Chapter 6: The Hunt
Corneria Interplanetary Spaceport 20:15 hrs local time.
Despite the major terrorist attack on this facility a few weeks back, the spaceport is functioning at nearly seventy-five percent efficiency. Although complete restoration will probably take six-eight months, the Federation is putting major fiscal resources into repairing it. The spaceport is too important to the planets economy to let falter.
Within the spaceports Air/Space Traffic Control center (ASTC) a masked enigmatic figure carefully browses through the various ship logs and manifests. These files are of extremely sensitive nature. Some in which contain registry files, departure times, locations of diplomatic envoys and some military convoys. If hacked the information could be devastating in wrong hands. However this person seems more interested in locating just one ship.
"Security clearance approved. Data base search. Subject Great Fox. Ex Cornerian Navy Redeemer-class Assault Carrier. Now commanded by Captain McCloud Fox J."
The figure then smiles and continues typing.
"Subject departed dock at 19:30 local time, destination Usella."
"HAHAHA excellent. I have you now Fox." the figure says sadistically and then erases her search history.
"Search history deletion approved. Now logging you off Mr. Hendrics."
After the infiltrator finishes, she stands up from her chair and walks over to a pair of dead bodies on the floor and places the stolen ID back on the it's previous owner and smiles.
"Thanks again boys, I sure hope I can return the favor someday. HAHAHA, look out Fox the Kurse is coming for you. And it will be there very soon." Kursed says and nonchalantly walks out the door and vanishes...
Great Fox 15:30 shipboard time, the next day.
On board the Great Fox it was business as usual for Fox. His morning consisted of a quick workout, breakfast then on to work. During all of this Katt has been asleep the entire time. When she finally wakes up she showers, changes into a set of her new cloths and proceeds directly to the bridge figuring Fox is there. As she nears the bridge entrance she hears the rather loud sound of heavy metal coming from inside. She then grins.
"Sounds like Fox is working "real" hard in there." Katt says in joking manner and walks in. As the door opens the sound of the was much louder than she had expected and catches her by surprise. Once she regains her composure she walks over to Fox's seat, as she expected he is completely oblivious to her presence. She decides to take advantage of this. She slowly creeps up to him until she is right behind his chair and waves her hand behind. Obviously he doesn't respond, she thinks to herself and smiles and flicks him in the ear.
"What the fuck was that?" Fox jumps up and looks behind him and sees his comrade. After realizing what just happened he uses his council to turn the volume of the music down.
"Afternoon sunshine. So you finally rose from the dead." Fox sarcastically greets.
"Funny." Katt replies.
"How are you feeling; you slept in pretty late." Fox says.
"Not bad at all, besides being a bit groggy. The pain for the most part is gone, anyways I don't have a clock in my room but I'm guessing it's about 12:30 right?" Katt says.
"Try about 15:30. I was wondering if you went into a coma or something." Fox replies.
"Shit I really need to re-acclimate to ship board time. I'm know I'm going to feel like hell tonight." Katt says rather surprised.
"Give it a few days and you'll get used to it or your have a mental breakdown." Fox says with hint of snark.
"I've had worse. So how long until our arrival time?" Katt asks.
"Well initially I figured about twenty-four hours. I'm no astrophysicist but long story short due to Usella's current orbital position and time of day upon our set arrival we should be coming out of warp in about two and half hours." Fox says analytically.
"Good I hate waiting. I suppose we should start getting ready then." Katt says in anticipation.
"Took the words right out of my mouth. Come on I'll sure you the armory. We can plan out our mission and you can pick yourself out some equipment and weapons." Fox says and stands up from his chair.
"Sweet lets go." Katt replies and follows Fox out of the bridge. The walk to the armory only took a couple of minutes. The to stop in front of a heavy duty armored blast door with a Authorized Personnel Only sign on it.
"Well here we are. Just so you know the armory is pass code protected. The code is 5936." Fox says and types it in. The heavy doors then hiss and open up. The two then walk inside. Inside the tightly secured room bristled with dozens of weapon systems ranging from pistols up to RPGs. Katt was needless to say was in awe.
"(Whistle) Man Fox I always new you were the go big or go home type, but once again you exceed my expectations. I'm impressed." Katt says while gazing at his inventory.
"My current inventory is slightly short but we'll make due." Fox comments.
"Your kidding me right? You have enough guns in here to arm practically an entire infantry company." Katt replies.
"Yeah but sometimes equipment gets lost in field or they break etc, so I like to have reserves." Fox says.
"Fair enough, so correct me if I'm wrong but the mass majority of the weapons look like human made solid projectile weapons." Katt says as she looks around more.
"Good eye, yes these are United Federation Army issue small arms. I struck a deal with Triarii Arms just after the blitz. I needed weapons and they made a me an offer I couldn't refuse." Fox replies.
"But why not blasters I'm sure Space Dynamics would have cut you a decent offer?" Katt asks.
"Simple, for one slug throwers are half the price of blasters. Two slug throwers will pass through most personal barriers. The human army found that out about twenty years ago. More and more people are figuring that out as well, hence the reason why most of the terrorist groups are using them. Unfortunately Cornerian troops still utilize basters and only wear plasma retardant vests and personal barriers." Fox replies.
"Hmn interesting, never though of it like that. So what do we have here for primary weapons?" Katt asks.
Fox then grabs his usual carbine off the rack. "Depends on what your preference is but for me this is what I use. This here is a Triarii M-87 Carbine. It uses 6.8mm tungsten AP rounds with a HUD reflex sight, full length integrated rail system along the barrel and upper receiver, an adjustable forward hand grip, flashlight attachment, telescoping stock, and has an effective rang up to 650m. This is best weapon I've ever used. It's saved my ass more than once." Fox says with great detail.
"Very impressive, but I think I prefer an SMG." Katt replies. Fox then places his carbine back on the rack and grabs one of the sub-machine guns and hands it to her.
"That there is a M-22 4.6mm sub-machine gun. It's the same caliber as that piece of shit you used on Papetoon. But I think you'll find this to be a greatly superior weapon system." Fox says.
"What are its perks?" Katt asks as she examines and takes aim with her new weapon.
"For starts it uses the same type of reflex sight as my M-87. It has a recoil dampening system in it, so the over all recoil is pretty low even when the stock is not extended. Also like my carbine it uses tungsten ammo so it will penetrate light body armor even though its a small caliber round. It has a 40rnd magazine with cycle rate or 950rnds per minute, and has maximum effective range will be about 200m. Which is damn good for an SMG if I do say so myself. " Fox replies.
"I like it. It's small, light weight, and deadly, just like me." Katt boasts. Fox then walks over to one of the lockers and pulls out a protective vest and hands it to her.
"Here try this on. This set of armor already has the ammo pouches for SMGs, grenades, plus a first aid kit on it already. Just FYI it is slightly heavy." Fox says. Katt then puts the heavy duty vest on and adjusts it for comfort.
"I've never seen armor like this before. Is any it any good?" Katt asks as moves around in it testing its flexibility.
"Oh hell yes, this is Komodo Skin Assault Armor used by United Federation Army Rangers. It's made of tightly woven dense polymer fabrics, which is both resistant to pistol rounds and blaster bolts. Underneath it is a titanium alloy plate, one to cover your chest and one for your back, that is rated to stop up to 7.62x51 AP rounds and most blaster rifle bolts. It's some of the finest armor you can bye besides powered armor. What do you think?" Fox says.
"You're right, it is a bit on the heavy side. But it's surprisingly comfortable and doesn't hinder my moment much. I could have used this back on Papetoon. Now how about a decent hand gun?" Katt says. Fox then opens up another locker and hands her a pistol belt w/holster and then hands her the pistol it self.
"This is a Mk-46 .45 ACP combat pistol. It's double action semi-automatic with a 12rnd magazine with a laser grip sight, which is visible up to 50m. It's a very reliable handgun. On the holster it has pouches for two spare magazines as well." Fox replies.
"This is a nice pistol. It fits my hand like a glove and has almost perfect balance. I love the laser sight, built right into the hand grip. That's pretty sweet." Katt says as takes aim.
"I still have several other types of weapons here, but we can go over those later. For now we should go over the mission details. So our target is a Isabella...Ouru..How the hell do you pronounce her name?" Fox says.
"Ourumov." Katt says correcting his faulty attempt at pronouncing her name.
"Whatever, your description of her during the briefing was pretty vague. So what can you tell me about her?" Fox asks wanting to get to the point.
"As said before she's a major business women. She money monger to the core, who runs several major businesses on Usella. I don't know all of them though. but she has her hands in almost all of the major corporations in one shape or another. By far her most well known business though is a casino/night club called The Crescent Moon." Katt replies.
"I've heard of that place. I also heard it's a pretty rough place too." Fox says.
"Indeed it sometimes is. But ironically it is a very classy place at the same time. However since Usella is a corporate controlled world law enforcement tends to be either pretty unreliable or corrupt. So there's a lot of organized crime there as well as a buyers market for mercenary work. Anyways on the upper levels of the casino is her private headquarters, where she runs all of her different businesses. She also has a condo on the top floor, so she spends the majority of her time within that building. The odds of her being there when we arrive should be pretty good." Katt says.
"That's a plus. Now should we be expecting any trouble when we arrive.?" Fox asks.
"I never go there not expecting something to happen, however she tries to keep confrontation to a minimal. Fights and shootings are bad for business. But I advise that we go in armed, the club tends to draw people of all walks of life, but don't go overboard. Were trying to gain her support not cause more issues." Katt replies.
"I know that. Anyways do you think she'll actually help or will she stab us in the back?" Fox asks.
"Honestly Fox I don't know for sure. I've never fully trusted her but at the same time she really betrayed me either. I'm not going to lie to you, this is going to be a risky assignment but it will be our best chance at getting a lead." Katt replies.
"So in other words we watch our asses and be prepared for anything." Fox says.
"Exactly, now I trust that you have some descent civilian attire correct?" Katt asks.
"Of course I do." Fox replies.
"Good, we don't exactly want to go in there looking like a couple of commandos." Katt states.
"Well we are a couple of commandos." Fox says sarcastically.
"That's besides the point. You know what I mean Fox. Also do you have any pistol holsters that are a bit more subtle? We don't need to draw any unnecessary attention?" Katt replies in an annoyed manner.
"One step ahead of you. As long as you have a coat to wear. These should do the job." Fox says and grabs two shoulder harnesses for concealed handguns.
"This will do." Katt replies and takes the harness.
"So how exactly are we going to get up to her quarters? I imagine we can't just go up there and ring the door bell? Plus I'm pretty damn sure if we sneak in that will only discourage her from helping us as well." Fox asks as he fits himself with the shoulder holster for his pistol.
"That's going to be the real trick. But I've got a couple of ideas, not the most subtle but it's worked in the past." Katt replies as she also fits herself with her harness.
"Not very reassuring but I'll take your word for it. Once were in here quarters how should we persuade here? Besides money what would coax her interest?" Fox asks.
"Just let me worry about that. But try to let me do the talking. What's your plan for insertion?" Katt asks.
"Simple we put the Great Fox into orbit fly one of the gunships down to one of the more less populated parts of the city, set the auto pilot and have it fly back up and ROB will take the ship out of orbit and bring it to a spot in space outside most radar detection. Clean and simple." Fox replies.
"Sounds too good to be true." Katt pessimistically responds.
"It's worked for me before like on Papetoon for example. Besides the Usella Directorate isn't looking for us, and it's not like they 'll have blockade of dreadnoughts in orbit either." Fox comments.
"I suppose, but the Crimson Blade is still operating out there and they know were after them. And if they have close ties with Directorate officials they may pull strings to hinder or even kill us." Katt says.
"You need not worry, I'll get us in and out one way or another." Fox says sarcastically.
"I guess I can't argue with that soldier boy. Now any other questions or concerns?" Katt asks.
"Not until we actually speak with her. Once we do we can plan our next move accordingly." Fox replies.
"Agreed." Katt says with a nod.
"Alright then lets grab our gear and load up and prep the gunship." Fox replies.
"Right on Cap." Katt sarcastically says followed by a goofy salute.
Over the next couple of hours Fox and Katt work strenuously to prepare everything they need for their mission. While Fox gathers and loads mission essential equipment, Katt conducts desperately needed maintenance on one of the war-torn gunships. For only about two hours of maintenance progress is greatly shown, and needless to say Fox is rather impressed. Katt was a mechanical and computer genius, nearly rivaling Slippy, although she certainly wasn't a scientist but given the right tools and resources she could build, fix or hack into just about anything. It was always a mystery to Fox regarding her choices in life. She could have gotten a high level job anywhere, whether it was aviation, software, or mechanical design. But she choose to live the life of a gangster smuggler/mercenary. Fox continues to ponder as Katt walks up and snaps her fingers, causing him to jump slightly.
"Damn, you've turned into a spacy fucking guy you know that right?" Katt sarcastically says as she crosses her arms.
"Sorry just seeing you fixing that old bird got wondering that's all." Fox replies.
"About what?" Katt says rather confused.
"It's nothing don't worry about it." Fox says not wanting to pry. Katt, with her arms still crossed, gives a him a rather annoyed almost pissed look. Fox then caves.
"sigh..Alright I know it's not my place to ask nor is this the best time to ask either. But..what happened..really?" Fox asked not really being able to put his thoughts to words.
"What do you mean?" Katt replies confusingly not really grasping his meaning.
"What I meant to ask, was how did a person with your vast amounts of skills end up in a gang and smuggling? I mean after the academy you had how many corporations and schools practically begging you to link up with them, but instead you completely disappear until our surprise attack Zoness. You then stayed with us for awhile then vanish again for years, only to turn up here and there. But as I said it's not my place to pry." Fox says in way to avoid pissing her off.
Katt was certainly caught off guard by this, Fox usually wasn't the type to dig at peoples past history for obvious reasons. She then lets out a sigh, lights a cigarette, and sits down on a cargo container.
"I guess I should have figured you would have asked me this sooner or later." Katt says taking a drag from her smoke.
"Look if it's a personnel issue we can just drop it. I don't want to dig up any bad memories." Fox replies trying to change the subject.
"No it's OK. You deserve some answers for how many times you've saved my ass. Hmm..shit I don't even know where to start really. I guess I just never really liked the boring structured lifestyle like my foster father did. You remember him right?" Katt says.
"Oh yeah, Admiral Conners, who could forget him?" Fox replies.
"I owe him a lot. It was him that got me enrolled in the academy. I wanted adventure the stars but inside the hull of a Federation cruiser. I don't know." Katt says.
"Did it have something to do with Falco?" Fox inquires not fully satisfied with Katt's vague response. Unfortunately it appears that his inquiry hit a soft spot that he didn't mean to hit. Katt was a bit taken by it.
"No, at the very beginning of the war maybe, but afterwords we were simply just friends. Even we drifted from one another." Katt replies slightly down.
Despite not really getting any real answers from her, Fox could instantly tell that there was something she was keeping from him. But the real question is what is that is so personnel that it keep her practically on the run for nearly ten years? At this point Fox figures its best to let it go and focus on the task at hand.
"So whats the status of the gunship?" Fox asks trying to change the subject again. However this time it appears to have worked, her mood seemed to have changed almost instantly.
"Pretty damn good if I do say so myself. She's more than ready for this operation. I gave it good tune-up, gave the systems a diagnostics check, and even fixed the shitty patch work." Katt replies rather proud of her work.
"Yeah I'm not too good at patch work as you can tell." Fox admits.
"I'll say, but that's why I'm here. So whats are ETA?" Katt replies and puts out her cigarette.
"We should be coming out of warp in about fifteen minutes. I got our gear squared away and loaded up. All we need to do is change in to better civilian attire and load up the bike." Fox comments.
"Got enough guns in there? Were conducting an espionage mission not conducting a guerrilla raid." Katt replies as she looks at all the equipment Fox loaded up.
"Yes I'm aware but if the Crimson Blade has active cells down there. I want to take them out before they can cause more damage, or hell even tip the rest of their organization off of our activities here." Fox analytically says.
"Fair enough, and as far as the bike goes, I can't believe I'm saying this but I think it's best we leave it here." Katt protests.
"Why?" Fox wonders.
"One to reduce excess weight, two I think it would be better if we showed up in a cab. We'll draw less attention that way. Although we would lose our advantage of an escape vehicle, still this is last place we want to draw unnecessary attention at. As long as we stay clear of sketchy looking individuals we shouldn't have a need to escape." Katt says with confidence.
"Hmn..I'm inclined to disagree but I'll trust your judgment. So if this things ready to launch go get changed and met me on the bridge when your done." Fox says.
"If were that close shouldn't we just come back to the hanger?" Katt inquires.
"We could but I want to on the bridge when we exit warp, just in case we get attacked, hailed by customs or something." Fox replies.
"Ah always thinking ahead. I swear you should have stay in the military. They would have made you a general." Katt says.
"Maybe, anyways I'll see you on the bridge." Fox replies and starts walking out of the hanger.
"Roger that." Katt says.
Great Fox command deck 17:10 shipboard time.
After changing into some more expensive cloths, Fox stands in front of the of window of the bridge patiently waiting for his ship to come out of warp. As he continues to wait he hears the doors hiss open behind him.
"That was fast. Most women spend all day getting ready for an event that last one hour." Fox says sarcastically.
"What can I say. I clean up quick unlike most girls. By the way nice get up." Katt says.
Fox was wearing a semi-formal t-shirt, cargo pants, and a leather coat all matching black. While Katt wore a black trench coat, red tank top and very expensive blue jeans.
"Likewise. I assume your ready to go?" Fox asked.
"Always." Katt replies.
Fox then looks at his extremely valuable aviator wrist watch, then looks back at Katt.
"Get ready to brace yourself." Fox advises.
"Got it." Katt replies and sits down and grabs a hold of her chair.
"Fox we are arriving at our destination, cutting in sub-light engines 3..2..1..mark." ROB warns.
The ship rocks as the ship practically comes to a halt. In the distance the Usella was fully visible. Even from space the lights from the massive cities were absolutely brilliant. Along with the lights, the engine emissions from hundreds of ships of varies sizes could be seen. The ships ranged from small personnel craft to gargantuan cargo freighters that were hundreds of feet long.
"As much as I hate this planet the view up here is beautiful." Katt comments as she peers out in awe.
"ROB any sign of possible hostile ships in area?" Fox asks paying little mind to the outside view.
"Scanners show no sign of military grade warships or fighters at this time." ROB answers.
"That's a plus. OK ROB maintain this position until further notice. You know the drill." Fox instructs.
"Roger that Fox." ROB acknowledges.
"Lets move out." Fox says.
"The hunt begins." Katt says as they walk out of the bridge.
Authors notes: Well took long enough. I've had an extremely busy summer. The next chapter will finally be the actual mission. As always I want to thank you all for reading and that I appreciate any feedback you give me.