[Author's Note: See Afterword for all my final words. This is the largest update, a little over 30 pages in Word...whew. As Always, thanks for reading and enjoy! Foxmerc]
THE FINAL CLASH
The following evening
Unnamed supply depot, Venom
1842 hours
The sun slowly retreated under the horizon, painting the sky a deep red with yellow and orange highlights. There was still plenty of light left to see the four storage buildings that consisted of the depot, the train track nestled in the middle and stretching on into the sunset. As the image on the disk has suggested, it was built on the edge of an oasis, which stretched the length of the depot with trees and a lake. Fortunately, it also stood between the depot and the dune where Fox and Gage laid, scanning the area.
“There’s some pretty dense foliage in the middle,” Gage said, peering intently through binoculars. “I think we can make it to the trees without being seen. Not a whole lot of guards…the only ones I see are grunts…probably piss their pants at the sight of us.”
“If we don’t do something, I’m gonna piss my pants,” Fox replied, wiping sweat from his forehead with the sleeve of the black specops jumpsuit Gage had lent him. He didn’t know how the soldiers could stand always wearing the suit weighed down with all the gear.
“I didn’t know you were so eager to tempt death again.”
“Well, we’re going in anyway, why drag it out?”
“Agreed,” Gage said, stowing the binoculars back in his vest. He grabbed his rifle from the sand and flicked the safety off after checking the magazine. Fox did the same and was about to stand when he felt his partner’s hand on his shoulder.
“Hey,” Gage said, his game face on. “Things are about to get really ugly. This is our last quiet moment for a long time…or, it might get really quiet soon. Just remember; keep moving, make your shots count, and shout when you need cover. I want you standing next to me when this is all over.”
“So do I. You watch yourself also.”
“Listen…if we confront Ike, and I freeze, promise me you’ll—“
“Don’t worry,” Fox finished, hefting up his rifle and standing. “Let’s just concentrate on getting there.
Gage nodded. “Alright. Let’s move.”
The duo waited until the treeline appeared inactive, then they sprinted across the hundred yards of open desert. The cool shadows of the trees greeted them at the end, and they cautiously crept forward in a half crouch, rifles shouldered and ready. Through the dense, almost jungle-like landscape, they could see the outline of the storage building nearest to them.
Heart pounding, Fox glanced over at Gage to see where to go, and he noticed something. He squinted and saw a small red dot working its way up Gage’s chest. Knowing that only one thing followed a laser dot, Fox shouted for Gage to hit the dirt. Fortunately, the captain’s training paid off and he didn’t stop to ask questions.
A laser scorched the space that Gage’s head had occupied moments before. Fox tracked it and fired a burst into the tree he thought it came from. A Venom soldier fell to the sand and lay still, the sniper rifle discharging again as it hit the ground clenched in the corpse’s hand.
Then, as they knew would happen but prayed not to see, all hell broke loose.
Gage recovered himself as the air filled with the deafening sound of numerous rifles. Lasers kicked up sand at their feet and splintered the thin trees they used as cover. Fox risked a peek and saw no less than ten soldiers on the far side of the narrow oasis. But Gage was right; they were amateurs, taking wild shots and not even bothering with cover.
Fox, staying well behind the tree, took careful aim and dropped the nearest soldier. As he swiveled to take a bead on another, he saw that his partner had been doing his part of the housecleaning and had taken down three.
“Reloading!” Gage shouted, which was the signal to provide covering fire. Fox did so, taking down two more, then yelled the same. As he slapped in a fresh mag, ears ringing and sweating like he was in a sauna, he saw that more soldiers had arrived to replace their fallen comrades. So much for ‘lightly defended.’ Apparently, Gage had the same thought.
“They’re coming out of fuckin’ thin air!” the captain growled, firing full auto into the approaching soldiers. “We have to move!”
“Where?!”
“Forward!”
Fox glanced again at the seemingly solid wall of lasers and sighed. Gage was right, of course, if they stayed there they would eventually be overrun. And that was if they didn’t get the bright idea to throw a…
“Grenade!” Fox shouted, diving to the ground on the other side of the tree. The blast pounded his already-bruised eardrums and rained down a thick cloud of hot sand. Coughing and rubbing his eyes, he regained himself but saw that his tree was gone, toppled by the explosion. That seemed as good a sign as any to move forward. After giving a thumbs-up to Gage that he was alright, Fox tossed a grenade of his own, hunched over like a starting linebacker, and sprinted up the oasis.
As shocking as it was to reach a new tree in one piece, it was downright startling to see that most of the enemy was retreating. They must’ve really scraped the bottom of the barrel for depot guards. But that was no reason to let his guard down; it doesn’t take a professional to get a lucky shot.
“Go!” Fox yelled over his shoulder, keeping a steady stream of fire on the soldiers. Gage passed him and took cover behind a tree further up, adding his own gunfire to the fray and giving Fox a forward wave.
Using this leapfrog tactic, the duo pushed the remaining soldiers back to the warehouses, where they took cover behind the scattering of metal cargo crates. Fox peered out from the treeline and saw the train resting on the tracks. Some of the soldiers were yelling and frantically waving at a huge crane at the track’s end, which held a crate in midair.
“They’re moving the train out soon,” Fox said, panting as he ducked back behind the tree.
“I know,” Gage replied, hardly breathing faster at all. He was squinting at something in the depot. “What does that crate say, the one the crane’s holding?”
Fox also squinted and read the blocky white lettering on the crate. “’JPX-93, 16 Barrels.’ That’s jet propellant, fuel.”
“Those crates are all over the place. Why would they be sending all that to Overlord?”
“For the fighters, I guess. That’s a hell of a lot, though.”
Gage unclipped a grenade from his vest. “Well, I say we make another use for it.”
“Will a grenade penetrate the crate?”
“No. But that crane will.”
Fox peered again and saw what Gage meant. Some bare red barrels marked with a crossed-out flame were stacked at the crane’s base. “Can you throw that far?”
“One way to find out. Give me some fire.”
Fox shouldered his rifle and fired at the few soldiers dumb enough to break cover. Gage hopped forward a few yards, wound up like a major league pitcher, and let fly with the grenade. A few seconds later, they were rewarded with a blast of heat and seared eyes from the explosion. The grenade did its job.
The heavy groaning of twisting, deforming metal was soon followed by a loud crashing as the crane plunged to the ground and ripped apart the crates, spilling barrels and caustic jet propellant everywhere.
“May I light the ceremonial cigar?” Fox asked casually as Gage dove back behind his mangled tree.
“Be my guest.”
This time, all it took was one shot to set most of the depot aflame. The soldiers that weren’t wiped out in the ensuing explosions ran for the far warehouse, the only one left unharmed. Fortunately, that was out of Fox and Gage’s way.
“The train’s pulling away!” Gage shouted, scrambling to his feet. Fox looked over through the flames and saw it was true. “Come on!”
The two foxes leapt from their cover and sprinted into the inferno. Soldiers from the last standing warehouse took shots at them, but they didn’t bother returning fire. Cool air filled their lungs as they left the fire behind them and ran down the track after the rapidly retreating train. Gage got a grip on the railing and vaulted onto the rear car, then turned around to help his exhausted partner on.
Fox collapsed to the metal ground, panting heavily, and watched the blazing depot become smaller and smaller in the background. “So,” he gasped. “Was that your idea of light resistance?”
“We’re still alive, aren’t we?”
“Ask me that again in an hour, if you still can.”
Gage grinned and looked down the line of cars over the metal crates stacked on the flatbed. “Looks like it’s all cargo until the engine. Should be clear sailing to there.”
Fox slowly got to his feet. “Why do I not feel any better when you say that?”
* * *
Eight minutes later
Rogara Outpost, south entrance
“Dagger Two, this is Dagger One. We are clear and the train is away. Stand by to begin your attack.”
Forte breathed a sigh of relief at hearing Gage’s voice. After seeing a bright orange glow to the east, he had feared the worst. “Roger, One. Assault team ready to infiltrate.”
“Good luck. I’ll see you all when this is over.”
“You too, Sir,” Forte responded, his gut twisting slightly at the thought that that probably wasn’t true. The wolf shook his head hard and turned to his team, which was crouched behind a dune a couple hundred yards outside the south gate. “It’s a go everyone! Tailor, get up here!”
The beagle climbed up the dune and lay next to the lieutenant, resting his sniper rifle on the soft sand. “Clear the gate, Sir?”
“Yeah. As Soon as the train makes its acquaintance with the base, pick off any guards that remain behind. Give me the word when all’s clear.”
“You got it.”
Tailor leaned on the dune, shifting his rifle into a comfortable position. The rifle itself had more scars than its owner, and had seen just as much action. It was a custom-made semi-automatic bullet-firing rifle with a scope that accounted for wind speed and distance, and Tailor was damn proud of it. He could shoot the trigger off a soldier’s gun from a hundred yards, and no one on the team could honestly remember the last time he missed a target. The first phase of the mission was on Tailor’s shoulders and there was no other shooter Forte would want more.
The beagle peered through his scope, every muscle tensed, breathing nearly nonexistent. The only sound heard was a gentle breeze echoing in his ears and grains of sand whipping against his suit. The calm before the storm…
Then the storm came in full torrent. The team heard the explosion and the nerve-grating sound of grinding metal before they saw the billows of flame rise above the outpost on the east side. As suspected, nearly all of the guards around the south entrance ran towards the wreckage, leaving only a handful to guard the gate. For Tailor, it was almost too easy.
After making sure the others left, Tailor took a bead on the single shooter in the guard tower. With a kick in the shoulder and a smoking shell casing on the sand, the guard fell. He swiveled the rifle to the gate itself, where two guards stood, and put a bullet in each head before either could react. The bodies crumpled to the sand and Tailor scanned the gate for any other targets.
“No hostiles in sight, Sir,” Tailor reported after another minute of searching.
“This is Dagger Two,” Forte said into his comm. “South gate is cleared, assault team moving to the objective.”
“Roger, Two, good luck. We’ll rendezvous at the extraction point when we’re done.”
Forte waved in a forward motion at his team. “Dagger, move out!”
The seven soldiers stood and ran towards the gate, keeping a tight formation, aware of every angle. The huge shape of Overlord loomed over them, larger than anything they’ve ever seen or have ever gone up against.
“Look at the size of that thing,” Rho breathed as they approached the gate.
“The bigger they are, the harder they fall,” Khestra replied, grasping to any optimism attainable in the situation.
“Cut the talk,” Forte ordered, peering through the gate. Seeing that all was still clear, he pointed to the access panel to the side. “Tien, do a bypass.”
The husky slung his rifle and reached for his electronics kit. After a minute of cutting and rerouting wires, the heavy gate slowly slid open with a loud grinding. The noise brought a few soldiers from the around the main building, but the team was ready for them. The combined fire nearly tore them apart.
“Let’s go!” Forte shouted. “Tailor, get up in the tower!”
The sniper broke away from the group and climbed the tall guard tower as the assault team continued their trek across the compound to the monster that was Overlord. He unslung his rifle and did a quick scan of the area.
“This is Four,” he said, still peering through his scope. “Multiple targets sighted, most on the east end. Should I engage, Sir?”
“Negative, Four, stand down. Don’t let your presence known until we come out, we may need the cover.”
“Copy.”
The entrance to Overlord itself was just outside the west gate, the size of a normal garage door, but with a security system to match any in the galaxy. Corporal Tien immediately ran up to the control panel and fiddled with it.
“I can do it, Sir,” he said, taking his kit out again. “Just give me a few minutes.”
Forte nodded and shouldered his rifle, ready to shoot anyone that moved in the compound. After a few tense minutes, Tien let out a string of curses.
“They’ve got a backup. This might take longer than I thought.”
Forte grimaced. “They’re going to catch on sooner or later, go as fast as you can.”
Just as the husky got back to work, Forte was hit with another piece of bad news from Tailor, and his voice sounded urgent. “Sir, I have a visual of two fighters leaving Overlord and heading in this direction, probably to investigate the wreck. Are you almost inside?”
“Shit,” Forte grumbled, wiping sweat from his forehead. “Negative, we’re having a problem with the lock. How far away are they?”
“Closing in now.” The sound of distant engines becoming louder proved this to be true.
“Tien—“ Forte said sharply, anxiety gripping him.
“I know.”
“I need that door open, now!”
“I know!”
The fighters thundered overhead, circling the wreckage and coming back for another pass. If they came back towards Overlord, they’d see the team…
“Sir, I can distract them,” Tailor said from the tower.
“Negative, stand down!”
It was no good. As one of the fighters circled around, Tailor took out his pistol and fired the entire clip at the fighter before it could see the team. It got the pilot’s attention, and he circled around again…only this time, he headed for the tower.
“Tailor, get out of the tower!” Rhiain shouted.
“Sir, go! GO—“
“Get out of—!”
Forte was cut off as a missile streaked from the fighter’s belly and collided with the tower, turning it into a plume of fire that rained down cement and metal.
“Tailor!” Rhiain yelled, dropping his gun and sprinting for the gate while the rest of Dagger gaped at the remains of the tower. Forte grabbed him and held him back.
“There’s nothing you can do, stay back! He’s dead!” Forte held on until the coyote stopped struggling and sank to his knees, shaking his head. He and Tailor had been good friends, drinking buddies, both first-draft recruits after the last Dagger team was wiped out. He knew this could happen on any mission, but that never prepared him for it.
“Two, are you alright?” Gage’s voice crackled in Forte’s ear. “What was that explosion?”
“Tailor’s dead,” the wolf replied, sad and curt. He was just as upset as anyone else on the team, but he also knew that they had no time to linger. Mourning could come later.
“Dammit…” Gage breathed. The captain’s pride never came from his kill count. His pride came from keeping his team alive. “Don’t slow down, continue the mission.”
“Yes Sir.”
“Got it!” Tien shouted as a shower of sparks burst from the panel and the door slid open. As his team filed through the door, Forte glanced again at the clear sky. The fighter had finished confirming its kill and was again circling towards the team.
“Hurry! In!” he shouted. Rhiain had regained himself and joined the team inside Overlord. When everyone was through, Forte punched the door’s panel as the fighter began firing. The lasers bounced harmlessly off the closed door.
The lieutenant breathed a sigh of relief and turned towards the long metallic corridor leading into the heart of the monster. Tailor’s distraction had bought them the few precious seconds they needed, but it came at a high price. Forte would make sure his teammate’s death was not in vain.
* * *
“Dammit…” Gage clenched his eyes shut and grimaced. “Don’t slow down, continue the mission.”
Fox watched as the captain bowed his head for a few seconds then punched the sand. Fox himself was thankful every day that he had never lost a teammate. The one time Slippy went down on Titania was enough to cause him to be careful and not take them for granted. “I’m sorry, Gage.”
Gage shook his head and stood up. “Not now, we have a job to do. Are they still there?”
Fox peeked around the outer wall through the broken gate. The burning remains of the train lay mangled with what used to be the storage bay, mangled metal and oil strewn everywhere in the sand. For one crazy moment, it made Fox think of a sand castle ruined by a heavy wave. “Most have gone back to the west side, probably because of the explosion. Only a few guards and a few laborers working on the wreck.”
He switched places with Gage so he could take a look. “Ok, we can’t wait much longer, we’re gonna have to risk it. Stick to the containers and we should be able to circle around to the west gate.”
Fox brought his rifle up and flattened against the wall while Gage continued looking into the compound, waiting for the right moment. As soon as the guards looked away, he waved forward and the duo crept through the busted gate and immediately took cover behind one of the many metal containers that were blown from the train. They repeated this, hopping from container to debris to anything else that could be used as cover. After a few tense minutes, they had the west gate in sight.
“Look,” Fox whispered, pointing to the smoldering remains of the south guard tower. A lone fighter was circling above it, as if waiting for its prey to show itself. Unfortunately, it was a good hundred yard run across completely open ground to Overlord’s door.
“Well,” Gage sighed. “How do you like our options?”
“I don’t.”
Gage managed a weak grin and changed out the energy magazine on his rifle. “We can make it if we haul ass. Just wait until the fighter passes over the door and starts to circle.”
“Alright.”
Gage assumed his peeking position and kept an eye on the fighter. When it passed the door, he whispered a harsh “go!” and sprinted towards the door. They made it almost halfway before the fighter finished its loop and spotted them. It didn’t take too kindly to their trespassing and bore down on them like a vulture on a carcass, lasers spewing forth like venom and boosters drowning out the sound of their heavy breathing with a deafening roar. Due to the surprise at seeing them, the pilot missed by a country mile and circled back angrily.
“Keep going!” Gage gasped out, and Fox didn’t need to be told twice. However, he could see that they weren’t going to make it before the fighter had a chance to strike again. Instead he did the last thing Gage expected. He stopped.
“I have an idea!” Fox shouted over the engine’s roar. “Keep going!”
Reluctantly, Gage continued running. Fox reached for a fragmentation grenade on his vest, but then changed his mind and snagged a flashbang, a non-lethal grenade used for clearing hostage-occupied rooms. While he never actually used one, he prayed it did what he thought…or else he was toast.
The fighter began its dive, lasers chewing up the sand in front of Fox and steadily moving forward. At the last second, Fox flipped the pin on the flashbang, threw it as hard as he could straight up, and dove to the side out of the lasers’ way.
“Hope you can fly blind, motherfucker!”
The grenade did its job. At the peak of its arc, right in front of the fighter’s canopy, it exploded in a flash of blinding light and a sound loud enough to surpass the engines. The pilot, now blind as a bribed referee, jerked the aircraft erratically through the sky until it collided with the behemoth, Overlord. Fox breathed a sigh of relief as the burning wreckage fell to the sand.
Gage jogged back and clapped Fox on the shoulder. “If there was a medal for unconventional weapon uses, you’d get it.”
Fox hunched over to catch his breath and said, “And if there was a medal for shitty plans, you’d get it. Yeah, let’s just run, he won’t see us.”
Gage grinned. “I didn’t hear you speak up with any better ideas.”
Fox couldn’t think of a retort, so he settled for flipping the captain off and motioning towards the door. “Shall we?”
* * *
Resistance came no more than two or three soldiers at a time, which was no problem for the elite team. A map to the massive structure was on the wall near the entrance, and Forte tried his best to commit the route to the control room to memory. He couldn’t take the map with him unless he felt like ripping it out of the wall and dragging it along.
Relief flooded him as he finally saw a sign on the wall pointing in the control room’s direction. The door was around the corner at the end of the hall, and the only thing standing in their way was a duo of guards. Forte and Penick each dropped one before they could react. Tien ran ahead of the team and fiddled with the access panel. Fortunately, he had less difficulty than the outer door.
The door slid open with a ding, revealing a huge room, the size of a normal movie theater. To complete the effect, the far wall was almost entirely a large screen, now displaying various coordinates, maps, and graphs. Numerous desks and countless computers decorated the floor. But there was something still worng with the picture…it was empty.
Forte inched into the room, gun shouldered. His team followed, knights venturing into a dark cave, mindful not to wake the sleeping dragon. The only sounds heard were the gentle hum of the fluorescent lights and the random buzzes and clicks from the computers and processors. When they made it into the center of the room, Forte lowered his rifle and motioned to Tien.
“Find a way to bring this bastard down. We’ll keep you covered.”
The husky nodded and turned to the central console, immediately beginning to type. Forte motioned for the team to set up a perimeter and each member moved to form a half-moon around Tien. For the tense moments that followed, only the clacking of the keys filled the room.
“I found something, Sir,” Tien reported after a few minutes. Forte went over and listened. “It’s weird though…this thing has ion thrusters on its bottom, hundreds of them.”
“Ion thrusters? Like the boosters on aerial fighters?”
“Right. I don’t know why they’re there, but it’s the perfect chain if we start an explosion here,” he pointed at a blueprint on the screen, showing a room marked “Main Avionics-Technical” that was next to the hangar.
“How far away is it?”
“Another ten minute walk, further in.”
Forte nodded and turned to tell the team, but as he opened his mouth to speak, he was greeted with a scene that nearly stopped his heart. Wall panels near the ceiling on the three screen-less sides slid open, revealing another room overlooking the control center. Soldiers were crouched shoulder-to-shoulder the whole way around, surrounding them. Forte immediately dropped to one knee and shouldered his rifle, joining the rest of his team in wide-eyed fear.
“Hold your fire!” he shouted, as much towards the Venom soldiers as his own.
The tense standoff lasted only for a few seconds before another figure walked up to the ledge of the new room and looked down on Dagger. It was a red fox, clothed in the black and crimson Venom officer’s uniform, his long black trench coat rustling lightly against the floor as he walked.
“Regretfully, you’ll never see that room,” the fox said, a triumphant grin stretching across his muzzle. “Come now, did you really think I didn’t know you were coming? Did you forget you’re going up against one of your own?”
Forte growled and glared menacingly at the traitor. “Ike...”
“Correct. And you’re Lieutenant Forte, second in command of Dagger. I still remember you, trying out for the team every other month, and never making it. I see all it took was the team’s annihilation to get you in finally.”
Forte grimaced but said nothing back. Ike nodded and continued casually, as if talking sports on a coffee break. “So where’s our fearless leader today, my pawn of a brother?”
The lieutenant hesitated slightly, then said, “He’s dead. He got shot on the way in.”
Ike chuckled and shook his head. “Don’t play around with me, Lieutenant. A train just happens to plow into the outpost, conveniently timed for when you break in? I know Dagger’s way of operating, and I know Gage. No matter, he won’t get any further than you did. Your little bravado ends here. Throw down your weapons.”
Forte stood his ground, glaring right back at the captain. He knew that if they surrendered, Macbeth City would be wiped from the galaxy, and other cities would suffer the same fate. Shivering slightly, he managed to say back, “I can’t do that.”
The triumphant grin drooped slightly. “You’re not being smart here, Lieutenant. You’re severely outnumbered and covered from the high ground. Do not condemn yourself and your team to death.” Ike glanced around at the team and his eyes came to rest on Khestra. In an instant, a pistol was in his hand and pointed directly at the scout’s head. The vixen trembled, breathing hard, her eyes wide. “You wouldn’t want me to decorate the wall with her pretty little brains, now would you?”
Forte’s mind raced, trying to think of any shred of a plan that could get them out of this meat grinder. Glancing around, he remembered the panels that slid open. If only there was a way to close them…
“Tien,” Forte whispered, pointing his gun at angle so Ike couldn’t see his mouth move. “Can you close those panels from that console?”
After a few seconds, the corporals strained voice replied, “I think so. It would take a minute.”
“What’s your decision?” Ike asked, not the least bit impatient, savoring the moment. “Surrender or death?”
Taking a deep breath and running a quick prayer through his mind, Forte glared back. “Death…your death.”
The wolf fired a single shot at Ike, but he winced at the last second…the laser only glanced Ike’s shoulder, searing the cloth of the uniform. Ike stumbled back, surprised, and the proverbial powder keg exploded. There wasn’t a single gun in the room that wasn’t firing.
“Take cover!” Forte shouted to his team. Each member shuffled backwards, never stopping their stream of fire on the balconies, and crouched behind the numerous desks. Tien heaved a desk over for cover then started typing quickly at the console.
“Hold them off!” the corporal shouted over the noise. “I’ll have them closed in a few seconds!”
Lasers chewed through the concrete and metal of the desks and floor. All Forte could see were flashes of red flying in every direction, a literal rain of death from above. He returned fire as best he could, but the constant pressure kept pushing him back to cover. He could see that his teammates were having similar problems.
“Sir, we can’t keep this up!” Rho shouted from a few yards away. He stood to fire a few bursts, then started to crouch back down. “How long—“
He never made it back behind cover. A laser took him in the shoulder, and he stumbled backwards with a yelp of pain. Before anyone had the chance to pull him down, three more lasers lanced through his chest. The raccoon, a shocked, blank look on his face, fell backwards without a sound and lay still.
“Tien!” Forte shouted, his anger boiling over.
“Almost!”
The battle raged on, and the fallen soldiers overhead were being replaced as quickly as they died. The fight could go on forever…or at least until the entire team was dead. Forte planned on getting them out before that happened.
“Got it!”
The team stood down as the panels once again slid and covered the balconies back up. Not wasting a moment, Penick ran over to Rho’s body and felt for a pulse. Seconds later, he sadly shook his head.
“Come on,” Forte motioned for the team to move. He quickly checked himself for injuries and found his tail only slightly singed. “They’ll be down here any minute.”
Dagger moved to the door they entered from and started down the corridor. Tien was still typing away at the console after a few more seconds he announced, “I did an override on the security locks. All doors are now unlocked, including that avionics one.”
“Alright, good job, now come on, hurry.”
Tien turned and started for the door, pleased at his work. Before he was halfway across the room, the door at the other end of the room slid open and soldiers poured in like water. Tien snapped his head around, his expression of mild triumph melting into a mask of shock and fear. He barely had time to get his rifle up before a volley of lasers struck him in the head and torso.
“Tien!” Forte shouted, but he knew it was hopeless. The husky crumpled to the ground, a pool of blood rapidly spreading across the floor.
“Sir!” Rhiain shouted from behind him, his rifle fire providing the exclamation point. He was firing around the corner. “We have more over here!”
Through a string of curses, Forte shut the door and fired into the access panel, hoping that would lock it. He then spoke into his comm. “Sir, we found a way to bring her down. Are you near the hangar?”
After a few seconds, Gage’s voice responded, “Affirmative, we’re right outside it. Where are you?”
“We’re cut off next to the control room, suffering heavy casualties. There’s an avionics room next to the hangar. Tien said that if we start an explosion there, it will bring down Overlord. I don’t think we can make it there.”
“Alright, pull out to the extraction point. Good work.”
“Roger.” Forte looked up and saw that his team had stopped firing.
“All clear,” Rhiain said, breathing heavily. “For a second there, I—“
The coyote was cut off as a laser hit him in the leg, splattering the wall he was leaning against with blood. He cried out as his knees buckled and he hunched over. Forte’s heart leapt to his throat as he realized that Rhiain was still in the shooter’s view, and he started to run forward, knowing it was too late. But someone else was thinking the same way.
Khestra sprinted forward, her speed and agility that earned her the scout’s position showing. She leapt forward and shoved Rhiain out of the way as three more lasers darted down the hall. Forte breathed a sigh of relief, but stopped as he realized that the vixen was writhing and moaning on the ground next to Rhiain, clutching her stomach. One of the lasers had found a target.
Penick quickly dispensed of the enemy soldiers and Forte ran over to where Rhiain was kneeling over Khestra, cursing and wiping blood away. “How bad is it?” he asked when he saw Forte.
“How the fuck should I know, I’m no doctor.” Forte replied heatedly, pissed that he might lose another member.
“It looks like it only hit her side. It missed the vital organs.” Rhiain unsheathed his knife and cut both sleeves off his suit, then wrapped them tightly around Khestra’s abdomen “It will have to do for now. Can you walk?”
Khestra grimaced as she sat up, but kept on going until she stood, with Rhiain’s help. “I’ll make it, Sir.”
Forte called for Penick. “Here, help her. I’ll help Rhiain.”
“I’m fine, Sir,” Rhiain protested, though his left leg was almost soaked with blood, even with the cloth strip he hastily tied around it.
“Not with that leg, you’re limping worse than my grandfather. Come on.”
The four remaining Dagger members hobbled back through the maze of corridors. No more enemy soldiers showed themselves until they neared the exit. Then Forte understood why. An announcement blared over an intercom.
“Attention all personnel! Attention all personnel! Man your stations and prepare for liftoff! I repeat, all personnel man your stations and prepare for liftoff!”
“Liftoff?” Penick asked out loud. “What the hell does that mean?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Gage replied, continuing towards the door. “The captain probably did something.”
The heavy door slid open and the team was greeted by a blast of hot air and a far more pleasant scene than the horde of guards they expected: the fighter that Gage feared would still be lying in wait lay burning in the sand. He didn’t care how, but it was out of the way. The compound appeared clear of soldiers.
“We made it,” Rhiain said in a near whisper, almost in a surprised way. After that shootout in the control room, Forte himself was surprised anyone made it out.
“Come on,” he said. “Let’s get out of here.”
* * *
“Alright, pull out to the extraction point. Good work.”
“So that’s why it’s been so quiet,” Fox said. “They all went for the assault team.”
Gage continued to study the map on the wall until he located the avionics room Forte was talking about. It was only a few turns away, spitting distance. “Well, let’s get this done while it’s still quiet. Come on.”
It was no surprise that no resistance was met on the way to the avionics room. After the standoff at the supply depot, neither Fox nor Gage was looking for much more action. Unfortunately, it came looking for them.
As they neared the hangar, Gage heard angry voices from down the hall and around the corner. He motioned frantically for Fox to back up and they dove around the corner as the voices neared. Gage peeked around in time to see Ike round the corner, accompanied by at least five soldiers.
“Nobody gets through, understood? If anyone other than me approaches the avionics room, shoot him.”
“Yes, Sir,” the soldiers replied in a staggered unison.
“I’m going to my office to make final preparations.”
With a sweep of his long coat, Ike turned and walked back down to a door at the end of the hall, and went through. Gage ducked back as the five soldiers turned in his direction, then walked down the hallway towards the avionics room. Ike…
Gage looked at Fox behind him with a questioning expression. The mercenary looked back, knowing full well what the captain wanted to do. They were only feet away from the target, but…finally, Fox shook his head and sighed. “Alright, let’s go get him.”
After the sound of footsteps had receded into the distance, Gage cautiously rounded the corner, Fox on his tail, and headed to the door his brother went through. It was unmarked, but locked with an access card panel.
Fox crouched down to study the panel and see if it could be shot open, but he saw what looked like tiny writing scratched into it and squinted.
“Hey, look,” he whispered to Gage, who crouched next to him. “Someone scratched words into the metal.”
“What’s it say?”
Fox squinted closer. “It looks like ‘behind you, ext.’ or something.”
Gage looked at the wall opposite the door and walked over. “Could it mean this? The fire extinguisher?” He groped behind the red cylinder, a puzzled look on his face, and pulled a security card out that was taped to it. With a shrug, he inserted into the door and it slid open with a pleasant ding, revealing a small platform elevator.
“Did someone from Dagger do it?” Fox asked.
“They never got this far,” Gage replied with another shrug. “Charon maybe?”
Fox was thinking the same thing. The cheetah provided them with the depot’s location, and it didn’t turn out to be a trap, though it was a close call. Fox wasn’t completely sure whose side Charon was on, but he wasn’t ready to trust him yet. Only God knew what would be waiting for them up the elevator. “Guess we’ll find out. Let’s go.”
The duo boarded the small platform and it shot upwards, stopping with a sudden halt after a few seconds. They found themselves in a short corridor with only one jet-black door at the end. Gage took a deep breath and turned to his partner. “You ready?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be. You?”
“Yeah,” he replied in a near whisper, and it didn’t take a detective to see he was nowhere near comfortable with it.
Fox dropped to one knee in front of the door and shouldered his rifle while Gage slid the card into the reader on the wall. The black metal parted and slid into the walls, revealing a large, dimly lit room that’s motif was the same as the door: black metal. The only light came from a huge window at the far end, behind a black metal desk that was one of the room’s only furnishings. Fox and Gage slowly moved onto the black marble floor, squinting through the darkness, and stopped short as they saw two figures standing behind the desk, one with his back to them, staring out the window.
“I was wondering if you’d find your way here, Gage,” Ike’s voice echoed in the room. As their eyes adjusted to the light, they saw that it was Ike with his back to them and Charon standing off to the side, his arms folded.
“It’s over, Ike,” Gage managed in a near whisper. “I don’t want to have to kill you.”
“Oh, it’s far from over,” Ike replied, spinning around to face them. “It’s only just begun. Overlord’s birth will mark the dawn of my rise to power. It’s a shame you didn’t want to accompany me in that power. Now, it is I who am forced to kill you.”
Gage’s expression hardened and he pulled the trigger on his rifle. But all that was produced was a loud whir, the sound power draining. He fired again, but with the same result. Fox tried to fire but had no better luck, and Ike began to chuckle.
“All this black isn’t for decoration. The walls and ceiling are energy dampeners, rendering all energy weapons useless. You don’t think I’m dumb enough to let you stroll in here armed, do you?”
“Ike…”
“Forget it, Gage. It’s too late, there’s nothing you can do to stop Overlord. You have no idea of its capabilities. You think this is just a copy of that child’s toy that was destroyed a year ago?”
“I heard you mention a surprise,” Gage said, thinking back to his acrobat stunt off the Macbeth City building’s roof. “What is it?”
“Awww, and take away all the fun of discovery? It won’t matter to you in a few minutes. I’ve wasted enough time talking. I’m sorry it had to end like this, Gage, but you just couldn’t break away from being the government’s tool. Charon, kill them.” With a wave of hand, Ike strode off through a door next to the large window and it slid shut behind him.
The tenseness hung as heavy as the darkness in the room. Charon unfolded his arms and slowly walked towards the duo, his red eyes glaring at each of them in turn. Fox and Gage dropped their rifles and took a few steps back.
“What the hell do we do now?” Fox whispered.
“Fight him. Two of us, one of him.”
“Yeah, but he equals like five of us.”
“You have a better idea?”
As usual, he didn’t. The cheetah raised his hands in a fighting stance and beckoned them. Fox and Gage hunched into their own fighting stances and went opposite ways, trying to get a position to attack from both sides. For a few heavy seconds, no one moved, each contemplating his next action. Finally, Gage charged.
Charon ducked the captain’s first two punches then countered with a lightning-quick blow to the muzzle that sent Gage staggering back. Fox attempted to hit from behind, sure he would have enough time, but Charon’s foot came up equally as quick as his fist and kicked Fox back, knocking the wind out of him. With a quick spin, Charon followed up with a roundhouse kick that made Fox spin almost completely around in the air before he crashed to the ground with a cut above his eye.
Gage recovered and attacked again. He managed to duck a kick from the cheetah, but didn’t see the elbow until it slammed into his face. Another hard punch sent him stumbling back again. Shaking his head quickly, Gage tried for another punch, but Charon easily blocked it. This time, however, he held on and pulled Gage close so they were almost muzzle-to-muzzle.
“He’s watching us,” Charon whispered quickly, his muzzle barely moving. “Keep fighting.”
He shoved the confused fox back and gave him a hard kick to the stomach. Fox made another effort from behind and managed to land a good punch that returned the favor of a bloody face, cutting Charon’s lip. The cheetah recovered quickly, grabbed Fox by his vest, and threw him over the desk. He spun around in time to see Gage’s fist and ducked it, then grabbing his arm while he was off balance and gripping him in a choke hold.
“Just do what I say and we all get out of here,” he whispered into Gage’s ear again. The captain nodded curtly then shoved his elbow into Charon’s gut. While he was off balance and doubled over, Gage spun around and brought his knee up into Charon’s face, knocking him flat on his back. Charon whipped his leg around and tripped Gage, then rolled over on top of him and grasped his throat tightly.
“There’s a knife in my boot,” Charon whispered through clenched teeth. “Take it and stab me.”
Gage couldn’t believe what he was hearing, but he didn’t have many options while lying on the ground being strangled.
“Do it!” Charon whispered loudly.
The captain groped at the cheetah’s ankle until he felt the handle of a knife. He pulled it out and plunged it hard into Charon’s chest. But something was wrong…no blood was drawn, and he thought he could feel the blade retracting into the handle. Nonetheless, Charon’s eyes went wide and he rolled off Gage, gasping and clutching the knife. With a weak staggering he tried to get up, but fell flat on his face and lay still.
Gulping for air, Gage slowly stood up and looked down at Charon. It was a brilliant plan…fake his own death with a retractable knife. As long as he was out of the way, Gage didn’t care what happened to him.
Fox shuffled around from behind the desk, leaning on it for support and slowly massaging his head. “He’d dead? You got him?”
“Yeah,” Gage said simply. He didn’t want to explain in case Ike was still listening in. “You ok? He threw you around like a rag doll.”
Fox scoffed and winced as he ran his hand over the cut by his eye. “Hey, I landed a good punch. Besides, you—“
Fox was cut off as an automated female voice announced over the intercom, “Attention all personnel! Attention all personnel! Man your stations and prepare for liftoff! I repeat, all personnel man your stations and prepare for liftoff!”
Gage cocked an eyebrow. “What the—“
“Of course!” Fox interrupted. “It all makes sense! The ‘surprise’, why it wouldn’t need relay towers, the jet fuel at the depot, the avionics room…don’t you see? This thing can fly! It’s a spaceship!”
Gage’s jaw dropped. “What?! But that fighter crashing into it barely even dented the armor! If this thing goes airborne, all the fighters in the galaxy wouldn’t be able to bring it down.”
“I think that’s the point.”
Gage ran for the rifles and tossed one to Fox. “We gotta stop it, get to the avionics room and blow it. I’ll meet you there and we can hijack a ship in the hangar to get out.”
“Where the hell are you going?” Fox asked as Gage headed for the door by the window, though he already knew the answer.
“To stop my brother.”
* * *
Charon slowly lifted his head and looked around. The foxes had finally seen what was going on and went their separate ways. McCloud might make it to the avionics room, but with the way Birse fought, he didn’t stand a chance against the commander. No matter, he used them only to get the commander out of the way. The only task remaining was to get his father and get the hell out of there.
He stood and tossed the retractable knife to the ground, then wiped the cut on his lip. It was an impressive blow from McCloud, but he wouldn’t have been any trouble to finish off. Charon took his real knife from inside his coat and slid it into his boot sheath, then headed for the elevator.
As he neared it, a low rumbling shook the floor. They were starting to take off. Charon looked back out the commander’s window and saw that this was true as the ground slowly began to sink under the pane. He suddenly remembered what Birse had said… ‘If this thing goes airborne, all the fighters in the galaxy wouldn’t be able to bring it down.’
Charon shook his head and turned back towards the elevator. No, this wasn’t his fight. The only reason he was there was for his father. Nothing else.
But what about this weapon? It’ll become the largest power in the galaxy. Even if he did get out, he wouldn’t be safe anywhere and the commander would win. And all those people…
“Since when did you start caring about the people,” Charon asked himself angrily out loud. But there was no denying it. He knew in his heart that it was the right thing to do. It’s what his father would do. Birse didn’t stand a chance, and he could’ve killed Charon when he feigned death.
“Fuck,” Charon muttered, frustrated, as he turned and headed back to the office’s side door. Figures…just when you have the chance to walk away, your conscience shows itself.
* * *
A metal staircase awaited behind the side door, heading up. Gage took the stairs two at a time to a brightly lit room halfway up. It was a small room with a few monitors and consoles, one of which displayed the office. Charon wasn’t lying. However, Ike was nowhere to be seen…only one direction he could’ve gone.
Gage continued up the stairs for what seemed like an eternity, nearly losing his balance and falling when the ship started to take off. At the top was a metal door, open a crack. Gage readied his rifle, kicked it open, and stepped through.
The first thing that hit him was bright sunlight in his eyes. He was on the roof of Overlord, on a square landing pad no more than a hundred feet in each direction. The second thing that hit him was Ike’s fist, from the left side of the door where he lay in wait. Gage, shocked, dropped his rifle before Ike grabbed him by the vest and shoved him into the center of the pad.
Gage hopped up and drew his pistol, aiming at his brother as he approached from the doorway, apparently unarmed. Ike simply chuckled and strode up as if on a casual Sunday stroll.
“So you beat Charon. I knew that poor bastard wasn’t all he was cracked up to be. Well, in any case, welcome to my private landing pad. I knew you’d follow me here. This is where it ends Gage. You can put the gun down, it’s still useless. I covered me entire escape route.” Ike hooked his thumb over his shoulder to point out two black panels, like those in the office, on the ground by the door. Gage gave it a try anyway then tossed away the useless gun.
Before the captain could say anything, Ike reached inside his jacket, pulled out a gun, and fired once at his brother. Gage felt searing pain in his left shoulder and he fell on his back with a cry. Clutching at his bleeding shoulder, he looked up to see Ike slowly walk over until he was hovering right above him. The older fox was holding up an old-fashioned silver bullet-firing pistol.
“These, on the other hand, work perfectly fine. A bit outdated, but they get the job done.” Ike leveled the gun and aimed it down at Gage’s head, a humorless grin again forming on his muzzle. “I was always better, Gage.”
Gage clenched his eyes shut and awaited his death. He winced as he heard a low thump, and his eyes shot open as he realized he hadn’t been shot. Ike still stood above him, but a look of shock had replaced his triumphant grin. He stumbled backwards slightly, dropping the gun, and looked down. The bloodied point of a knife protruded just below his rib cage and his uniform darkened even more from the leaking blood.
With a pained moan, Gage lurched forward and grabbed the dropped gun. Ike slowly looked back up, blood dripping from the side of his muzzle, and saw his brother shakily aiming the gun at him.
“Gage…” he wheezed out weakly.
Eight sharp cracks echoed in Gage’s ears as he fired the entire clip into Ike’s chest. Through the smoke of the gun, he watched his brother fall back like a felled tree. Charon stood in the doorway, a look of satisfaction replacing his trademark stony face. With a quick nod to Gage, he spun around and disappeared in the darkness of the staircase.
“Wait! Charon!” Gage gasped out. But he was gone. With another groan of pain, Gage stood up and looked down at his brother…probably the first person he ever killed who was more than just the enemy, more than just another face. But he had been tainted. The Ike that Gage knew and loved had died a year before. Ike the Venom commander had just died by his hand, and he had saved countless lives by doing the job. A night at the officer’s club bar would dull the other thoughts if that one didn’t.
* * *
Fox ever so slowly looked around the corner at the avionics room’s door and breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of only one guard. The others probably had somewhere else to be for the launch, but Fox didn’t care as long as they weren’t there. It was only a simple matter of popping out and firing a burst at the guard to clear the way.
Stepping over the corpse, Fox opened the metal door and was greeted by a few rows of computer terminals with three large blue pulsing generators at the back. Countless pipes and tubes stretched from the generators into the walls and ceiling, and no doubt under the floor. They must be what Gage meant, what they had to destroy.
Fox unclipped the four remaining grenades on his vest and took a deep breath…no turning back now. Once he blew those generators, they didn’t have all day to get off. But it didn’t matter. If they didn’t blow it, countless civilians would be vaporized. After a bit of fumbling, Fox managed to pull all four pins and heaved the grenades at the blue objects.
The explosion threw Fox back through the door against the corridor wall. Immediately red flashers and emergency sirens started sounding from all over the base. Fox regained himself as another automated voice sounded over the intercom warning the station that there was critical engine failure and to abandon the base. That plan sounded perfectly acceptable to Fox, but there was one problem…he was short a teammate.
After contemplating whether to wait for him or go look, Fox decided he better find Gage. After all, he went after Ike, and that might not be going along so smoothly. Fox snatched up his rifle and ran to the elevator, then into the office. Erratic explosions rocked the floor and started to cause Overlord to yaw slightly for a few seconds, then right itself.
Fox ran into the office just as Gage came stumbling in from the side door. It didn’t take Fox long to see that there was something wrong.
“Gage!” he called out, running over to him. “What happened?”
“My shoulder,” Gage grunted. “Shot.”
“What about Ike?”
“Dead.”
After applying a makeshift bandage to his wound, Fox took Gage’s good arm over his shoulders and helped him up. As they turned back to the front door, Fox noticed that Charon’s body wasn’t there. When he asked, Gage said curtly that he’d explain later and to move his ass. It was the first good idea Gage had all day and Fox followed it.
While Fox helped the injured captain to the hangar, the sirens and intercom messages kept on wailing, and the string of explosions continued to shake the structure. Gage was losing blood fast, and growing continually weaker. He had to get back to the dropship where there were at least medical kits. Finally, as the hangar door came into view, Fox started whispering encouragement.
“Come on, there it is, just a little more. Don’t give out on me now! Come on, we’re almost there, we’re almost there, we’re…fucked.”
Fox finished his sentence as the door slid open and the huge hangar, at least half a mile long, came into view. From the first fighter station all the way to the small square of light so far away that was the exit, not a single stationary ship could be seen. The last of the transports and fighters were zooming down the tunnel and out into the desert sky.
Gage chuckled bitterly as he let go of Fox’s grip and sunk against the wall. “Looks like we’re going down with the ship, partner.”
Fox’s heart sank as he looked around frantically. “I’ll be damned if I die on this piece of shit. There’s gotta be a way…” He ran further into the hangar and continued his search as more explosions rocked the ship. The only vehicles left were ground transports lined against the walls, which wouldn’t do much good at this altitude. Pilots’ parachutes hung on the walls by the fighter stations, but they could never make it to the exit in time. Finally, as Fox turned back, it clicked. It was a long shot, but this whole mission had been from the start.
Fox roughly pulled Gage to his feet and helped him to the nearest pilot station. He tossed him a parachute and started putting one on himself. “Put that on, hurry.”
“Are you crazy? We’ll never make it down there!”
“Just shut up and do it!”
Gage shrugged, wincing at the motion, and put on the parachute. After another hard shake nearly toppled them both, Fox grabbed Gage again and they hurried to one of the trucks parked in a tight line against the other wall.
Fox climbed in the driver’s seat while Gage clambered into the passenger’s side and, after a minute of searching, they finally found the key in an ammo box behind them. Fox started the truck, pulled out halfway, and told Gage to open his door, doing the same to his own. With a puzzled look on his face, Gage complied.
The truck jolted into reverse and slammed against the back wall, the two open doors being ripped off by the two neighboring parked trucks. Fox put it into drive again and pulled out onto the hangar floor. With a quick turn, Fox put the pedal to the floor and the truck sped down the metal hangar. The walls turned into a blur around them as the square of light grew larger. The explosions became more and more intense, a few of them ripping clear through the floor and walls, spewing twisted metal and fire. Fox fought to control the vehicle.
“Get ready!” he yelled as the end of the hangar rapidly approached the clear blue sky. “Jump as soon as we go off!”
Gage nodded and braced himself against the doorframe. The foxes held their breath as the truck left the ground and plunged towards the sand far below. The sounds of the crumbling Overlord were replaced with the deafening roar of wind rushing through their ears. They pulled their strings and were jerked to a sow descent as the parachutes unfurled and caught the wind, Gage cursing at the pressure on his shoulder.
After a few more seconds of the almost peaceful ride, Fox saw a small ball of flame erupt on the sand near the outpost where the truck met the ground. He could also see a handful of tiny figures standing by the dropship Falco flew in. Dagger had made it…but Fox could see that there were too few to be everyone.
“Look at that!” Gage called out to him, almost in awe. Fox craned his neck and saw the amazingly huge structure of Overlord start to yaw again to the left, countless explosions slowly tearing it apart. After another minute and nearly half the hull destroyed, the behemoth collided with the ground in a breathtaking torrent of fire and sand, the rest of the ship exploding or going up in flames.
A wave of satisfaction swept over Fox at the sight. They had won. They had beaten the odds and ended the threat of Overlord once and for all, wiping out the Venom military commander in the process. Fox grinned as he thought about how he was going to tell this story to Peppy and Slippy, and how pissed they’d be that they missed it. And then…he was long overdue for a vacation himself.
EPILOGUE
Six days later
Corneria Armed Forces Cemetery, outside Corneria City
1307 hours
A light drizzle gently fell from the sky, it’s collision with the ground and gravestones providing a peaceful background drum cadence as “Taps” was played. Gage held his hand firm in a salute along with the other military members present at the memorial service. The remaining Dagger soldiers were present, Rhiain on a crutch and Beaudoin still with a bandage around her abdomen, along with friends from the base, family of the deceased, and the entire StarFox team.
Harlan Rho, the energetic raccoon always picked on for being the youngest in the team. He had a great sense of humor though and took it all well, sometimes rebounding with a comeback of his own. Even on his first mission, it was clear he knew what he was doing and could hold his own. He was so excited to be a part of Dagger and worked extra hard to do his best. Gage wondered if he would do it all again if he knew this would happen.
Tabari Tien, a native of Macbeth who joined the Allied forces during the war when he was only eighteen. After doing extremely well on the placement exams, he was transferred to demolitions where he discovered his knack as an explosives/technical expert. The high officers had been keeping an eye on his progress and recommended him to Dagger after a few successful operations. Since Dagger was just getting on its feet again, they decided to have him learn the medic trade also until they could find a permanent one. As it turned out, he excelled so well in that too that they didn’t need one.
Alec Tailor was a homeless orphan who made his living robbing people in inner Corneria City. After his third time being arrested for petty theft, he was given the choice of jail time or joining the army to get a lesson in discipline. Tailor reluctantly chose the army, but discovered his true calling in it. He was moved by the sense of honor and camaraderie displayed and stayed in as a career man even when his time was up. Now that he had a clear path, he devoted every second to bettering himself. Officers discovered his extreme talent with a rifle after only the first weeks of basic training and he was transferred to sniper school. He quickly rose to the top of the class, and was transferred to Dagger after the first team was destroyed. The team became his family, the members his brothers. However terrible the outcome, Gage was not surprised to hear of Tailor’s distraction to get his team away safely.
When “Taps” was finished and the command of “order arms” was given, General Pepper, who had volunteered to be the presiding officer, was handed three folded Cornerian flags. He solemnly presented them to the relatives of the three soldiers: For Tien his parents, for Tailor his wife, and for Rho his mother. Gage could vaguely hear Pepper’s comments.
“No words of mine can ease your pain, but may you find solace in the fact that he gave his life for an honorable and just cause. Along with you, a grateful planet mourns your loss.”
While they were good words, Gage found them ironic, since the “honorable and just cause” had been officially written up as a training accident. Pepper gave the final salute, and the three empty caskets of Private Harlan Rho, Private First Class Alec Tailor, and Corporal Tabari Tien were lowered into the ground to join the ranks of courageous souls in their final resting place.
As the mourners dispersed, Fox and his team walked over to Dagger. He introduced Peppy and Slippy, who were obviously slightly uncomfortable. They felt guilty ever since they came back days ago after hearing about the incident on the news, like they should have been there. Fox told them to stop worrying about it, but it didn’t help.
Fox pulled Gage off to the side, mindful of his slung arm, as Slippy and Peppy talked with Dagger. “How’re you doing? How’s the team?”
“Good, we’re doing better,” Gage replied with a weary sigh. “Rhiain’s leg will be good as new in a couple weeks. Beaudoin technically shouldn’t be out of the hospital yet, but she refused to miss this.”
Fox nodded. “So what do you guys do now?”
“Back to work,” Gage said with an amused grin. “No parades, no awards, no newspaper headlines. There’s a couple thousand kidnapped civilians out there who were forced to work on Overlord, and they’re our next objective. No time to rest. We were watching the whole award thing on TV from Beaudoin’s hospital room yesterday. Knowing that we helped is reward enough.”
“It’s still wrong,” Fox replied, shaking his head and remembering the award ceremony, played out exactly like the last time. Only this time, there should’ve been five other people up there with him. “You guys deserve all the credit.”
Gage shrugged. “So goes the life of ghost teams. We all know it coming in, and we don’t mind.”
“Well, I mind,” Fox said, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out an ornate gold circle on a purple ribbon, the medal he had been awarded. Before Gage could refuse, he took his hand and gave it to him. “I want you to take this and put it somewhere where Dagger can see it every day. Frame it, put it on the wall, something. Ok?”
Gage wasn’t sure what to say, so he just smiled and put it in his pocket. “I’ll do that. Thank you, Fox.”
Fox nodded and offered his hand. Gage took it and they shook, but then smiled and embraced. After all they’d been through, it warranted more than a handshake. They were more than just acquaintances, even more than just friends. They had saved each others’ lives more than once and fought by each others’ sides. That made them the closest thing to brothers than actually sharing the same blood.
“I guess I’ll see you around,” Gage said. “What’re your plans now?”
“A long vacation,” Fox replied with a grin. “After I visit someone.”
Gage nodded and turned towards his team. “Take care of yourself. Give me a ring if you ever need backup.”
“You take care too.”
Gage joined his team, who had a collective smirk on their faces from the duo’s little hug. After a bit of talking, no doubt asking what Fox gave him, Gage produced the medal from his pocket. The five soldiers grinned and stared at it, their eyes softening. They may have taken the oath to fight and die anonymously, but that didn’t mean that they don’t liked appreciation now and then. To Fox, no one deserved it more.
With an exchange of waves with Fox, the team walked down through the rows of identical white stone markers. There were too many, stretching too far in every direction, and that day three more joined the crowd. Fox remembered a quote he once heard that true greatness is not what you do while others are watching, but what you do when they are not and no reward is given. If there was ever a prime example, Dagger was it.
* * *
The rain had let up by time Fox arrived at the cemetery on the other side of the city, and the clouds were parting into clear blue sky. He walked across the moist grass until he was in front of the simple, familiar stone marked “Vicenzia Hohleran.” Following his normal greeting to his fiancée, he leaned over, placed both hands on the stone, and kissed it.
“This cemetery is where this entire ordeal all began,” Fox said, righting himself. “And it’s also where it will end. I remember what Ike said, about Overlord’s birth marking the dawn of his rise. Well, I have my own version. Overlord’s destruction marked the dawn of a new beginning, both for me and for Gage.”
Fox looked up as the sun poked through gloom and bathed the cemetery in light. With a smile he looked back down. “I got your message in that dream, Vixy. Thank you for forgiving me…maybe now I can too. It’s time I stopped wasting away from your death and started cherishing your memory and our love. Not a day passes where I don’t think of you.”
Fox crouched down and ran his hand over the lettering on the stone. “I love you.”
Feeling like a heavy weight had been lifted from his chest, Fox stood and turned to leave the cemetery. An era of his life, the most painful and joyful one, had come to an end. What the future held, Fox didn’t know. But whatever it was, he felt the strength to meet it head on and make the best of it. Through blood and sweat and tears, the wrong had been righted and the pain was over.
It was finally over.
-The End-
(See Afterword)