Author's Notes: Well, that was fun! Looks like they won't be setting up any more revolts in the near future! Anyways, I just wanted to take the time to acknowledge how grateful I am to have complete strangers whom I'll never have direct contact with become so engaged in my writings. I know it's something that all authors must feel, but for me, it's something in my life that I can retreat to where I can immortalize my thoughts, if that makes any sense.
But, enough of that, I've got a story to finish! I apologize in advance for the absurd length of this chapter.
Syzygy
~
"What!?" Wolf scowled, rushing to Khaya's front and nearly grabbing her by both shoulders, though his dignity prevented him from following through with such a low action.
"We have one hour, after that, the bomb will go off, eliminating the entire facility. Your killing of Mr. Whittle has activated general order twenty-five, and there's no way to trick it into bringing him back." The husky replied with a resigned tone.
"What about the bomb, is there any way to stop it?" Fox spoke up, nearly prying the others apart from their close confrontation. In his mind, there had to be structures in place for a situation such as this; of course, he'd been left in the dark for so long that nothing would surprise him anymore.
"There… I don't know… Dave and Luther knew where it was and how to shut it off, but…" She looked away, avoiding eye contact with any of the nearby men. "They're gone also."
"Great… there has to be something we can do! Khaya, is there any damn way off this island?"
The husky shook her head, although she truly wanted to live through this, there didn't seem to be an appropriate course of action no matter which method of evacuation she brought up in her mind. They'd been so paranoid and had become so isolated that even they could not leave if they wanted to.
"No!" Khaya yelled, sweeping her paws in front of her in frustration. "Don't you understand? This island was designed so that you couldn't leave unless he said you could! The ships can't fly, the boats won't go far enough, and none of us know how to disable the bomb!" Khaya cried, throwing her paws to shield her eyes. "There's no way out… it was designed this way since the beginning. We're all going to die here!"
"Khaya… no… we'll get out of this, I promise." Wolf said, attempting to lay a paw on Khaya but quickly drawing it back after receiving a quick swipe to the wrist.
"Don't touch me, Wolf!" She yelled, her emotional reaction to the situation proving too much to contain. Everything she'd hoped for and depended on was now gone, and there was no hope for escape and nothing for her to go to even if she did.
"What about outside help?" Fox postulated. "We don't have much time, but I'm sure if we can establish outside communications, we can get the SAU to ferry us off here…"
"That… won't work." Khaya sniffled, wiping tears from her eyes. "At least, this island is fitted with anti-aircraft emplacements, and everyone here's determined to fight to the death. And there's no way you could convince them to devote the resources to evacuate everyone, let alone for an island that they know next to nothing about."
"I can convince them, I'm Fox McCloud!" The vulpine loudly proclaimed, crossing his arms. Going over the situation in his mind however, presented a multitude of problems. Whoever they contacted would have to be in an extremely close proximity to the island already, which was unlikely since Partasti was relatively secluded from population centers. Furthermore, there was not enough time for anyone to get in and out even if they could be contacted; of course, this was most likely yet another layer of security which had been established in the very fabric of Partasti itself.
"But Partasti's not willing to give up without a fight…" Wolf noted, going over the situation for his own plans. "I'm betting that the majority of your people are willing to surrender if it means their lives are spared. Better than to stay here and die."
"I don't know…" The husky rebutted. "Most of us… don't have lives anymore, at least, not outside of here." A visible tear slid down the slope of her recently dried eyelids. "My family, my old friends, my old home, they all think I died years ago. Many of us are like that; the mission here is… was the only thing we had…"
"None of that matters now, Khaya. What matters is finding some way off this rock, even if it's not perfect, we have to do something. We're going to the hanger. I don't care if the transports don't work, there has to be something. Fox, you're going to need to take care of those anti-aircraft guns, they're positioned on the roof of the main building. It's our only hope at this point."
The vulpine nodded. Wolf's sudden admission to take charge was welcome; even though Fox felt a bit of indignation over his situational superiority, he had to admit that there was no other route to take at the moment, and that time was against them.
"I'll contact Panther and Leon and let them know what's going on. They'll meet you once you've reached Vincenzo's place. You can initiate your attack from there." The lupine turned to the avian to deliver his next set of instructions. "Lombardi, you'll come with me to the hanger, see if you can get at least one of the Arwings in working condition."
Understatement of the century… Falco nodded, he understood all too well that now was not the time to foster any disputes. "I'll try."
"And Khaya…" Wolf said, reaching to grab the husky by the wrist, but gently. "You're coming with me too."
~X~X~X~X~X~
Panther, Gregory, and Leon remained on the lower level of the facility while much of the chaos went on around them. Although a good majority of the island's residents were out looking for Fox and Falco, they were purposefully delegated here so that they could be prepared for any sort of contingency that their leader was prepared to deliver at a moment's notice. However, most of their time down in Vincenzo's former dwelling was spent pacing around eagerly or attempting to acquire some much needed rest.
"It's been twenty minutes without an update, are you sure this is the right channel?" Leon asked the others, who were standing around the glass walled room unlike he who instead squatted against the corner.
"Of course, it's the same one we've been using…" Panther casually answered, not sure if Wolf had either been found out or was currently indisposed and could not communicate to the rest of his team at the moment.
Gregory, who had been respectfully quiet throughout most of their long waiting routine decided to speak up. He was not as directly involved in these matters, but he found that his cousin's situation and his were one in the same whether he wanted it to be so or not. "I know this might not be the best question to ask, but are we really going to stay here and wait for something to happen?"
"We don't have much of a choice at this moment," Leon countered. "our current objective is to make sure McCloud and Lombardi get out safely, that's what Wolf told us."
"Yes, but you're not… you're not one of us." Gregory returned. Although he was under a limited obligation to aid in the search of the project's transients, his individual effort was not deemed important enough to be tightly controlled by his designated superiors. Besides, the main search responsibility was best left to the assault teams rather than regular members of the project such as he, even though Dave & Luther had been dispatched to deal with Falco's unexpected escape; he figured that he would've been recruited to help them if he and his cousin hadn't been the ones to instigate the event in the first place.
And then at that moment, amidst the empty words and harrowing speculation, came a strange and unexpected sound of the back door opening and the steps of wetted feet rushing in after it.
"Who's there?" Leon hissed, unsure whether the intruder was a formal resident of Partasti or someone else. After a few moments with no reply Fox rushed into view, breathing a sigh of relief the moment his eyes fell on the two members of Star Wolf in the center of the enclosed pool room.
Without seeing Gregory, the vulpine stepped inside and waited for his lungs to calm down before delivering his information. But his relieved disposition quickly changed the moment that Gregory made is presence audibly known.
"McCloud! I didn't expect you to be he-" The chameleon's words were immediately interrupted by Fox, who swung around and grabbed him by the collar before lifting him off his feet and throwing him towards one of the thin transparent glass walls lining the side of the room. Gregory crashed through the panels and landed heavily on his back, luckily, the glass itself was designed in a way so that the shards broke in tiny fragments rather than as acute shards, though it still hurt to land on them. As soon as he was able to regain his bearings, he was met with a flurry of mixed martial arts blows from Fox's fists, which were only broken up after Leon came rushing to pull the vulpine away from his dazed cousin.
"You! What did you do to me?" Fox yelled, resisting against Leon's pull, but not enough to completely overcome it in his weakened state. "You knew! What's the purpose of this place? Why am I here?"
"Calm down!" Leon urged, taking his own form of abuse from Fox's violent movements. It wasn't long before Panther came to help him so that Fox was properly subdued.
"I'll calm down when I get answers." Fox growled. "First of all, give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you."
"McCloud, this is my cousin you're talking about!" Leon pleaded, still doing his best to restrain the vulpine.
"Cousin or not, he's one of them! We can't trust him, we don't know his intentions!" The vulpine snarled.
"McCloud, get a hold of yourself!" Panther demanded. "Now let's calm down and let Gregory go."
Fox gave a resigned grunt and slightly bared his teeth; he saw the unarmed Gregory as an enemy no different than the others who had been chasing him with guns, though the chameleon was certainly not armed and didn't seem to be particularly adept at defending himself from Fox's attacks.
"Alright," Fox began, slouching downwards in a gesture of reduced aggression. "We don't have much time, this whole place is set to expire in less than an hour and it doesn't seem like there's any ticket off this island."
"Then what are we doing here?" Leon asked, frantic. "We gotta move now!"
Leon's words only echoed the conclusion that the rest of them had reached. The problem they faced now was a lack of time and resources they had to fight a capable and fortified enemy.
~X~X~X~X~X~
"It's in here…" Khaya pointed to a spare room in the corner of the hanger. Wolf and Falco, who were both following her, ducked under the fuselages that were spread throughout the aircraft shelter's floor.
"What's in there exactly?" Falco wondered, not fully understanding that Khaya herself was making much of this up as she went along.
"Landing beacons, they're designed so that the ships can land on their own without any assistance from the pilot."
"You mean an autopilot?" Wolf interjected. "You know, these kinds of things have been equipped with those for quite some time…"
"Yes, but these beacons are supposed to be short term solutions; our craft aren't designed to remember the location of Partasti for security purposes. If one of was ever lost or got shot down, there'd be no record of its previous location and so we'd be completely untraceable. What I think I can do with these beacons is jump start the automatic landing system; make it think that it's coming in for an emergency landing…" The husky said with a slight hint of hesitation in her voice, but determined to test out her theory nonetheless.
"And by engaging the emergency systems, bypassing the system lock?" Falco inquired, sounding much more optimistic about this plan than anything else.
"Hopefully. I've never tried it; it's just something that might work." Khaya replied, pulling a couple of the tubular beacons from a cylindrical metal storage container.
Wolf, who was through most of the conversation surveying the hanger for something that might prove useful, came upon one last flaw in the plan. Although certain points of the hanger's structure could potentially be exploited, the size of the hole it would create couldn't possibly be large enough for any of the craft, let alone the Arwing, to fly through unharmed. There were two choices the way he saw it; one, find some way to open the doors, which were kept closed by some unknown codes, or two, find some ordinance to break through them, possibly damaging the aircraft in the process and certainly drawing a host of unwanted attention towards their position.
While Khaya and Falco got to work placing the landing beacons in strategically unnatural positions in order to trick the ship into thinking it was crash-landing, Wolf searched for anything else that might lend them a well warranted opportunity. It was some time before he once more came across Falco's Arwing, which seemed somewhat more battered than Fox's in some places yet less overall.
"Lombardi!" Wolf called.
"What?" Falco popped his head out from the bottom of the medium sized cargo vessel.
"Do you really think your Arwing's in an airworthy condition?" The lupine asked, pointing a thumb towards the damaged craft (which had in all honesty probably seen worse days). "Might as well try getting it out of here."
"I… don't know…" Falco was surprised he hadn't even considered the possibility beforehand. Arwings were exceptionally well-designed and surprisingly resilient for a fighter of its class, as they could be left alone for weeks at a time and still operate at an optimal level afterwards as opposed to most of the military's standard models, but at the same time it had been through so much and there was no telling what had been done to it ever since he'd splashed down while still inside. Then again, if he survived the journey, maybe the Arwing did as well.
He quickly scavenged something nearby for him to stand on so he could reach the cockpit, as there was no automatic system alive to accommodate him. Reaching upwards, he grabbed hold of the manual canopy latch and turned it around so that the locking mechanism which kept the cockpit sealed would be disengaged. Soon after, he lifted the canopy using nothing but his own power and slid inside of the cockpit.
"How does it look?" Wolf asked from below.
"Not good." Falco answered aloud. "Powers all out…" He stated, flipping both main and auxiliary power systems on and off continuously. "It's dead… unless I can get the power on, there's nothing I can do…"
"What about the EJS?" Wolf continued.
"The Emergency Jumper System?" Falco acknowledged, trying to fall back on terminology he knew about but never quite used himself. "I… suppose it may work… if we had another working craft. Although even if we could, I'm not sure she'd fly. We don't know anything about the engine, the control surfaces, or even if the electronics are fried. There's no guarantee that any of this is going to work without hours of technicians looking over it."
Wolf shifted his attention once more. "Khaya! How are things on your end?"
The husky was presently busy strapping beacons to the underside of the cargo vessel and therefore couldn't hear the lupine's query at that moment. However, her potential reply was drowned out by the haunting sound of the far side hanger access door sliding open, followed by the sound of rushed footsteps.
"Khaya!" Truman yelled from across the hanger, throwing a paw up in the air as he approached his colleague. Falco slid as far as he could down the cockpit in order not to be seen by the incoming figure.
As he approached, Khaya ran her mind through a number of simulated ways to tackle the ensuing conversation, all while drawing suspicion away from her and the lupine.
"Khaya, I was so worried about you… where's Major Whittle? Nothing's been broadcast on the main channel so we've all been getting worried."
"He's…" Khaya paused. She was by no means a bad liar, but she knew that no matter what she said in return would be met with Truman demanding to know more about Mr. Whittle's condition, never mind the fact that his death and the limited time they had to get off of Partasti already complicated things.
The truth of the matter was that even with both transports, not all of the island's residents would be able to leave, due to space limitations. However, everyone on the island except for a select few understood that in case the failsafe was ever needed that it was probable not all of them would have the opportunity to commit to the emergency escape. Even then, through a combination of overt redundancy and sheer paranoia, the level of difficulty in escaping Partasti was established so that no one could leak any information about the island's true purpose, not even those who weren't involved in the project.
Sure, there were times that people would come and go from the island, but their purposes were always clear and were only allowed after being thoroughly vetted such as with Wolf. Vincenzo had conducted a number of secretive business dealings that oftentimes involved outsiders, though their level of suspicion was never a concern since no one would believe the true reason for they were on Partisti even if they were told outright. The hardest part in fact was the more mundane things such as food and basic necessities that needed to be transported as well as keeping a balance between logistical reliability and operational secrecy.
The bottom line was that these transports were allowed to fly only when they had the explicit permission to do so. Their essential purpose centered on preventing rouge usage.
"Where? Where is he?" Truman asked again, unsure as to why Khaya had suddenly started to shake involuntarily. "Why isn't he answering?"
"Major Whittle is dead…" Wolf finally stepped in, drawing an illicit shock from the nearby husky.
"Wha-" Truman's feet lunged backward in surprise.
"That's why we're here. We need to get these vehicles off the ground. This island's going down with or without us, and I don't intend to die without a fight." Wolf said, drawing his gun and making sure that Truman understood that he meant business. "Lombardi, get out here…"
Falco peeked his head out of the cockpit and slid down as Wolf instructed.
"What- you?" Truman swiveled his head frantically as he watched Falco step down from the Arwing and onto the hanger floor. "Khaya, what's going on?"
Khaya, worried that the situation would escalate without her involvement, decided to speak up. "Listen Truman, I need you to work with us. The Project's over, there's nothing more we can do. Our priority has to be getting everyone we can off the island as soon as possible before-"
"You don't understand, do you? We're all dead. There's no way off this island. The transports won't fly without Major Whittle's authorization and even if you were able to get them flying you'd be shot down by the island's defenses within seconds!"
Wolf smiled for a moment, casually glancing towards Falco whilst keeping his gun leveled at Truman.
"It just so happens we have someone taking care of that now…"
~X~X~X~X~X~
Fox's stomach growled once more as the vulpine peered upwards through the darkened stairwell. The space was mostly dark, but there was a small amount of emergency lighting illuminating the angular shapes that made up the vertical corridor. In his paws he held a custom made rifle that he and the others had managed to retrieve from Vincenzo's stash; it was a unique bullpup design that distributed the majority of the weapons weight more to the back than the front, while allowing for a greater amount of ammunition to be stored behind the trigger assembly. Such a design was not favored by the greater Cornerian Army, but rather found its place in the possession of smaller and more specialized forces.
Two steps behind him was Panther, who was carrying a similarly purposed weapon and following the vulpine's every move. They each knew that in the stairwell opposite to theirs on the main building were Leon and his cousin preparing to make the initial offensive on the rooftop. The anti-aircraft emplacements which remained on the roof would need to be taken out if they had any hope of escaping the island by air, which, aside from Partasti's insistence that they remain grounded was their only viable option of outrunning the disaster that would overtake the island from within. They only had a few grenades between them, so most of the focus would be disabling the manned crews guarding the systems as well as finding some way to disable them without necessarily razing them.
As he ascended past the edge of each floor, a certain chill shook him from within. It was similar in nature to that which had stirred him in the days before, but this one seemed more focused, more direct.
'Leave, this place is too dangerous to stay' The interloper spoke to him.
The vulpine froze in his tracks.
"What's wrong?" Panther asked, bumping into Fox.
"Nothing…" Fox shook his head clear of the thought. "Let's keep going."
With every step they took drew a more desperate and hurried breath from the vulpine, time was not on their side, nor was the likelihood of any of their operations working exactly as planned. Coordination would have to be airtight; not only would he have to wait for Leon's signal, but he'd also have to make sure that Wolf received the message in time and was able to (hopefully) fly the unarmed transport over to pick them up and break free from the holds of Partasti.
They came to the top of the steps and were met with a bevy of sounds emanating from the rooftop area. He and Panther headed to each side of the door and held their ground, Fox making sure to reach to the device in his ear to communicate his situation.
"Wolf, come in. This is Fox. We're just outside the rooftop, ready to commence the assault. How are things on your end?" He whispered.
"Just fine here McCloud." Wolf answered, neglecting the fact that he was currently leveling a gun in Truman's direction. "Khaya and Falco are busy connecting the transport and the Arwing so we can get it off the ground. We're going to try using the transport's power and the fighter's avionics in tandem and see what we can get…"
"Good. We'll inform you of when we've cleared the emplacements, out." Fox ended the transmission, starting another one soon after.
"Leon, Gregory, what's the situation-"
"Radio silence…" Leon replied in an abrasively hastened tone. By the sound of what was going on the other end, they were just now getting into position, no telling if there initial plan of drawing the rooftop's attention away from the access doors was working. And so, they waited.
Fox was growing impatient, surely they had to do something soon, there was no more time.
'Why are we still here? We need to act now!' The interloper forced its way into Fox's conscious thought and drove him to lunge forward at the door, bashing it open and leaving him stumbling in the wet, crowded exterior where he was met with a collection of surprised faces both friend and foe. Running on pure instinct he slid across the rooftop floor on his side, successively picking off two armed soldiers who had been caught off guard by his sudden entrance onto the scene. Immediately though, his mind rushed to more practical matters, such as taking cover and in the process avoiding the onslaught of gunfire that was a split-second from being aimed straight for his head. He continued his slide, only forcing himself to stop when he arrived next to what seemed to be a well-fortified concrete barrier.
Surprisingly, Panther followed right after him, dodging the first few misdirected attempts of gunfire and retaliating with a flurry of his own, which only managed to land a single hit in at least twenty discharges. He arrived at Fox's side not three seconds after the vulpine had arrived there himself, and with a sharply calculated throw, heaved a grenade over the chest-high barrier and into a cluster of recently alerted fighters, killing perhaps three of them.
"You were supposed to wait for the signal!" Panther yelled, standing up momentarily to make sure his throw had made its mark.
"No time! Guard your flank!" Fox commanded. At that moment, he saw a lone soldier rushing towards them in an attempt to overtake their position. Fox reached above the barrier and pulled the young fossa over and down so that his unprotected head crashed violently against the concrete floor, knocking him unconscious.
"We need to get to more cover!" Panther exclaimed, pulling his head inward after a stray bolt knocked a sizable chunk off the corner of their defensive barrier.
"Where? There's nothing!" Fox exclaimed, pointing out that the only remaining cover on the entire rooftop was either being taken by enemy combatants or by Leon and Gregory, whom were not nearly as well armed. Their current position remained in the central part of the square rooftop and at the moment they were covered by both sides; however, a large amount of suppressive fire made it difficult to get a shot off and their cover was also diminishing by the second.
"Make something!" Panther demanded, lifting his gun over the barrier and blind firing it with rapid successive bursts. After this, he reached into a pouch which lay against his thigh and handed Fox another grenade. "I'll cover you…" He said, assuming that the vulpine understood what he would try and do.
Panther swiftly threw himself to the other side of the barrier facing the less hazardous side and laid down a hail of suppressing fire so that Fox could properly make his move. One of the anti-aircraft emplacements looked structurally weak compared to the others, and so a well-placed grenade was likely to send shrapnel in multiple directions and make for a better distraction. Readying himself, he activated the grenade and stepped towards one of the more intact parts of the concrete barrier. Lifting his arm over the barrier for just under a second, he threw the grenade towards the emplacement which was still half the building width away before throwing himself back onto the ground to avoid the ensuing return fire. He remained relatively motionless for a few seconds, waiting for the explosion, though after a while it dawned on him that nothing happened.
"Did it go off?" Fox asked Panther, who was still busy picking targets and avoiding fire.
"What?"
"Did it go off?!"
Panther peeked over the barrier momentarily before withdrawing his sight.
"Went over the edge."
Those were four words that Fox did not want to hear. If the grenade had a delayed timer or was simply non-functional was one thing, but the fact that he missed was a personal affront to his own capabilities.
At this time, the total of ten or so enemies which had initially been active on the rooftop had dropped to about four, with two on each side. Though in regular cases he'd be well prepared to face off against such enemies he had no means of personal protection and was moderately inhibited by the lack of sleep and other basic necessities; simply put, a direct hit would be liable to incapacitate or even kill him, and he still planned on one day going out that restaurant that Falco had never stopped praising so that was definitely not an option.
He figured that now was a better time than ever to truly retaliate now that they had a chance, after all, he'd barely used his weapon and for all he knew he had a 100% success rate with it so far. He strode towards the corner of the barrier and aimed down the sights, progressively leaning with a greater angle until the enemy was in sight. The soldier was shooting from dense cover, only a small portion of his arms and head could be seen from the small slit near the emplacement from where he was firing.
Fox steadied himself to the best of his ability, and with a careful estimation towards the accuracy of the weapon and the effectiveness of its discharge, pulled the trigger and hoped for the best. The front of the weapon became engulfed in a bright greenish-orange flash, and a semi-transparent hyper charged streak flew across the rooftop, finally coming in contact with the edge of the slit and shattering parts of it into the eyes of the soldier behind it, effectively disabling him from then on.
The removal of the threat gave Panther a chance to glance outward and finish off the remaining combatant at the price of receiving a ricochet shot to the left leg. He groaned loud enough so that the vulpine could hear it but continued on, heading in the direction of the fallen opponents and taking cover now against the ready-made fortifications, just in time to see the other combatants across the roof drag some of their comrades off into the stairwell in an effort to retreat.
They figured that things were in the clear, at least for now. Fox withdrew from the small hiding spot and called out for the rest of their unit.
"Greg, Leon! You can come out now!"
A few moments later, the two chameleons peeked their heads out of the eastern stairwell and made sure things were truly clear before proceeding to meet up with Panther and Fox.
"Ok, we've cleared it temporarily, but they'll most likely be back soon. We still need to take these AAA's out before Wolf arrives in the transport to take us out…" Fox said, gathering the team up in a circle. "That is, if he can get it to work…"
After peering over the edge of the rooftop to check what lay below, Panther reached up to his ear and pressed the imbedded device so that he could relay the information to his lupine commander. "Yes, that's right; we've cleared the rooftop LZ and are preparing to take care of the autonomous anti-aircraft guns." He continued on, handing Fox the explosives they'd managed retrieved from Vincenzo's stash. "Have you got it working?"
'We're still having some trouble… we're trying to use the Arwing's still functioning control system and link it so we can bypass the lock but it's even harder than it sounds…' Wolf answered; a hint of worry was audible in his voice.
Not wanting to strain him any more than necessary, the feline asked calmly about the time estimation for getting the transports working, receiving little but pure speculation in return.
'Not sure, could be five seconds, five minutes, or never. We don't know if it'll work at all.'
"Panther understands. We'll do what we can." Panther once more tapped the device to stop transmitting. He lifted his head to see Fox on the opposite end of the roof placing charges on each corner emplacement.
"McCloud!"
Fox stopped in his tracks and faced Panther.
"We're good here, head to the stairs for cover…" he cried out, gesturing for nearby Leon and Gregory to follow suit. Soon after, he'd placed the small package of moldable explosives onto the closest part to the systems controls on one of the roof's four emplacements as Fox had just taken care of the other three. Although the charges wouldn't be enough to completely demolish the emplacements, they'd be enough to cripple the autonomous systems and force them to revert to manual mode. Once things were set, he dragged a few of the bodies, both living and dead, towards the center of the rooftop where they would be relatively free from any debris, just so that they could be retrieved in case it were possible.
He met with the other three in one of the two stairwells, removing a detonator, he handed it to Fox.
"Fox will do the honors."
The vulpine lifted a clear latch of the side of the small detonator, the mere sound of it locking in place was enough to make the vulpine's heart skip a beat. He closed his eyes tight and pressed down on the red switch, ready for what would very soon overwhelm his senses.
Nothing happened.
He pressed again and again, but it still didn't go off. Something had to be wrong.
"No, no, you press it while holding this down." Panther took hold of the detonator, applying pressure to a small button on the other side before flipping the switch.
A loud crash erupted throughout the rooftop followed by a violent shake; as soon as it came, it went. Surely enough, when they stepped outside to see what damage had been done, it was clearly visible from their distance that at least two of them had been put out of commission while the others, though still probably viable with a manual control, were effectively disabled.
The dust was now settling, and soon things became even quieter, at least until the silence was broken by a low humming sound coming from the part of the island where the airfield and storage facilities were.
"What's that?" Fox asked, he and Panther raised their weapons in preparation for whatever was approaching their position.
"Could be the reinforcements…" Leon speculated, removing his own pistol from his holster and training it on the direction of the sound. The louder the hum grew, the more apparent it became that it was no mere ground vehicle, but instead it was the transport making its way towards them! They could soon see the navigational lights growing brighter, a hopeful signal to the end of their struggles and a chance to finally escape.
The craft veered at an angle to reduce its horizontal velocity. Through the combination of the fog and the thick cockpit canopy, Fox could see Wolf's figure piloting the craft and guiding it towards the central rooftop.
"That's it… we can leave. We can finally get out of here…" Fox's spirits were then immediately lifted, his smile progressed into a laugh, all while he watched Wolf carefully position the transport so that it landed in one of the unobstructed portions of the rooftop. A tear slid down the vulpine's right eye as he saw craft effortlessly float down onto the ground, the engines creating a noticeable but not uncomfortable breeze around the area with the force of its engines as it touched down.
"I can't believe it…" Leon commented, his eyes full of wonder. "We can go home."
"Magnificent bastard…" Panther smiled, shaking his head in a sign of solidarity. "He got it to work."
The transport's rear hatch was then lowered, allowing those outside to step into it with ease as well as load a few of the unconscious soldiers onboard. Once it was down, they could see Khaya, Truman, and Falco waiting for them, while Wolf remained in the pilot's seat. All of them except for Truman seemed to meet each other's gazes with a heartened expression, smiling contently and making their relief known to all.
"Step inside, everyone, the Partasti Express will be leaving shortly." Falco did his best to mimic the sound of a Cornerian public transportation officer.
As Fox stepped into the hatch after all the others, he headed towards the front of the ship where Wolf resided alone. Upon entering the cockpit, he tapped the lupine on the shoulder and pointed to the second seat which lay right of center.
"Mind if I take co-pilot?" He asked, his elevated mood made his question sound more like a joke than anything, but Wolf took it as a serious gesture either way.
"Go ahead, this ship's stolen anyway." Wolf said in reply.
The vulpine took his seat and rested his head against the padded exterior of the co-pilot's chair. It was an immensely overwhelming feeling to be back in this position again, despite the fact that the aircraft was unfamiliar and actually belonged to a hostile faction. Nevertheless, when it came to more practical matters such as flying it, there would be no problem as it was a standardized civilian model and carried with it no challenges that the experienced pilots wouldn't be able to handle.
"So, how'd you get it flying? I thought the systems were all locked up."
"They were, but we were able to temporarily pre-load the avionics using and external connection to one of the Arwing's computers. Turns out we were able to transfer through and activate it by strapping landing beacons to the bottom and fooling it to think it was still in flight."
"I see…" Fox returned his focus to the central control console which displayed the ship's navigational systems. Curiously enough, they didn't seem to have any locations saved within its memory, but rather relied on temporary local transmitters to relay its landing position. "We won't have any more problems with it, will we?"
"We shouldn't have. Entering the hanger is what triggers the failsafe. As long as we don't go back there we should be fine."
The crew settled inside the transport and made themselves comfortable. Falco had been keeping a weapon leveled at Truman but with the reinforcements backing it up found it to be an unnecessary gesture. There wasn't much that former pilot could do now that he was so outnumbered, and though he never intended to be removed from the island as a prisoner, he saw no other option that resulted in him living another day.
"Hold onto something back there, we're taking off." Wolf announced through the local intercom before once again setting the throttle vector so that the ship began to lift off the ground.
Fox peered out the right side window, making sure to get one more good view out of Partasti before he'd never see it again. The transport rose well above the tree line and started to drift past the edge of the flat hotel rooftop as Wolf pushed the control column forward while also increasing the engine throttle with his other paw.
"How did you get the hangers open?"
"Truman led us to a manual system that allowed us crank it open. We never would've found it without him stepping in on us."
"So where are we headed first?" The vulpine asked in the same manner that a kit would on the first minutes of a long road trip.
"There's a 'safe' island up to the north of here. I'm pretty sure it's where I boarded one of these transports to come here. That's where my team has our ships stored too, locked away securely of course. Sorry we couldn't get yours out McCloud. Those fighters of yours are one of a kind." Wolf admitted.
With the casual way in which he delivered his words, it sounded like he and the vulpine were more like well-acquainted friends than part-time rivals. The situation had yielded much of their distrust towards one another in ways that were rather unthinkable before then. They were not enemies here, but two lost bodies looking for some way out of their mutual predicament. If things had panned out differently in each of their lives, then they might have been ones to share a few beers and talk about who had the best war stories, but a bitterness still lingered between them even after their teams cooperated during the Aparoid ordeal.
And so, believing the bulk of their worries was now behind them, Fox closed his eyes in preparation for the much needed rest that his body was crying out for him to allow. He slowed his breath and placed his head back against the rest once more, only wishing that there was a cool drink of water somewhere to quench his acquisitive thirst.
A sudden rush of sound overcame the cockpit followed by the flashing of the red master warning light at the top of the main panel. Fox jolted upwards to see what was going on but had little time to react.
"Someone's targeting us!" Wolf yelled, attempting to pull the craft into evasive maneuvers but to no avail. There were no electronic or physical countermeasures to any weapons onboard and there in addition there was no shielding to protect them in case they did get hit. This was after all a civilian transport vessel that was never designed to actually encounter such things.
"Where? I can't see anything!" Fox swiveled his head to see what lay below them through the windows, but the amount of still present fog made it difficult to notice anything besides the canopy formed by the dispersal of trees.
The entire ship bucked and descended in a violent motion while Wolf attempted to evade whatever happened to be targeting them. There was an immediate flash in their vicinity as a shoulder-launched weapon made its presence known, followed by a bright flash that shook the aircraft to a degree that it almost split in two with the explosive force.
The transport had now completely lost its balance, yawing vigorously in a futile effort to somehow stabilize itself; Fox could see the trees coming closer as the aircraft continued its uncontrolled descent.
"Pull up!" The vulpine commanded, bracing himself against the seat for what looked to be an imminent impact event.
"I can't! Controls are down! We won't make it!" For the first time he could remember, Fox saw a panicked and downright terrified expression coming from the lupine. Their final hope, the only way they could escape in time, was now going down in flames, and there was nothing they could do but watch. Warning lights flashed on the main panel and practically everywhere else while engine failure alarms went off at a deafening volume, though no amount of troubleshooting would be able to solve their problems.
The ship jerked wildly as it brushed past the trees, snapping large chunks of wood off as it sliced through the dense jungle growth. The last thing that Fox could remember was the ship making a complete inversion, knocking his head against the topmost panel of the cockpit, before a loud sound overcame his senses and threw his dazed mind into an immediate state of utter darkness where nothing remained but silence.
~X~X~X~X~X~
Awoken by a unique combination of smells, lights, and sounds of crackling fire, Fox sputtered into consciousness. He could sense that he was being moved, but not by his own volition; rather something out of sight was dragging him away from the fiery wreck. He was far too dazed at the moment to utter anything but nonsensical sounds as his mind attempted to reestablish the situation it had been violently placed in.
"Mhln... Whs..." Fox let out, his eyes opening wide enough to see the scene before him and comprehend what lay in front of him for the first time. The transport that they had entered only a short time before was now a flaming wreckage, devoid of any hope in terms of salvage or reuse. Though upon further inspection, the fire seemed to be coming from the vegetation around the downed vehicle more than inside of it; a large gaping hole near the rear where one of the primary engines were showed what evidently caused the failure that sent the vehicle plummeting to the ground at what was fortunately a shallow enough angle to survive.
But then again, with Partasti's life hanging on a thin thread, this may have only prolonged their calamitous fate.
"You're still breathing McCloud... that counts for something." He could hear the voice of Wolf penetrating through the effervescent buzz that clouded his mind. "We have to get away from the wreckage. Whoever shot us down might be coming to finish the job."
Although the vulpine could hear these words, he had yet to fully understand their meaning. It was a while before Wolf had finally carried him to a small clearing where a few of the others had gathered; Khaya, Gregory, and Falco along with and the rest of Star Wolf sat in a circle, some outwardly appearing more injured than others.
As Wolf began to set him down, Fox started to regain his conscious awareness. Although there was still a feeling of confusion and indwelt pain that surrounded his every thought, he was now back in the holds of reality.
"They'll likely be sending a search team to investigate. The whole island probably heard that." Khaya stated, breaking the silence.
"At least we're away from the site. It's likely they won't follow us this far." Wolf replied, unsure as to whether his precaution would mean anything in the end. He had tried his best to guide the ship down as safely as possible; although he knew that it may mean nothing for their plight, he also understood that it was always better to fight death than to allow it.
"What now? Our transportation's gone and there's no time to do anything else." Leon remarked, sitting against a rock while holding his injured arm. "We're stuck here, aren't we?"
Wolf nodded hesitantly. "Unless the bomb is a dud. In fact we don't even know if it exists." He turned towards Khaya for acknowledgement.
"It exists. I've seen it." The husky answered in a solemn tone. "It lies across the northern rim of the island, in the center of the coastal semicircle. It lies almost fifty meters below the ground, so it can't be touched with conventional weapons..."
"But... what about unconventional weapons?" Fox wondered aloud.
Khaya paused for a moment. "Well... I suppose there might be some weapons that could penetrate or disable it, but nothing in any arsenal I'm aware of."
Fox rescanned his memory for a possibility that he had neglected all along. There was not nearly enough time to contact help in order to send someone to rescue them, but perhaps there still remained the option of calling in an orbital strike to deal with the bomb somehow. Fox tried his best to recall the codes in order to contact the ZOSC (which stood for Zoness Orbital Strike Command), but each time his mind came up with a number it was quickly discarded.
"Khaya... is there any way I can gain access to long-range communication?"
"Well... Maybe. I don't think the facility has any more power, but-"
"I need to get there now."
Due to the lack of additional options, the rest of the group swiftly complied. Falco helped Fox to his feet, and they began to follow Khaya, Panther and Leon flanking each side with weapons drawn to ensure safe passage. In about two minute's time of treading through the thick brush, they finally reached the small rectangular building that had been annexed with a large antenna.
"We have about eleven minutes before the bomb is scheduled to go off. What exactly are you planning McCloud?" Khaya wondered, opening the door to the facility with a manual emergency latch.
"I need to contact Colonel Pourelle of the Zoness Orbital Strike Command. He might have something that can help."
Leon and Panther approached the darkened entryway and switched on their flashlights in order to light up the darkened interior. Upon entering, it was immediately noticeable that an intentional amount of damage had been inflicted on the array of systems that lined the building's walls.
"What happened here?" Leon muttered when he saw the charred remains of the facility's electronics.
"Cleanup. They've made sure nothing of importance here survives." Khaya noted, stepping in after the others.
"There has to be something here..." Falco expressed while Fox remained on his shoulder. "They wouldn't just torch everything."
The group continued their search until eventually coming across what looked to be a handheld com system designed to be fitted with a larger antenna.
"There!" Panther exclaimed, pointing at the only partially scorched device.
Fox picked the device up and examined it thoroughly. "Worth a try. These things are designed to survive the worst of conditions."
After finding the correct power source, the device itself switched on with ease. The entirety of the room lit up with a set of instructions detailing the need for the system to install critical security updates before it could be properly used.
"No no... skip, c'mon." Fox tried frantically to bypass the update selection, they wouldn't stop popping up. Finally, he managed to deselect all the options regarding updates and came to a selection screen where he was able to select the outside antenna as the transmission device.
He stepped back, taking a deep breath before inputting the codes he believed to be for ZOSC. The rest watched in complete silence as the transmission began.
It was a few moments before anything could be heard but static, a reverberating noise was continuously present throughout multiple oscillations of volume. And then, a voice punctured through the abject unintelligibility.
"Hello?"
Fox sputtered with a much needed release of excited breath. "Hello, yes I need to get hold of Colonel Pourelle of ZOSC immediately, there's no time to waste."
"I'm sorry, but the Colonel's asleep at the moment. This is Major Koeman, I'm filling in for him. Now who is this? And how'd you get a hold of this number?"
"M-My name is Fox McCloud... I have authorization to contact this channel as granted to me by General Pepper of Cornerian High Command. Now I need you to listen carefully, my life and a number of others are at stake..."
"Fox McCloud..." Major Koeman repeated from the other side of the line. "That's impossible, Fox McCloud was shot down and killed over a week ago. I have just received the report less than an hour ago…"
"Listen, Major. I'm Fox James McCloud, I know who I am. I know all about Big Boy and the operations that were recently conducted with it. I'm on an island somewhere within SAU boundaries but my exact position is unknown. In ten minutes or so, a bomb is going to level the whole place and take all of us with it. Are you listening now, Major?"
An audible sigh echoed throughout Major Koeman's side. "I'm listening..."
"Good. Now Major, you have access to Phoenix Hi-strike weapons, correct? I need a deep impact strike to be launched at a target area close to my position as soon as possible."
Fox was referring to the class of weapons which were designed to penetrate deeply into underground fortifications even from extreme distances. Phoenix Hi-strikes were used very rarely due to their tendency to distort their target area to such a degree that the deformation would render the area completely unusable, coupled with the relative lack of threats such as these.
It was a few seconds before the Major could deliver any sort of response. Fox felt anxious that his request would be denied. "You need to understand McCloud, I can't just launch these weapons whenever I want to, the order has to come directly from an Officer of the Cornerian Armed Forces above me. I can't authorize you no matter how important the request. I can't be responsible for the unsanctioned use of my weapons."
"General, if you don't act now, you will be remembered for your failure to execute when the time came. You're my last hope for getting off this island alive and finishing an operation vital to the security interests of the entire Lylat, do you understand?" The vulpine concluded more forcefully than any previous statement.
Frustrated, the Major replied with an equal level of assertiveness. "I'll do what I can, McCloud. But you have to understand, I could be hanged for this if it happens to strike against a civilian population."
Major Koeman transferred the communication system to his mobile device that he could carry with him instead of standing next to a console. With a heightened pace he stepped into the nearby weapons control room and woke the sleepy eyed operations crew with a rousing set of commands.
"Wake up everyone, we need to be operational ASAP." The crew bolted upright, engaging their respective systems and devoting their full attention to whatever would come next.
"What's going on?" The second in command asked, curious as to why the Major had such an intense expression on him.
"We have an immediate Hi-strike request, time sensitive."
"From who? High Command?"
Major Koeman shook his head. "Fox McCloud."
The second in command's eyes opened wide in response before immediately rushing to ready the targeting systems.
"Everyone prepare for an immediate strike mission." After giving the orders to the lower crew, he turned back to Major Koeman with a reserved sense of confusion. "Major, Fox McCloud? But-"
"No time to explain, we need to get these systems on now."
It wasn't long before a complex sequence of events was put into place; engaging the weapons systems at such short notice wasn't easy, as it required explicit authorization from a number of different sources. If there was any hint of hesitation from one of the crew members, the entire operation would be slowed down dramatically.
"McCloud, we're trying to find the proper targeting parameters, but we can only pinpoint your location to about half a kilometer. The system tells us your transmission is coming from an unlisted island that lies across the southern archipelago shelf. We can do our best to make a precision strike, but without a precise location that's rather impossible."
Fox explained to the Major the approximate location of where Partasti's bomb lay and how it corresponded with the shape of the rest of the island. Within a minute, they had selected a location and input the information into the weapon. All that was left was to initiate the launch sequence.
"I'd advise you vacate the area as soon as possible McCloud. We're danger close as it is, you should get as far away from the impact site as you can."
"We will Major. Thank you again." With that, Fox discontinued the transmission.
"Targeting is set?" Major Koeman asked.
"Set."
"Weapons systems?"
"All green."
"Launch Codes."
"Accepted."
"Good. Prepare Hi-strikes for launch sequence." Major Koeman as well as the presiding Captain each lifted the keys off their necks and placed them inside the slots at their respective stations.
"Ready, three, two, one, turn..." Acting as one force, they turned their keys in perfect synchrony, activating the button which controlled the actual weapon.
Major Koeman lifted the protective black and yellow latch that prevented the button from accidental activation. And with a deep breath, pushed down to activate it.
The entire station shook for a moment, and the aftermath of their tense situation brought with at a final release now that the weapon was out of their control.
"Disengage systems, lock any further weapons, and get me in touch with Colonel Pourelle." Koeman removed a cigar from his pocket and proceeded to light it up, ignoring official station etiquette for conduct in combat centers. Stepping into the central platform where the commander's chair lay, he observed the targeting confirmation signal flash across the main screen.
"Might as well see if these things work."
~X~X~X~X~X~