Great Fox II
His mind felt like a black veil through which no light or sound could penetrate. But then, it slowly started to lift.
At first, he could only see shapes and shadows. Then his vision started to clear and he could hear the beeps of computers.
Wolf blinked his eye to clear his vision and looked around, seeing that he was in what was presumably the Great Fox II's medical bay, judging by the fact that several of the other beds were occupied by the recently liberated Cornerian pilots. The lupine also had a pounding headache.
Reaching up and feeling the bandage on his head, Wolf quickly determined that the others must've fought off the Deep Ones.
"Damn, that thing could throw a mean punch," he mumbled to himself.
The lupine's ears twitched as he heard the doors to the infirmary open. Glancing in their direction, Wolf caught sight of a female dingo entering the room and traced her up and down with his eye.
The wild dog seemed to notice, because she set her hands on her hips and let out an annoyed huff.
"I didn't come in here to be ogled."
"Sorry," Wolf said and held up a hand in a placating gesture.
Now making a point to keep his gaze on the dingo's face, Wolf started to feel a sense of deja vu.
"I know this is gonna sound strange, but have we met before?" the lupine asked.
To his surprise, the dingo nodded.
"Yeah," she replied, "We bumped into each other on Kew late last year."
Wolf merely blinked.
"I don't remember that."
A corner of the wild dog's mouth turned up in a smile.
"Of course you don't. You were pretty trashed. So was the girl you were with."
Grunting in acknowledgement, Wolf got up from the bed and walked up to the dingo.
"I reckon that you know who I am, so what's your name?" the lupine asked.
"Carmen. Carmen Sanders," the dingo answered and stuck out her hand, which Wolf promptly shook.
"Now that I'm thinking about it, you're part of Algy's crew, aren't you?"
"I am," Carmen replied, "But there's no time to chat. McCloud wants everyone on the bridge. Didn't say why, but he sounded pretty serious."
Nodding, Wolf said, "Alright, let's go."
The two canines left the med bay and walked up the corridor a bit before boarding a lift that took them to the bridge.
Entering the sliding double doors, Wolf could feel in the air that something was terribly wrong. He glanced over at Carmen and saw that she was just as worried as him.
The two of them took a spot by the holoprojector in between Zeke and Algy.
Meeting his old teammate's gaze, Wolf whispered, "Nice to see you again, little buddy."
Smiling at hearing Wolf's old nickname for him, the lemur replied, "Same to you, big guy. Though I wish it was under better circumstances."
Wolf then brought his attention towards Fox, who had his back turned to the others. As the vulpine turned around, Wolf could make out the dread etched onto his rival's face.
"There's no easy way for me to say this, so I'm just gonna say it."
The vulpine gripped the edges of the projector before continuing.
"Colony Alpha was attacked by that thing we saw in Taktar. There are no survivors."
"But there are plenty of creatures crawling about the place," Krystal put in.
Fox looked around the room, meeting the gazes of the team's hired help.
"I know you guys didn't sign up for this, so I'm not asking you to stay on. I can't speak for the rest of my team, but if you wanna back out, I understand."
Fara was the first to respond.
"Fox, you're gonna need all the help you can get. I'm staying."
"So am I," Slippy put in.
Wolf cleared his throat to get Fox's attention. Once the vulpine met his gaze, Wolf stated, "We've followed you this far, pup. Might as well go all the way."
"We need to stop this thing before it reaches Lylat," Miyu chimed in.
"What she said," Connie added.
Algy was the last to speak.
"I don't know much about this thing you're talking about, but it sounds like it could spell disaster for everyone. We'll help you out."
Fox let out a breath and nodded his head.
"Thanks, all of you. Now let's get to the armory. We're putting an end to this fucking threat once and for all."
He glanced towards Bill and Morane.
"Guys, as much as I hate to do this, I'm going to have to ask you to stay back and watch over the wounded. Not to mention making sure that nothing else comes aboard."
"But Fox," Bill protested.
Fox shook his head.
"Bill, if worse comes to worse for us down there, I need someone to get word back home."
The husky nodded reluctantly.
"Alright. I don't like it, I don't agree with it, but I accept it."
Nodding, Fox said, "Thanks. Now let's move out."
Later
Surface of Colony Alpha
Fox felt his stomach turn in knots as his Arwing descended through the atmosphere of the Lylatian colony. The skeletons of ravaged buildings soon became visible, along with the silhouettes of strange creatures milling about on the ground.
The vulpine was about to order everyone to rain hell down on the beings when his HUD started to crackle with lines of static.
"What the?"
Fox keyed his comm and was only met with static.
"The Hell?"
"It's happening to everyone, Fox," Krystal mentally signaled to him, "We'll need to land and go in on foot."
"Alright, let everyone else know," Fox signaled back while prepping his fighter's landing sequence.
The squadron of mercenary fighters touched down on the moon's surface, which was now covered in the same fine grey dust that part of the group had seen in the Kord Woods.
After checking his scanners to make sure the air was still breathable, Fox opened his canopy and climbed out, kicking up clouds of grey dust as his feet touched the ground.
Retrieving a plasma rifle and some grenades from the storage compartment, Fox turned to the others.
"If it moves, shoot it," ordered the vulpine.
From there, the group set off towards the ruined settlement, weapons at the ready. Soon, they heard the moans of the undead and spotted a group of the beings shambling towards them.
"Allow me," Heinrich stated as he stepped forward and hefted a grenade launcher he had borrowed from Star Fox's armoury.
The giant armadillo fired a grenade into the group of zombies and watched as they were blown into bloody bits.
Smiling, Heinrich rested the launcher on his broad shoulder and uttered, "Boom."
Noticing that the others were giving his friend incredulous looks, Algy quickly explained, "You get used to it."
The group pressed on into the destroyed settlement. The sight that greeted them proved sobering, even for Heinrich.
Corpses littered the street, all of them crumbling into dust and barely recognizable.
"This is horrible," Falco remarked.
"All those people," Katt put in.
Growls from up ahead got the group's attention. Bipedal figures with weapons in hand were advancing on the band of mercenaries and outlaws.
"Ayeahhhh!" one of them screeched.
"Take em down!" Fox ordered.
The group exchanged fire with the other beings, who proved woefully inaccurate. The mercenaries' opponents were quickly mowed down.
Walking up to the corpses, Fox quickly noticed that they were in the green uniforms and body armour of the local garrison.
"Shit," the vulpine muttered as he thought back to fighting infected CDF troopers during the Aparoid Invasion.
"Keep moving," he ordered.
The group advanced through the ruined settlement, soon coming upon another group of infected soldiers, along with the pale airborne beings from the tunnels.
While the former Lylatians still proved inaccurate, the airborne beings flew towards them and fired their green beams at the group with far better precision.
Undeterred, Krystal threw up a barrier with her staff and shielded the mercenaries from the attacks. She then sent out a psychic wave that gave the creature's aneurysms, resulting in them dropping to the ground dead.
The rest of the group gunned down the former Lylatian soldiers, but they didn't catch a break, as there was a ringing noise and a flash of blue light.
The mercenaries were now faced with a group of the horned creatures from the tunnels. The beings let out screeches and charged towards the mercenaries, some of them leaping into the air.
The result was that the group's attention was divided between the fiends in the air and the ones still on the ground. Indeed, a couple were able to land near the mercenaries, but were gunned down before they could use their deadly claws. Their brethren soon followed, once again leaving things deathly quiet.
"Well hopefully that's the worst they throw at us," Slippy remarked.
Seconds after he said that, the same ringing sound was heard, followed by the same flash of blue light. This time, the group of mercenaries was confronted by several bipedal beings dressed in what appeared to be the armour of medieval knights, complete with horned helmets and swords.
"Oh, you just had to open your mouth, didn't you, butthead?" Algy snarked as he raised his machine pistols and fired them at the newest threat.
The armoured beings grunted as the mercenaries' projectiles slammed into them, yet they continued to advance. One of them stretched out its free arm and waved its hand in front of them, sending a wave of fireballs towards the group. So did two more of the otherworldly knights.
"Heads up!" Falco called to the others while diving for cover.
In spite of the armoured beings ability to throw projectiles, they proved to be no match for the mercenaries. One was blown backwards by a couple of fireballs from Krystal's staff, while another fell forward under the combined fire of the rest of the group, gloved fingers grasping at its throat as black blood oozed between them.
The rest of the monstrous knights were soon dropped by the band of mercenaries and outlaws.
"Everyone okay?" Fox asked.
After a series of affirmative replies, the vulpine continued leading the group through the destroyed settlement. As they entered the central square, three loud roars sounded from close by, roars that were familiar to those who had been in the tunnels.
"Oh, not again!" Leon groaned.
"And there's three of em!" Wolf added.
True to their word, three of the giant white furred beings from the tunnel were charging up the street towards the mercenaries.
"Kaden and I will take one each, the rest of you get the third!" Krystal ordered.
"You heard her!" Fox added, "Concentrate your fire on the one in the lead!"
As the majority of mercenaries and outlaws opened fire on the lead creature, Krystal and Kaden concentrated on the other two.
Having learned about the giant beings' ability to fire lightning from the others' minds, Krystal opted to close with her opponent, her telepathy warning her of the creatures' attempts to slice her to ribbons with its claws.
Ducking under a swipe, the cobalt vixen rammed the sharp end of her staff into the creature's chest. She listened as the creature gurgled on it's own blood before pulling the weapon out and letting the monster collapse to the ground.
Kaden meanwhile, simply glared up at the creature bearing down on him. It brought it's hands above it's head, electricity crackling between it's claws, yet the blue vulpine stood his ground.
As soon as the bolt shot towards him, Kaden held out his hand and stopped it in midair.
"Bad move, mate," the blue vulpine taunted before using his gift to send the bolt back towards its owner.
The result was that the beast began twitching as the bolt hit it, before exploding in a shower of blood and gore.
As for the others, while their target soaked up a lot of fire, they were able to drop it, albeit, only after it managed to get a lightning bolt off.
"These guys are tough," Heinrich remarked as he reloaded his grenade launcher.
"You're preaching to the choir," Wolf replied.
Suddenly his lupine ears twitched at the sound of something whooshing through the air. Bringing his attention forward, Wolf caught sight of a spiked ball flying through the air towards Carmen.
Reacting quickly, Wolf jumped towards the dingo and tackled her to the ground. But to his horror, the projectile seemed to be following them.
"Oh Shit!" he thought.
Then all of a sudden, the ball seemed to stop in midair, though it was still rotating. Glancing over, Wolf saw Kaden with his hand outstretched.
Gazing up the street, Wolf caught sight of a pair of grotesque beings. Their torsos were vaguely humanoid, while their lower bodies consisted of a trio of legs ending in a spike. Two of them were at the front of the body while the third was located at the rear and seemed to be an extension of their spines.
The creature on the left seemed to be locked in a mental battle with Kaden while the one on the right let out a screech and began advancing, its spiked legs clacking on the pavement.
"Krystal, get the one on the left!" Kaden shouted.
"On it!"
The cobalt vixen aimed her staff and fired an ice beam at the three legged being, freezing it solid. Kaden then sent the spiked ball back at its owner, shattering it into bloody chunks.
The others all concentrated their fire on the remaining creature. Despite its size, it proved to be just as resilient as the giant beasts from before, if not more so. It shrugged off laser and grenade fire and threw a few explosive spiked balls towards the mercenaries, though Krystal was able to protect them with barriers from her staff.
Eventually, the spider-like creature collapsed to the pavement in a heap, a final shot blowing off its head. A tense silence passed as the group reloaded their weapons and kept an eye out for any more threats.
"Where the hell did that come from?" Connie asked.
Wolf was on high alert when his attention was grabbed by a feminine voice.
"Hey O'Donnell."
Turning towards Carmen, Wolf replied, "Yeah?"
Smiling, the dingo said, "Thanks,"
At a loss for words, Wolf scratched the back of his head and stammered, "Uh, nothing to it, Sanders."
Kaden meanwhile, caught sight of a bipedal figure walking towards the group.
"Don't shoot. She's not one of them."
As the figure got closer to the group, they could see that she vaguely resembled a human, but was far skinnier with chalk white skin and long strands of auburn hair tied back in a large ponytail.
Clothing wise, the new arrival was wearing a sleeveless orange suit that left very little to the imagination alongside a brown vest and boots. Lastly, she was carrying a sniper rifle of some sort and also had a pair of holstered blasters.
The woman stopped a few feet away and ran her green eyes over the group, finally stopping on Wolf.
A few seconds passed before the lupine said, "Hello Aurra."
"Wolf," the woman curtly replied.
Before anything else could be said, Krystal held up a hand.
"He's coming. Everyone be ready,"
As the group of mercenaries raised their weapons, the voice of the Colour entered their ears.
"YOU ARE MORE CUNNING THAN I THOUGHT. NO MATTER, YOU WILL ALL DIE."
Muzzle curled back into a snarl, Krystal screamed, "Show yourself, You Coward!"
A strong wind whipped up and began blowing the grey dust all around the group. Within the dust cloud, the eyes of the Elder being appeared and glared down at them.
"YOU WILL BE NOTHING MORE THAN HUSKS WHEN I AM FINISHED WITH YOU."
The group steeled themselves, knowing that they had to defeat this creature.
Because otherwise, Lylat, and perhaps the whole galaxy, could suffer the same fate as Colony Alpha.