Dear Diary
"They… they are here. I only heard about them before… but they are here now! I saw them flying through the skies. They bombed the skyscrapers without any mercy. People running were just zapped by weird chrome ships shooting down purple-pink beams. I saw them get turned into… just nothing!
Then they landed on the streets. They were ugly but don't tell them I said that. Because I know what will happen. Those freaks… they have similar weapons to those big ships in the sky. And they killed everything around them and then proclaimed total control over the city. I… sadly believe them.
Right now I'm hiding inside the basement of my apartment building. Together with my family. We try to keep quiet as much as possible. But my little sister… she's too young to understand what is going on. Mom has to keep her quiet as much as possible. But even with noise-canceling headphones on, she can still hear the screams. The gunfire, the rumbling of those machines and the weird language those freaks are shouting at everyone.
Mom herself is getting those facial spasms again. Just like she got from the previous invasion. She keeps strong for my lil' sis but I can see she's struggling badly. My dad is… just completely shut off. He's taped his own mouth shut so he can no longer scream. He served in the military before and this… this whole thing is conjuring up some really bad memories. So he thought it best to suffer in silence.
Me? I'm terrified. I can feel parts of my body shivering I never knew I had. Who needs a shower and running water when I produce enough cold sweat to fill up an entire bathtub? But I'm still alive. And… I think I can be sure I'm one of the few lucky enough to say that.
I'm writing this right now using a candle. My phone died about an hour ago. Running water has been closed off, the Net is completely down, my work has been bombed, all signals are being blocked and electricity is no longer being supplied. Whatever is still available, is likely being slurped up by the invaders.
I'm mad too. How the hell did they get through our military? Again!? This is like those bugs all over again! And why were we not told about a new threat? Where was the evacuation effort!? Was there even any preparation that went into this? It must be the government covering something up again. But as usual, politicians have absolutely no sense of reality and they got too greedy or something.
Crap! I… I can hear them! They are coming closer. The gunfire is getting louder and although I can hear voices speaking our language, they could be using deceiving tactics to lure us out! I can't exactly tell what they are saying but… who could with all that madness I can hear?
All I can hope for is that… it will be quick. If not for me, then at least for my family…"
Then the door smashes wide open as part of the wall that held it up always collapses. Light shines through the pitch blackness of the room as the pen is thrown away in panic. The diary that was being written in, is held up as some sort of shield. The daughter is clutched tighter by the mother as she softly weeps. The door of the room that held the father, is forced open by the man himself. Choosing to try and protect his family over his mental anguish. The tape he had on, now only hangs from his right cheek. The pain of ripping it off be damned.
The father dashes towards the diary holder and then pulls them towards the mother. And then stands in the way of the enemy coming towards them. If they want his family, then they will have to go through him.
A figure then appears in what was the doorway at one point. Although clearly armed, the figure does not open fire. In fact, it does not even point its weapon towards them. Instead, it calls out something they cannot hear properly and gestures to come here. And once the eyes are adjusted, they can see it is not of one of those creatures.
In fact, it is a Cornerian soldier. Despite the unorthodox outfit, it is clearly one of them. And the diary holder recognizes the soldier. The corsac, bleak white fur. That blond hair that turns more red the closer it resembles a mullet, that red mustache. The awful fashion sense still being visible through all that techy looking equipment. The big bronze radio. It could not be anyone else.
"T-Trevor?"
"Quinn!" the figure calls out as he reaches his hand out.
Priority Evac
09:16:07, [] ALW,
Sgt.-at-Arms Trevor "Bones" DeLange,
|-N-o-v-a-7-| Cornerian Army 35th Special Vanguard Unit,
Corneria City, Corneria.
"Get up and bring your family with you! We're pulling out of Corneria City; it's completely lost. But we're taking everyone we can with us!"
Then Trevor turns to something on his left and directs someone named Kip to light "it" up completely.
Quinn and his family grab whatever stuff they have and follow the soldier's instructions. Based on the trust Quinn has for that soldier.
As they emerge, the background of the hell that Corneria City turned into becomes more clear to the eyes. On their right, they can see the reddish-brown kangaroo known as Militia Kip Starnova, deploy a bipod from the grip of her weapon. She then puts that on a nearby wreck and pulls the trigger only to seemingly never let go.
Satisfied, Trevor turns back to Quinn and gestures to him to move it along already; their transport will come in a moment. The white rat nods and tells his family to follow him. Trevor is glad that they can evacuate even more and tells someone named PAL to send in the armored personnel carrier to park just in front of the building.
Quinn and his family have now fully emerged from the building they hid in and sadly bask in the inglorious inferno their city has become. It is not the first time but this is especially bleak looking. The APC that they were told about arrives and opens the back. Inside, they can already see a mixture of soldiers and other civilians urging them to get in fast.
The moment the daughter is in, the father is suddenly fired upon by one of those creatures. The shot impacts the door and the father is unharmed, if dazed.
A follow-up shot does not come. As the creature is too busy choking on its own blood as a knife, held by someone invisible, has been jammed into the exposed neck just underneath the thing's helmet. Both water and blood pour as the knife slices through. Until it comes out the other end. Splashing even more bodily fluids all over the floor before them.
"Good job, Phantom." Trevor states as the white, rusty-spotted vulpine known as Private Roger "Phantom" Dillinger turns off his active camouflage and gives a two-fingered salute.
A shotgun blast going off next to him draws his attention as another one of those creatures is thrown into view from the other side of the building. It is still alive and sees something approaching that terrifies it to no end. It tries crawling away on its back and pleading for mercy but as Calamity comes into view, he knows very well this is not going to happen. And as predicted, the chocolate brown dog destroys the creature. Slamming her heavy assault shield right into its sternum before turning its head into mush by stomping on it a few times.
"Making smoothies, Boogey?" Phantom quips.
"It's Boogeywoman, thank you very much." Militia Calamity counters as she runs over to report to Trevor that the south side is clear for now, but not for long.
"Then it's time to get out of here. Quinn! Get your family in that APC, pronto!" Trevor then urges and the white rat does not disobey that order.
He and his family get in and strap themselves down. The corsac vulpine assures them they will be fine as he closes the doors. Then he gives two taps on the carrier's rear end and tells this PAL fellow to treat his new occupants nicely. Whereupon only a slightly robotic, posh-but-for-evil-reasons voice greets the new passengers on his APC over a small loudspeaker. Courtesy of the Cornerian Army, they will be taken to a refugee camp away from the violence in the city.
"Be assured that the Cornerian Army will do everything it can to reconquer and avenge all the ground and people we have lost." he states with a clear violent edge to his words.
Especially putting emphasis on "reconquer" and "avenge". The engine starts right back up and Trevor looks off into the distance where Calamity came from. Expecting something.
"Yo uh… Patch? Where are you?" he asks over the comms, only to be answered by rapturous gunfire and the gnashing of teeth.
"Copy that. Nelson, can you confirm 7-2's position?"
The sand-colored shrew, all snuggled up into his computer module also known as the "ball turret" on the other side of the conflict and planet, is tapping away as fast as he can.
"One moment, 7-1. Everything is crumbling around us… but! I found her. Three blocks from you and being chased by a lot of bogies. Silver lining? She's dispatching them as fast as they can reinforce their losses."
"If only everyone did so well…" the Major sighs as he watches the red screens of alarms and the devastation all over Corneria from the War Room.
With his friend standing next to him for moral support. Proudly watching the blip on the screen marked as 7-2 mow through those bastards like it is nothing.
Back on the battlefield, Trevor can see and above all hear the truck which Patches is manning the turret off come closer. With those aforementioned bogies on their tail. Although one already combusts into a massive fireball the moment they come over the hill.
"PAL. APC turret to 180 degrees. Avoid the truck with 7-2 on it. Fire at will." Trevor orders as the turret swivels over and with its autocannon, it proceeds to obliterate the rest.
"Woohoo!" Patches cries out victoriously when she notices the support she received.
As the APC's autocannon blasts its projectiles at at least 1300 meters per second, they go past Specialist Ashley "Patches" Hare. The bandage she got so long ago now has been practically sewn to her face. Her right ear is still floppy and her military attire still sensible until one looks at what she wears below the knees. Strange taste in footwear aside, there is a reason why she is the second-highest ranking in the team.
The truck stops before the APC and Patches remarks that she had them but she appreciated it nonetheless. Trevor replies by stating that his 1 should not be that cocky. She ignores this of course, and then she says hello to Calamity and Phantom rather casually, like she just dropped by. The casual interaction has to be disturbed when Kip reports that she is losing control of her sector; there are just too many. Even for her.
Trevor quickly instructs the APC to take off now and for Calamity and Phantom to mount on to the truck. He will provide some covering fire for Kip so she can get out too. While Patches helps the two up, Trevor runs over and joins his partner behind the wreck. And the moment the crosshairs of his scope line up on his first target, one silent cough later it is down and out forever.
This is the sign Kip has been waiting for; she releases the trigger and throws out two grenades. One explosive and another a smoke grenade she borrowed from Calamity. The explosion stops the advance for a moment and the smoke covers them so they can retreat. As the APC drives off, Trevor and Kip start running for the truck.
On the way, a stray shot from the angry invaders blind-firing into the smoke, grazes Trevor's leg causing him to fall down. Although the APC is almost gone, PAL is not blind to this at all. Being present in all their CID equipment has its positives after all. The turret snaps towards the smoke and he starts indiscriminately firing. With deadly results.
Kip picks Trevor off the ground and helps him back to the truck. With Trevor joking that his "old ass" has to be picked up by another female partner of his. As she sarcastically asks him if she should drop him instead then, they reach the truck after some stumbling. Kip gets help from Calamity and Phantom to get on while Patches gets down from her turret and reaches out her hand to her 1 and "officer". He happily takes it and is helped onto the truck.
"Nelson, Nova 7 is complete. Evac complete just out of the industrial sector." Trevor reports once he sits down, before he finally notices that the 'roo had her hair braided before this whole kerfuffle.
"Copy that. Major?"
"All units of the evacuation effort Marker-Indigo-Niko-Tango-Ypsilon. Move out right away. Corneria City is lost, I repeat; the city is lost! Move to your designated evacuation points. We'll be back though. We will be back…"
As the Major delegates everything from Tacker Field in his standard statue-like cool, the Lieutenant has returned from getting himself, his friend and Nelson a little beverage to cool the situation down a little bit. Which is more necessary for the Major, as he is internally working himself up about the fact that Corneria City is burning again. Making him break his promise. And for that, he will break them.
Meanwhile, from a dark corner, a red eye lights up. Observing everything first before emerging into the light. PAL's triangular casing emerges and this is seen as normal behavior as he joins Nelson at the console. The shrew tries to be true to his species but the machine is used to his antics now and simply tells the "fleshling" to focus on getting everyone back alive.
"Gosh, you're no fun at all. But I guess, unlike you, I can actually multitask."
"Care to test that theory?"
"Bring it on, rust bucket!" Nelson says as he cracks his fingers and starts typing like his life depends on it.
- Convene The War Room
Alarm bells ring out as red sirens turn around to illuminate the hallways of Tacker Field. There is commotion everywhere and people are rushing to their stations. The color is appropriate for the situation; it is a complete code red. And through those hallways, marches Nova 7 towards the War Room.
No one would dare or bother them now that they are on their way to receive another mission after completing the previous one. The civilians are all in secure refugee camps thanks to them and they need to make sure that they stay safe and off the enemy's radar. Does that make them feel important? Sure. But they carry it. They know what they signed up for in the end and carry it with the appropriate professionality.
The door to the War Room is properly accessible through the actual entrance but due to the Major's office being closer by at the moment, they go through that one. Locking the door to the office behind them as they enter the War Room proper. There they are already seeing the Major, the Lieutenant, Nelson and PAL already present.
The machine spots them right away and instantly floats over to reattach itself to Phantom's back. As that vulpine breathes freely again, now no longer constrained by the limited oxygen supply inside his own CID system, all professionalism goes promptly out of the window. Sniffing in that glorious air like he was huffing copious amounts of a white powder no one should ever sniff. Only briefly though, as the high quickly calms down and he returns to professionalism.
Patches, the unofficial XO of the team, meanwhile has already spotted her reason for being unprofessional and has jumped right into the open arms of her dearest fiancé; Lieutenant Damian Warden himself. The big blue bird is used to this being extremely normal behavior for his dearest little bunny girl. That and the plethora of kisses his face will be receiving for catching her perfectly. Once that is done, he lets her get her footing on solid ground again and rejoin the team to reclaim her formality.
Trevor, the leader and practically the face of the Nova 7 team, even he loses his cool to make sure that he lets the love of his life and his now wife Calamity know that he still adores her. By out of nowhere smoothly turning her face towards him and then planting a big old smooch right on her lips. How this keeps surprising her every time she does not know, but she is not exactly complaining either.
Kip is the only one showing any kind of professionality. That is until she sees her chair practically beckoning her to sit down. And suddenly it becomes very attractive to drop everything and just plop her butt down only to do absolutely nothing anymore. So underneath her cool expression, she is longing for that sweet release of doing a Trevor.
Once the moments of unprofessionalism are behind them, all stand at attention and salute their superiors. But the Major has no time for such formalities so with a quick salute in return he quickly gets to the meat and potatoes of the situation.
"Nova 7. Welcome back home. Although you won't be able to enjoy it for long. Nelson. War Room code black." the Major states seriously.
"Copy that. All auxiliary personnel present in the War Room, leave now." Nelson then calls out over the room's intercom.
Everyone that does not belong in a situation like this, turns off their stations and grabs their belongings to leave very quickly. And with the press of a button, all the doors are locked and sealed. No one or nothing gets out until the code situation has been recalled.
"Code Black in full force, Sir. The ABC-projects are active as well." Nelson then reports.
"Good. Get me in contact with the Board and Command again. They'll have to pick up eventually."
"Do not count it too much." the Lieutenant fusses, folding his arms.
"Remember; Sigismundo is somewhere amongst the stars right now so I do not suspect they will give us the time of day."
"Did something change in the time we were away, Lieutenant?" Trevor checks.
"Oh no. Not at all." he chuckles in return before his face turns more surly.
"That is exactly the issue."
Trevor realizes what the Lieutenant means when he gives it some thought. A new General was put in charge after the former overall commander of the Cornerian Armed Forces, one General Pepper, had fallen out because of an extended sickbed. Leaving him incapable of doing his work. His successor was chosen based on his experience with this person but also because of blatant nepotism. Although that last part was not confirmed officially, that was pretty much the general feeling the moment the new man in charge was announced.
And now, contrary to the Lieutenant's words, there is now a proper connection with both the Board and Command. Nelson reports that they are on Line 4 this time.
"Do I detect a downgrade in our priority?" PAL points out.
Although his point is valid, the Major states they should count themselves lucky they even got through. And soon enough, they are face to face with the new General. The brown-furred, clearly well-aged rabbit appearing on screen is a familiar face to anyone that experienced the Lylat War and everything beyond it. His ears may no longer stand as straight up as before and the top of his muzzle now looks like a mighty white mustache flowing down almost covering his two visible buck teeth. To finish his appearance off, he chose to follow Trevor's example of tiny glasses and his fashion sense by adorning a red outfit with very distinguishing shoulder pads.
"Ah, Tacker Field and Nova 7. I was wondering when they were going to connect you with me. Finally." the old rabbit Peppy Hare chatters with both humor and aversion.
"Good morning to you too, General. How's the battlefield doing?"
"Awful. Dreadful. Terrible. Do you need more adjectives? If it was not for your MINTY evacuation initiative, we would have been still picking civilians from their homes. So, a big thank you from us to you. But further pats on the shoulder must wait because this war waits for no one."
"Ain't that the truth."
Trevor then steps forward.
"Excuse me for the interruption Major, but what are we fighting, General?"
"Sergeant Trevor. Good to see you in the flesh for once. Yes, they call themselves Anglars. Mutated fish people that spring from the toxic Venom sea. It seems that most awful things that befall our system always come from that wretched planet. But aside from that, we know very little about them. You had contact with them; what can you tell?"
The Major lets them have their moment in the spotlight for this.
"Well, I can tell that they are extremely hostile. Sparing no one. They also see themselves as superior and take some kind of nasty pleasure out of being a terrifying force." Trevor explains.
Then Patches takes a step forward as Trevor takes his back.
"They prefer an all-out assault and overwhelming firepower over tactics to minimize casualties. Their vehicles are advanced and fast but they lack any kind of proper protection from even just old-fashioned bullets."
Having said her thing, she takes her step back and allows Kip to tell her view.
"I agree with Sergeant Trevor; they are driven by some kind of lust for power. And this makes them keep pushing. No matter how many of them I gunned down, no matter how many blew up, they kept on pushing. Their morale must be rock-solid. To a fanatical degree. They chose to do this, unlike those bugs from before."
She trades places with Phantom with PAL on his back still.
"I found that the suits they wear look very tight, but in fact between the suit and their skin is a layer of fluid that is likely water from that Venom sea you mentioned. Perhaps to make sure that they survive on our surface? Other than that, they bleed like any other living creatures. Confirming that they are not mechanical but biological. And that what kills us, kills them."
"I can confirm this. We will get more potent results upon the examination of their corpses and their equipment." PAL adds to this.
The white vulpine and machine combo take their step back and allow Calamity to be last but not least.
"I noticed that despite their devotion, they feel very entitled to living the moment they are very wounded. They do not have mercy but in return expect it from us. Pleading and begging for it. At the very least, they are hypocritical. At worst, completely psychotic. Personally, I find it quite pathetic."
"Hm." General Peppy hums as he takes all of the inputs in.
"That is quite valuable information. So we are dealing with a ruthless, driven and fanatical enemy hellbent on our destruction, does not care how many comrades fall around them but then whine when they are at death's door? What a lovely enemy to fight against. And Private Phantom, I shall have those results soon enough for your little A.I. friend to analyze over. As for the rest of the war…"
"Where do you want us, General?" the Major speaks up.
"Everywhere if that were possible. But for now, I want you to support a push to retake an important anti-air installation. With our air force decimated, those bastards have free reign over our skies."
"Point it out and we'll be there ASAP."
"I appreciate your enthusiasm, Major, but there is one more thing I must mention before you go on your mission. I am well aware that some of you do not approve of my position here thanks to my previous choice of employment. Understandable, but it does not detract from the fact that Star Fox, despite being officially disbanded, has been spotted in Cornerian airspace to assist in our efforts."
This causes confusion and some hubbub within Nova 7 so General Peppy clarifies it. The only active members of Star Fox are Fox McCloud himself and its ROB unit. The rest are long gone, either left off their own accord like he did or were cast out. The only reason why he brought it up, is so that they are aware. And do not shoot down something Arwing-shaped once they regain control of the tower. The murmuring stops shortly thereafter.
"We understand, General. Nova 7 is ready for action." Trevor reports.
"Excellent. Good luck to you all. And Kip, nice to see you hanging out with the good guys for once."
The connection is terminated and this little remark draws some attention to the kangaroo.
"What? Just because you guys aren't fans, doesn't mean I can't like him. Peppy's alright. The rest? Eh! But Peppy's good folk so to say."
"Whatever you say, partner. As long as that good folk stays good folk, we'll be fine." Trevor teases lightly before he reads from the Major's expression that it is time to get back out there.
So the vulpine rallies his team properly and after proclaiming that Nova 7 is forever, they prepare to move out and save Corneria all over again. But Trevor does take the time to personally thank the Major for allowing him to extract Quinn out of Corneria City. The Major replies that such a request was hard to ignore considering the meaning that rat has to Trevor. But now the Sergeant-at-Arms has to move his ass into gear if he has to liberate the planet. And if he has to believe the Major's words purely on its contents, he wants it done yesterday.
With a smile on his face, Trevor gets into gear and as Code Black relaxes, they exit the War Room to spread peace.