Darkness Returns
CH26 Knowing Thy Enemy And Thy Self
Cornerian Orbital Gateway 19.8 ABY an hour and a half later.
Within the the Gateways hanger bays the crew of the Katana offload their equipment. Tim and Fox personally oversee and inspect the gear. They want to make sure everything is ready for demonstration and combat.
"Sir all of the requested equipment has been offloaded sir." the supply sergeant says.
"Good, get some volunteers and bring the demonstration equipment to the Gateway briefing room. I wanna get things up and running before night fall." Tim orders.
"Yes sir." the sergeant replies and walks off.
"You think we'll be ready to start up the classes tonight?" Fox asks.
"Yeah, as long as we stay on schedule. But we can't waist any time though." Tim replies.
"So when do you think we'll start a counter offensive?" Fox asks.
"Well, two maybe three days hopefully. As long as our classes go well. I can't expect for a couple of days of us teaching will turn everybody into experts on the Imperials, but at least it would be a start and better than nothing." Tim replies.
"I know what you mean. I guess we can only hope the best." Fox says. Within seconds after Fox finishes an Arwing pulls in the hanger and sets down. Katt climbs out her ship and runs up to Fox and hugs him.
"Its good to have back Fox. Its been hell out here. So much has happened since you left. But now that you back I know things will change." Katt says.
"I'm glad to be back, but more importantly I'm glad to see your alive. So um Katt where is the rest of the team?" Fox says.
"Bill was on a sortie when I left. He should be here later this evening." Katt replies.
"And Falco?" Fox says.
Katt paused for a moment and looked down a little and crossed arms.
"He's gone Fox. He refused to follow orders and got two of my best pilots killed. After the raid I ordered him to resign. Then he went AWOL. No one has seen him since. I'm sorry Fox. I should have never trusted him with any command." Katt says.
"I figured this would have happened eventually. Don't take it personally. It wasn't your fault. If that's how he's going to be, then I'm glad he's gone. If he can't follow simple instructions and work as a team, then were better off with out him." Fox replies. Katt nods then looks over to Tim.
"So you must be that hotshot Republic pilot here to save our asses then." Katt says. Tim just laughs.
"Well if you say so. I'm Captain Tim Welch of the NRDF, and please just call me Tim. You must be Katt Monroe. I've heard a lot about you." Tim replies as he shakes her hand.
"Good things I hope." Katt jokingly says.
"Mostly, I can honestly say its been awhile since I've been to this portion of the galaxy. It's been a few years." Tim says.
"You've been out here before? That's strange we don't get many humans out here. Unless their from Earth or one of its colonies." Katt asks.
"I'm from Earth.." Before Tim can finish Katt jumps in.
"Really that's cool. I think Earth is a really pretty planet. I've been out there a few times. Although a couple of those occasions were for illegal reasons. But that's all in the past. Plus my really good friend Carla is going to school on Earth. She really likes it there. I wonder how she's doing? She hasn't contacted me in months. Oh well she's probably just busy with her school work." Katt says not knowing what Earths fate was. Tim and Fox just pause for a moment.
"What is it guys. What happened?" Katt asks with a hint of worry in her tone.
"I was going to say the only reason that I'm even away from my home is because of the Empire. They launched a full scale invasion of Earth and Bombarded it from orbit. Our whole defense fleet was destroyed. I got lucky and escaped after the battle. I don't know what they are doing with the planet or its survivors. I'm sorry Katt." Tim says.
Katt's eyes widened and started tear up."GOD DAMN IT!" she yells and kicks one of the crates, putting a large dent in it and runs off.
"Should we go talk to her? Maybe this was a bad time to say that. I feel kinda bad now." Tim asks
"No she just needs to go cool off. I'll bet Krystal will be with her any minute now. You know, I really feel sorry her. She's lost a lot over the years. Especially cause of this war. I've definitely noticed a change in her personality since it all started." Fox says.
"That's a shame." Tim replies.
"Yeah I just hope she isn't permanently scared. I'd hate to see like this forever." Fox says. Just after the supply sergeant walks to Tim.
"Sir all the demonstration equipment is in the briefing room as you ordered sir. We can start the classes when the other Cornerian officers get here."
"Alright then head back to briefing room and wait for us there. Fox and I will go get the other officers. We'll start up as soon as we get back." Tim says.
"Yes sir." He replies and heads out of the hanger.
"So Fox where do we go?" Tim asks.
"Well most of the command staff will be in the command center upstairs. You need to meet the General anyways." Fox replies.
"Sounds like a plan. Lead the way man." Tim says. The two then begin to make their way to the top level of the large space station.
As the two finally make it to the top level, they are greeted by the Cornerian Marine Corp guards before entering the command center. They both return the young marines salute and walk in. Peppy, not even realizing that Fox and Tim have entered the room, is working vigorously. In fact the majority of the command centers personnel didn't realize they were there until Fox spoke up.
"It's good to see you again old friend." Fox says. Peppy then breaks his train of thought and turns around to faces Fox and shakes his hand welcoming him back.
"I'm sorry Fox I didn't know you were back there. You know my hearing isn't what it used to be. Its good to talk to you in person again. What took you so long to get up here?" Peppy says.
"We've been offloading equipment for the past hour or so. Were ready to start the classes now. We were actually just coming up to get you and the rest of the command staff." Fox replies.
"Good we can get things started then." Peppy says and turns over to the RTO."Private get on the PA and send a message stating that all officers and NCO's to report to the briefing room in ten minutes." The private complies and carries out his orders. Peppy returns his attention back to Fox.
"Has Katt arrived yet that you know of Fox?" Peppy asks.
"Yes she's here but she's a little shaken up right now. It's a long story. I'll see to it that she's ok. By the way this Captain Tim Welch of the NRDF." Fox says. Tim and Peppy then shake hands.
"Its a pleasure to meet you Captain. You don't know how grateful we are to have you here. We need all the help we can get." Peppy says.
"I'm more than happy to help. I know whats its like to have ones home ravaged by the Empire. I'm willing to help in any way possible." Tim replies.
"Thats good to hear captain. Well time is of the essence, so lets get down stairs." Peppy says.
The three officers then head back down stairs. When they near the entrance of the briefing room. Fox sees Krystal just down the hall a short ways, and says to the others that he would be back shortly and approaches her. Krystal then pulls him in for kiss.
"How's Katt doing? I could tell her recent loss hit her hard." Fox asks.
"She'll be ok. We talked about it for awhile. She seems a little better now." Krystal replies.
"Will she be attending the briefing? If not I understand." Fox says.
"Yes, she's inside the briefing room now. We to should get inside as well. We don't want to be late Fox." Krystal replies.
"Ya your right lets go." Fox says.
Just as Fox was about to enter the room, he hears someone running down hall. He turns around and sees Bill. When he reaches Fox he shakes his hand while gasping for air.
"Take a deep breath man. Relax, you didn't miss anything." Fox says while laughing.
"Its good to see you again dude. Its been outright hell since you left." Bill says.
"So I've heard." Fox replies.
"I just got back from a mission. I got here as fast as I could. Just after I landed, I heard the announcement on the PA." Bill says.
"Don't worry your just in time. Well we can chat later, we really need to get things started, and I'm one of the instructors. So we'll talk after the brief." Fox says.
"Sounds good to me." Bill replies, and follows Fox inside the large conference room. Bill then found a seat next to the rest of the team, while Fox continued to walk towards the front of the room, where Peppy, Tim and the other NRDF instructors were. When he got to the stand he immediately called the room to attention. The whole room went quiet. Peppy then took the stand and looked around at his fellow comrades.
"Good evening everyone. Please take your seats. We've all been through a lot in this conflict and have lost many of friends and loved ones. For those of you who don't know why you are here, the answer is that we have a chance to change the course. A chance to rid our home of the Empire for good, that said I want you to give your undivided attention to Captain Tim Welch of the New Republic Defense Force. Captain." Peppy says and everyone then turns their attention over to Tim.
"Thank you general. Evening everyone. Well first of all I want to commend all of you in your efforts and sacrifices in this fight, and that I'm honored to be here with you now in your time of struggle. I know very much so how all of you feel, and have also lost many people close to me in this fight. I promise you that I will do everything in my power to help you win this, and just so you know, I'm not a desk jockey. I've had my fair share of combat, so you will know the information we give you is legitimate. Be prepared for a long night. Were going to be throwing a hell of a lot of info at you, so I suggest you take plenty of notes. I'll try to make this as painless as possible. We'll be going over many different types of class over the duration of the next few days, such as unit and personnel identification, tactics, equipment familiarization and history. Feel free to ask questions at anytime. None of us up here are going to expect you to learn everything in three days, but take these classes seriously, for it may save your life or the lives of our troops. Now if I can have someone dim the lights and turn on the projector, we start things up." Tim says and turns around and faces the projection screen.
Macbeth front line HQ two hours later.
Another grueling night has come on the besieged planet. Major O'Donnell quietly sits outside the FOB headquarters with his carbine on his lap, while drinking from his canteen. In the distance he watches tracer fire and plasma bursts from the clashing armies. Behind him, he hears the sound of incoming fighters. When he turns around he sees four Cornerian fighters, two Rapier class bombers and two Arrowhead class light interceptors escorting them. Wolf smiles when he sees a Tie fighter spin to the ground at high speed, making a rather large explosion on impact.
"Pay back is a bitch ain't it." He says to himself. His attention then is immediately changed when his sees three silhouette in the dark distance. He raises up carbine ready shoot, until he realized it was Madison and two other commandos. Wolf could instantly tell that they were in one hell of a fight, for Madison was limping.
"You guys all right what the hell happened out there?" Wolf asks.
"Ah we got ambushed, they grazed me. But I got the fucker though. These two wimps say that I have to see a medic." Madison jokingly says. Wolf just laughs.
"Sir you got shot in the leg twice. One severing your femoral artery. Your damn lucky to have not bleed to death." one the commandos protests.
"Its a flesh wound. I'll be fine." Madison replies.
"Well anyways, we got word from command. Fox has returned with reinforcements. Their preparing for a counter attack as we speak. Katt has put us in charge down here. She got recalled back to Corneria. All we have to do keep the Imperials busy. For how long I don't know. I don't have anything else for you sir." Wolf says.
"Ok then major, because of my so called injuries, I'll probably be stuck in the HQ for a couple of days, so you'll be taking point. Until I recover that is. Go with these two back to line, I'll keep you updated. Radio me when you get there. Good luck Wolf." Madison orders.
"Will do sir." Wolf replies and heads back to the front with the other two commandos.
The Katana hanger bay four and a half hours later.
After nearly five strenuous hours of classes, the instructors decide to call it quits for the night. Tim, restless as always, decides to sit in the hanger and tinker with his fighter. Although not much of a mechanic, he just really likes being around his X-wing. It always gives him some sort of sence of peace. He was rather surprised when he sees Katt walk in.
"Whats up Katt, and by the way I"m sorry about before." Tim says.
"Its alright, your not to blame. My enemy is the Empire. They did this not you." Katt replies.
"I know the feeling. So may I ask what brings you here?" Tim asks.
"Well after seeing pictures of some the Republics fighters, it got me curious. I wanted to see them close up, if you don't mind." Katt replies.
"Not at all. Feel free to look around." Tim says.
"These are very impressive machines. I've only seen a few craft with such large cannons on them. Your fighter reminds me of the crafts that Earth Defence Force pilots used" Katt says.
"Ya those were our Z-95s, the predecessor of these X-wings. How did you know about that though, If you don't mind me asking." Tim asks.
"Well awhile back I used to work for some controversial groups, like the Zann Consortium. We had a run with the UDF over Neptune about four years ago, and I seen that class of fighters." Katt confesses.
"Well I'll be damned. I was there during that battle. That was one of my first engagements." Tim says
"Its a small universe after all. As I was saying, the UDF was kicking our ass. We were losing pilots left and right. I should have died during the fight." Katt says.
"Why what happened?" Tim says.
"After Tyber ordered the retreat, I was still busy fighting off your fellow pilots. I managed to break free from all of them but one. This pilot was top notch. I did everything I could to break free, but this bastard wouldn't give. He actually managed to hit me, and put a rather large hole in my hull. Which can still be partially seen on it. Then for some strange reason he let me go. He could have killed me but he didn't. I really wish I knew why he didn't." Katt says.
"Then why don't you just ask him." Tim replies with a smirk on his face. Katt looked rather confused.
"As you said its a small universe after all. That pilot was me." Tim replies.
Katt was in shock and didn't know what to say at first.
"I don't what to say Tim. I can't believe this. It doesn't seem possible." Katt says
"Ya life is weird isn't it." Tim replies.
"So why didn't you kill me then?" Katt asks.
"Well we were starting to stray a bit far from the fleet, and I just got this weird feeling that I wasn't supposed to shoot this particular enemy down. Turns out that I was right. Fate always seems to unwind it self at the right time." Tim says.
"I owe you my life, thank you." Katt replies and shakes his hand.
"No prob, you don't owe me anything. In fact, were better off now. Were both on the same side now. Besides its all water under the bridge anyways. We have to look forward now. So you were saying that you wanna take a look at the fighters." Tim replies.
"Yeah being StarFox's mechanic, its nice to know foreign machines. Besides that I just happen to like this kind of stuff." Katt says.
"Well hop on up. If you want, power on the avionics, just don't blow us up." Tim joking says.
"Real funny." Katt replies, Tim just laughs.
For the next thirty minutes Tim shows Katt everything about his X-wing. She was quiet impresses with the craft, and looks forward to trying it out sometime in the future. The two then decide to turn in for the night in their respected quarters, to ready themselves for the coming days.
Authors notes: Slow chapter but insiteful. The action will start in the next installment. As you can tell I love story twists, and I plan on having plenty more. Just FYI I updated the char bios on my profile, if you want to see them. Thanks for reading and reveiewing.