Disclaimer: See the Prologue

A/N: I've just finished reading 'Ravenor,' and it sure as hell inspired me.

Chapter 12 – Desperate Times…

War journal of Jacques Mortensen, date year 999 of the 41st Millennium. Yesterday I will forever hold in my heart a day of both dread and rejoice. For it was that day that not only did we discover that the Warp-maddened pawn of the False Gods' Warmaster Abaddon himself has brought his bloodied fist on this universe for the beginning of his next Black Crusade and we have sworn to stand against him. It was also when I was united with the only people I will ever consider to be my true family – Team Star Fox of the Lylat System, and especially the Crown Princess and last daughter of Cerinia, Krystal.

I can only imagine how the foul presence of Chaos has affected her, as she has the ability to draw her power from that potent energy source but preferring her ancestor's source of power found only in the elements of nature. As a result of the increased Warp-emanations I can only guess what she can see, hear and feel because of it. As I had originally sworn to my Grand Master, my late Brother-Captain of the 2nd Company and to her father the King of Cerinia, I shall protect her from whatever the Immaterium, the Imperium, this system and anything else in the universe that dares to lay a finger on her.

She trusts me like a brother and I am determined to make sure her trust is not misplaced. If it would mean my death in order to protect her then so be it. I would gladly sacrifice my life to make sure she may never be threatened or hurt eve again. If she were to fall, then my life would have no meaning and I would gladly follow her to the grave by placing my storm bolter to my forehead or impaling myself with my Nemesis Force sword. As long as she exists, there is hope for the universe and for all life, and for me.

Right now I am bent on rectifying a grave mistake that I no doubt had made in coming back to Lylat. The Imperium of Man has followed me here, sending a fleet of ten of the navy's most powerful warships, which possibly are swarming with thousands and thousands of men from the Imperial Guard, the Hammer of the Emperor. A Space Marine Battle-Barge and it's escorts follow close behind, teaming with my brothers who are willing to destroy the remainder of the Children of Eden in order to make sure that tragic piece of Imperial history will be long forgotten.

As I write this they are heading for the Beltino Research Facility at the border's edge of Lylat, where my friend Slippy Toad is stationed. I can only imagine what they would do to him if they capture him, his father and those they work with. I am determined not to let that happen, if it would mean fighting my own species, I accept without question.

It is possible that they will soon know of the Chaos incursion here, and may the Emperor persuade their hearts to fight Warmaster Abaddon himself rather then the peoples of this system and the Children of Eden. I ask for your guidance, my Emperor, and to see us all through this whole ordeal, to live long enough to find a way to strike down the Despoiler once and for all.

Though weak our armaments and numbers, Disorder will not find our hearts lacking.

----------

Governor-Militant General Alexander stood in the bridge of the Augustus, his hands held behind his back as he waited for a status report. The room illuminated only by the florescent lights situated all around the room, no starlight coming in due to the shielded windows being closed. The heat, which had gripped the bridge, didn't seem to affect Alexander and the naval personnel within the ships, though the ship's captain wiped his forehead with a flannel as he approached Alexander.

"The fleet's almost passed Solar, General," the captain informed him.

Alexander nodded, "The fleet's structural integrity?"

"They are all holding, sir," the captain responded, "Though there are reports of raised temperatures within the hulls, there is no damage to speak of."

"Good," Alexander said, then noted uncomfortably, "It's almost a damned sauna in here. Pilot?"

He turned to the main pilot of the ship, the man himself a blond-haired, purple-eyed Cadian in his mid-thirties.

"Yes, sir?"

"Open the windows."

"Affirmative, Governor-Militant."

The pilots imputed the directives into a nearby console and immediately the covers over the windows raised to reveal the blackness that was space, where about a few minutes ago the view would have been purely fire, lava and possibly brimstone – Lylat's star Solar itself. Alexander was amazed that they could pass by Solar without sustaining too much damage or discomfort, in comparison to their sun back at Segmentum Solar.

"What of the Tau Explorer?" Alexander asked.

"They are following close behind, sir," the captain responded.

"The Great Fox?"

"Being tugged right behind it."

"Thank you captain," Alexander related, "Carry on."

The captain saluted and immediately joined up with two other uniformed fleet officers. Alexander excused himself from the bridge and walked down the hallway past other busy flight officers and technicians, each one saluting him as he passed by. He had no intention of going somewhere specific on the ship; he just needed to recollect himself and assess his situation, which was mostly of complete irony.

'Let's recap,' he thought to himself, sounding very bitter, 'On one corner: Me, my men of around 6,000; a Delta-level Psyker cross-Space Marine; a Tau expeditionary force with Farsight and Aun'shi themselves and Kemono mercs, one of which is the last Cerinian female. The other: A larger Imperial force en-route to the system now, and the Despoiler himself and possibly nearly all of the Fallen Space Marine legions and hell of a lot more Cult groups attacking Corneria and spreading through the system.'

He chuckled sadly.

'My forecast: A week at least of resistance before this system is really down the drain, washed away with it's own blood. Give another few weeks the Segmentum Pacificus will be taken by surprise. A year later: Segmentum Solar will come under direct attack. By then trillions will have lost their lives and their souls taken by the false Gods.'

He then frowned again.

'Mortensen, I pray that the Emperor be truly with us. But especially with you, and that you've got something up your metal xeno-loving sleeve.'

----------

Fox rubbed the middle of his chest delicately, still feeling some slight aches and irritancy following his miraculous and nearly instantaneous recovery from the crashlanding on Titania hours ago. Though he no longer was suffering life-threatening injuries, he still felt slightly breathless and somehow felt turmoil engulf his mind. He replayed mentally over and over again how Bill once again came to him in what appeared to have either have been a dream, a vision, or just a pain-induced hallucination. He prayed that it was just a dream and nothing to do with the pain, since pain was all he could feel right now deep inside himself.

It was not a physical pain, but a mental, emotional and spiritual pain. It was the sort of pain that only comes from witnessing your homeworld consumed by the fires of what would be considered Hell, and it itself was spewing forth it's legions of Warp-maddened Cult groups and corrupted super-soldiers to take over and destroy everything in it's path. He kept on wishing that this was a all a nightmare, and that he would eventually wake up, possibly besides Krystal years from now in bed. The both of them would be happily married with at least two cubs, a boy and girl. He would live happily ever after and have nothing else to do with daemons, humans, oversized rocket firing machine-guns, swords with rotary blades or even Jacques Mortensen, he himself out of the picture forever.

Jacques sensed his inner turmoil and too was also saddened about the fact that this was real life. And to the Grey Knight, every waking moment in real life was his own private Hell. But not wanting to bury himself in his personal issues as well, he decided to break the silence and not drag everyone else down towards depression.

"Fox?"

The vulpine winced as he was immediately shattered from his thoughts, almost shrieking, "Wha…! What?"

Krystal, Katt and Falco were startled as the sound reverberated all around the elevator car as they ascended downwards the floors of the Augustus warship towards the hangars. They looked at Fox oddly, who became embarrassed about his outburst.

"Sorry," Fox sheepishly added, "Yeah, Jacques?"

"You seem more troubled than usual, Fox," the Knight related, "Are you certain you are fully healed?"

Fox smirked, "Am I standing here in the lift talking to you?"

"You are."

"Than I am," Fox stated, the smirk disappearing, "Just feeling some post-op discomfort."

Krystal couldn't have helped but also peeked into Fox's mind as well and catch a glimpse of what he was thinking. She had wanted to throw her arms around him and comfort him, as she herself was feeling restless as she tried to fight off the stem of chaotic energies emanating from the Warp. She did so by thinking nice thoughts about her life and times with her friends and her late family. But upon sensing Fox's thoughts cut through towards to her, she begun to feel cold inside…which she was finally able to suppress just by thinking how Jacques, her brother and protector, would be the one to finally end this conflict and bring peace to Lylat.

And while she was dreaming she wanted to be with her people back on Cerinia again.

"You should be feeling more than discomfort, Fox," Falco chided, "You're the only guy I know who is standing around after being impaled on a fridge handle and healing himself just by thinking about it."

Fox looked slightly flustered, "Pardon my sarcasm, but is it normal to feel slightly worried about that?"

"Definitely," Katt replied.

"What do you make of that, Jacques?" Krystal enquired, looking up at him softly.

Jacques appeared stumped as he rubbed his chin and responded, "I am uncertain. But there are definitely mysterious forces at work, brought on by the taint spreading across this system."

The elevator stopped and one ping later the doors opened to reveal the hangar area of the Augustus. They stepped through and, not including Jacques, were eternally surprised to find four Arwings sitting in the centre of the hangar, being worked on by what appeared to be men dressed in red cloaks with mechanical forearm machinery attached to their backs carrying large, mechanical staffs. Krystal narrowed her eyes slightly trying to focus on them.

"With permission from Commander Farsight we recovered the Arwings," Jacques explained as they stepped through towards the ships, passing by other engineers, pilots and technicians, "And he says that the Earth Caste is speeding up repairs on the Great Fox. They estimate that the Great Fox will be fully repaired and operational in another day."

Falco smiled, "Remind me to thank those pacifists-carrying-guns will ya', Jacques."

The men working on the Arwings stopped their work and turned around, revealing their front sides to be clad in mechanically suits and mouthpieces. The staffs they carried had the mechanical skull insignia imprinted, and their physical appearances caused Fox's eyes to widen inexplicably, seeing that they were nearly cyborgs.

"Commander Mortensen," one of the cyborg engineers greeted him enthusiastically, his voice sounding mechanical and distorted no doubt due to his mouthpiece, but sounding enthusiastic nonetheless, "These pieces of craft are wondrous. Though xeno, they are works of art blessed by the Machine God himself."

Falco smiled widely, staring down the orange-eyed engineer, "Slippy would've squealed with joy at hearing that."

"Thank you, Makybee," Jacques said, hands crossed behind his back and smiling, "It is good to see that that at least a few clergy of the Machine God appreciates alien machinery. Techpriests…"

The priests all looked at Jacques.

"…allow me to introduce Team Star Fox, the pilots of the aforementioned mechanical works of art."

"Ah, the sole guardians of Lylat itself," the Techpriest known as Makybee greeted, stepping forward and extending his hand, "I am Tyler Makybee, and we are the Techpriest Enginseers of the Adeptus Mechanicas, highest servants of the Machine God. Or at least…we were."

Fox shook his hand just as Tyler chuckled sadly, which through his mouthpiece gave Fox the chills just by hearing him, causing his fur to stand on end. But that was already starting to grind Falco's gears as he felt like his eardrums were being pierced with incredibly sharp knives, metaphorically speaking that is.

"I'm sure you no doubt still serve the Machine Spirit," Krystal observed as they shook hands firmly, "And it in return watches over you."

"Of course, Cerinian," Tyler replied, "And I was informed by Mortensen that one of you has an interest in the mechanical and spiritual dealings of the machine, am I right?"

"Yeah…well," Fox responded, then smiled, "I'm not sure on the spiritual side, but the mechanical he'd be interested in."

"Who is he, then? For I believe we can no doubt exchange knowledge on our two culture's mechanical works."

"He's one of the guy's we're flying to save, honey," Katt responded, letting go of his hand after they shook, "You should count your lucky if we decide to encourage him to come skipping your way with stars in his eyes."

Tyler appeared disappointed as he responded, "That is a shame. I know of no alien who has ever received leniency from the Imperium, or that has even survived long enough around them without being interrogated."

Falco looked worried; "So you're saying…Slippy's gonna die?"

"If the Imperium does not deviate in any way from their usual treatment of prisoners, I would suspect he, and those around him, may not have very long to live," Tyler answered, sounding devoid of any emotion whatsoever.

Feeling uncertainty, Jacques tapped his earpiece radio and said, "Control, this is Mortensen. How long until we reach our destination."

Another hour, Commander.

"Thank you," Jacques said, then spoke again where this time his voice was amplified through the public announcement system wired all around the ships in the fleet, "Attention all flight personnel, prepare for immediate engagement of enemy aircraft. I repeat:…"

He eyes darted left and right and saw that everyone present was looking at him.

"Prepare to engage the Imperium in one hour. In the name of the Emperor, make haste!"

Every human pilot, technician and engineer begun to rush everywhere as they went about following their orders, recabilirating and refuelling the dozens of Fury starfighters sitting in the bay. The situation was also the samefor the other ships in the fleet. As the fighter pilots all prepped themselves in both their individual and shared quarters, strapping on their flight gear and oxygen mask and making sure they carry emergency equipment and sidearms. Ready for the unlikely event they are shot down and crashed on a nearby planet or are captured and would rather face death than a dreaded fate reserved for heretics.

Jacques looked determined as he and Star Fox continued to stand there in the bay. He vowed, "I will not allow a fellow team member to suffer an unrighteous fate."

Fox's eyes widened, hearing him refer to Slippy as his fellow team member. He asked, "You…you still think you are part of Star Fox?"

Despite the situation, Jacques smiled, "Why am I not? I accepted your offer a year ago and have always being part of it since. Only that our activities have been separate and in common."

"And that is to protect?" Krystal asked, smiling as well.

The Grey Knight nodded, "Yes it is."

Fox smirked as well, "It's great to know that The Only Good Human is still part of the Star Fox team. Also…"

His smiled faded as he now sounded serious.

"…we'll be back in space and in the air where we belong."

"About time to," Falco commented, eyeing his Arwing as it was still being mended by the Techpriests, "I need to stretch my wings, metaphorically speaking."

"I noticed already," Jacques said wryly.

----------

That is far enough, witch. It is over. Let the children go!

Thy dare to stand before us, a mere human male. Thy dare a mere human male who seeks to deny us the simple pleasures we so crave.

I am not alone; my Brothers surround you with high-powered rifles trained on your foreheads. Drop your weapons and let those children go, and you may leave here alive.

You bluff, Mon-keigh!

You have been warned!

KILL HIM, SISTERS!

RAAAAAAAAAARGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!

WHA…! NO…ARGHHHHHH!

Near delirious and panicked Jakob's head shot up and he quickly reached for his submachine-guns holstered to his sides, backing himself up against the wall in a sitting position, sweat dripping from his forehead and the pupil of his remaining eye diluted. It took him nearly a minute to realise he had just suffered a nightmare, and that he was safe in his quarters on-board the Explorer-class ship known as the Infinity. He pried the fingers off both his submachine-gun, and with much contempt he tossed them aside, right next to the hypodermic injector he used to inject his medicine with.

'Oh, by the Ethereals,' he thought bitterly, running a hand through his hair, feeling that it had been soaked with his sweat.

He felt the nauseous and delirium quickly subsided and left him sitting there on his bed, clad in nothing but his armoured plated pants. He noticed the remainder of his suit lying on the floor, so he got off his bed and put them back on himself, all the while thinking about the people he had just been introduced to just hours before, but especially the cerulean vixen and the shining Imperial Grey Knight.

Jakob had heard of the mysterious race of ancient, elemental beings known as the Cerinians, and that they met their end by the hands of the Forces of Disorder, and even their own allies the Imperium. He heard it around the grapevine that they were the only 'alien' race that the normally xenophobic Imperium ever allied, and exploited, with. This led to their homeworld Cerinia's downfall and the eradication of the entire Cerinian race, but at least the Imperium lost thousands of Guardsman and the destruction of the entire Ultramarines 2nd Company. It saddened him greatly upon hearing the Ethereals preach to him and his fellow gue'la on the subject.

Upon seeing the Cerinian Krystal in the flesh for the first time he felt relieved, seeing that somebody did survive Cerinia after all. He smiled to himself, remembering how she was grateful for his helping her out during those battles on Titania, and she returned the favour by bequeathing his staff for him to use against the Chaos Sorcerer Artemis. The way she smiled at him somehow made all his negative, dark thoughts and feelings disappear, swept off to a place he didn't care so long as they were gone.

Strange, to him he felt he had known her forever, despite just only meeting her. His thoughts were interrupted as he felt slightly felt the chills, the hairs on his arms and legs sticking up on end. He knew this was another occasional side effect of his treatments, where until it would too fade away he would have to deal with it.

His room communicator beeped and he answered it, "Yeah?"

Gue'vesa'Shas'la, are you still feeling doped up?

"No, Shas'ui."

In that case, Farsight himself wants to speak with you. You best head down to the Enclaves section and report to the traitor.

Jakob frowned upon hearing O'Shovah being called a traitor, who he believed he was really wasn't, "Right away, Shas'ui."

He switched off the communicator and stepped towards the door. As he extended his hand towards the door handle he feel the coldness envelop him more, causing him to shiver uncontrollably. He sucked it up and turned on his heels, where he stepped over to what appeared to be the closet in his quarters and threw open the door.

He smiled slightly upon seeing his favourite piece of clothing: An ankle-length dark-coloured trench coat with the Tau symbol imprinted on the left side. He removed the shoulder plating on his armour before he wrapped the coat around himself and slid into it comfortably, leaving it open so that his armour could be seen, revealing that he was still of allegiance to the Empire and the Greater Good.

He stepped out of his quarters and made his way through the ship, passing by the many blue and grey-skinned Tau of the Fire, Water, Earth and Air Caste, accepting their nods of greetings and smiles. It would seen that to them they didn't seen surprised to find that there was one singular gue'la ally on board their ship, dressed in a trench coat, wearing Tau armour underneath and having the designation Fire Warrior.

As a fellow believer of Tau'va – the Greater Good, he was one of them.

Soon he was standing outside the door leading into O'Shovah's chambers, alongside a Farsight Enclave Fire Warrior with a plasma rifle standing guard. The Warrior was surprised to see the gue'la dressed in his favourite trench coat, but deduced it was to stop the chills that he still felt as he recovered from his medicine.

"Gue'vesa'Shas'la," the Fire Warrior greeted, "Our commander awaits you."

Jakob nodded as the door opened and he stood through, but not before hearing the Fire Warrior say…

"Nice coat, Jakob."

A/N:

The human smiled at the compliment as he stepped through into the back quarters of the ship, immediately greeted by other Farsight Enclaves soldiers, each one missing their helmets and reminding Jakob that though they may no longer be part of the Empire, they were still Tau. He walked down the hallway passed them until he reached Shovah's personnel chambers.

He stood to attention outside the door, noticing the camera drone hovering above him, watching him silently as he waited for Farsight to reveal himself to him. The doors opened sideways and without hesitation he stepped through into the square-shaped, mechanical yet rather plain looking personal chambers, compared to Aun'shi's own extravagant looking rooms.

He was surprised immensely when he found O'Shovah strapped back into his battlesuit, and he appeared to be kneeling in the centre of the room, his head lulled and his Dawn blade extended, as if in some sort of meditation. Jakob knew better than to interrupt someone when they are peacefully focussing their minds, but…

"Shas'O?" Jakob begun questioningly, realising that the floor of the room bored the Farsight emblem as he walked forward, "You sent for me?"

O'Shovah raised his head and looked over at Jakob, his mechanical eyes emitting clicking sounds as he focussed and zoomed in on him. He reached for the ground and grabbed the blade, holding it in his mechanical hands. Jakob felt his throat go dry as O'Shovah stood up from his crouched position and towered above the gue'la. Jakob swallowed softly as he felt O'Shovah stare from his visors into his soul.

Strangely, like the first day he came to him to learn how the Farsight Enclave's fight a war.

"Do you remember the lessons taught to you months ago?" O'Shovah asked him, "Where the Patient Hunter would strike the Killing Blow."

"Er…yes," Jakob answered, standing straight in light of his current position, "Kau'yon and Mont'ka. Where there is honour to see your enemy die up close than to cowardly engage them from afar. I haven't forgotten what you said ever…YAHHH!"

O'Shovah suddenly dove forward and swung his blade. Jakob bent his torso backwards, allowing the blade to skim over him harmlessly. The barely audible sounds of his spin bending could be heard before he straightened himself up. He narrowed his eyes glared, before leaping into the air and delivering a jump kick to O'Shovah head, the tail of his trench coat acting like a sort of cape. The force of his attack twisted his helmet backward to face the other way.

"HA!"

He landed back on the ground and turned around, seeing the entrance into the chamber looked with the Fire Warrior Guard present, gripping his pulse rifle threateningly. He felt panicked, seeing that O'Shovah has suddenly turned him on. It would appear that his teacher in the art of melee was now trying to spill his blood on the symbol engraved on the floor.

O'Shovah grunted with discomfort as he adjusted his helmet so that it was looking the right way. When his vision reactivated he let out a roar, and charged forward towards Jakob, who dodged his next blow with a backflip. Jakob clinched his fists and blades extended from his wrists and as O'Shovah struck again he used his left hand to deflect the Dawn Blade and his right to thrust forward, where O'Shovah dodged sideway, before bringing his foot up to sweep kick the guel'a.

"YAHHHHHH!"

Jakob was knocked off his feet, but brought the palm of his hand on the ground and rebounded back onto his feet. He was then suddenly staring down the barrel of O'Shovah's plasma cannon, which was aimed at his head point blank. Jakob would have jumped out of his skin with fright if he didn't feel the courage and bravery that was brewing inside of him, instead he looked calm as he opened his mouth to speak…

"You wouldn't," Jakob asserted.

"Why is that, young gue'la?" O'Shovah asked, still aiming his cannon right in Jakob's face.

"You told me that acts of cowardice would forever be at the back of your mind, and will always haunt you until your days come to a close," Jakob explained fervently.

"What makes you think this is cowardly?"

"We've being fighting for only half-a-minute, and already you resort to bringing a gun into a knife fight," Jakob replied smirkingly.

"What makes you think I am going to fire?"

To prove his point, O'Shovah smacked Jakob across the face with the plasma cannon, knocking him onto the floor. Jakob tasted blood in his mouth, spitting it out he stood back up, a look of pure anger and zealous on his face. He wiped the blood from his mouth, moved his neck around, feeling the bones creak as he psyched himself up for another round of melee.

"KIIIYAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

Jakob dove forward and thrust his left blade forward, where O'Shovah easily blocked it. He then slashed forward with his right, cutting the Fire Caste Commander across the chest, sparks flying forward as he marked the armour. He then hopped backwards, before diving forwards and body slamming O'Shovah, staggering the commander.

"ARGHH…LA!"

With all his might Jakob struck again and brought both his blades towards O'Shovah shoulders. He then pierced the both of them, the blades sticking out through the other end of O'Shovah's armour. Jakob immediately became shocked at what he had just done, but not before realising that more Farsight Fire Warriors had entered the chamber and had now encircled the battling pair.

Instinctively Jakob pulled his blades back out and stepped back the still standing Commander, his flesh having not being cut, as the blades were only inches away from his real shoulders. Jakob looked around himself in confusion, seeing that some of the Fire Warriors with their helmets off were smiling slightly and crossing their hands together before them.

O'Shovah moved his hands upward to his helmet, where he removed his helmet to revealing that he too was smiling warmly, not flinching one bit due to their fight. Suddenly the dozens of Farsight Fire Warriors began a slow clap, which gradually quickened until they were applauding Shas'la Jakob, as if on a job well done.

Jakob's eyes widened, trying to make sense of it all. It gradually cleared up when O'Shovah broke the news.

"You have not forgotten our lessons after all, Gue'vesa'Shas'la," O'Shovah announced, "Compared to our cousins of T'au, their auxiliaries have proven themselves more capable of spreading the Greater Good through our teachings."

Still surprised, Jakob asked, "Was this a test?"

"It was not quite a test, Jakob," O'Shovah responded, "Rather, a recap of what we had shown you months ago, and what led you to victory against the Great Enemy just hours ago."

A Fire Warrior stepped forward and patted Jakob on the shoulder, causing him to flinch slightly as he did not expect it.

"You are one of us, La'Jakob," the Fire Warrior said, "Do not let any of your masters say any different."

Jakob mouth was slightly agape as he looked over his shoulder at the Farsight Enclave, still trying to understand what was going on. When he finally did understand seconds later, he smiled and nodded, before looking up at O'Shovah.

"My loyalty is to the Ethereals, T'au, my fellow gue'la and the Greater Good, Commander Farsight," Jakob explained, still smiling, "But how I defend those things and myself, I owe all to you all. Thank you for teaching me."

"No," O'Shovah shook his head, "Thank you for letting us teach you, Human Fire Warrior."

Suddenly alarms blared everywhere, drawing everyone's attention upward to the ceiling where the alarms were emitting.

"It would seem we have trouble," O'Shovah said calmly, "And I sense it is beyond what we can do at this present time."

Jakob hated those last words that O'Shovah said, knowingly hating bad situations where he couldn't do anything.

----------

"Attention on deck all flight crews. Governor-Militant Alexander and Commander Mortensen present."

A long-nosed, bald-headed man in Kasrkin Carapace Armour cut through the chattering amongst the flight-suited fighters and Techpriests pilots present in the Operations sector of the Augustus. The automated doors leading into the room slid open and in stepped Star Fox, instead of the two men that the Kasrkin mentioned, surprising everyone present, especially the Kasrkin.

"Hope we didn't miss anything," Fox said, before turning to the frowning Kasrkin, "Greetings."

"What are you people doing here?" the Kasrkin queried, sounding somewhat annoyed at the sight of aliens standing before him, "I thought the Governor-Militant ordered that Central Command, the Bridge and Briefing were off limits to civilians."

"Civilians?" Falco asked, "Is that what you are calling us now? Heh, sounds friendlier than 'xeno' or furrry…'

Katt pinched him on the shoulder and he shut his beak, allowing Fox to counter, "I figured if you're gonna take on the entire Imperium with only a couple dozen fighters and a few warships you'll need all the help you can get."

Before the Kasrkin can respond, planning to throw in a swear word or two to put these furries in their place, he was cut off as Governor Alexander appeared in the doorway with Jacques, who had his Nemesis Force sword sheathed to his sword.

"I hate to admit myself, Colonel Vash," Alexander smirked as he stepped in, "But we are going to need every hand, paw, claw and extra appendage we can get."

Colonel Vash grudgingly saluted and stepped aside, just as all other human hands present saluted the Governor, before taking their seats as he took the stage and stood in front of the podium, looking over amongst the flight personnel sitting some feet away. He noticed at the corner of his eyes Star Fox and Jacques standing near the exit, and especially noticing Falco with his arms crossed and his foot tapping the floor, looking at him with a rather peculiar expression.

Ignoring it, Alexander quickly and (surprisingly) silently cleared his throat and begun, "Good day, gentlemen. I apologise for not making any earlier announcements regarding a mission in the Lylat System, but recent developments once again call upon your services in the defence of the universe and the existence of humanity."

The room darkened just as a green-coloured holographic wireframe projection of the Beltino Orbital Station generated itself just beside Alexander, where he leaned on his right shoulder as he turned himself to face the projection.

"The Beltino Research Space Station is currently under assault by Imperium forces, OUR Imperium forces let me remind you," Alexander explained fervently, "House within it is a wealth of Kemono prototype equipment and possibly weaponry. Which may prove valuable in holding off the Forces of Chaos, and is at risk of being dismantled by the Imperium…"

He glanced over at Jacques, and saw his rather concerned expression. He gave a rather unnoticeable wink.

"…as well as the alien science personnel and staff present."

The holographic projection changed shape to resemble a smaller scale of the space station, with the majority of the Imperial fleet right beside it, with smaller Fury fighter craft and slightly larger Starhawk bombers (somewhat resembling old 20th Century Earth Stealth Bombers) zipping about all around the fleet.

"Our long-range sensors have pinpointed the fleet to be situated directly next to the station with Lightning Strike fighters and Starhawk craft covering the station. Our operation will proceed as follows if you bear with me…"

The holographic projector visually backed up what he was about to say.

"…our capital ships will bombard the Imperial ships from afar, just barely out of their own range. This will hopefully draw their fighters towards our positions, where the majority of our own Furies will engage them. Meanwhile two teams of Kasrikin will infiltrate the Space Station from the other side away from the fleet under the escort of Star Fox…"

Suddenly one pilot stood form his seat and raised his hand, "Sir, you mean the Star Fox?"

Irritated at being interrupted (and somewhat disappointed about the fact that if they were still part of the Imperium his Commissar Anton Gabbit would have executed him for interrupting,) Alexander responded, "Yes, Bours. The mercs themselves will be a part of this mission."

Fox immediately wondered if that pilot was either angered or relieved that he and the team would be leading the assault. He had heard only snippets that Star Fox was heard of in the Imperium, and wondered what the extent of their notoriety was among humanity, no doubt under scrutiny from the Administratum and the Inquisition. Krystal would have thought the same thing if she hadn't pried into the pilot's mind (finding out that his first name is Markus). She found him to be relieved to be flying alongside a highly trained, professional flight team; despite the handicap of them being born furries…and also that the blue female was somewhat sexy for an alien vixen.

That last comment made her feel embarrassed somewhat, and amuse her at the same time. Her attention was drawn back to Alexander as he continued with the briefing.

"…as I was saying, the Kasrikin team will dispatch the Guardsmen and armed naval personnel already in the station and will attempt to establish a teleportation beacon within the station to beam as many civilians and technology out as possible."

He paused.

"Any questions?"

Another pilot stood up, saluted, and asked, "Sir, what do you think our chances of success are?"

Alexander looked over at Jacques, who nodded in agreement, where he responded, "I would say our chances are minimal. Worst case scenario: We would get captured. But it can be agreed that being interrogated and sentenced by the Inquisition is considered mercy compared to what Chaos would do to us."

He then frowned.

"I will be honest with you, if we're going to die, we might as well go trying to stop the Despoiler himself. Now…any more questions?"

"SIR NO SIR!" the flight crews all exclaimed as one.

Alexander then smirked and raised a fist, "Pilots and Techpriests of the 1st Kronus Regiment, prepare to die in His service, unfortunately against His own people but all against His enemy. The Emperor protects!"

The pilot crews all saluted and filed out of the room by group, leaving Alexander standing there on the stage, prompting Fox to step forward towards him.

"That was a rousing speech, Governor," Fox smirked, "I didn't know speechmaking was a subject they taught at Commissar college…"

He then rolled his eyes.

"…or whatever you call it."

"I hope you mean the Schola Progeium," Alexander responded sharply, "It's all to keep the soldier's heart to the fight, McCloud. I'm sure you wouldn't know, as normally you mercs wouldn't have the odds against you."

He then smirked himself.

"Especially when you had Mortensen on the team, very nearly damning himself in the eyes of our Emperor."

Jacques frowned, "The worst I could have done would have been to repaint my armour in their colours, Governor-Militant. Now, if we can move onto more serious matters."

Fox nodded, "So we'll be escorting your commando teams to the station, so they could bring out some kind of teleportation beacon?"

"Correct. Here…"

The holographic projector formed what appeared to be the device, which considered of a metallic disk with a small computer and a radar dish attached. Katt, Falco and Krystal stepped forward onto the stage to take a closer look.

"The Techpriests cobbled this device from both the Deep Striking technology found on the Tactical Dreadnought Armour of the Adeptus Astartes…er…I meant the Terminator armour from the Space Marines..."

He had quickly changed his words have seeing that he had almost lost Fox, Falco and Katt with using those Imperial formal words 'Adeptus Astartes – Space Marines' and 'Tactical Dreadnought Armour – Terminator Armour.

"…and the equipment used to hook the Navigator Psyker to a warship's internal computer systems, which would pick up the Emperor's Ray of Hope back on Holy Terra, which serves as the beacon for all Imperial warship. After some minor adjustments and altercations they created this, a Portable Displacement Field Generator. If the Kasrkin could get this baby into the centre of the station…"

The holographic projector created a wireframe image of the station and the device into the middle centre of it.

"…and could set it off, it would transport every designated living thing and technology off that floating junk…"

The holographic projector displayed the device letting off a shockwave that engulfed the whole station.

"…and to a predetermined destination. Which in this case, the hangar bay of the Augustus."

"Alright," Fox agreed to all that Alexander said, "We can do that."

Katt smiled, "Very ingenious. So you mutilated a sacred ancient Terminator armour just to get at it's teleportation tech to cobble this thing together?"

Alexander frowned, "Yes, I am feeling ashamed about doing that, Monroe."

"I didn't know you were psychic," she quipped.

"Never said I was," Alexander replied, then thought bitterly, 'God-Emperor, are all feline Kemono as impulsive as she is? How does she know that Space Marine armour is the most valuable piece of steel in the universe?'

"Well," Fox said, "If it would mean the success of this operation in getting this thing aboard the station, then that's what we're gonna do. We'll cover your commandoes rear until they get safely on board."

"And we'll trust they can handle themselves against all the purebred guys in T-shirts carrying flashlights and steroid-pumped misanthropes carrying rocket-propelled machine-guns already crawling around it's halls," Falco added with his trademark cynicism…

…which immediately caused Krystal to stare angrily at him, having referred to Jacques as a 'misanthrope.' That also drew a rather tired looking gaze from Jacques. Falco quickly changed his tune with a quick, innocent whistle and a roll of his eyes.

"Er…no offence, Jacques."

"None taken whatsoever, Lombardi," Jacques responded calmly, "I have been declared worse."

'Stop the presses,' Fox surprisingly thought with his own rare sarcasm and bitterness, "We better get ready. Let's go team."

Star Fox nodded, where as they were leaving the room to head to the hangar, Krystal looked behind her shoulder to see Jacques and Alexander still standing on the stage in the chamber. Jacques noticed her looking at him with her delicate eyes, and gazed back strangely. Alexander watched the exchange between them with rather sentimental curiosity.

"What troubles you, Krystal?" Jacques asked.

"Will you be joining the mission, Jacques?" Krystal asked, turning herself around fully to face him.

Jacques exhaled from his nostrils and smiled softly, "I will be right behind you."

Krystal smiled softly and nodded understandably, surprised at how he could regain control of his mind so quickly after he had practically stopped time with his own thoughts to snatch her and Jakob from being swallowed up by an explosion. That would have put a lot of strain on his complicated mind, having used all that psychic energy and will power in one setting, proving that Jacques was indeed a powerful psyker.

She thought of how he was more powerful than her as she left the chamber, leaving both Jacques and Alexander alone, the Governor-Militant noticing that Jacques was still watching her walk down the corridor towards her waiting team mates, disappearing behind the closing door into the Briefing chamber. He looked over at him, seeing he was still smiling. He narrowed his eyes, disturbed about the fact that this Grey Knight had some sort of kinship with those xeno, especially that vixen.

"That vixen appears to have an attachment to you, Mortensen," Alexander pointed out, sounding as if to make Jacques feel ashamed, "Are you sure that…?"

Jacques smile faded as he turned on him rather abruptly and exclaimed, "Were I in your boots, Governor, I would choose what I would say next with exceptional care!"

Taken back with Jacques turning on him verbally, he said, "Never mind, then. But that's another thing…"

Alexander stepped around him so that he was in front of him.

"…how can we be certain that these mercs can be trusted, as for the Tau we are lugging behind us?"

Jacques dropped his frown and became expressionless, "I was onboard their command ship, working as a fellow mercenary, much like how a Rogue Trader would make use of my other brothers long ago. And as you can, I survived."

"But you nearly risked being declared 'damned' for co-existing alongside aliens," Alexander replied, "Or so you told me."

"That I did."

"And the Tau with the Commander Farsight? The traitor to his own cause?"

Jacques frowned again and exhaled behind clinched teeth, turning around and stepping away some, putting himself into deep thought, "I believe for now we can assume he will betray us at first opportunity. But unless I am mistaken…"

He turned around to face Alexander; a dead serious look ebbed on his scarred face.

"…they need us to survive, as much as we need the firepower and the troops their expedition can provide."

"That doesn't relieve me, Mortensen," Alexander said, then tapped his nose twice, "And you know why, Ultramarine. I'm not as tolerant, and somewhat sociable, with non-humans as you are. So forgive me…"

He walked up to him menacingly, and looked up into his eyes with equal menace.

"…if I ever step out of line towards your 'brothers' and your 'sister.'"

Jacques crossed his arms, now looking somewhat disappointed. He sighed, "Your words sadden me, Alexander."

Alexander smirked. He said as he turned around, "Then all of humanity must sadden you, Jacques. Heh, I wouldn't be surprised that you wished you were born an Eldar warlock, or a Kemono fox-man. Anything but what the hell…you are."

He disappeared through another door, not intending to walk the same way as Star Fox did, leaving Jacques standing alone in the Briefing chamber to collect his thoughts, as well as his battered emotions. His mind hung on those words and for moment he thought he begun to experience regret over the words he had just spoken. But then he remembered the necklace he wore and had noticed that Alexander had being staring at it the whole time he said his last words to him.

He reached for it and ran his index finger over it's blue gem.

"No regrets, Alexander," he said to himself, "I feel no regret at all."

----------

Slippy groaned as he felt himself return to consciousness, his delicate head feeling like it was caved in after feeling a Guardsman's lasgun made contact with his skull. He moved his hand to feel his forehead just as the darkness around his vision disappeared and he could see the hanger ceiling, with both Amanda and Beltino practically beaming at seeing him alive, completely unaware that the same Guardsman stood overhead, frowning and holding his lasgun.

"I wouldn't feel your head if I were you, frog," the Guardsman spoke in a cockney accent, startling both Amanda and Beltino, "Your bitch took a while to bandage your thick skull and I wouldn't be fair for you to mess up her delicate work."

Slippy frowned upwards at the Guardsman, who immediately begun steaming and shoving Beltino and Amanda aside, and frightening the other science personnel who saw him aim his lasgun down at Slippy's face.

"Wanna get smart now, motherfucker?" the Guarsdman seethed, "I dare ya', 'phibian!"

"STAND DOWN, PRIVATE!"

The Guardsman looked over towards the Shark dropships and saw that another one had landed. And out stepped General Sturnn accompanied by two well-dressed naval personnel carrying flak-firing autoguns, and an emancipated, pained Psyker dressed in standard robes with Force Staff and his helm, which covered the top part of his head. The Guardsman immediately saluted, which did little to ease the frown on the General's face.

"Commissar," Sturnn turned to Plymouth, "Who is this man? I want him on report for badgering prisoners."

"Sir, Private Niel, sir!" the Guardsman sounded off, sounding anxious at being placed 'on report.'

"I didn't ask you," Sturnn silenced the Guardsman roughly, who in turn swallowed slightly in fear, "Commissar?"

"Private Second Class Richter Niel, formally of the 13th Penal Legion, General," Plymouth answered, "Exonerated of charges of twenty counts of theft, but choosing to remain in service to the Emperor."

Alarmed, Beltino cried, "You've got criminals serving in your army?"

Sturnn smiled and looked his way, "I guess you're the one behind this little operation you've got going."

Beltino's eyes widened, "Er…how did you come to that conclusion?"

The impulsive Guardsman known as Niel stepped away and rejoined his squad as Sturnn frowned, "I figured no one else here would have the guts to speak out besides the head researcher. And unless I'm wrong and you're still sitting down there about to watch your people die…"

"WAIT!" Beltino cried again and stood up, "You are looking at him right now. Just…just tell why you are here, then leave us alone."

Sturnn clicked his fingers and two Guardsmen waded through the sitting crowd and grabbed Beltino by the shoulders and hoisted him upwards so that his feet was dangling in the air as he brought before Sturnn and his entourage. Compared to normal 'purebred' humans, Beltino was like a dwarf to them. The General looked down at the professor as he was dropped before hium, as if he was something that was scraped off his nail-studded boot.

"We're searching for a dangerous heretic to the Imperium who in a act of cowardice took a detour here to Lylat," Sturnn explained, "And by chance while we were pursuing him we had to take a detour of our own."

"Why?" Beltino asked.

"Our Psykers have picked up Eldritch Warp-drive energies escalating from this sector," Sturnn continued, "Tell me, what kind of science projects are you furries working on now?"

Slippy by now had sat groggily back up with some help from Amanda, and he heard clearly what Betlino said next, and angrily.

"If you are suggesting we are experimenting with Chaos," Beltino asserted roughly, "You are cataclysmically mistaken, you narrow-minded cretin!"

Sturnn smiled, "Tell that to the Interrogators when we bring you all aboard our vessels to help us find our heretic. If you cooperate, then afterwards we'll be nice enough to…"

General, sir.

Sturnn sighed and rolled his eyes, before saying into his communicator, "Scout teams, report."

We've turned the science labs inside out, and besides some xeno prototype weaponry and plasma engines there's no sign of any Chaos material.

COME AGAIN! Admiral Nero's shrill bellow cut through the communication line, causing Sturnn to grind his teeth in annoyance, What in God-Emperor's name did you say?

There's no evidence of Chaos dealings here, Admiral.

Plymouth turned to Sturnn shocked, "But our Psykers told us they sensed the taint."

Sturnn frowned and turned away from Beltino towards his accompanying Psyker, who cowered a bit and gripped hold of his Force staff defensively.

"What can you sense now?" Sturnn demanded.

"I sense Chaos, my lord," the Psyker wheezed, "Foul unclean taint is among us."

"Where?" Sturnn asked, getting frustrated, "On this station? Talk to me, Psyker!"

He was answered when suddenly the area shook violently as multiple laser lance blasts struck the side of the station, causing the civilian personnel to all cry out in fright and Sturnn to nearly topple over, managing to straighten himself quickly. The lights begun to black out for a few seconds as concussions swept everyone off their feet.

Sturnn…general come in! For frig's sake, respond!

"I'm here, Admiral!" Sturnn cried in the radio, "What in hellfire just hit us?"

Outer sensors just picked up multiple large signals approaching our posi….what in frigs sake?

"What? Who's attacking us?"

Five Cornerian battlecruisers…and two Chaos warships! What in the name of the Emperor?

Sturnn's felt his heart stop in his chest for a full ten seconds due to fright. Bravely he stood upright despite not breathing for that time and not letting it show on his face. Chaos? Here? In the ends of the universe they would find them here?

'It…can't be,' Sturnn thought.

Screams suddenly caught as his attention as he looked to see a dark-blue coloured, gold trimmed Chaos Sorcerer materialised out of thin air, floating right above the panic-stricken civilians, and immediately drawing las-fire from the Guardsmen all around. Without thinking, Sturnn opened up with his storm bolter, but finding that he and his men were hitting nothing but an energy shield.

"Heh heh, pathetic little furballs!" the Sorcerer mocked the civilians cowering nature, "Hold you fear! I only come for one of you."

He then eyed Slippy and reached for him, causing Amanda to scream in torment and rush to him, only to be smacked aside by the Sorcerer's staff, causing her to topple over some more squatting civilians and land flat on her back. Beltino watched in horror as the Sorcerer grabbed Slippy by the throat and hoisted him into the air, somehow sensing that the Sorcerer was crushing his airways.

"GLAK AWWWKKKK…DAD, AMANDA!" Slippy gasped out loud, before screaming, "ARGHHHH!"

The Sorcerer disappeared in a flash, causing a shockwave, which once again sent every Guardsman off his feet. Beltino was the first to get up, instinctively rushing over to where his son was, not concerned about the Guardsman with lasguns currently lying on their backs. Fresh tears welled in his eyes as he felt like his heart was about to stop beating in horror, uncertainty and fatherly distress.

"Dear God Almighty," he spoke softly, shaking gently in his shoes, "Slippy…no."

The power went out again just as another torpedo hit the side of the station, but this time everyone managed to keep their footing on the ground. All Guardsmen still had their lasguns, the navy personnel still clutched their autoguns and Sturnn along with Plymouth were waiting for the worse that was bound to happen.

And it was just about to begin.

----------

"Sweet Emperor!" a crewmember on board the Pacifier's bridge cried out as he saw a Chaos torpedo strike the side of the space station in the distance, removing his headset as he looked away from his console toward Admiral Nero, "My lord! A Chaos-identified presence just beamed on and off board the station."

Nero snapped angrily, "Thank you for the update, Nates."

He then pushed down on a nearby console vox communicator button.

"Sturnn!" he addressed loudly, "What in God-Emperor's name is happening over there? We're detecting Chaos warships approaching your position!"

Hell if I should damn well know, Admiral! Sturnn voxed back just as loudly and angrily, A Sorcerer just snatched one of the kemono scientists, and it's only now courtesy of you that we found out that Chaos cruisers are gunning down on us.

General Sturnn, Admiral Nero, Calgar's voice cut through their bickering, startling the two Imperial officers, Calm yourselves immediately. If Chaos approaches us, we shall be ready for…

ARGGGGHHHHHHHHH! NO, PLEASE, ARGHHHHHHH AWKKK!

Suddenly that hideous scream punctured through the speakers on the bridge, startling and chilling every crewmember's blood, sending Nero stepping back away from the console. Nero didn't recognise the tone of voice as Calgar's, or the voice at all for that matter. Just before he had the chance to ponder some more, the screaming continued, the volume and pitch increasing tenfold.

MERCY! SWEET EMPEROR ALMIGHTY! ARGHHH…

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!

'By the Emperor,' he thought, 'Not them. Not…not…'

He shook his head and cried into the communicator, "Every and all available Lightning Strike fighters to your ships immediately. All fleet gunnery crew to your stations NOW! The heretics must pay for attempting to impede our grand mission!"

We hear and we obey, lord.

Yes sir, Admiral.

----------

Meanwhile on board the Battle-Barge Emperor Incarnatus all available heads jerked upwards to listen to the Chaotic broadcasts that had hacked into their announcements systems, attempting to fill their minds with dread, but failing completely, yet still having a grip on their consciousness' and their souls. One Space Marine grabbed his melta-gun and readied for battle, wanting to vaporise the heretical freak that was laughing.

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA AHA HA!

Tiberius frowned as he stood in the centre of the chamber, holding his Force staff to him as he bowed his head in focus, his closed eyelids flickering as he tapped his mind into the Warp. The Lord Macragge Calgar sat on his throne before him, Cassius standing by, his Crozius Arcanum power mace at the ready in case the enemy would dare attempt to board their holy monastery and engage the 1st Company itself.

The Chief Librarian opened his eyes and spoke, "Tis' the Night Lords, my Lord Macragge."

"Aye, Chief Librarian," Calgar responded, "I should have known. No other heretical force would announce themselves through death and laughter to induce fear into the hearts of men."

The heretics chose this time to announce themselves 'formally'…

Lapdogs of the heathen False Emperor, We have come for you! Cast down your False idols and your weapons and submit to the power of Chaos Undivided and march under the banner of Warmaster Abaddon. If you shall not join us in spilling the xeno blood of every furry in this system, then your own blood will mix with theirs and will flow like red rivers, and your beating hearts torn from your chests. Make you choice, thought it is already obvious, is it not?

Calgar stood from his throne and clinched his massive mechanical fists, just hearing the heretics referring to his Emperor as a 'heathen' being enough to raise the temperature of his blood to boiling point, his twin hearts pumping faster to accommodate this.

"Move our fleet as close to the heretics as possible," he ordered out loud, communicating to the bridge section of the barge, "Deep strike a team of Tactical Dreadnought Armour into the nearest ship and redeem EVERYTHING in it with hammer and storm bolter!

Aye, Lord Macragge, the bridge responded, then cried out, Lord Macragge! We are detecting a fleet of eight unidentified ships approaching the sector. Six Imperial warships, one Tau Explorer-class and One Lylat Dreadnought-class frigate.

Cassius turned to Calgar with a smile, "It is our lamented brother, Lord Macragge. He and his followers has come to save these Kemono civilians from his own Imperium."

"And it will not be long until he finds he must do battle with Chaos again," Tiberius added, then approached Calgar and questioned, "Lord Macragge, what should we do about him and the vulpine Fox McCloud?"

Calgar pondered for a brief millisecond, his mind processing hundreds of possibilities in that time, the Space Marine mind being able to make snap, often beneficial, decisions. He stepped forward from his throne, having made up his mind and deciding how he should tell his subordinates, followers and brothers.

"How long will we be in vox range of this incoming fleet?" Calgar asked.

Approximately one minute, my Lord, the bridge answered, Shall we be opening up a communication line to them?

Calgar nodded, "Aye, brother. Make it happen."

----------

…it is already obvious, is it not?

Two communication officers, a brunette-haired woman and a red-haired younger man, hovering near the radio in the Operations centre of the Augustus felt their mouths agape as they intercepted their transmission. It was almost amusing about the fact that it was by accident while they were adjusting their obsolete technology, the radio equipment itself being eight centuries old.

"Did we…just hear that?" the brunette officer asked, stunned.

Her companion answered, "We did! Aw, crap. Are they what I think I they are?"

Suddenly the door into Operations opened and in stepped an exasperated Alexander escorted by Colonel Vash.

"Report!" Alexander exclaimed.

"We just intercepted a transmission near the target sector, my lord!" the brunette officer stood from her seat and cried, "It's a broadcast from…"

Alexander interrupted her by raising his hand, "We all just heard it over the announcement system, so spare me the recap! Now…"

He turned to the officer standing by the door.

"…current situation?"

The officer saluted and explained, "Long-range sensors detecting five heretical starships bearing down on the Beltino Station. It has already sustained light damage on it's structure. It will need approximately one more torpedo hit to start causing critical damage."

"Thank you, lieutenant," Alexander nodded, then tapped his earpiece communicator and voxed, "Mortensen, McCloud? Did you hear all that?"

I got bored listening five seconds in, came Fox's response, Already I've got an uncomfortable feeling I know what they're after.

"I can guess as well," came Alexander's hurried reply, "Now get your furry asses to the hangar, get prepped and move out if you plan to save your friend."

Rushing towards the hangar area down a familiar looking hallway, Fox and co., accompanied by Jacques, jogged as fast as they can. Fox looked over at Jacques as he spoke into his wrist-communicator, all the while noticing that the Grey Knight was able to run alongside them despite wearing Aesir Grey Knight power armour, and it was his psychic charge abilities that allowed him to move fast.

"We're on our way," Fox responded, then switched off his communicator and complained, "Your friend Alex sure knows how to make a fur feel comfortable."

"He will never change, Fox," Jacques simply replied.

They stepped running as they reached the hangar, finding two dozen Fury fighter craft being prepped and boarded by their flight crews, each consisting of a pilot, a gunner and a Techpriest in between them. Fox immediately wondered as to how they could have so many Techpriests working among these supposed breakaways and rebels to the Imperium, before he noticed Katt being gently pushed aside by a Kasrkin sergeant as he approached Jacques,. This caused him to notice the two teams of Kasrkin standing by near a dropship located away from the Furies.

"Commander," the Kasrkin officer saluted, "I have two commando teams ready for deployment and awaiting orders."

Jacques nodded, "There has being a change of plan, sergeant."

"Sir?"

"It would appear we will not be engaging the Imperial fleet after all."

You could be right, Brother Mortensen.

Jacques almost gasped upon hearing someone strangely familiar speak through his communicator, catching all those around him off guard. They were surprised to see him hesitantly answer his communicator, even more so to speak into it. Fox could somehow immediately notice what had just tapped Jacques' communication line.

"Lord Macragge?" Jacques responded questioningly.

'I knew it,' Fox thought, 'Let's hope this is just a social call.'

Aye, brother; I trust you have just heard the Night Lords' broadcast over your own com systems. There would be no doubt every ship in this sector would have picked it up, and had chilled their crews' blood just enough to freeze their hearts.

"We know now what we will be fighting against besides you and the Imperial fleet," Jacques pointed out.

Who said we would have to fight against one another? Calgar asked, Would this not be too good a time to negotiate a cease-fire to combat an even greater, and more realistic, threat?

Jacques smiled, "There would be no other good time."

Deploy your fighter squadrons immediately, Calgar said, I will see to it that the Holy ships of the Emperor will not fire upon you. There is certainty that Chaos will deploy their own fighters and once you have mopped them all up, we can attempt to board one of the Chaos-tainted Cornerian frigates.

"Board one of the ships?" Katt cried over the communications line,"Why'd we want to do that?"

Besides it is not only to access their ship's computer to assess the full extent of the Chaos presence here. I believe it is also because one of your own is on board one of those damned flying hulks and will face a slow, painful and somewhat eventual death if you don't plan on saving him, Calgar replied rather menacingly, And if you're there, Fox McCloud, I suggest you speak now.

Fox stepped forward, "Yeah, I'm here Macragge. We're just about to head off now. How can we be sure you guys won't start trying to phase us out of existence?"

I give you my word, Calgar responded, Just like on Papetoon. Now…

"We shall be entering the fray momentarily, my lord," Jacques responded, shocking everyone around him by referring to their possible enemy as 'lord', "Please, just make sure the Imperial fleet considers us as friends…at least for now."

You have my word. For the Emperor.

"For Terra."

Jacques' com switched off, and he was immediately set upon by Falco's somewhat angry glare.

"How can we be sure that the Smurfs are gonna grind us under their boots?" Falco asked, putting emphasis on 'Smurfs'.

"Falco's got a point for once," Fox added, "Can we really trust Calgar not to stab us in the back?"

Jacques nodded and responded calmly, "I trust Calgar with my life, Fox. On my honour, he will keep his word. Our survival depends on it."

Fox turned to Krystal and asked, "What do you think, Krys?"

Krystal sighed and looked back at him delicately, "I'm afraid we don't have a choice, Fox. We need all the help we can get. And this person they already in their hands is counting on us."

"Let's just hope it's not what we think it is," Fox groaned, then cried, "We've wasted enough time! Let's go!"

All flight crews in their Furies activated their fighters' systems and prepared to deploy. The large hangar outer doors opened up slowly to reveal the black that was space. A large, bubble like shield protected everyone from the cold vacuum as those support crew still present on the hangar floor finished supplying the furies with fuel and armaments.

Star Fox headed towards their Arwings and jumped in, the canopies quickly lowering and sealing them in their probable steel coffins, their flight consoles immediately lighting up and coming to life upon sensing their pilots' presence. Krystal pulled out her still sheathed staff and placed it to her side, ready to use in case things require her to leave the cockpit. Falco and Katt did the same with their blasters, before looking at one another through the canopies of their Arwings and giving each other a somewhat loving glance, Katt playfully blowing him a kiss; with Falco repaying with a snide glare.

But before Fox could jump in.

"Wait, Fox. Before you leave…"

The vulpine spun around, where he half expected Jacques to say 'Good luck' or 'Be careful.' Instead his hands stretched instinctively forward to catch a silver-encrusted boltpistol with three additional magazines. He cringed as he struggled to grip the four objects in his hands, not wanting to let them clutter on the floor. Once he held the pistol firmly in his hands and the magazines in the other, he looked at Jacques questioningly.

"You will find that bolter ammunition is far more effective in piercing power armour than laser," Jacques said, "If you come face to face with the fallen Marines again."

Fox smiled and twirled the boltpistol in his hand, stashing the extra magazines in his right pocket, "As if I didn't know that already."

"Give them the Hell they deserve, McCloud," Jacques frowned, "No mercy for heretics."

Fox nodded again, before leaping into the cockpit of his Arwing, buckling himself in as the canopy lowered itself. His flight computers activated automatically, the engines and G-Diffusers systems warming themselves up also. He looked over to each side to see Falco, Katt and Krystal also readying themselves, whilst sensing that Jacques was stepping away from the Arwings as the hangar bay doors opened, the shields preventing the vacuum from seeping in.

The pilots of the Furies fired up their engine drives while the gunners readied their deadly weapon. The Techpriest in fighters prepared themselves to maintain the hull of each ship internally. Jacques stepped over towards the nearest Shark Bay dropship, the entry ramp down and his commandoes waiting for him with their weapons drawn, the sergeant clutching both a hell pistol and a sword.

All ships ready for launch, Commander, one of the staff informed him from the observation station above the hangar

Jacques tapped his earpiece and spoke, his voice projecting into the hangar, "You may proceed with the operation. I wish you courage, and best of luck."

Fox's eyes narrowed as he gripped his controls and smiled devilishly, "Alright! LET'S GO, TEAM!"

Jacques swore he heard Falco let out a deafening, hollering 'whoaaaaaaa' over the com channels (which nearly blew out the eardrums of every headset-wearing technician and support staff present) as the Arwings sped down the runway of the Augustus. They broke through the bubble-like shield at top speed, where they blasted off into the blackness of space.

The Furies all followed Star Fox into space, each of the crews feeling confident that not only they wouldn't have to fight their fellow Imperial humans and instead more of the dire forces of Chaos, but that Star Fox was leading them. They had heard stories of these heroic xeno pilots and how these four individuals wiped out the entire Aparoid race before they could become a threat to the Imperium along with the likes of the Tyranids.

The main pilot of the leading Fury right behind the Arwings looked straight forward, seeing the aliens lead them away from the fleet, the space station and the approaching Imperial fleet in the distance. His radars begun picking up Chaos warships not far away and immediately felt dread. His face was completely covered in an oxygen mask save for his eyes, his hands firmly on his controls.

You flyboys behind us?

The pilot recognised the voice of the avian known as Falco Lombardi and was immediately (and already) annoyed at his perpetual laid-back attitude. He wondered as to how this blue bird could sound so calm in the face of much adversity, but then again the avian kemonos had always being known for their bravery, which would explain how many of them could have taken the destruction of their homeworld relatively calmly.

"This is Flight Commander Owen to Star Fox," the pilot responded after his train of thought departed, "We are currently on your six and will engage Chaos force once they are in range. Over?"

We copy that, Commander, the vulpine known as Fox McCloud responded, Thanks for reminding us we're not going at it alone against these bastards.

Owen snorted and chuckled, "Heh, don't mention it. Commander Mortensen made mention of your deeds all over your side of the universe, and being Eden born I'm taking his word for it."

All ships, maintain vox silence until we engage the enemy, Alexander cut in over the communications, McCloud, I trust you won't disappoint us.

Count on it, Governor

Katt smirked as she took personally accepted the challenge "Sit back, relax and enjoy the show, honey."

Commander Owen, try to come back alive, Jacques now spoke, It would be a tragedy if you and your crews all fell.

"We'll do our best, Commander," Owen frowned and nodded, "Hail to the Emperor."

By now Jacques and his two commando teams in their Shark Bay dropships were now flying through the blackness of space, a safe distance away from the escort Furies up front. Jacques stood in the leading dropship, surrounded by the elite soldiers of planet Cadia. There were ten Kasrikin commandoes around him, two armed with plasma rifles while another two were armed with grenade launchers, the rest armed with deadly hell-lasers. Another ten commandoes were in the other dropship.

"For the Emperor!" the Grey Knight and the commandoes all bellowed.

Way up the front the space fighters, both Arwing and Fury alike, all accelerated towards the conflict zone, which was steadily become hotter by the second. Every pilot saw this, but what Katt saw nearly froze her heart solid.

Hey, Katt cried over the coms, I'm detecting Cornerian fighters transponder signals from the Chaos ships.

Wide-eyed, Fox responded sharply, "Huh? What?"

Chaos is deploying it's masses of cultists and converts to destroy us, Jacques calmly cut in, Which is no surprise, as they see the value of the aeronautically trained.

Fox closed his eyes and lowered his head and banged it gently on his dashboard in self-defeat, cursing under his breath. He never thought he would ever have to fight against his own fellow Lylatians, even if they have now being corrupted by the taint.

He growled angrily and whispered softly, "Despoiler, you'll pay for every one of those pilot's death this day! I promise you that for sure!"

----------

From Slippy's point of view, all was completely dark; the smell was terrible, as if whatever room he was standing stank of rotting meat; he heard nothing but his own quickened heartbeat and harsh breathing, and to make matter worse he felt a cold, metal hand on left shoulder. He felt the hand immediately dug it's fingers into his shoulder, causing him to cry out in pain just as the satchel bag over his head was removed and everything became clear.

He comically felt the pupils of his eyes dilute and his mouth widen, feeling like he no longer could hold his bowels as he found himself surrounded by four huge blue/gold coloured Chaos Space Marines, their helmets removed to reveal their disturbed, defiled faces glaring down at him. He looked to his side to find it was the Chaos Sorcerer that had brought him here, and had now retracted his hand. He felt himself melt into the ground as he stared up into the Psyker's eyes.

"Is this it?" one of the Chaos Marines cried out angrily, "You brought back one little Toad the size of a squat?"

Slippy cried out as he backed against the wall away from the Marines, realising he was in a small dungeon-like chamber complete with chains, numerous torture device and the rotting corpse of a Cornerian office stretched out on a rack. Seeing that he body's joints of his arms and legs all but ripped out, it was then that Slippy became nauseous as he covered his mouth in shock.

Another dark-skinned Marine frowned, "It would appear the little xeno is starting to feel uncomfortable already…and he should…"

The Marine then stepped forward and grabbed Slippy by the throat, lifting him in the air. He turned to the Sorcerer and finished his sentence.

"…if you don't tell us how he could put himself to good use in the name of Chaos?"

The Sorcerer surprisingly didn't sound confident or smug when he answered, "I peeked into his mind. His knowledge of gravitational stabilisers and engine drives could be put to good use by the cults of Infernis."

'Infernis?' Slippy thought, having recognised the name of a supposed dead world somewhere in the eastern fringes of the Lylat System, 'Cults of Infernis What the hell?'

"Well, if it will help those slobbering furs in speeding up construction, then so bet it," the Chaos Marine growled and let go of him, "Take him aboard one of the cult's ships while I inform our captain."

As ordered, the Sorcerer stepped forward and grabbed Slippy the scruff of his suit, and tapped the blunt end of his staff as they disappeared in a red flash, the terrified frog screaming in panic once again. The Chaos Marines then turned on their heels and left the room. They headed towards the bridge and all but pushed the door off their hinges as they stepped in and found the captain, a well built blond-haired 'normal' human officer still dressed in his blood-stained Imperial uniform from 10,000 years ago, waiting for them.

"The Sorcerer has acquired one of the more intelligent furs from the station, just as the Despoiler commanded," the Marine reported, "He has been delivered to one of the Cornerian battlecruisers as we speak."

The officer smirked, "Excellent. We will now about face and return to Infernis. We will leave the furs here for the Imperial heathens…"

As he turned around to face the bridge window he saw that the Imperial fleet and nearly a hundred Imperial fighters were bearing down on them. He felt his throat go dry as he feared that the Night Lord Space Marine under his charge had intimidated the Imperial's to the brink of retaliation. His fears were confirmed when a barrage of missiles hit the bridge and destroyed it, incinerating everyone in it and crippling the ship.

The remaining Chaos ships all reversed themselves away from the advancing Imperial fleet and away from the station. Immediately their hangar bay doors all opened and out swarmed hundreds of Y shaped Chaos Claw fighters and the Tainted Cornerian fighters, their pilots all seething madly, minds completely (and literally) warped by the Ruinous Powers.

The transmissions between the Cornerian fighters could easily be heard over any communication system…

Look at them all…big fucking hulks of floating human steel!

Chaos demands their destruction. Their oversized lasers can't hit us

…which goes to show the level of insanity the Tainted Cornerians how slunk to. All this amused Nero as he saw the fleet's entire fighter craft fly past the Pacifier bridge windows. He crossed his arms and smirked, where a brief glimpse of a Lightning Fighter caught his attention for a split second, before he looked straight back ahead and smiled widely.

"Status?" Nero then asked.

"All available fighters have been deployed, my lord," one of the main pilots responded, "Hey, hang on…"

"What?" Nero questioned, "What is it now, pilot?"

"My sensors are detecting incoming Imperial Furies from the west of us, led by four Lylatian Arwings bearing down on us at full speed."

"Radar?"

"He's right, sir!" the radar officer exclaimed from behind his console, the green light emitting from his console radiating in his face, "Incoming Imperial fighters are approaching."

Nero gritted his teeth and looked out the window, "It's them! The Children of Eden…and Star Fox."

You should count this as a blessing, my lord Admiral, Calgar's voxed in, There is no way possible any of our brothers would abandon his own race, especially in the sight of Chaos.

Nero glanced out the window to see the Arwings and the Furies gradually getting into sight range. He frowned…

"But they're damned for daring to consort with xenos. I am ordering the fleet to open fire on them."

I recommend for now we keep our cannon fire off them, at least until after we have dealt with these warp-spawned cretins. We need all the ships we can get.

Now Nero was confused, "But we have more than enough…"

Trust me.

Nero clinched his fists and came close to screaming out in frustration. There was no use in arguing with the Adeptus Astartes – the Emperor's Chosen. He rubbed his forehead and stepped over to the communication console and the officer behind it.

"Sir?"

"Establish contact with the lead Arwing."

----------

Fox saw and heard the Arwing's communicator light bleeping on his dashboard, the system not recognising the source from anywhere familiar. He appeared to ignore it as he continued to fly towards the Imperial fleet and the hundreds of fighters on stand by, waiting for the order to attack the Chaos ships which slowly approached them.

Aren't you going to answer that, Fox? Krystal asked.

Fox did so, pressing the button and hearing a haughty, tired yet hostile tone of voice come out of the speakers.

This is Admiral Dylanis Nero of the Imperial Expeditionary Force to the xeno Star Fox. Acknowledge this transmission now!

"This is Fox McCloud, head of the Star Fox team," Fox responded with a frown, "You are violating the terms of the Imperium/Lylat Treaty of Kew and are at risk being engaged in self-defence. Withdraw all your ships towards the Lylatian border and retreat to Kew immediately."

Not until we have dealt with the Chaos forces in this sector first, then we will consider leaving your pitiful galaxy, Nero responded coolly, With the traitors in tow to await judgement.

Until then, Admiral, Alexander now chimed in, before feeling cynical, Why don't we deal with our common enemy first? Then we can discuss if we should hand ourselves over.

The line was silent for a few seconds, indicating to Fox that this Admiral Dylanis Nero was contemplating Alexander's words. He heard a sigh, before Nero said, That is acknowledgeable. Join up with our fleet's fighter squadrons and join the fray.

Fox smiled, "Glad we've come to an understanding. All right, all ships advance and link up with the Imperial squadron right away. Those Chaos craft aren't going to wait for us all day."

With Star Fox in the lead the Eden ships all accelerated forward and met up with the Imperial Lightning strike fighters and Starhawk bombers, the latter equipped with enough high-powered missiles to crack open a strike cruiser. The ships then all mingled amongst one another, assuming attack formation, both their Imperial and Eden pilots immediately becoming distrustful with each other.

The two Shark Bay dropships carrying Jacques and his Karskrin teams joined up with the fighters as well. But they were careful to stay behind as the situation was going to be hostile any second now, and the dropship's minimal weapon systems wasn't going to be enough to handle an entire wing of enemy fighters.

Within the leading dropship and watched by the commandoes nearest him, Jacques immediately closed his eyes and focused, before reaching for the nearest communicator. He then spoke into it whilst still in deep focus…

"Fox?"

Copy, Jacques.

…which Fox immediately could tell as he listened to him.

Fox, Jacques said, I can sense the civilian hostage among that small fleet. By the Emperor…!

Fox was then startled, "What?"

It is Slippy, he is being held by the Night Lords!

Damn it! Falco blurted over the coms in a frustrated rage, I knew that stupid frog would get himself in yet another fucked-up situation…

Angrily, Fox cried, "Enough! Jacques, Krystal, you can sense which ship he is one.

In her cockpit, Krystal closed her eyes as she tried to focus, but finding that more horrible, Chaotic visions were beginning bombard her as she scoured over the Choas fleet with her mind. Tears seeped through her closed eyes as she forced herself to witness the atrocities that the Chaos Space Marines were committing in Lylat as she bravely tapped into the Warp.

Eventually after a full half-minute she couldn't handle the vision of a child being tossed over a city wall from her mother's arms. She gasped out loud and opened her eyes, gripping her flight controls tightly and protectively. She was weeping, distressed beyond her years as a young woman.

Kry…Krystal? Jacques communicated worryingly, Respond.

"I…I can't sense him," Krystal cried out sadly, "The Warp…it's…it's too much to bear…"

ALRIGHT, THAT'S IT…!

Krystal stopped weeping when she heard Fox's loud, exasperated exclamation. Fox cracked his knuckles and focused on the approaching Chaos fleet, with hundreds of Imperial fighters and his team behind his back.

"All allied ships to me," Fox ordered, "Engage all hostile fighters. Clear the way for the Sharks to get in range of the Chaos fleet."

Roger that, McCloud.

On our way, commander.

If we must, xeno. All ships, follow Star Fox. FOR THE EMPEROR!

The Chaos fighters and Death Claws all launched their payloads of missile towards the approaching allied fighters. They all immediately performed evasive manoeuvres as the missiles exploded around them. Falco squinted his eyes, trying to reduce the glare the explosions in space were letting off. He cursed out loud…

"ARGHH! DAMN!"

…and deployed a Smart Bomb which homed in on one of the leading Taitned Cornerian fighters. The cultist pilot inside let out a shrill cry of terror as the bomb struck the hull of his ship and detonated, destroying him and four other Cornerian fighters and two more Chaos Death Claws. The Imperial warships behind them begun firing their massive lance cannons as they neared the small Chaos fleet approaching the station, which returned fire.

Krystal gripped his controls as she said flustered, "Good luck, Fox."

You too, Krystal, came Fox's haughty reply.

"Jacques."

We will survive this! Jacques' response came over her com, We MUST survive this!

The Arwings, Eden Furies, Imperial Lightning Attack fighters, Chaos Cornerian fighters and Death Claws all engaged in a massive dogfight, spurting laser and missile fire which lit up the darkness that was space. Fox gritted his teeth as he tried to stay in his focus, picking his targets carefully to make sure he wouldn't hit either Eden or Imperial ships. A Death Claw was immediately on his tail, prompting him to perform a sideways loop and blast the claw to oblivion.

Krystal locked on and fired a homing blast on a Cornerian fighter, barrel-rolling to avoid pieces of scrap metal that came her way as a result, which hit the other Chaos fighter tailing her and throwing it off guard. She then did a U-turn and engaged the Death Claw and fired, the laser piecing through the hull and hitting the pilot, splattering him before his fighter was destroyed.

Katt smiled as she tailed a Death Claw and was about to take it out when immediately a las-blast courtesy of a Eden Fury destroyed it, the fighter zooming past Katt's Arwing, nearly colliding with her as well as giving her the shock of her life.

"Hey, that was mine!" Katt exclaimed annoyed.

Heh, too slow kitty, came the Fury gunner's response.

"You challenging me, humie?" Katt growled playfully.

Less talking more blasting, Benedict, the Fury's pilot interjected, before crying out, Damn it, got hit! And you too, feline.

"Whoops, my bad!"

Fox looked around himself to see fighters, both friendly and allied alike, going up against one another ferociously, laser and plasma blasts exchanging between them. The Imperial warships were now in completely range with the Chaos starships and were firing their deadly torpedoes and letting their lance cannons tell Chaos what the Imperium really thought of the heretics.

One of the Chaos strike cruisers immediately disabled as it received five simultaneous lance strikes against the bridge, rendering it as a inactive, rapidly decompressing metal husk. At that, Fox noticed that one of the Tainted Cornerian battlecruisers begun to reverse away from the rest of the fleet and away from the space station and the battle. Fox immediately has a brainwave.

"Hey!" he exclaimed over the coms, "I think Slippy may be on board that ship that's trying to play truant!"

How can you tell, Kemono? Nero asked.

"Instincts!" Fox seethed, "Team Star Fox, on me. We need to disable that Cornerian battlecruiser."

We're on our way, Fox, Falco cried, Just let us blast our through these last load of…OI…C'MERE YOU FUCKER!

Krystal, Katt and Falco fought their way towards Fox, blasting their way through Cornerian and Chaos fighter alike, their lasers exploding them all around. Once they regrouped and reformed, they gunned their way towards the fleeing Cornerian battlecruiser, as it was turning around to flee the other way from the battle, exposing it's ion thrusters to them, and presenting the perfect opportunity for them to stop it.

No need to say anything, Katt startled Fox over the com, It's already done.

Fox smiled as they continued to speed after the battlecruiser, already firing their lasers which made contact with the cruiser's thrusters, immediately destroying one of them and drastically slowing it. Fox fired a smart bomb and pulled up and flew upwards away from the battlecruiser just in time as it exploded, taking out the rest of the boosters and immobilising it.

Good job, Fox, Krystal congratulated him with a smile, then said, Jacques?

Krystal.

You and the Kasrkin can board that thing and get Slippy out now.

We'll gladly do that, ma'am, the Kasrkin sergeant interrupted, If we can get inside. Sensors are detecting it's hangar doors are sealing themselves shut.

Fox flew to the side of the immobilised battlecruiser, picking off Cornerian fighters as he saw what the sergeant said was true, as the cruiser's hangar doors closed and sealed shut. He banged his dashboard in frustration and cursed out loud, quickly turning off his com for a second so that no one else could hear him. When he turned it back on.

Fox! Krystal exclaimed alarmingly, What happened? We lost you for a se…

"I'm fine," Fox haughtily replied, "Now we've got to find a way to get inside that battlecruiser."

And you better make it quick, Kemono, Nero stated madly, We're losing more ships just keeping them off your transport's backs.

Fox bit his lip as he tried to think of what they should do next, despite those hangar doors into the Tainted Cornerian battlecruiser being the only way they could land two dropships filled with Eden/Kronus commandoes and able to rescue Slippy. Strangely he somehow knew that Slippy was on board that formally fleeing ship and was glad that the Imperium hadn't destroyed it yet.

He felt a shockwave go past him, where he turned to the side to find one of the other Cornerian battlecruisers has now being destroyed, having sustained massive damage from the far superior Imperial fleet. The other Chaos cruisers were now being slowly picked off and Fox wondered if it was pure, suicidal madness that they would dare to try and engage a fleet much bigger than their own.

McCloud, a familiar voice made itself known over his com, Are you receiving me, vulpine?

Fox shook his head and put himself out of his thoughts, "Aun'shi?"

Perhaps we can be of assistance, commander.

----------

Within the control room of the Infinity, Aun'shi stood behind a seated La'Jakob as he typed furiously away at his console, a look of determination crossed his face as he moved his left hand to adjust his communication headset. The screen before him showed a image of the Cornerian battlecruiser that Star Fox was attempting to assault, and where Slippy had found himself within the bowels of. Aun'shi looked at the screen, before looking down at the gue'la.

"Time permitting, we will be able to breach that particular Cornerian vessel's internal systems and force those doors open," Aun'shi continued, walking away from Jakob in order to pace the floor of the control room, "And allow you and the righteous gue'la access to rescue you friend.

Fox sounded astounded when he asked, "Can you really do that?"

Jakob smiled and said, "There is nothing the Greater Good cannot accomplish, McCloud."

La'Jakob? Krystal asked surprisingly, You could do this?

Jakob narrowed his eyes as he continued typing. "If I can't kill the enemies of existence myself, then the least I can do is make their lives unbearable."

Nice philosophy, Nero sounded off, sounding disturbed, I never thought traitors could find the time to think you do, man Tau.

Now Jakob frowned, feeling anger boil his blood at being called a traitor, despite not betraying anyone. Oh, how he hated the Imperial human way of thinking, where nothing matters to them except worrying about being betrayed, causing vast amounts of death and destruction and enslaving their own people…all in the name of their Emperor.

It was Aun'shi's calm voice that settled his nerves. The elder Tau stepped to his side and said reassuringly, "Do not let his words bring despair down on your righteous mind, La'Jakob. He can not understand what he says, being of the typical Imperial mind. "

Jakob looked up to him, where he smiled and nodded. He then turned back to the screen and said, "Mortensen?"

I am here, La'Jakob.

"Ready yourself, Grey Knight," Jakob told him, "You'll be on board that corrupted hulk in…er…"

He squinted at the screen and saw that the hangar bay doors control system was now hacked and a small One-Minute Timer Display revealed itself, counting down slowly. This effectively told him that the battlecruiser's defensive firewalls would give way in that short amount of time and he will be able to gain full control of the ship. And that would bring about a lot of 'nifty' opportunities in making the enemies' lives more 'unbearable.'

You were saying how long? Falco queried annoyingly.

"Fifty-five seconds," Jakob responded, "You just need to keep those damn flies of your dropships; backs until then."

That won't be a problem, Krystal said, then added with much appreciation, Thank you again.

Jakob smiled, "You can thank me once this is over, Krystal."

----------

As he watched the explosive battle continue from the bridge, Nero looked as angry as any Imperial officer would at the brink of major defeat. As what appeared to be distant laser lightshow happening before, him he couldn't believe that this was to happen at all. His own forces were allied with aliens and traitors in holding off the Forces of Chaos from laying waste to a xeno space station filled with heretical (not to mention more alien) technology, and to save a singular life for which already have already fallen, mainly good pilots.

"Lord Macragge," he shouted to the vox communicator, "Tell me your Terminators are ready for Deep Strike onto the nearest Chaos warship, with a Techmarine standing by to accompany them."

Be patient, Admiral, came Calgar's cool response, We will know what the extent of Chaos' taint in Lylat will be. Just be patient, and trust in the lives of these so-called traitors and their xeno allies…as much as myself hates to admit.

Nero twitched his nose and clasped his hands together behind his back, 'You better, Calgar.'

----------

Thirty seconds to entry, Star Fox. Keep it up…

Team Star Fox continued to give the attacking Cornerian fighters and Chaos Claws hell, annihilating their fighter craft one by one, with Eden and Imperial craft at their side. Krystal took it upon herself to personally defend the transports carrying Jacques and his Kasrkin commando team, intent on not letting her brother fall, despite the fighters' surprisingly apparent disinterest in attacking them. Jacques noticed that immediately.

Standing in the centre of the transport cabin surrounded by his men, Jacques' spoke in the vox, "Krystal, we are near the transports and are clear from danger. Fox may need your support more than we do."

Suddenly the transport rocked as a laser blast struck it's hull. Krystal immediately saw that a group of Chaos claws were heading straight for them, lascannon's blazing. She silently prayed for strength before accelerating forward. She fired away at them, destroying the centre fighter and scattering them, prompting her to pursue each one individually and wipe them off the universal map, feeling vengeance course through her system.

With each passing second, she hated Chaos even more. Not just for destroying her homeworld, her family and her people, but for attempting to take away the last thing that mattered to her. Jacques…she then felt an otherworldly presence into her mind and soothe her gently, before hearing his voice in her head.

Please calm yourself, Krystal, Jacques telepathically said to her reassuringly, I will survive this. You are not one to give in to such negative emotions.

Krystal breathed in gently and nodded, before replying back mentally, I'll stay focused, then. Thank you.

Immediately as proof of her recovered focus she barrel-rolled to avoid a blast of laser from another pursuing Chaos claw, before sharply turning and blasting the tainted fighter out from existence.

Fox and Falco continued to give it their all, not remembering the last time they were in a space battle of this magnitude. Falco pursued a Chaos claw and fired off a homing blast and destroyed it, before performing a loop to shake off the tailing Cornerian fighter, before firing off his deadly blue laser and taking it out.

Fifteen seconds…

Fox barrel-rolled to deflect a barrage of las-fire from another group of Chaos claws, the sweat running down his forehead and into his eyes, blinking them away as he continued to pilot his flying piece of metal, it's supposed Machine Spirit straining to keep it together. He performed a U-turn to shake off the claw, flying straight towards a Tainted Cornerian fighter. He gripped his controls tightly and fired some more, eradicating it.

Five seconds…

The Eden Shark transports were only metres away from the stricken Cornerian battlecruiser, under escort from Krystal. Falco and Katt mopped up the fighters that were still hanging around before they regrouped, and heard Jakob announce…

Get ready for 'everything', Star Fox, Jakob reminded him, then reported, Opening bay doors.

Slowly the hangar doors leading into the Cornerian battleship opened slowly and painfully, revealing a dank, dark-looking bay with numerous Cornerian fighters still in dry-dock, surrounded by numerous Chaos-warped Cornerian troopers and Chaos Space Marines. The Cornerians eyes were jet-black and pupil less with Undivided power, their sharpened teeth bared as they seethed uncontrollably like the wild beasts they have much less reverted to.

Determination was now present on Fox's face as the bay doors opened and the Arwings hovered outside, joined by the dropship. The Tainted Cornerians and Chaos Marines scattered around the bay raised their blaster rifles and boltguns, preparing to fire. Fox felt his own trigger fingers beginning to itch with each passing millisecond until they literally became irritated.

"Hang on, Slippy," Fox muttered to himself, "We're coming!"

So what do you think? I apologise if the final parts seem a little rushed. Keep an eye out for the revisions on my previous chapters, which I will no doubt up load soon.

For now, here is a little something extra…the biographies of the characters, both good, not so good, and downright evil. Here's how I would describe both Star Fox and WH40K characters and their standing so far in the story. Enjoy reading, and stay tuned.

GamerJay out…

Cast

Order

----------

The Protagonists

(A/N: Still can't decide who is the main protagonist. I think they both deserve equal billing.)

Fox McCloud

The young, bold yet brave leader of the Star Fox team, the space-faring band of mercenaries who have saved Lylat countless times from threats inside and out, he has long since proven to be just as charismatic and resourceful like his father – the legendary James McCloud. Before he came into contact with his spiritual brother Jacques Mortensen he has never seen the worst war has to offer, especially in the neighbouring 'Gothic Sector'.

But afterwards, all of that changed, with him enduring, yet managing to survive the Venomian Remnants, an Ork WAAAGH! led by Warlord Gorgutz 'ead unter', the Forces of Chaos…and most terrifying of all: The Imperium of Man and their legions of genetically-engineered super soldiers. All of this standing alongside his friends, Star Fox's newest recruit Jacques and the love of his life, Krystal.

But now his skills and experience as a leader, a pilot and a fighter are needed more then ever as the Chaos Warmaster Abaddon the Despoiler himself targets his home system to launch his 14th Black Crusade. Can he lead Star Fox, and possibly the Lylat system, to victory once again; or is it time for him to join his beloved father in death. Though he knows that if he dies, his friends will be not be far behind him.

Jacques Mortensen

The sole surviving Space Marine of the doomed Cerinia Conflict which costed the lives of the entire Ultramarine 2nd Company and his Captain, the noble, charismatic and seemingly ageless Jacques Mortensen has made it his life's mission to protect Crown Princess Krystal. As originally assigned by his Grand Master and the Emperor of Mankind. He was responsible for getting her off her doomed homeworld and bequeathing her staff. He considers her to be the closest thing he has to a best friend and a loved one and will strike down anyone who dares to even wave a finger at her, with the trademark brutality and zealotry that defines a Space Marine.

A very powerful Psyker, he also seeks to prove to the universe that there is still compassion, kindness and humility left in humanity. And he has proven that time and time again through his noble, charismatic personality, his cause to preserve all life from being eradicated and his undying faith in the Emperor of Mankind. And the sheer malice and brute force he inflicts on those evildoers who dare to threaten those he cares for…which is Star Fox, the only family he has now.

Through a bizarre string of events he has now become a Grey Knight, an Inquisitorial Space Marine who has sworn to hunt down the corruption that is Chaos and purge it from existence. Though his friends and allies are in marvel of him and his new abilities and his increased determination to do what he thinks is right, he doesn't seem to be all that happy about himself, for all the right reasons.

To the majority of both the Kemonos of the Lylat System and the citizenry of the Imperium, plus his own chapter, he is a hero and a high-servant of the Emperor, but he doesn't see himself as either of those. To the agents and lords of the Inquisition he is a naive, misguided traitor and heretic. He in return he sees them as hypocrites and his enemies.

----------

Krystal

Young, compassionate and caring best describes the cerulean vixen known as Krystal, a survivor of her doomed homeworld of Cerinia, destroyed by the Forces of Disorder when she was just eight. Years later she would join the mercenary Star Fox team following an incident on the planet Sauria and was critical to the destruction of the Aparoids. She has since made a name for herself not just through her upstanding qualities as part of Team Star Fox, but for her near Angelic beauty that only comes from a Cerinian. She hates to see a person suffer and wishes that she never has to kill anyone, even if she has to.

Drawing her power from both the ancient source for her people found within the elements and of the more potent, powerful Warp; she prefers the former, but is extremely sensitive to the latter, allowing her to see and hear things that would be considered unnatural. And with the arrival of the Forces of Chaos under Warmaster Abaddon, she is about to enter her own personal hell besides her fight with the enemy, where she is prepared to slick her elemental staff with their blood and phase out their corruption.

She has displayed a fair degree of respect to the human Space Marines (more accurately the Ultramarines) and the Emperor of Mankind. The two most important men in her life are Fox McCloud and Jacques Mortensen – whom for the latter she shares a deep spiritual and emotional bond with and owes him her life…and love.

Falco Lombardi

Brash, cynical and uncompromising, Falco rose from a life of crime along with Katt Monroe to become the ace pilot of the Star Fox team. Though it is hard for him to keep his tongue behind his beak and tends to say the wrong things at the wrong times he is respected immensely for his devotion to his team and to his friends. He considers Fox and the others the only family he has following the tragic loss of his family and homeworld Falconia to both the Chaos Cults and the Imperium of Man.

Because of this he has a near-paralysing fear of humanity, which he manages to hide very well behind his complicated, tough exterior. It somewhat cracked when he was forced to put up with Star Fox's newest member, the Space Marine known as Jacques Mortensen, with the human realising the avian's bitterness for him, but immediately understanding why. As a result, both Falco and Jacques treated each other passively.

But gradually Falco learnt to accept Jacques and realised that even though he was one of the 'bastards'; he was not like them at all, and they eventually made peace.

Slippy Toad

Referred to as an amphibian Techpriest, Slippy has not only served Star Fox as it's chief engineer, but as Fox's childhood playmate and friend. Whilst incredibly intelligent and handy with all sorts of mechanical devices and toys, he is somewhat poor and disorganised when it comes to fighting, opting to (hilariously unwillingly) draw enemy fire during space combat with his Arwing. Or continuing to fire his shotgun while stepping back when fighting Venomian 'Jacques' Clone Marines, much to the (understandable) chagrin of his fellow teammates and allies.

It would appear that the Adeptus Mechanicas' Machine God, as well as the Machine Sprit, really is with Slippy, as it is his mechanical expertise that as led Star Fox to victory many times. As for his considered cowardice, there are times when his true bravery shines through, and that is when victory is assured for the Forces of Order.

Peppy Hare

Fox's mentor and oldest friend, Peppy Hare had taken Fox under his wing following the cub's tragic loss of his father many years before, betrayed by a treacherous team-mate. He has served a both a pilot and a strategist for the Star Fox team. Though just before the events of this current year he had given up piloting due to his advanced age, and relegated to just support the pilots in the field from his chair back on the Great Fox.

With General Pepper's forced retirement he has now taken over as the head of the Cornerian military, where he has spent much of his time studying Imperial battle tactics, in order to counter them when the time comes when they do invade the Lylat System and the galaxy from which it was located. What he didn't count on was legions of Chaos Space Marines and Cultists to invade Corneria directly from the Beltino Orbital Gate.

Following the successful invasion, his current status is unknown for now.

La'Jakob

Full name: Shas'la Calth Jakob Sho'ka Guela. An upstanding young man of 21 years, he is a Gue'vesa (Human Helper) of the Tau Empire and a firm believer and follower of the unifying philosophy of Tau'va – the Greater Good. What is known of him is that he is kind, friendly, intelligent, philosophical and determined; with barely suppressed urges to kill Imperial humans as according to him they are the worse things to ever happen to the universe.

What makes him stand out from other Tau Auxiliaries is that he fights directly alongside the Tau as a 'Fire Warrior', and is part of Aun'shi's entourage in search of the Farsight Enclaves, which has brought them to the Lylat System. Unlike his Tau 'brothers' he is also a rock-hard martial artist specialising in fighting manoeuvres similar but not limited to jujitsu, kung fu, kickboxing and judo. His manoeuvres are so quick and extraordinaire he was able to stun a Chaos Alpha Legion Raptor before striking the killing blow of Mont'ka.

Besides being forced to fight alongside humans, particularly the infamous Governor-Militant Lukas Alexander of Kronus and the mysterious Grey Knight known as Jacques Mortensen, much to his shame; he has become intrigued by the cerulean vixen known as Krystal, particularly her attachment to Jacques. Somehow he feels he has met her before, but cannot think of where…

Beltino Toad

Slippy's father and the head of Cornerian Research & Development who was crucial to the destruction of the Aparoid menace a year ago. The head of the Beltino Research Station at the outer edge of Lylat near Aquas, not a day goes by that he worries the one day humanity will invade Lylat, starting with him, his son and his future daughter-in-law Amanda.

General Sturnn

Formally a highly-decorated General of the Cadian Military, Sturnn had lost most of his honours following his massive defeat on Lorn V due in part to the Eldar of Craftworld Ulthwe having interfered in his mission to recover the superweapon known as the Titan Dominatus. A grizzled, stern yet honourable and upstanding man, he commands the Cadian 412th Regiment and he is credited for being one of few humans to tolerate the presence of the Eldar…at least until his last mission where he attempted to exact revenge against the escaped Inquisitorial prisoner Farseer Taldeer.

Now after 10 long years, he and the 412th have been assigned once again. This time to hunt down the Children of Eden, the survivors from the heretical xeno world of Eden, who have now fled to the Lylat System in a neighbouring galaxy one million light years from the Pacifius Segmentum. Wanting to regain his honour, he accepts the mission with little hesitantly, once again partnered with his old friend Commissar Plymouth.

But what he will find there will change his outlook on life and honour forever…

Farseer Taldeer

Known as the Dreamer of Ulthwe, the Farseer Taldeer has had a most turbulent life at the hands of both the Forces of Disorder and even those of Order, especially with Mon-keigh, the near derogatory Eldar term for humanity. While she cares deeply for his brothers and sisters and all Eldar, she doesn't feel the same way towards other species, believing them to be ignorant of the threats that could enslave and destroy them, especially from the Forces of Chaos and the C'tan and their armies of Necron slaves.

It was her underestimation of the Imperium, and the Imperial Guard, that led to her downfall on Kronus a decade ago, where her forces were decimated while attempting to quell the Necron infestation. Resulting factors led to her and her kin being stranded on the planet and systemically picked off by the humans, her being the only survivor. She was then captured, drugged, and like an animal hauled off to the Inquisition to be 'questioned'.

But somehow, she is now free and once again leads Craftworld Ulthwe against the entire universe…in a bid to stop them from destroying themselves. And it would appear she has found a most likely ally in the 'Archon of Eden' – Jacques Mortensen…

Lord Macragge Marneus Calgar

The veteran Grand Master of the Ultramarines, the current 'Lord Macragge' has led the warriors of Ultramar to victory for hundreds and hundreds of years. From the Tyranid Wars on Macragge to the frontlines of the Eye of Terror during Abaddon the Despoilers 13th Black Crusade, he has risen up and prevailed against all the odds, striking down the enemies of humanity and the Emperor of Mankind.

It would appear that he doesn't hold the 'xenos' of the Lylat System in the same contempt as he does with the other species he's fought against, mainly the Tyranids and the Orks. Having personally led the Space Marines on both Falconia and Evergreen in an attempt to contain the Chaos infestations among it's population, but ultimately failing in both and ordering the Exterminatus' which destroyed them. This earned him the hatred of the survivors of those two world's, especially Falco Lombardi and Fara Phoenix.

Strangely somehow Calgar appears to be connected to both Fox McCloud and Jacques Mortensen, whom the former he claims to have met his father at one time. It would seem he has a close bond with Jacques, where it is likely he had taken the complicated human being under his wing following the destruction of Eden and built him up into the zealous, powerful yet courageous Space Marine he is today.

Whatever else that the Lord Macragge is hiding behind his massive power armour and his massive Gauntlets of Ultramar is yet to be disclosed…

Commissar Rowan Plymouth

A Commissar with over 40 years in service to the armies of the God-Emperor of Mankind, he has made it his sacred duty to ensure the hearts of the men of the Imperial Guard to stay true to the fight by whatever means necessary. Like every other political officer he will go as far as putting a laser bolt through a cowardly Guardsman's head if he ever thought of taking a step backward. He aspires to be remembered as one of the Imperium's best political officers alongside the likes of Ibram Gaunt, Sebastian Yarrick and to a lesser extent Ciaphas Cain.

A close associate of General Sturnn and the Cadian 412th he was present during the battles on Lorn V to recover the Titan Dominatus. Despite the 412th's failure to recover the superweapon he harbours no ill will to Sturnn and the men, having a deep respect for them all. Yet like Sturnn he seeks redemption in the eyes of the Emperor and the Imperium for their failled mission.

With his upcoming assignment to the Lylat System in pursuit of the Children of Eden, and that he will stand toe to toe against both Fox McCloud and the Forces of Chaos, he may get his chance.

Governor-Militant Lukas Alexander

Lukas Alexander has to possibly be the most unpopular and hated man in the universe. Having secured the planet Kronus following the Dark Crusade around fourteen years ago from the forces of Chaos, Tau, Eldar, Ork, Necrons and even the Blood Ravens chapter of the Space Marines he had almost everything an Imperial Commander could ever have…until he was mysteriously ousted from power. Now he and the remainder of the Kronus 1st Company, nicknamed the Kronus Liberators, have joined forces with the Children of Eden and now live a lawless life, pursued by the Inquisition.

Having originally held a deep hatred for anyone non-human, it would seem his ideals having been greatly affected following his encounter with the Grey Knight known as Jacques Mortensen, but still he now has a bleak, grey outlook on life and his faith…

Shas'O 'Commander Farsight' Shovah

The legendary Tau Fire Caste Commander, Shas'O Shovah codenamed Commander Farsight has been the subject of much debate and controversy within the Tau Empire and the Imperium. Having broken away from the rest of the Empire, he and his followers known as the Farsight Enclaves have struck out on their own for hundreds of years, serving the Greater Good in their own way and pursuing their own agenda. A practitioner of close-combat and wielder of the mysterious Dawn Blade, he has earned the hatred of the other Tau Commanders and especially the Ethereal caste, though it hasn't stopped Aun'shi from attempting to bring him back into the fold and investigate his connections with the hated C'tan race.

It would appear that he has an affinity with the Gue'vesa'Shas'la known as La'Jakob, and that would be true as the human claimed to have learnt close-combat manoeuvres from him

Fleet Admiral Dylanis Nero

The high commander of the Imperial fleet ferrying the Cadian 412th to the Lylat System, not much of his is known of his past or his intentions. But what is known is that he is more or less a caricature of the upstart, pompous Imperial officer and bears a great hatred of heretics and xeno, which will put him at olds with Jacques Mortensen and his xeno allies and friends.

Aun'shi

A member of the mysterious ruling Ethereal caste and a veteran of the Tau Empire's many wars against the Orks, Aun'shi has close links with the Fire Caste, having valiantly led it's forces into battle many times. Long overdue for retirement (in his own words) he tires of war and looks forward to spending the rest of his life in relative peace.

But over his decision to search for the Farsight Enclaves and their Commander O'Shovah, it would seem he would have to get his honour blade bloodied once again.

Dash Bowman

An ace pilot of the Cornerian Air Corp, he and his squadron valiantly engaged the Chaos Warfleet at the beginning of the invasion of Lylat. His exact whereabouts, and if he either survived or perished, is yet to be known.

Katt Monroe

Falco Lombardi's (non-admittedly) on/off again girlfriend and fellow mercenary, this pink feline has assisted Star Fox on many occasions, a few of which the team owes her their lives. Blissfully she knew nothing of what was to come after the night she and Falco finally confessed their feelings for one another and consummated their love.

But when it did come she showed no drop of their as she alongside Star Fox fought the Chaos Space Marines and lived to see another day. And she is more than determined to continuing fighting with Falco by her side.

The Emperor of Mankind

The (supposed) living god of humanity, he has being a cypher to Cornerian academics since Lylat's first contact with the Imperium thousands of years ago. According to Imperial lore he ascended to the Golden Throne of Terra following the closing days of the Horus Heresy, the most terrifying civil war of humanity. His most favoured Primarch, Horus, turned against him following his corruption by the power of Chaos and becoming the Chaos God's chosen champion and led nearly half of the Space Marine legions against his 'father.'

During that final battle the Emperor and Horus did battle, with the Emperor convinced he could make his son see reason. Unfortunately Horus inflicted mortal wounds on him and would have won if the Emperor did not summon all of his mighty godlike psychic power to banish the taint from his forever…and in the process obliterating Horus' soul and banishing the Chaos Space Marines into the Eye of Terror.

Now, he is more or less a broken body encased in the Golden Throne situated in the Sanctum Imperialis of Terra, which serves as both a warp beacon and a complex massive life-support machine. He us neither living nor fully dead. For thousands of years as he has seen his own Imperium, which he gave his life for, slowly descend into madness and corruption as it has being locked in perpetual war against both Chaos and alien, driven on by the dreaded Holy Inquisition. Against his wishes, he is worshipped by trillions of people as an omnipresent, all-seeing deity, believing that he can answer their prayers in a universe gone made.

Jacques Mortensen said that it was the Emperor who saved his life along with Marneus Calgar when his homeworld of Eden was destroyed. How the supposed omnipresent did so is yet to be disclosed. But for now, it is Jacques' faith in this once great man that drives him on to protect all those deserving those life, and to take it away from those who don't.

Disorder

Abaddon the Despoiler

The chosen Champion of the four Dark Gods, he is said to be the personification of the power of Chaos itself. Ever since the end of the Horus Heresy ten thousand years ago he has led his chapter the Black Legion and the seven other Traitor Space Marine legions in Thirteen violent Black Crusades against the universe. Though having been driven back every time by the combined forces of Order, he is completely unrelenting thanks to his devotion to the Ruinous Powers.

Now, he has chosen Lylat as the staging point for his 14th Black Crusade and plans to strike the Imperium from this most unlikely of locations. Blood flows like rivers as thousands have already lost their lives, completely overwhelmed by possibly the most evil man in existence besides his one-time admired superior Horus.

It would take more than strength of arms and faith to stop Abaddon the Despoiler now; it would take a miracle…

Ahriman

Classed as a Librarian rather than a Sorcerer, the infamous Ahriman of the Thousand Sons and his followers has returned from exile to join Warmaster Abaddon in his quest to bring the scourge of Chaos to the universe, despite having declared the Ruinous Powers as not being their masters. Having being given a very important task, he his determined to follow through with it.

It would seem suspicious that someone deemed a traitor by the traitorous ones would serve alongside them, especially after condemning his own chapter to a life of automotive hell following the infamous Rubric of Ahriman, an experiment gone wrong centuries ago. He appears to have his own motives and designs different from that of Chaos in his search for the 'Imperator', but that is yet to be seen.

Zeraphiston

He is Warmaster Abaddon's personal sorcerer, who has served him faithfully for thousands of years. It would seem he and Ahriman shares bitterness towards one another, though it would come to no surprise.

Lord Ezekiel

A captain of the Alpha Legion, he is determined to restore his chapter's honour following their humiliating defeat on Tartarus a decade ago. Varying between being bad tempered and mildly calm, he deals with having to serve alongside his overconfident Sorcerer and Brother-at-Arms Artemis. That was until he and his company were ambushed by a combined force of Imperial Guard, Tau and Star Fox and he chose death rather then squaring off against the deluded visionary known as Jacques Mortensen.

Surviving his own suicide attempt but scoring massive 'unpleasant' burns, he has declared vengeance against the Forces of Order and elects to bring them down on his own, and finally restore his honour among Chaos Undivided. His first set of targets: Fox McCloud, Jacques Mortensen and Krystal.

Sorcerer Artemis

The only sorcerer of the Alpha Legion to have a mohawk, he is classed as being both opportunistic and overconfident, much to the chagrin of Lord Ezekiel and those Traitor Marines and cultists under his command. Those factors costed him his life at the hands of La'Jakob, whom armed with a Cerinian staff, struck the sorcerer down. Afterwards his corpse was then practically obliterated by Jacques, sending his soul and his arrogance screaming straight to Hell.

Horus

The original traitor, the one to have brought Chaos into the material plane of existence after accidentally falling in with a Chaos Cult nearly ten-thousand years ago, where afterwards he instigated the Horus Heresy. Space Marine fought Space Marine and he was on the verge of ultimate victory and his goal of bringing forth the word of Chaos to the Imperium, until he was defeated by his lord, master and father the Emperor of Mankind.

His power claw is in the possession of his once-trusted lieutenant Warmaster Abaddon, who once looked up to him as his own father figure, but now despises him for his defeat at the hands of the Imperium.

Though Horus no longer exists, the good and faithful can still feel his evil presence as they continue to fight the forces he had wrought.