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Recompense of the Fallen

Jet slowly returned to consciousness, flashes of memory; a desert, an underground base, a battle...

An explosion threw Jet onto his back, his left hand mangled and charred by the grenade's blast. Someone comes over and kneels next to him, someone in a purple and blue flightsuit,the Blue furred vixen form his first trip through a teleporter, she takes his hand and begin to patch it up. As she does this, he sees a muzzle flash behind her. He reaches up grabbing the front of her flightsuit (between her breasts now he thinks about it), he pulls her down, rolling on top of her, facing the direction of the muzzle flash. Then, for a brief second, pain. Pain, unlike anything he'd ever experienced before. Mercifully, he blacked out briefly.

He was on his back, his vision through the shattered visor of his helmet obsured by blood. Tex ran over and knelt next to him, wordlessly talking to him before turning to yell silently to someone behind him. As he was yelling, Jet remembered something he'd heard an old American airman say: "If your hit and you feel it, your going to be ok. If your hit and you don't feel it? Your fucked." His body felt heavy, he couldn't move his limbs or his head.

Tex turned back to him, talking to him, trying to keep his attention, keep him awake. He couldn't hold his head straight, he let it fall he was looking down his arm. Someone was holding his mangled left hand, someone in a purple flightsuit, they squeezed his hand gently, he tried to squeeze back. As his vision faded, he saw bands of teleporter energy surround the person holding his hand, he just saw the blue vortex before his vision faded completely...

Jet finally regained his senses after piecing together the memory of his last few moments awake. He was in a fluid filled tank, like the one he'd examined his reflection in on his first day aboard the Charm's Way. The fluid felt weird, thicker than water, but soothing almost calming. He noticed that he had a mask on with a tube going to his stomach, and equivalent apparatus attached to his waist and lower body. "Gotta eat, gotta shit" he thought sarcastically, as he looked outside the tank, it was in some sort of medical bay, but not the one on the Charm's Way: this was set out differently, with multiples of most equipment, also organised with almost Military efficiency. But one thing seemed out of place, a familiar middle-aged wolf sitting in a chair with his head on a table sleeping.

Charles Davis stirred from his slumber, disturbed by a low light source in the lab. He grumbled as he woke up, no-one had got much sleep over the past two weeks, not since Jet was shot on Titania. He had been a little shocked with everyone being teleported into the Infirmary, but the reasons had been clear instantly. He'd done what he could for Jet and Miyu, but both had needed to be brought planetside. Since then they'd all taken turns watching Jet and Miyu while they recovered, he'd figured it would be better that they woke up to see a friendly face rather than that of an Army doctor. Miyu had recovered the previous Tuesday and had stood watch over Jet with Tex last night. Davis smiled softly, she was becoming really attached to the young lynx who saved her life. He shot a glance at Jet's tank and did a double take. Jet was awake and groggily looking around the lab, after staring for several moments, Davis jumped up and moved to the controls, and set the tank to drain and release the patient.

The apparatus meant to keep Jet feed and deal with any waste, was removed as the fluid level reached halfway empty. The tube down his throat wasn't so bad, but the other two left him a little sore. As the glass lifted away, Jet stepped out and stumbled from the unexpected drop to the floor. Davis caught him and helped him to an examination table. "Your very lucky Jet, i thought you wouldn't make it when they brought you in." said Davis as he helped Jet onto the table, and started giving him a look over. Jet winced as he sat down, prompting a chuckle from Davis, Jet had to smile a little too, thinking of how silly it must look. "This is the second time, i've brought you back from a near death experience. You're the luckiest man i know" said Davis. "I guess somebody up there likes me, either that or they don't want the hassle of dealing with me" Joked Jet, he stopped and thought for a moment, "Maybe i do have a charmed life, either way i've cheated the reaper twice, i don't think there'll be a third time." "Maybe" replied the older wolf.

"The others were brought aboard as you passed out, they made it out ok" continued Davis as he checked Jet over with a handheld device similar to a tri-quarter from star trek. "Ok, apart from some minor bruising and a slight fracture in your left leg, your fine." "Thank god for..." Jet had just run his left hand through his hair but noticed something wrong with it, as he looked at it he saw he was missing a finger, the ring finger.

"I'm sorry, there wasn't anything i could do at the time. It was either your life or your hand, but i did manage to remove most of the scarring." apologised Davis. "Don't apologise, i did that." replied Jet. Davis stopped and looked at Jet, his eyebrows raised, "Do you remember what happened down there? Nobody will say a word"

Jet stopped and thought, It was all coming back now: the landing, the desert, the base, the battle...

"Yes, I remember"...

Titania- Crash site one league west of Mellinin base

Jet stirred slowly, someone was shaking him. As his vision cleared, he saw that it was Tex shaking him. "e.. you alright, we were hit by flak or debris on the way down. We entered the atmosphere at a steeper angle than intended, so we landed off course, about two leagues North-west. Grab your gear and get ready to move out." Tex then stood up and left the pod. Jet picked himself up off the floor and began to pick up his gear. As he moved to leave he saw something in the corner of his eye. He looked towards the object and moved over to get a better look. It was a field medic's pack, Jet picked it up and left the pod. Tex was sitting on the ground checking his gear, while Haze was on the radio to the ship: "We're down a league west of the old medical research base, requesting evac over... can you repeat that?...Confirmed, moving to location." Haze turned to his two crewmates, "A shuttle from the Great Fox has crashed east of the medical base. The survivors were captured and taken to the base. We're to investigate the base and rescue them, got it?" "Great Fox? as in from the Starfox games?" asked Jet incredulously as Haze turned to head towards the medical base. "Yeah, Nintendo got most of the facts right but it's only been five years since the Lylat War not ten. And Krystal isn't Fox's girlfriend, He's dating Fara Phoenix from the old comics, and Assault hasn't quite happened yet." replied Tex as he went to follow Haze, "Hey, what have you got there?" Haze turned around to see what Tex meant. "A medics pack, i saw it in the pod as i was leaving. I hope we won't need it, but better to be safe, right?" answered Jet catching up to Haze and Tex. The three mercs continued towards their objective.

Nemesis Base-The Mellinin

Lieutenant Arkham walked through the tunnels beneath the old medical base; the base had been half-fortified by the Venomian Army during the Lylat Wars and most of the tunnels were still serviceable. However, it did mean that communications in the tunnels had to be run through wires or dispatch runners. The leopard was leading a detachment of marines from the Steelfang, loaned to Andrew Oikonny by Oberst Krieger, and until today it had been a decidedly boring assignment. As he passed the ad-hoc checkpoint at the end of the tunnel leading to the cell block, he wondered why Andross had never completed fortifying the base. Some said there hadn't been enough time, "Prepostorous, construction had halted before the assault on Katina, never mind the failed attack on Corneria" he thought. Some of the Veterans from the Black Fifth said that Andross had decided the base, and it's secret contents, would be better protected if the Cornerians and Starfox believed it was unoccupied by the Venomian Army. Consequently, the base had lacked any external defences, but possessed the internal workings to accomodate them; the detention level was a prime example, along with most of the sealed tunnels and dramways that would have run from unfinished magazines to non-existant artillery emplacements and infantry pillboxes. the current curtain wall was a recent addition, and in places the concrete was clearly still curing.

As he entered the upper cell block, returned the salute from two of his dozen Marines (the rest of the troopers being Oikonny's original (Under-equipped and undisciplined) detachment). He took the list of prisoners from his second in command, a bobcat called Donovan, and examined it. Arkham smiled to himself, this would be interesting. The prisoners were seperated from each other based on gender; in the Northern cells were Falco and Slippy, while in the Southern cells were Fara Phoenix, Miyu and Krystal.

Arkham had been ordered to interrogate the prisoners for information regarding Starfox's base. While they operated from the Great Fox Tactically, Strategically there had to be somewhere that they went to repair the fighters, restock munitions and refuel. Some kind of Home Base, some safe haven they called home. "Corneria City spaceport can't be their home base, surely?" thought Arkham as he prowled around, deciding on his victim.

The Falcon, no he'd probably been through all this before at cornerian hands during his gang days. He continued to the next cell. The Toad, he'd break easily. No he's a mechanic and a liability as a pilot, the leopard knew he wouldn't get anything useful from him. He now crossed on of the two connecting bridges crossing the gap between the cell blocks. The Cerinian? As Arkham looked at her, he saw a fire of defiance in her eyes that said she'd rather die than talk, NO.

That left two, on his left: a Fennec vixen who was romantically involved with McCloud. No, in this case, that romance meant loyalty. The other was a female Lynx that had been a member of Lombardi's old gang and a close friend of Katt Monroe. Yes, she'd do, not to close to be unbreakable but not to distant not to know what was going on and where.

"Bring her" He ordered motioning to the cell. The two red-clad marines nodded and moved to the indicated cell. As Miyu was taken from her cell and dragged to the makeshift interrogation room in the lower cell block, the leopard was hit by a chorus of protests: "Get away from her!" "Leave her alone scumbag" "Don't you dare touch her" Arkham smiled softly, before following his men.

Titania- Outer Mellinin

Jet swore as he crawled through a drainage ditch towards the outer wall. He hadn't offered to go first, but it turns out his armour is made from a special alloy that makes it difficult to detect and makes significantly better quality armour than the stuff Haze and Tex is using, so he has to go first as he's the hardest to spot or kill. As he reached the wall, he noted there were no guards watching from the battlements and signalled to the others to move.

Charm's Way- Outer Bridge

Fox strode through the corridors of the Charm's Way towards the Bridge. He was unfamiliar with the ship but the A.I. was helpfully guiding him by walking with him as a hologram. He'd been forced to bring his remaining Arwings and pilots to the older ship before sending Peppy and the Great Fox home for repairs. He wasn't happy about his friends being shot down, but according to the A.I. next to him, it was due to the newest member of Chase's crew that they weren't killed in their shuttle by interceptors. Fox stopped at the Bridge doors, he hadn't spoken to Chase in over ten years. Well, Chase hadn't spoken to him, or Peppy. Peppy had said it was because he believed it was his fault Fox's Father, James, had gone missing, he'd been in a position to help the team but hadn't as he was ordered not to engage. Peppy said that decision to follow orders had destroyed him inside, He'd never forgiven himself for not helping his friend when that friend needed him. Now they both had to put their past's behind them and focus on the here and now.

As he stepped onto the bridge, Fox saw Chase standing at a holo-display showing the base and the surrounding area for several miles. "Thats a lot of triple-A" Vasili quietly stated, also looking at the map. As Fox stepped closer, he saw that enemy positions had been painted onto the display. "Belle, tell Haze to make his best efforts to sabotage those guns so we can come in and deal with the hard targets and that armoured column." Chase ordered. "Yes sir" Belle replied, and she immediately got busy with the comms. "What armour?" asked Fox, watching the column's progress.

"Black Fifth by the looks of it, command company has set up in an old redoubt outside the main gate, the column is the rest of the battalion." replies Vasili. Fox visibly paled. "THE BLACK FIFTH?" he shouted, "We've got to deal with them now." he pulled up his wrist communicator, "Katt, take Fay and Amanda and prep the Arwings, I'll be down myself in a minute." "Got it Fox" Katt replied over the comm. "ARE YOU MAD! that Triple-A will tear you to pieces, there's enough firepower down there to shoot down half the Cornerian Starfighter Corps." Vasili shouted. Chase held up his hand when Fox opened his mouth to snap back.

Chase knew that the Black Fifth was reinforcing a Nemesis detachment. Chase knew who and what he was up against, Fox didn't. Starfox had never fought Nemesis and, secretly, Chase was grateful. Nemesis had reduced the number of original Battlehawks pilots from twelve to two, with each fallen hawk being worth two of any other pilot even those from Starfox.

"While the fire control system for those guns is functioning we can't fly in to help. That doesn't mean we won't be ready to when the system is brought down." Chase said to the other two calmy. Vasili turned back to the holo-display, "That's still a lot of Triple-A and many look like models that might have manual gunsights." "Vasili, Sonar head to the hangar and start prepping your Thunderbolts, i'll be down in a moment to join you" replied Chase. As Vasili and Sonar left, Fox looked at the display again before turning to leave. "That is a lot of Triple-A"

Nemesis base-Detention level

Arkham watched as his chosen victim was stripped then bound to the prepared interrogation table in the lower cell block. The two cougars expertly bound the still struggling lynx to an examination table borrowed from one of the old Med-labs. He had placed himself so that his 'guest' wouldn't see the selection of toys on the surgical trolley behind him. As the two cougars finished their work, they nodded and clicked their heels together in the approved Navy manner before stepping back, out of the way. Arkham simply stood and looked at Miyu for a few moments, contemplating how to begin. He didn't particularly enjoy torturing people, not like First Officer Adella, but he never shied away either. He was indifferent, prepared to commit a necessary evil. He stepped up to the lynx, who was still struggling futiley.

"I have been tasked with retrieving certain information from you and your comrades. I would prefer if you made this easy on yourself and co-operated, that way i won't have to do anything... unpleasant." The leopard spoke in a soft, almost pleasant tone. "What i want to know, Is where is Starfox's home base? Where do they resupply? Where do they repair their fighters and carrier? Where is it that they call home?"

Miyu spat at Arkham and turned her head away. "As you wish" he replied simply, motioning the two cougars, who had been about to respond to the females defiance,to remain at their posts. Arkham turned around and examined his 'tools'. There were the usual thumbscrews, knifes, hammers, etc and some unusual items, including an earth made shock baton. Arkham picked up the shock baton and deciding it would be a good place to start. As he checked the batteries were inserted correctly he thought for a moment; he, along with most of Nemesis, despised humans but some credit had to be extended to them. They had developed some interesting technologies, and were second to none when it came to designing devices intended to cause great pain while doing little real damage. When satisfied, he ignited the baton, electricity arcing between the two contacts. As he turned to face her, the lynx stared at the alien device in his hand, he certainly had her attention now. "There's more than one way to skin a cat." He stated as he raised the Baton.

Charm's Way-Hangar deck

"If Miyu's hurt, Falco is going to PAY!" fumed Fay as she helped Amanda and Katt prep an Arwing. "Miyu's a big girl, she can take care of herself. Anyway, it's not like we haven't seen a fight before, she'll be ok" Katt said, trying to sooth her friends temper. She, Fay and Amanda were recent additions to the team, like Krystal, Miyu and Fara, but unlike the others had logged little time in the air in Arwings. Space Dynamics were very picky who they sold these fighters to, thus not everyone could buy one, and most had to make do with other craft. This left the trio still a little unfamiliar with their new fighters. As they finished on Amanda's Arwing, Vasili and Sonar entered the hangar. Katt watched as the Arctic Wolf and Fennec went to their respective Thunderbolts

Katt had a strange fascination with the older Thunderbolts. They were a Voss made heavy fighter, the Arwing was a rough copy of it, but had been, at the time, lightened for ease of manufacture and agility. The Thunderbolt had heavier armour, stronger cannons, superior shield emittors, uprated engines and six underwing universal hardpoints that allowed it to carry a very wide range of ordinance types that could be tailored to a specific mission. Externally, it looked like a crude, scaled up Arwing with a bubble canopy rather than the Arwing's razorback, it also lacked the G-diffuser system being powered by a pair of Ramjets (although it did have a gravity compensator, which produced similar effects for the pilot) and had a V-shaped tailfin. At first glance it looked like an Arwing clone, but underneath was a very different beast, one that could survive weapons fire and damage an Arwing pilot couldn't dream of. The fighter was faster than an Arwing but wasn't as agile, it did have better low speed handling due to it's fixed wing design, however, and some pilots did exploit this. As Fox entered the Hangar with Chase, a noise from Fay brought her mind back to preparing for the mission.

Titania- Mellinin outer wall.

Jet led Tex and Haze along the outer wall, there were no guards on the ramparts and no guard towers as such so the risk of being spotted was minimal along the base of the wall. They came to a large area with a concrete floor and waist high crumbling walls, it had a layout reminiscent of a pillbox. As Haze was inspecting the crumbling walls, Jet called to him "Hey over here, I think i've found a way in" Haze turned at the same time as Tex and saw Jet next to a rusted iron grate covering a man-sized tunnel leading into the base proper. Jet signalled Tex to move to the other side and together they wrenched the old grate of the wall. As they moved close to the tunnel mouth, they heard a strange noise from the depths of the base, a muffled, echoing scream. The three exchanged a glance before Haze spoke up, "In for a penny, in for a fucking pound" and with that he moved into the tunnel the others following him down.

The upper cell-block was silent as a tomb, soundproof glass seperating the two levels from each other. Falco stared, having already shouted himself hoarse, as that evil bastard below brought another of his tools from the trolley. Slippy simply looked away as his colleague was subjected to another bout of pain. Fara openly cried sobbing, Miyu's name again and again through the bars of her cell as she watched, helplessly. Krystal tearfully turned away from the horror below and stood with her back to the door. Trying to control her fear, she wondered where Fox and the others were, and what of the ship that had come to their rescue? Would they help a second time? Would there be anyone left to rescue?.

Arkham was finally beginning to tire as he placed the broken knife back into it's place on the trolley. She was virtually broken and yet she gave nothing away. As he stared at her, he wondered how this lynx was so resistant. There was barely an inch of her body that was not bruised, bloody or scorched by the stun baton. As he stared, he noticed how attractive she was, taking in her smooth curves, ample chest and tight bum. An idea suddenly came into his head, he had wasted so much effort on her, he might as well have some compensation from her. He ordered his two guards to turn her onto her stomach and bind her do she was on her knees, in their native tongue so she wouldn't know what was coming.

Haze swore as he tripped again in the lowlight of the dramway. Their helmets visors were made of a special glass that made lowlight conditions appear as bright as day. But that didn't mean you didn't miss things like old railway ties hammered into the floor to hold down long rotted sleepers and railway lines. The strange sounds were getting louder and clearer, the echos reducing as they got closer. Haze felt a knot tighten in his chest, those cries were in a familiar voice, and that voice was in pain. Tex and Jet were close behind him, close enough to trip on the same objects, Jet had noted that these tunnels appeared to run from unfinished pillobxes towards old Magazines, the remains of unfinished fortifications, either that or abandoned during construction, with the tunnels sealed off and forgotten. Perfect for sneaking around unseen, if they kept the noise down. The tunnel opened up into a wider tunnel running perpendicular to it. As they stepped in, they heard the screams again, but much closer. Haze sped off towards a set of vents built into the side of the tunnel at head height, with another set three feet above built into the roof of the tunnel and the floor of the room above. Jet and Tex followed and moved to the next vent along, as they looked throught they were horrified by what they saw. Below were three Nemesis personnel torturing one of the survivors from the shuttle. "Son of a BITCH" exclaimed Jet, watching the sick bastard at work, he had met this Leopard before, he'd watched and laughed as Jet was clawed then dragged away to be killed. Tex was openly horrified and furious at the situation below. "What are we waiting for, We've got to get down there and save her!" He turned to leave, but Haze grabbed him, "NO, if we go down there now, they'll kill her and maybe the others too" Tex wrenched his arm from Haze's grip and turned to try and get some support from Jet. He stopped dead at what he saw. Through the visor of Jet's helmet Tex could Just see his eyes, they burned with a cold, fury he hadn't seen before, and the fires of vengeance. "If we move down there now, reinforcements will come from the guard posts on the upper levels and we'll be trapped and murdered like rats in a hole. If we take out the guard posts first and cut off communications, we can buy time to rescue her and the others. After that? It's time for blood." Jet spoke quietly, but there was an indescribable force behind his words, one you didn't want to argue with. "Let's deal with the checkpoint then" replied Haze, and the three of them moved deeper into the tunnels.

Falco finally located the source of the voices he'd been hearing for the past minute, an old vent low on the wall, it seemed to open onto a tunnel behind the cells, as he crouched down to peer into the tunnel, he saw three figures in dirty white armour move deeper into the tunnel. He mentally breathed a sigh of relief, help was coming, he could only hope they got here before it was too late for Miyu.

Arkham watched as his guards finished their work, they had positioned Miyu so that she was on her knees, with her face flat on the table and her arms bound to the side of the table and her round, firm butt raised prominently and tail tied to her back. Miyu wriggled as much as her bonds allowed, but soon gave up as she realised how futile it was. Arkham prowled around the table as he admired his victim. She was in a bad state as a result of his earlier work, but her beauty shone through the filth and blood. Arkham unzipped his combat trousers before climbing onto the table behind Miyu. Her wriggling began again, but stopped as he ran his hands over the cheeks of her ass. He carressed her bare cheeks before sliding his hand down and ran his fingers gently over the lips of her pussy.

He felt the female shudder slightly at his touch, and contiued to massage the lips of her sex. Miyu flinched at the unexpected and unwanted touch from her captor, but began to feel ashamed as her body responded to the unexpected pleasure. The males fingers softly tracing her outer labia before teasing the inner ever so slightly.

Falco stuck his head through the bars of his cell door to tell the others about the three armoured soldiers in the tunnels, but stopped dead when he noticed the others were all staring through the glass divider between the two levels. Fara was shouting Miyu's name frantically, Slippy was swearing at the top of his voice (something Falco had never seen, heard or even realise he could be capable of), Krystal shook her head while openly crying, quietly crying out in protest, before collapsing to the floor with her back to the door, praying, for the first time in years, that someone would find them. Falco looked down himself, it felt like the bottom had fallen out of his stomach. He saw the leopard, naked from the waist down, playing with Miyu's naked form. Instantly he began shouting like Slippy. But besides the smirking Donovan, their words went unheard.

Arkham continued to tease her, before easing his finger into her pussy, earning a moan from Miyu. She hated the way her body was reacting but couldn't do anything to stop it. The unwanted pleasure was making her wet and Arkham had noticed that his ministrations had achieved the desired effect, so he continued to tease her, his grin growing as her pussy quickly became wet. As he probed deeper inside her, his eyes lit up as he found her hymen intact. If possible, his smile grew even wider as he positioned himself behind her. As he moved, his fingers probed her insides while his thumb teased her clit. Miyu moaned aloud as her body betrayed her, giving in to the unwanted pleasure.

Arkham removed his fingers from her snatch, and positioned his tip at her entrance. Miyu whined at the loss of stimulat ion before feeling the tip of his prick. She was puzzled for a brief moment, before she realised what it was. When Arkham saw her expression changed he plunged in, hilting himself in the first thrust. Miyu screamed as her virginity was ripped apart. Arkham ignored this and roughly started to piston his cock in and out of Miyu's tight pussy.

Miyu winced and whimpered as the leopard pounded her sex, but as her body got used to the large manhood moving in and out of her the pain receded and the pleasure creeped back. Arkham listened to the lynx's tone change, he pumped faster in and out of her pussy, the barbs on his tip racking her sensitive insides. Miyu shuddered as her captors cock pumped in and out, but quickly became embarrassed as the unwanted pleasur e built up in her loins towards her orgasm.

Arkham grunted as his own pleasure built, feeling his victims own pleasure build he had an idea. Miyu's moans climbed in pitch as her orgasm closed, until Arkham withdrew from her pussy completely. Miyu wiggled her butt briefly, desperate to finish. Arkham rammed his cock into her asshole, hilting himself. The shock and pain throwing Miyu over the edge, screaming as she rode her orgasm out. Miyu's climax set Arkham off, roaring in triumph as he filled Miyu's ass with long ropes of his thick, fertile seed.

Arkham pulled out of the lynx and cleaned himself on her shorts which he picked up from the pile on the floor. "Dress her and put her back in her cell" he ordered, turning to his guards. He stood back and watched as they roughly dressed the exhausted, bleeding and abused Lynx.

"Now, who should be next?"...

"According to the scans Belle sent me before we entered, we should come out onto the main tunnel to the courtyard now and the first checkpoint should be on the right." Haze called out the info as the tunnel started to rise and bank gently right. Jet swore again as he tripped on an unseen object, but stopped as he found the end of the tunnel. "There's no checkpoint" he said, disbelieving what he saw. "Bullshit" replied Tex, But he was right. There was no checkpoint, no guards, just a solitary bundle of wires leading to the lower levels. "Where are the guards?" Tex was puzzled at the lack of secuirity. "Never mind, there's bound to be a guardpost at the entrance to the detention levels. We take that out, our job gets easier." answered Jet, moving into the tunnel.

Tex and Haze followed, together they crept silently towards the lower levels. Haze glanced at the wires running along the foot of the wall, he had come to the conclusion that they were the only means of electronic communication to the surface positions. "That looks like an old setup, if we cut the wires they may not associate it with a break out, but a simple wiring fault." Haze wondered, then stopped as Jet signalled for the others to halt. "One sentry, he's mine" Jet whispered over the comm. Jet silently crept forwards, just out of sight. As Tex approached the spot Jet had signalled form, a loud sickening crack was heard, like someone breaking their neck. "He's down" Jet called from around the corner. Tex and Haze exhanged a glance before heading round.

"HOLY SHIT JET!" exclaimed Tex as he saw the guards dead eyes staring up at him while he lay on his stomach, his head twisted 180o. "It was either him or us, get on that terminal and cut comms to the surface, and find out what you can about this place. Haze, help me hide him." retorted the collie. Haze took the dead ferrets arms, while Jet took the legs and the moved the corpse to spot behind some ammunition crates where it would be out of sight. With that unpleasentness done, Haze stepped behind Tex, "Jet; have a rummage through those crates, there might be something we can use." he called as he watched Tex pull up the necessary info. Jet nodded and began his work.

The info Tex pulled up confirmed Hazes suspicions. Communication to the surface had to be through a hardline, the meters thick walls of the building and the depth underground made wirless comms impossible, the setup was 20 years old with no backup. This was also the only chekpoint between the detention levels and the surface, with the tunnel coming out 20 yds from the main gate. "Disable the comm system, them pick up whatever toys Jet's found" Haze siad to Tex and turned to head over to Jet. "Got it" replied Tex, moving to the fuse box.

"What do we have?" Haze asked Jet, looking into the open crates. "5 grenade slings, a breaching charge and a recoiless rifle with 15 rounds of ammunition, and thats what we can carry." The collie replied as he handed Haze two of the grenade slings and the bandolier for the CM-197 recoiless rifle. "Tex'll have to carry the rifle, it's disassembled in this duffle bag."

"Right lets get going, they don't have much time." Haze slung the grenades over his shoulders, Jet repeated the movement before returning to the checkpoint. Tex looked up from the checkpoint, "I've disabled the communications", "Excellent, how'd you do it" Asked Jet. Tex held up the wires he yanked through the bottom of the fuse box. The three laughed, Jet handed over Tex's new equipment and they prepared to enter the tunnel.

"Who are you? Where did you come form? Where's Ron?" The three spun round, a lone 7 man patrol at the entrance to the lower levels. The ape at the head looking from one to the other for several moments, realisation dawned on his face.

"FIRE!"

The BattleHawks opened fire, tagging a soldier each. The courage of the remaining four failed, retreating into the tunnel as fast as they could. "Don't let them escape"Shouted Tex, haring after the fleeing Venomians. The other two followed quickly.

Arkham was watching his guards replace the battered and abused Miyu into her cell, He'd decided that the Cerinian would be next. As Donovan sealed the door, he directed them to Krystal's cell, again barking orders in his native language. Krystal struggled for a brief moment, but was quickly subdued and stripped by the two cougars, her clothes piled by the door as she was bound similar to Miyu, with her knees drawn up, tail raised and arms across her chest. Falco and Slippy were particularly vocal this time, and were lucky that their combined shouting made their colourful language indistingushable due to the echoes. Donovan however got the gist of their words and moved to the northern cells to silence them.

The two cougars stepped back respectfully and left the cell, returning to their original positions in front of Fara and Miyu's cells. Arkham stared down at the beautiful young vixen before, lost in thought and admiration of her perfectly toned body, those thoughts quickly darkening in nature. He was disturbed by a noise from the hall, just as Donovan reached the North cells. Four soldiers from the Venomian patrol barrelled into the hall and began to close the heavy wooden door. As it came to the final inches, something struck the other side with great force: "Don't let them in" cried one of the Venomians, and together they managed to close and bolt the door. they stepped back and levelled their weapons, another heavy bang on the door followed by another made the scared soldiers flinch.

Arkham watched from the doorway to Krystal's cell, before rushing over to pick up the Human Battle rifle Oberst Krieger had given him. As he turned around and moved back to the cell's doorway, there was another, quieter thump on the door, followed by muffled voices. He listened carefully for a moment, trying to make sense of what sounds he heard. He made sense of 1 phrase.

The leopards eyes lit up in horror and he dived into the open cell, just in time.

Tex was running full pelt after the fleeing Venomians, they made it through the door to the cell block and began closing it. He kept his pace up and managed to close the gap before they completely closed the door, unfortunately he didn't have enough momentum to get through and together the four soldiers closed and bolted the door.

The furious Lynx pounded heavily on the door twice, shaking dust from the frame and tunnel roof, before Haze caught up. "Damn Fascists have barricaded themselves in there, it's to heavy to break down." he fumed as he turned to his companion. Haze opened his mouth to speak, but turned as Jet finally joined them, lugging a large and fused breaching charge. "Forget breaking it down, we'll blast through." replied the collie as he secured the charge to the two iron reinforcing strips attached to the hinges. He motioned the other two to move to a safe distance, before lighting the fuse. He lept up and ran to the others. He turned to Tex grinning: "Once more unto the breach, Dear friends." They watched as the fuse burned closer. "FIRE IN THE HOLE!"

"AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGH!!!"

Four voices screamed in unison as the door exploded inwards in flash of fire and Thunder, showering the room in lethal oak splinters. The four Venomians didn't stand a chance, eviscerated where they stood. Donovan jumped back into the doorway of a cell and dodged the blast only to be caught in Falco's arms and who promptly began to throttle him. Of the remaining two marines, one crouched in the doorway to Fara's cell, while the other hit the deck and avoided the worst of the blast and splinters.

Arkham turned around, returning to the landing to meet his attackers, but was met instead by an eerie silence and the sight of the dead soldiers and his stunned marines. A noise from the far cells brought him back to reality, he spotted Donovan being slowly throttled by that upstart parrot. As he stepped out raising the rifle, a terrifying battle-cry filled the halls.

The terrified Leopard turned to the shattered archway just in time to see three armoured figures enter, firing as they went.

"FAUGH A BALLA!" Jet screamed the old battle-cry as he charged into the cell block. Haze and Tex following behind. Haze rugby tackled the Marine rising from the walkway to the right, Tex slammed into the marine in the doorway to Fara's cell clubbing him with his rifle before shooting Donovan across the Detention level.

Jet tore forwards towards the Leopard, who raised the rifle swiftly and fired, the bullet flew wide, the collie slammed into the Leopard, grabbing the rifle and struggled with the feline. Arkham snarled at Jet as he fought the collie, bringing his head into Jet's face, headbutting him. Jet fought as dirty back, slamming his knee into Arkham's crotch and trying to elbow the snarling Leopard. Jet threw Arkham sideways into the wall, wrenching the rifle from the tired feline's grasp.

Quickly, he reversed the rifle and slammed the brass-bound rifle butt into Arkham's head as hard as he could. The Leopard dropped and didn't get up. Pressing the button on the side of his helmet to withdraw the visor, he then rifled through his fallen enemy's pockets before lifting the bandolier and bayonet from his stunned enemy. Jet stood up and started to turn back to the others. Tex had rifled through the nearest marine's pockets and found one set of keys for the cells. He sorted through the set of keys to find the correct one as he walked to Fara's cell. "Don't worry about me, help Miyu, she's in the next cell. Hurry!" Fara called through the bars. Tex jumped at the urgency in her voice and moved to the next door, fumbling with the keys as he went.

As Jet passed the open cell door, he caught a flicker of movement in the corner of his eye. Stopping to peer into the open cell, Jet saw a vixen tied up on the floor. Realising that she had been about to become the Leopard's next victim, he stepped into the cell, drawing the old bayonet and began to cut away her bounds. As he came to the ropes around her face and muzzle, he sheathed the bayonet and removed the last bindings by hand. "Are you ok? Did he hurt you?"Jet asked, as Krystal rubbed the sore spot on her muzzle where the ropes had bit into her flesh.

Krystal turned to answer her rescuer, but stopped at what she saw. Kneeling beside her was a handsome Border Collie, with Blue fur that was a slightly darker shade than her own. Her voice died in her throat as she gazed at her saviour. The draught from the door brought her back to reality and, blushing, she curled her bushy tail around herself in an effort to cover her naked form. Jet however had already started craning his head for her clothes, or he feared what would be the remmnants of them, before spotting them by the door.

"Are these yours?" Jet asked as he picked up the discarded bundle of clothes, surprised to find them fairly intact considering the actions of her erstwhile captor. Krystal turned her head and said yes, taking the bundle from him. Jet stood and walked to the door, saying he would wait outside to give her some privacy to change.

"JET! GET OVER HERE NOW!!!"

Both Jet's and Krystal's head snapped up at the shout, Jet bolted out the door while Krystal hurridly began untangling her clothes. Haze was standing at the only other open cell door as Jet barrelled in. The collie was met with the sight of a very battered female lynx lying in a pool of her own blood and Tex next to her trying to adminster some aid. "Where's that pack? We have to do something now!" cried Tex panicking as the female next to him continued to bleed.

Fara had been freed by Haze and she told him about Falco and Slippy in the North cells. Haze crossed the walkway quickly and spotted the keys on Donovan's body. Slippy thanked Haze before running over to check on Miyu. Haze moved to Falco's cell and opened the door. As Falco stepped out her stopped dead as he recognised his rescuer: "Haze? What are you doing here? I thought you were watching some backwater rock." exclaimed Falco. "Someone has to save your cocky ass, and Fox can't be everywhere you know. Besides keep your thanks, it was Jet that saved you from being blown up in orbit." Haze retorted as he turned and ran back to join the others. Falco cocked his head slightly in confusion at his old friend's words, before pulling himself together and following him.

Jet swung the pack off his shoulder and knelt down on the opposite side of the female, opening the pack and giving it to Tex. Tex immediately began to administer the necessary medicine from the pack, Jet immediately applied some disinfectant. After several tense minutes, Miyu was bandaged as best the two could manage. Jet had even removed a broken knife tip from her abdomen using a pair of forceps, a glass rod and two feathers with a technique described by those watching as barbaric, to which Jet had replied 'Napoleonic, but effective'.

"She's stable, but we have to get her back to the ship" Tex said to Haze as Jet rose with him helping the Female to stand, albeit barely. "Agreed, we'll set the others loose and head back to the surface." replied Haze. "NOT before i have a word with the head Rat!" growled Jet as he let Fara take his place at Miyu's side, striding past Krystal to the strirring Nemesis officer.

Arkham slowly stirred, his head ringing from the blow that knocked him out. A shadow loomed over and he turned his head to look at the source. His vision swirled but slowly steadied and began to focus, but not before the shadow spoke to him. "Where did you get that rifle? Where you there when that human was jettisoned into space?"

Everyone watched Jet as he glared down at Arkham, the Starfox team recoiled slightly at the sudden change of tone and attitude. Haze and Tex watched silently, they could almost feel the hatred and rage eminating from Jet as he towered over the injured Leopard, both knowing that this was not their friend but the last remnants of his lost humanity seeking justice.

The leopard gulped, his eyes finally slid into focus. He saw the tall Collie standing over, but also saw a dead man's eyes staring at him; "No... you can't be? you died in space!" whispered the leopard as fear gripped him for the first time in years. "No matter, the Oberst will finish what he started soon enough." The leopard broke off laughing. Jet lost it and smashed his fist into the Leopard's face, raining blow after blow onto the prone felines form. "Where did you get that rifle? Were you on the Steelfang that day? What happened to Jeep?" Each question followed by a blow delivered with strength the Collie hadn't known he had. Fara perked up when she heard the name Jeep.

Jet stopped punching for a moment, holding his pent up rage back with great effort. The Leopard beneath him spat blood from his mouth, along with several of his teeth. "The Oberst gave me that rifle as a reward for good service. He took it from a human who was executed for murder, the murder of my friend Leon in fact. And as for that disgusting fennec..."

"That disgusting Fennec is my brother, a good man. Not like you Venomian scum. Your precious Leon was a murderer, thief and a lier that got what he deserved."Fara spat indignantly at the prone leopard. The leopard rose to respond, only to be brought down by a swift kick from Jet. Arkham coughed again, spraying blood over the walkway.

"That fennec was retrieved by a League frigate, he's safe for now. Although i must say, it was close, you should have seen the way Adella looked at him, especially when he virtually wet himself at Oberst Krieger declaring the charges against him." This was followed by another kick from Jet, an idignant exclaimation from Fara and another bout of Arkham coughing up blood, puss and guts. Arkham managed to control himself, and spoke again. "You have what you wanted to know. So leave me here and go, let me live." This was met by angry outbursts from everyone present, Haze had to grab hold of Falco, with Tex restraining Slippy. Jet motioned the others to calm down.

Jet unslung the old Mauser, Arkham noticed this and managed to stop coughing long enough to manage a few words: "It's empty, don't waste your time on it, you won't figure it out." Jet flipped the safety and threw the bolt. The sound drew Arkham's eyes and he watched helplessly as Jet expertly fished a fresh 5-round stripper clip from the bandolier and loaded the old rifle and pushing the bolt home.

"I know it's empty, and i know how to use it." replied Jet as he brought the barrel up and the rifle tight to his shoulder. "When you get to hell, give Leon my regards." The last thing Arkham saw was flame billowing from the Muzzle.

The shot tore through the feline's skull, spraying what had been the leopard's brain against the wall behind. The thunder rang through the room as the feline was executed, while gruesome, his death was deserved. Jet turned back to the others, throwing the bolt and inserting one of the remaing loose rounds to top off the magazine. He noticed a small workbench with a telescopic sight on it, he went to the bench and began work on attaching the sight to his rifle.

Everyone else turned back to Haze and Tex, who were now discussing the extraction plan. "We head to the surface and contact the ship, there will be other units, and they'll know that something's up down here. That means we need to take the long way out and go back the way we came." Haze said. "Miyu condition will only deteriorate the longer we take, we need to get here to Davis now. That means leaving by the front door, and setting the teleport beaco in the redoubt." retorted Tex. Haze opened his mouth to reply but was cut off by Jet who had finished modifying his rifle.

"Miyu needs to get to Davis quick. We could use the route we came in, but her chances are better if we leave through the courtyard. Besides, Tex took out the relay cable for the Targetting computers for the AA guns at that junction box. We get topside quick, we can call in air support to clear the way while we get to a safe distance for Belle to lock on with the transporter." Jet said, both Tex and Haze looked at him in a way the said they were trying to find a fault with his plan. Neither could. "Fine we'll head up to the courtyard and call in an airstrike to cover our retreat." Haze declared, the others nodded their assent. The three battlehawks passed their weapons out. Jet gave Falco his modified Mauser, the sight was set farther forward then normal, but a small targeting comp on a headset was calibrated to compensate. Falco shouldered his new weapon and aimed down the sight. Clearly trying to gauge it's effectiveness. "It's old but powerful and accurate, i haven't zeroed the sight so that'll give you some target practice." Jet told him as he gave his carbine and one pistol to Krystal. Falco nodded, agreeing that the rifle's age wasn't an issue here. before slinging it on his shoulder and joining Haze.

When the others had been armed the moved into the tunnel and proceeded to the upper floors.

Titania-Orbit

The seven fighters descended into the atmosphere, Chase's Thunderbolts leading Starfox's operational Arwings. Fox watched Chase lead the older heavy fighters towards the surface, but his mind was uneasy. They hadn't recieved any signals from the surface team, but the Venomian defense guns hadn't responded to the low level passes of a target drone and had been deemed inoperative. This meant that the two teams would launch the airstrike against the Black fifth ahead of schedule in an effort to buy time for the ground team to either rescue the prisoners or escape.

Fox had not taken the hours of radio silence well, he had become increasingly nervous after the gravity of the situation had been revealed to him. He had immediately got on the comm unit to Peppy and General Pepper regarding intel on a Mercenary group called Nemesis, Peppy simply paled in shock, settled into a chair and neither Fox or Peppy's daughter Lucy (who Peppy had been visiting) could get a word out of him, Lucy told Fox she'd call him back when he came around. Pepper had taken the news better than Peppy, but only in the sense that he had been able to impart his own Knowledge to Fox as well as the Army's Intelligence dossier. Pepper had immediately called a state of alert and ordered all garrisoned forces on standby, he knew Nemesis hit hard and fast but if they were working for Oikonny it could only be a bad sign.

The dossier the general provided confirmed Fox's fears, and Peppy could add little else when he finally called back. Peppy said that he would return to The Great Fox immediately and double the efforts to get it airborne again, Lucy had offered to take him to the spaceport and help him. Fox had smiled at Peppy's indignant expression to this, as his daughter ushered him from his chair before ending the call. Peppy had done everything in his power to keep Lucy from this lifstyle, from following in his footsteps, and it was now coming down around his long ears because of an old friend and even older enemies.

"Entering the Stratosphere now, switch output to atmospheric parameters." Chase called out over the radio. Fox adjusted his fighters G-Diffuser settings, and held the fighter steady as he crossed Sonar's Jetstream. The Thunderbolts were the main focus of the ground attack, while Fox and the others provided cover from above.

The seven fighters entered the cloud layer, and began their approach to the base.

Titania-Mellinin base Lower Levels

Jet and Tex lead the way up the tunnel to the courtyard, after they passed the checkpoint the exit to the courtyard was only a few minutes away. Haze followed behind Tex with Krystal and Slippy while Fara helped Miyu, While she was badly injured, Miyu had proved capable of limping most of the way herself after a little time to recover and some help.

As they approached the exit, Jet signalled the others to stop and moved to scout the exit and courtyard with Haze. The others settled around some crates for a minute, Fara and Tex sat Miyu down on one of the, Where he began to examine her again. "Are you feeling better now?" Tex asked as she took a drink of water from his canteen. "Yes, Thank you for saving me" Miyu replied, she was still in pain but it had died down slightly since Tex and Jet had helped her.

Tex opened his mouth to reply, when Haze returned.

The courtyard is full of crates, there's plenty of cover. Jets moved to cover the gate. Is everyone ready to move?" The fox said to Tex, His question recieved a series of nods and positive replies. "Ok, Let's go."