped that the upcoming fight would not happen, but each soldier also knew that chances were that hostilities would not be avoided. They would not have been called to the Capitol Building if there was even the slightest hope that hostilities could be avoided. They knew that they would be firing on Federation citizens, and that not all of those citizens were evil. In fact, many of the soldiers the suspected that many of them were not, in fact, evil, and were just following their orders, not knowing whom it really was that they were serving. Other soldiers, however, felt that since the Watchmen were Elric's personal army, Police force, and spy service, that many of the soldiers, or at least the officers that commanded them, had to know what was going on, or had some idea of what Elric was planning and of his true nature.
Atmospheric fighters flew over the Capitol Building and flew holding patterns over the city of Washington D.C. These fighters resembled old Earth F-22 Raptor fighters and were painted either a dark gray or black that absorbed or deflected most radar and other types of sensors currently in use by Federation forces. The fighters were generally equipped with a mix of air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles, just in case they had to face off against not only a ground assault, but an air attack as well. There was also a squadron of attack starfighters that greatly resembled old Earth A-10 Thunderbolts, or Warthogs, as they were better known as. In fact, these fighters were officially known as SFA-10 Warthogs, after the old A-10s, and they fulfilled a similar role when used in atmospheric attack. The only difference was the fact that they were equipped with a pair of dorsal point-defense cannons designed to shoot down any missiles or unsuspecting and/or lightly shielded pursuing fighters. Tanks were also present surrounding the Capitol building, but they were there mainly for support in the event of a strong ground assault, something that both President Richardson and the primary general present, General Hastings, had doubted the Watchmen would try, but they wanted to cover any and all contingencies.
The rest of the area was now devoid of non-military personnel. In addition, President Richardson had ordered the evacuation of all areas surrounding the Capitol Building of all non-essential personnel. He wanted to get the civilians as far away from the fighting as possible, not only because they would have been in danger of being caught in the crossfire, but also because of the potential of them being used as hostages or shields by the Watchmen during the fighting should the Watchmen start to lose the battle.
As the hour passed, the sensor officers both inside the Capitol Building and inside various command and control vehicles scouted the area for any signs of an approaching Watchman force. The skies of Washington had been cleared of any and all aircraft save for Earth and Federation military air and spacecraft that had declared themselves to be loyal to Earth. In addition to the two squadrons of atmospheric fighters that patrolled the skies, a squadron of the new Katana-class starfighters also assisted in patrol. The Katana-class starfighters were warp capable starfighters that looked very much reminiscent of Earth atmospheric fighters of the early twenty-first century. Unlike most starfighters, they were very capable fighters both in and out of atmosphere. They sported heavy pulse laser cannons and heavy shields that could take all but the heaviest anti-starfighter weapons. Only the Arwings of the Star Fox Team and Wolfens of the Star Wolf Team possessed stronger shields, and the laser cannons of the Katanas were superior in power, range, and accuracy to their Lylatian counterparts. They also had the ability to wield a wide variety of missile weapons from anti-starfighter missiles, to mini-squadron destroyer missiles, to heavier anti-starship missiles and even Nova Bombs, which were heavy weapons designed to inflict heavy damage to even the strongest of capital starships. In addition, their sensors were far more acute, being designed for use in space combat rather than the limits of atmospheric combat. However, outside of Washington D.C., the skies were filled with air and spacecraft, as was now normal on Earth, the unofficial capital of the Galactic Federation. So far, there had not been any anomalous readings to report.
Things changed, however, when one of the Katanas detected a large detachment of shuttles and older Stiletto-class starfighters fast approaching Washington D.C. The leader of the squadron of Katanas, Red Leader, checked his sensors and found the large squadrons of shuttles and starfighters, and bombers, approaching. He glanced at the readings and found that the fighters were fully equipped with extra fuel, missiles, and bombs, and that their energy cannons were hot and ready to fire. Red Leader opened a channel to the rest of the defending forces, saying, "Get ready everyone, I've detected a large contingent of shuttles, assault shuttles, and fighters approaching. I think the Watchmen have come."
His scans were soon confirmed by the rest of his squadron, "I'm reading them, too. A few of those shuttles have got tanks. Some of those tanks appear to be of the mass-production Landmaster-class."
Red Leader shuddered a bit. The Landmaster was a tank originally designed and built in the Lylat System before the start of the Lylat Wars. They had proven their worth in the wars, but that was not what really concerned him. His primary concern was the fact that a few Landmasters had been bought by the Star Fox Team and custom made for them. These Landmasters had greatly improved firepower, mobility, and shielding. One variant had had its treads replaced by four all-terrain wheels which, while decreasing its traction, increased its mobility. This variant also had been redesigned to be an anti-aircraft tank, oddly enough, firing stronger energy pulses, but at a slower rate than the previous versions of the tank. It also could not charge its laser, or use Smart Bombs. A part of Red Leader really hoped that if one of the improved Landmasters was being used for this assault, that it was the anti-aircraft variant, for in reality, that newest Landmaster design was inferior, in his mind, to the previous designs, especially for combat against fast, agile air and spacecraft.
It was not long before a transmission came in to the defending force. A haughty male voice came in over the radio, declaring, "We are the Watchmen. Under the authority of Elric, Supreme Chairman of the Galactic Federation, we command you to turn over the Capitol Building and the controls to the Defense Grid of Earth to him and his right hand, immediately. We are authorized to use deadly force against you if you do not comply with our command."
From inside the Capitol Building, President Richardson watched the display as the dozen heavy assault shuttles, fourteen drop shuttles, twenty troop transports, and an entire wing of atmospheric and Stiletto-class fighters, each, approached Washington. Richardson could see that the Watchmen either had a larger presence on Earth than even he had imagined, or that they had called in some help from the Galactic Federation Army. He took a look at the defenses that he had stationed around the Capitol Building. He knew that Washington had not been completely evacuated and that the city would soon become a battleground if he did not do something soon. Knowing that it was likely futile, he still opened a channel and hoped to resolve the issue diplomatically, rather than with force.
"This is President Jonathan Richardson of Earth. I am giving you once chance to pull back and avoid an unfortunate circumstance. Leave Washington now and we will take no offensive action against you. If you attempt to breach our defenses or attack, we will view that as an attack against Earth, itself, and we will defend ourselves with maximum force."
"No you won't, President," came the haughty response. "You don't have the manpower to stop us. We are representatives of the Galactic Federation. We have the right."
"No you don't," the President retorted. "This attack is a violation of the Galactic Federation's Constitution. All members of the Galactic Federation are fully autonomous members and as long as all tenets of the Bill of Rights are adhered to, the Federation has no right to forcibly attack or attempt to seize any lands held by any of its members for the Federation as a whole."
"Things changed after the destruction of Daiban and the granting of Emergency Powers to Lord Elric," the Watchman leader told him. "We have the right because Elric is the absolute ruler of the Galactic Federation and all of its members. You will comply with our demands, or you will die."
"No, we won't," Richardson responded harshly. "You want control of Earth's Defense Grid? Bring it on." The battle for the Capitol Building then began as the atmospheric fighters and the Stilettos unleashed their first volley of missiles at the fighters and ground defenses of the Earth forces and allied Federation fighters.