Firestorm over Corneria

Fox couldn't hear anything, he was laying on his back, the ceiling looming over him. He saw blue and red blurs flashing across his view, the edges of his eyes fading to black. He fought to remain conscious. Shaking his head, he rolled under a chair, looking around and trying to clear his head. He looked around the room, trying to spot the Colonel and his wife, along with Krystal.

He couldn't find any of them, and crawled out from under the table, faint thuds echoing through his head, the blackness around his vision slowly clearing. He didn't see the roof anymore, it had been partially blown off, leaving him to see the faint indigo colored night sky, but as he looked around, he saw the sky melting into a burning orange tint. He continued to alter his view, and noticed smoke.

His eyes widened as he realized what was happening: Corneria was under attack. He didn't see anybody else, except for soldiers in full battle armor. How long had he been out? His hearing was coming back, a loud ringing replacing the dull thuds, the shrill whine of blaster fire accompanying it. He scrambled to the closest exit, seeing his car. Damon's was gone, and Fox had no idea where the Colonel was.

Fox pulled his sleeve up as he sprinted the 100 meter distance from the crumbling hangar, pressing a few buttons on his communicator. He scrolled through the ID's and found Damon's, quickly punching in the command to message him.

Several moments passed, the sounds pf battle fading from him as he got further and further away from the hangar. After what seemed like eternity, Damon's face appeared on the communicator, he had a small cut in his head, his uniform torn. "Colonel! Where are you?" Fox yelled. Damon's calm demeanor remained, despite the harrowing escape he had made. "Fox, Everybody that was there has been evacuated to a bunker on the north side of the base. I need you here now" He said, his voice full of urgency. Fox nodded. "Wait, is Krystal with you?" The Colonel moved his arm, the ceiling and walls taking up the screen as he shifted the view, revealing the blue vixen, a worried look on her face. Fox breathed a sigh of relief, the screen cutting to black again as he dove into his car, starting the engine.

As soon as his foot got to the ground, he shoved the accelerator pedal through the floor, his car fishtailing a bit and screeching like a banshee, the engine roaring like an angry Red Eye. He felt the acceleration tug at him as the car gained speed, hurtling down an empty runway towards the bunker. The communicator buzzed again with a class one priority stamp. It activated, General Pepper appearing on the screen.

"To all members of the Cornerian military and the civilian population, Corneria is under siege by an unknown enemy. At first, reports stated it was the aparoids, but now, we aren't so sure. Aparoids have been known to attack en masse, with no regard for their own lives. However, this has been carried out flawlessly, They emerged from a space gate and descended on the planet in rapid deployment ships, our defenses didn't know anything until the shots were fired at the military ball. One of our higher ranking members, the team leader of the former Star Fox team, has not shown up at the bunker. We have, however, just received word from Omega Colonel Ballard of the 66th fighter unit, 6th fighter squadron, that Colonel Mccloud is okay. He's somewhere on the air force base, presumably making his way towards the bunker. Until We get any more information, all civilians and military personell go into hiding, seal bunkers after 30 minutes or if any enemies begin to pour in on you. Pepper out"

Fox stomped on the accelerator, sending his car hurtling ever faster down the runway, blaster fie becoming more and more frequent in the distance. His grip tightened on the wheel, his knuckles turning white under the brown fur.

The bunker was quiet, the only sound being the rumble and bump of explosions above. The lighting had gone out, leaving the red backup lights to keep the room from falling into darkness. Every face in the room was rock hard, each of them in a minor state of shock, the faces of each male a mask of titanium, and over half of the women wore a veil of crimson fear.

Krystal's normally blue fur had clashed with the emergency lighting, leaving her a dark purple. Damon had been trying to get power restored, but concluded with the wires being disrupted in an explosion or being shot out.

Nobody spoke, nobody moved, nobody even dared to breathe, almost as if the sound of their inhaling and exhaling could be heard by the unknown enemy, thinking they would be found and killed if they let out even the slightest breath.

The room was rocked by another explosion, everybody looking around. This one was much closer, and Damon took the bold move to whisper what he knew it was. "Seventy-Fives, buildings won't last long against those." He had heard the faint roar of the artillery piece going off. "These definitely aren't aparoids...all of our data on the aparoids have shown they use their own weapons, never an enemy's. We may be fighting a war on two fronts here..." His voice faded out as another boom came. Shells were dropping closer now.

Fox saw the bunker entrance, quickly stopping his car and jumping out, sprinting for the large doors that would lead into the depths of the base. He pounded on the door, simultaneously sending a message to Damon. The senior ranking Colonel quickly rushed to the door, grabbing Fox and yanking him inside.

Krystal had followed the officer, quickly latching onto Fox. "Oh Fox...I'm so glad you're alright" She said, her voice full of relief. "We thought something had happened to you" Fox didn't know what to say. Damon shushed the vixen, his eyes rolling around, as if searching for something. The booms were getting closer by the second.

He pulled them further into the bunker, the group that had taken shelter there following quickly. The Colonel dragged them down multiple corridors, branching off every 10 yards. The roar of the seventy-fives falling further and further away.

The big guns eventually faded to nothing, leaving the sound of their footsteps the only thing to break the silence they were in. The group trudged on for what seemed like hours, before finally stopping at a door. It had the insignia of the General of the armies. The Colonel pulled out a card key and slid it across a scanner on the door. Moments later, the solid door split in the middle, a seam melting down the center.

The dark hall was soon filled with bright lighting, Damon leading the group into the light. It took a few minutes to adjust to the brightness, but they managed to see after their eyes adjusted. Damon looked around, eying the screens flickering to life. Fox did likewise, spying a satellite feed of the planet.

Corneria was engulfed in smoke and flames, the normally blue planet coated in a sea of red and death. Fox's mouth dropped open, as did everybody else's. Damon and his wife stared at the screen before he walked over and pressed a button, a casualty figure list appearing.

His eyes scrolled down the list, breathing a small sigh of relief as he got to the end. He turned to his wife, whispering something in her ear that Fox could just barely make out

"He's alive"

The tank commander didn't know what was happening. He had been sleeping at the time, enjoying his relaxation time when the alarm blared and called for a full alert, his gunner shaking him awake, a panicked look on his face. "Jesse, get up! Corneria is under attack!" The First Sergeant got to his feet, running to grab his gear out of his locker as thoughts filled his mind and adrenaline filled his veins.

Time went slowly, he saw his name on his dog tags, noticing every little detail. He ran through everything in his head. "Name: Jesse L. Wolf, Rank: First Sergeant, Position: Tank Commander, 207th Cornerian M9AB Main Battle Tank Brigade, 117th Battalion, Bravo Company, 3rd Platoon, Serial Number: 2994725105." The Gunner watched the wolf scramble to the gear, his gray fur blending into the darkness cast by the smoke.

Jesse quickly put on his gear and grabbed his helmet, holstering his sidearm. "Come on, we've gotta get to the vehicle bay" Jesse sprinted out of the barracks, the gunner close behind him. He could hear explosions in the distance, his feet pounding against the pavement, and blood filling every crevice of his body, roaring through his ears. He looked to the left and saw the air tower to the air force base, no more than mile away, then looked to his right, and saw the blood red sky, his eyes widening as he took it in.

The Tank Commander could do no more than but to look straight ahead and try to get to the motor pool, where his beloved tank awaited him. It took only bout 45 seconds to get the rest of the way there. He quickly got into the top hatch when he could, vaulting over the driver's hatch and into the commander's seat. He looked to the gunner, the red fox that had woken him, Specialist Leon Kennedy The driver, Sergeant First Class Anthony Williams, a brown dog, and finally, the lupine's eyes rested on the loader, Private First Class Tyler Leopold. The loader hadn't even seen real combat, just recently transferring in from basic training, and he was scared, Jesse could tell.

Leopold's eyes were wide, and he was shaking slightly. The little white husky couldn't tell what he had gotten himself into, but Jesse planned to tell him. "Alright, get ready, we're mobilizing as soon as Lieutenant Pasternak gives the order." The tank crew all responded with positives and Williams started the MKIII "Devil Dog" Tank, affectionately named "War Hound" by the crew.

The crew listened to the engine idling while they waited for orders. After what seemed to be half an hour, the radio, filled with static, crackled into life. They recognized the voice as their commander, Lieutenant Pasternak. "2nd platoon, retr-...the nort-...Corneria Ci-...Has been over run, I re-...All 2nd pla-...ks, retreat Imm-...ly." The crew was listening intently. Were they being ordered to retreat? Jesse pulled up the Lieutenant on his communicator, but got more static. He began to fiddle with the communicator, speaking into it. "Say again Platoon Actual? This is War Hound, we do not make a solid copy on the last order. I repeat, no solid copy."

Only static would reply to the tank commander's futile tries for a response. He couldn't contact any of the other tank crews in the platoon, or even the company for that matter. "I guess we're retreating then, if the message was what I thought it was. Williams, get us out of here and onto a plane out of here." The driver flipped down his visor and threw the steel behemoth into gear "Yes, sir"

Fox heard the alarms blaring, Damon did too, recognizing it instantly. "That's the alarm for a full alert, we need to get out of here now" Fox stared for a moment. "How are we going to get out of here?" He asked, his eyes gazing at the superior. Damon started to speak, but was cut off by the monitors and speakers behind him, turning to see what was wrong. "It's a message directed at all branches of the military..." His voice faded out as the message played. "This is AWACS Leviathan, all forces are to pull out, you are ordered to give up Corneria. I repeat, all forces pull out and warp to random planet's. We will form up on a later specified location to regroup and plan a counter attack. AWACS Leviathan out...good luck"

Fox's pupils dilated, the green orbs beginning to roll around rapidly. The Colonel nxt to him, despite his usually calm demeanor, was shocked. He didn't speak for awhile, but when he did, his voice was cold, an unusual change for him. "Back to the surface, there's a transport craft we can get. I'll fly it when everybody has been loaded. Fox, Krystal, I want you both flying air support until we get out of the atmosphere. Everybody else, make a break for it by following me. Am I clear?" The members of the room nodded, multiple 'yes sir's sounding through the room.

"Alright, go!" The vulpine took off down the hallway people scrambling to keep up with him. As he neared the door, he swiped his pass card and the bunker opened, filling the bunker with a dark red light from the setting sun, smoke casting shadows everywhere. The group spied the transport plane and sprinted after it.

Fox and Krystal broke off from the group and pounded down the run way, heading for their Arwings. Moment's later, the immediate area roared as a shadow coated the area, leaving Fox, Krystal, and every body that had been in the group to gaze up at what could possibly be the end of them. Fox saw the guns on the monstrous ship flare, and expected the worse as he was blinded by the intense white light.