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Chapter Seven: Ghost's Shadow

"On your feet, Rookie! Get your sorry excuse of a soldier hide over here and start firing!"

Johnson shook his head and pushed himself back to his feet. He saw his fellow GDI Riflemen firing at a mass of Noddies. An RPG had hit his cover and threw him backwards into a wall. Johnson grabbed his rifle, which lay beside him and threw himself into cover with the rest of his squad. Johnson aimed down his rifle and fired. He emptied the entire clip into a NOD militant squad that was threatening to over run their lines. 'Where did these guys come from?' he thought as he slammed another clip in his rifle. The rifleman directly to Johnson's right was thrown backwards. Johnson ducked into cover and moved over to help him. Johnson then saw that there was a hole on the man's helmet and blood splattered all over the inside of it. Johnson grabbed the man's tags and went back to killing Noddies.

RPGs started to slam into his squad's cover as Johnson said over the squad channel, "Tom bought it."

"Shut it Rookie!" Sarge replied as he threw a grenade at the Noddie RPG team that was pounding their position. The grenade exploded and the three-man team was slaughtered. Johnson focused back on shooting. Rounds from the Noddie militants felt like they were getting closer and closer to his head. He kept a cool head despite the feeling and continued to fire his rifle. Rounds whizzed by, grenade exploded, air strikes were flown in, reinforcements deployed, artillery called in, and more and more men fell. After one hour, to Johnson that felt like three days, he shot the last round in his rifle. He reached down for a new magazine just to find that there wasn't one. He reached for one off of a fallen GDI rifleman and slammed it home. He then looked around. All of his squad was dead, except for him and the Sarge.

The battlefield got strangely quiet. Johnson looked over his cover and out onto the battlefield. Vehicles were turned into hulks by various weapons, aircraft were scattered all over the field, and men lay in various states of dismemberment. Some of them didn't even have enough lift to bury since they must have been hit with a GDI railgun or NOD laser and it just vaporized them. There were a few men still alive in that mess, and they were crawling through the blood-soaked mud and Tiberium to get back to their respective sides. The image burned itself into his mind. Johnson then forced himself to look away, and right into the faceplate of a dead GDI rifleman. Even though that Rifleman was in his squad, Johnson just couldn't put a name to the faceless corpse. Suddenly a bright flash appeared in front of him. He looked up just in time to see a large amount of Tiberium explode. The next thing he knew, he was flying backwards as the Tiberium near him exploded. The last thing he saw was large pieces of Tiberium coming straight towards him.

Johnson awoke with a jerk. His eyes jumped around the room, trying to pierce every shadow. The room had a faded white look to it. He reached up and wiped the cold sweat from his brow while his other hand touched the scars the he had received. He final realized where he was, another medbay. Johnson looked down and saw that he was in another hospital gown.

He sighed as he climbed out of the bed he was in and stood up. The cold metal made his feet burn. He saw his armor nearby. It looked fully repaired. He walked over, quickly checked it over, and discovered that it was fully repaired. He took off the gown and noticed a new set of scars on his body. Johnson touched some of them on his chest and felt the warped, thickened, and senseless flesh move on his chest. A shiver ran down his spine at the feeling. It felt extremely creepy to him. He quickly donned his armor and just as he finished the door to the room opened. Krystal then entered.

"How are you feeling, Ghost?" Krystal asked as she walked over to him.

"Fine," he said as he booted up his armor.

"Good, you had us worried. You were badly injured. I was glad to see that you are still with us, although it was touch and go there for while," she said.

"How long was I out?" Johnson asked.

"Three days, I'm actually surprised that you are up and about with the wounds you received."

"What's the situation?" he asked as he moved towards the door. They both walked through and Krystal started walking towards what he assumed would be the bridge.

"Peppy saw the fight. He sent in a few ships to help us, along with several Marines. We pushed them back by the time they arrived. I was treating your wounds while the rest of the guys and the Marines swept through the ship. We now are in complete control of the vessel. Surprisingly, we didn't take any casualties," she finished as they walked into the Bridge. Johnson noticed several Cornerians working on repairing the damage to the ship.

"I'll need to talk to General Hare," Johnson said before Krystal interrupted.

"The console we fixed up is still available. Besides, Peppy wanted to talk to you before we did anything," Krystal said. Johnson walked over to the console. His armor automatically linked up with the computer and translated everything into English.

"What the!?" Johnson said, "What the heck just happened?"

"What's wrong Ghost?" Krystal asked as she walked up to him.

"My armor, that's what. It's never acted like this. It just accessed this console and translated everything into English. I've always had to confirm commands with EVA. I've never seen EVA actually take some initiative," Johnson explained, "Not to mention that I was just going to ask EVA to contact General Hare, instead of having it translate this console into English."

"Oh! That must be one of the 'upgrades' Slip was talking about. He was the one that fixed-up your armor. He was quite excited when he finished. I don't think he had as much fun as when he was working on your armor," Krystal explained, "I think he said that if something isn't written in Lylatian, the armor would access it and translate the language or bring up a text box with the translation in it."

Johnson smirked behind his helmet, and thought, 'Cool, that will definitely come in handy when working with this ship.' He then started going through the different commands on the console.

"Tell Slippy to get me a list of upgrades he made to this armor, GDI HIGHCOM will want to know what he did the their multi-million credit project, and give him my thanks," Johnson said as General Hare appeared on the small screen, "Sir, Master Sergeant Ghost reporting as ordered." Johnson saluted the small screen.

"At ease, Ghost, it is good to see that you are back on your feet," General Hare said as Johnson dropped the salute and stood at parade rest, "I know you wanted to take that ship to go and return to your world, but I need to ask something of you."

"What's the mission, sir?" Johnson asked.

"I want you to take that ship and recon Venom. I want you to see if you can find out what they are doing. While you were recovering, we had installed a prototype stealth field generator on the ship. I want you to use that to get as close to Venom as possible and find out what they are doing with this Tiberium, as well as where they are getting it."

Johnson grinned behind his helmet, "Understood, sir. This might be fun."

"Star Fox will be with you to provide additional support. You are in command of the mission and the ship, Ghost. Do you want to rechristen her?" the General asked.

"I wish I knew her old name, sir, then I would be able to make a better decision. However, yes I will. I'll call her Shadow, and since she's a Cornerian Naval ship now, I guess it's the CNS Shadow," Johnson said.

"No, Ghost. She's your ship, I'm giving her to you, as a gift to say thank you for all you have done for us. I assure you, if we ever get in contact with your GDI, I will personally see that an alliance is made. I don't know if we can ever really thank you for what you have done," the General said.

"I'm just doing my job, General. No thanks is necessary," Johnson replied.

"We'll talk after you get back, but is there anything you need for the mission?"

"Can I requisition a few units to assist with the recon?" Johnson asked.

"Anything you need, just ask," the General replied.

"Can I get the thirty-eighth AR to assist?"

"Most of them are on assignment, but I can get a squad to assist you," the General said.

"Specifically I'd like to requisition Lieutenant Haggar. I think he would be extremely valuable to the mission," Johnson said.

"That can be done. I was just informed that his unit just got back from the crash site that you had quarantined. I will send him on the next available transport," the General replied.

"Other than a crew for the ship and maybe some Marines to defend it, I think that will be all," Johnson replied.

"The crew I sent over to help repair have been stationed on that ship for the duration. The same goes for the Marines. If that is all, I'll have the ships with you finish transporting over the weapons, ammunition, and vehicles and you can be on your way," the General said.

"We'll report in as soon as we get some information. Ghost, over and out," Johnson said as he cut the line. The door to the bridge opened and he looked over to see who had entered and smiled when he recognized the Cornerian that walked in. The red fox was dressed in a Cornerian Marine uniform, and the Marine walked over and saluted Johnson.

"Good to see you Ghost, I was worried that you would wind up as another statistic," he said.

Johnson smiled, "It's good to see you too, Sergeant. I didn't know that you got assigned to the Shadow."

"Is that her name?" said Sergeant Tom Stevenson, "Good name for a stealth ship. I came here to report the status of the Devil Dogs stationed on board. We are at one hundred percent ready to give any Remnant Ape, a permanent dirt nap."

"Good to hear Sergeant. I want you to let me know when El-Tee (A/N: slang for Lieutenant) Haggar reports in. I have a mission for both of you," Johnson said, "Krystal, do you think you could give the nickel and dime tour of my ship?"

"Sure Ghost," Krystal replied. She led Johnson on a quick tour of the ship. They stopped at the four landing bays, two vehicle depots, and the armory, engineering, the crew quarters, Star Fox's quarters, and then ended at the Captain's quarters. The ship had a sophisticated feel to it, now that it had been cleaned up somewhat. The bloodstains had all been removed, but there were still signs of battle damage. Johnson liked the damage, in a way. The ship was like an old, grizzled, combat hardened soldier that carried her scars with seemingly pride despite how much they hurt. When Johnson saw his room, he had to smirk. It was fancier than he was used to, not to mention larger.

As a GDI Commando, he was used to getting a mattress on a frame, not a fancy hotel-like bedroom with a personalized touch. The room still had a lived-in feeling, and still had the previous Captain's stuff. Johnson couldn't help but look through the pictures that were there. The Captain was a tall fox, and according to some of the pictures, was highly decorated. He also had a wife and two kids. The photo of them all together sent a pang of sorrow through Johnson's heart.

"War destroys so many things. While land, buildings, towns, cities, and memorials can be repaired and rebuilt, families can't be," Johnson said as he held the family photo, "The former Captain of this ship had a family; a wife and two kids. I wonder if they know what happened to him."

"I don't know," Krystal replied, "I guess we can only hope."

"Yeah. This is the price of freedom. The lives of the soldier and their families," Johnson said as he set the picture down, "It's funny, throughout the years, there have always been people who have called soldiers, murders. They just don't understand the price that it costs us, the soldiers, so that they can say that. I know that in multiple countries, you could have been shot for that." A loud beep interrupted the solemn conversation.

"Captain, Lieutenant Haggar and his unit have arrived," a voice said. Johnson looked around for a way to reply when Krystal pointed at a control pad near a desk in the room. Johnson walked over and studied the pad for a second. He then pressed one of the buttons.

"This is Ghost, have Lieutenant Haggar and Sergeant Stevenson meet me in the armory," Johnson said.

"Understood, they will be there momentarily, Captain," came the reply.

"Also, make best speed for Venom, and if we detect any enemy forces activate the stealth field generator and record the enemy's positions and strength," Johnson ordered.

"Understood, Captain," the bridge reported, "ETA to Venom, three hours."

"Let's go Krystal. You are going on this as well," Johnson said.

"Why me? I'm not the best pilot here, Fox and Falco are a lot better than me," Krystal asked as they walked towards the armory.

"Because you can follow orders, and I can't chance either of those two loose cannons screwing up this mission," Johnson said. The rest of the trip to the armory went by in silence. When they arrived, Lieutenant Haggar and Sergeant Stevenson were both standing inside the armory waiting for them.

"Captain on deck!" Sergeant Stevenson shouted. Everyone in the armory immediately jumped to their feet and at attention.

"At ease, immediately vacate the armory until further notice, except for Lieutenant Haggar, Sergeant Stevenson, and Krystal," Johnson said. The four Cornerians that were in the armory doing various duties left the room. Once Johnson was sure the room was clear, he walked towards Haggar and Stevenson. "Glad to see that you could make it, Lieutenant," Johnson said.

"It's good to see you too. What's going on, Ghost?" Haggar asked.

"Alright, our mission is to recon Venom. We are currently making best speed there. We will infiltrate Venom's defenses using Krystal's Cloudrunner. We are to mark the strength and position of as many Remnant bases as possible. Our secondary objective is to gather as much intelligence on the Remnant's progress in the fields of Tiberium research and Weaponization of Tiberium as possible. In forty-eight hours, we will then exfil the same way we infil'd. We won't be getting any support on this, unless we are in deep trouble, and will be traveling radio silent so pack anything you think we might need. We're not going to get a second shot at this," Johnson said as he moved over to the weapons in the Armory, "Alright, kit up."

"Kit?" they all replied at the same time. Johnson almost face palmed.

"Kit is slang for equipment. To 'kit up,' means to get all of your gear together," Johnson explained.

He grabbed his Carbine along with his usual load out of grenades and knives. Lieutenant Haggar grabs a Blaster and a Sniper rifle, along with ammo for the rifle and grenades. Sergeant Stevenson grabbed a Blaster with a rocket launcher, along with rockets and grenades. Krystal grabbed her Gatling gun, a Blaster, and her staff, along with ammo and some medical supplies. When Krystal hefted her Gatling gun, she grinned at Johnson and winked at him. Johnson sighed as he shook his head while Lieutenant Haggar, who also got the joke, laughed. Sergeant Stevenson just looked at the three of them confused.

"Did I miss something?" he asked.

"Another story for another time," Johnson said, "Alright, let's head to the Cloudrunner and start planning our approach." They all walked out of the Armory and headed towards the Hanger where the Cloudrunner was docked. When they got there, they ran into Star Fox working on their crafts. Fox saw Johnson and his crew walking towards the Cloudrunner and ran over to them.

"What's going on?" Fox asked as he looked at Krystal. Johnson stepped in between them.

"We're going on an op. Star Fox is to provide Air Support when I call. Other than that you are to be ready to defend this ship," Johnson said, and then he looked over to Slippy who turned to look at what was going on, "Slippy, I need to a list of upgrades you've don't to this suit on my desk by the time we get back, alright?"

"You got it, Ghost," came his high-pitched voice. Johnson then turned and walked towards the Cloudrunner before Fox stopped him again.

"Why are you bringing Krystal along? Why aren't you having us come?" Fox demanded.

"In order: We are using Krystal's ship to deploy so she's going to fly it. I can't trust you not to question my orders, like now. And with your current track record, on this important of an operation, I can't take any chances. So you're out," Johnson said as he glared at Fox, "Krystal has proven that she can follow orders, while you and bird-boy over there have shown that you can't take even the smallest of orders without questioning it. Now if you don't mind, we are about to arrive at Venom. I need to make sure my soldiers are prepared." Johnson then pushed past Fox and walked into the cargo bay of the Cloudrunner.

As he did so a voice over the intercom said, "Attention all personnel, we have arrived at Venom. We are now at red alert. General quarters! General quarters! Man your battle stations! This is not a drill, repeat, this is not a drill!"

Johnson looked at the three standing in the cargo hold with him and grinned, "Show time."