Darkness Returns
CH25 The Cavalry Arrives
The Katana 19.6 ABY
Fox spent almost an hour staring out the bridge window. His frustration and curiosity finally got the best of him. He had to know more about the Empire. He finally broke his deep gaze and walked over to Lt Nevel.
"Mike you know where Tim is?" Fox asks.
"He said He was going to do a last minute check up on our equipment before we get to Lylat. I would guess that he's either in the armory or the hanger." Mike replies.
"Ok thanks see ya later." Fox says and proceeds out of the bridge and heads towards the armory.
Fox continued down the Katana's halls for about ten minutes before he finally reached the armory. He immediately checked with the armory guard.
"Is Captain Welch in there? I need to speak with him." Fox asks.
"No sir. He left about twenty minutes ago. He said he would be in the hanger in anyone needed him. The fastest way to hanger from here is the express elevator just down the hall sir." The guard replied.
"Ok thanks." Fox said and headed to the elevator.
Once he reached the elevator, he was thrilled that the elevator was able to go right down to the hanger. The hanger was the lowest level, but the ride down was short. When it reached the hanger walked out and looked around the hanger for Tim. There was a decent amount of people working, mostly pilots, flight crews and tank crews. He wasn't surprised to see Tim working on his X-wing.
"Hey Tim." Fox said.
"Whats up Fox?" Tim replied.
"I was wondering if I could take a look at those archive files on Imperial and Alliance hardware? After that chat we had earlier, it got me wondering. Plus we still got a few hours to spare, might as well use the time to learn more about our enemy." Fox said.
"Yeah sure, thats why we have them, there in the briefing room back up near the bridge. I'm almost done down here so I'll meet you up there when I'm done." Tim replies.
"Alright cool. See ya in a bit." Fox says and heads back to the upper levels.
Meanwhile..
Macbeth Front Lines.
The Imperial siege continues on, as dozens of Imperial walkers push through the last free city. The Cornerian forces struggle to keep back the seemingly unstoppable invaders. With only their artillery and limited air support, there is little hope left to stop the Imperial horde.
"FALL BACK FALL BACK!" a Cornerian Infantry Captain yells out to his troops as they begin to retreat deeper into the city.
The advancing Imperials were right ontop of them. Many of the retreating soldiers were killed while running. The surviving troops take cover behind what few operational Landmasters their division has left. The Landmasters make short work of the pair of AT-ST's and their infantry escorts that followed and killed many of their comrades. Their small victory however was short lived when an AT-AT and two AT-TE's got in their sight range. They knew they had to leave immediately. Luck for once was on their side, for the heavy assault walkers didn't notice them, and passed up their position. The company decided to take this time to rest, resupply, and wait for further orders.
Along with the dozons of Imperial Walkers, several dozens LAAT/I gunships flew in and were dropping off clone airborne troops on top of the city buildings. The airborne troops sweep through each room clearing out anything that stood in their way. Many civilians are killed by the airborne troops, many that were innocent. The Imperials took advantage of the taller buildings with in the city. They used as sniper positions for clone sharpshooters. This battles first sniper victim was a Cornerian Army Medic that was tending to a critically wounded infantry man who was shot in the chest by a clone trooper.
Kew City Imperial Forward Operations Base.
Jadex stood very still while he watched the battle progress via holo battle cam. He was rather impressed with his troops results. He knew Macbeth would be his in a matter of days. He then typed the radio frequency for DeGuales battle station at Cerinia.
"DeGuale here, whats the report general?"
"My forces have begun their assault on the final city of Macbeth. Some of the Cornerian forces have already begun to fall back. We shall have the city very soon sir. Once the city is ours my troops will advance on their HQ. Once I have their HQ I can continue to invade the rest of Lylat sir."
"Very good Jadex. Whats the word on StarFox? Are they dead?"
"We know that at least two members are still in the fight sir. However the other three have gone missing. We know that we badly damaged two of their craft during the fight sir, so its a possibility that they were killed. But we have no confirmation on their stasis sir."
"I strongly have my doubts that any of them are dead. They must be up to something. Secure their borders and monitor their traffic zones. I don't want any Cornerians getting out of the system. We can't let the Republic find out about this."
"Yes sir, I will double our patrols sir."
"Good contact me when Macbeth is secure. DeGuale out."
Jadex then brings up Commander Dellis's comlink.
"This is Dellis go ahead over."
"Commander, Admiral DeGuale has given the order for all Lylat forces to double our gaurd, and to monitor all space traffic. Has there been any sign of StarFox recently?
"No sir not for days now sir. We might have killed them sir."
"I don't think so commander. We may have a problem on our hands. Report all non Imperial air and space traffic. I want StarFox dead!"
"Will do sir."
"Then make it happen, Jadex out."
The Katana 3 hours later.
For the past four hours Fox and Tim have been reviewing the Republic Military Archives. Much of the data Fox has already seen in combat but was very intrigued and a little shocked when he seen and read some of the Imperial history before the rise of the rebellion.
"I didn't know the Empire had so many different classes of Star Destroyers. But tell me with all these different classes of ships, how large is the Imperial fleet?" Fox said.
Tim paused for a moment with slight hint of depression is in his face. "At their prime the Empire had 25,000 Imperial class Star Destroyers alone. Overall they maintained a fleet of about 1.2 million vessels of various classes."
Fox didn't know what to say when he heard these unimaginable numbers.
"Whats worse is that know one knows how many Super Star Destroyers they had, the count was classified." Tim said.
"Wait what! Super Star Destroyers we didn't cover those yet." Fox replied.
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot sorry." Tim said and brought up the file.
When the hologram of the Super Star destroyer appeared it made a size comparison of a Imperial class Star destroyer. Fox couldn't believe what he was seeing. To him the Imperial Class was the largest and most powerful ship he'd ever seen. His opinion was soon changed.
"How big is that thing, and what the hell is it capable of?" Fox asks.
"It's 19 kilometers long, with over two thousand weapons emplacements and can carry thousands of Tie fighters. Not to mention they carry a whole Storm Trooper corps of 38,000 ground troops and over 200 ground vehicals. Its pretty much a floating city" Tim replies.
"And how the hell do you stop one?" Fox asks.
"You throw everything you have at it and hope to god you destroy it. I'm not going to lie to you, the Empire has had the most powerful super weapons in known history. Almost a dozen planets were completely destroyed at the hands of the Empire. Thankfully the Alliance has been able to destroy them all, but there was a cost." Tim says.
"Do they have any super weapons now?" Fox asks.
"They have at least one Super Star Destroyer, but as far as planet destroyers go, I don't know. We haven't seen any yet. But with the Empire you never know what they'll pull next." Tim replies.
"So in other words, watch our asses then." Fox comments.
"Yeah pretty much. So do you feel more proficient, at least knowledge wise now?" Tim asks.
"Alot more. I got a good idea what were up against now." Fox replies.
"Good, you can help me teach your other officers. I can't do it alone." Tim comments.
"Thats fine. The faster we get this done the faster we can join the lines." Fox replies.
Seconds later the PA goes off. "Captain we'll be reaching Corneria in ten minutes. Can you come to the bridge?" Nevel says.
"We'll be there in a few minutes." Tim replies. The two leave the briefing room and proceed to the bridge. The walk takes about five minutes.
The officers enter the bridge and wait for the pilot's word on their arrival. After waiting only about two minutes the pilot speaks up.
"Sir we are in range of Corneria now sir."
"Cut in the sublight engines." Tim orders.
"Yes sir." The pilots responds and both cruisers slip out of hyperspace just outside the range of the orbital gate.
With in moments of their arrival, the gateway personnel hail them.
"This is the CDF gateway command to unidentified cruiser. We have you on our screen. State your name and business over."
"This Captain Tim Welch of the NRDF. I'm here with Captain Fox McCloud to help with your fight against Empire." Tim says.
"Please verify that Captain McCloud is with you." the RTO requests. Fox then steps in front of the screen.
"This is McCloud, don't worry their with us. We request permission to dock." Fox says.
"Permission granted, proceed to docking port six and seven. Welcome back sir."
"Thank you Fox out."
Macbeth military HQ one hour later.
With in the HQ war room Katt sits in front of the holo battle display. She's exhausted and more stressed than she's ever been. Her confidence in her own leadership is dwindling by the day. Her subordinates feel that she's in the first stages of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. While deep in her thoughts of the past a young private interrupts her.
"Ma'am you have a priority message from Corneria."
"Thank you bring it on screen." Katt replies.
"Yes ma'am." He replies and brings the display.
"Good morning Katt, hows progress? Peppy says.
"I would love to say that were making progress, but I'm sorry to say that were not. But I'm guessing your not here to ask me about the weather. So whats going on?" Katt replies
"I got good news Katt. Fox has returned with the reinforcements." Peppy says with a smile.
"Really oh thank god. Maybe we can win this after all." Katt says with a sense of relief.
"Yes so I want to come back to Corneria right away for briefing." Peppy orders.
"But Peppy my troops. I can't leave them." Katt protests.
"I know its hard but its important that you get this info. Leave Col Madison and Major O'Donnell in charge. Their more than qualified for the job." Peppy replies.
"Alright sir I'll try to be there within the hour but that blockade may hinder my travel." Katt says.
"Thats fine Katt. Don't do anything foolish. Just get here in one piece. Peppy out."
"Ok then sergeant prep my Arwing, corporal patch me through to Col Madison ASAP." Katt ordered, and her troops followed.
When the display came up Wolf was there on Madison's behalf.
"What going on Katt?" Wolf asks.
"I've been ordered back to Corneria. Where is Madison at? Katt says.
"Jimmy decided to be a hero type and joined the line. He put me in charge of the FOB until he gets back." Wolf replied.
"Well anyways You and Madison are in charge of all forces here until further notice. Good luck you old pirate." Katt says.
"You to Wolf out." Wolfs says as he cuts the transmission.
"Ok Major you in charge of the HQ for now. Be sure to give Madison and O'Donnell a report every six hours. OK?" Katt asks.
"I know ma'am. Don't worry, we have everything under control. We be alright. Now hurry. Were counting in you." The major says as he gives Katt a salute.
Katt returns the salute and quickly heads for the hanger. When she gets her clearance for takeoff, she flies off in hopes that their new war may finally turn in their favor.
Authors notes: Sorry it took so long. I've been a bit preoccupied lately. But just so you know the story ain't dead. I'll try to update more often. So thanks for reading and reveiwing.