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Krystal and Chase: Evacuation

Part three: The Storm

Glancing back, Chase saw that the transports had just exited the planets gravitational field. In a few minutes, they might be able to jump into a rift to reach safety. But as he looked back at the swarm of enemies rapidly approaching them, he knew exactly what the outcome would be if the escorts couldn't hold them off. "ETA five seconds." Jennifer stated. "Try not to get noticed." Delta advised, "If they spot us first, we'll be the main threat. Let the escorts take most of the flak for now." Chase heard Dark growl quietly over the headset in her helmet, "Alright, stay low and tight. We need to take out the warp core and main mass driver. If we still have time, we'll hit the bridge with everything we've got." "Roger that." Chase replied. But the enemy was already all too aware of their presence. Within a split second of Dark telling them to stay tight, the fighters opened fire. Green streaks of energy raced past the team. As Chase rolled to avoid the enemy fire, a flash of light appeared from under his craft. One of the Shaker missiles had launched from its clasp and was currently locked onto the heat signature of one of the attacking ships. Within a few seconds, the missile impacted the fighter, tearing through the body of the craft and detonating in a brilliant show of explosive force. "Ok, subtlety is not going to work." Delta stated, "Orders?" "Attack force form up on me." Dark ordered, "We're going in." Within seconds, another team of five Phoenix interceptors, three groups of five Caliber heavy assault crafts, and six teams of four Dark Eagles were following the three. Jennifer opened the channels to all of the teams with them. "I hope you have a plan Dark." One of the leaders said as the gray ships sped by on all sides. "Blaze through and try to save ammo." Dark replied, "We have to reach the engines at the back of that thing." "Where else would the engines be?" Another asked. A few of the remaining squadrons chuckled before Dark growled, "Cut the funny stuff. We do enough damage to the engines and that should disable the core. Once that's down, this thing isn't going anywhere and the remaining guns can do the rest." Glancing at the radar, Chase noticed that most of the enemy fleet was attacking the transports. But as he glanced back at the fighting, the fox smiled. The mercenaries and few remaining pilots who hadn't left already were giving the enemy hell. Small explosions blossomed here and there, lasting for a few seconds before fading into nothing. But one by one the transports began to glow a soft blue near their engines. It would be a few minutes before they could jump. "Guess they really didn't like the transports." Delta noted, "Are there any attacking us?" "Doesn't look like it." Chase replied, "We're clear." "Waypoint established." A voice said in his ear, "ETA to threat, ten seconds." "Thanks Jenny." Chase acknowledged. "I'm here to assist." The AI replied, a slight smugness to her voice. The black vessel loomed ahead of them. As they drew closer, Chase couldn't help but let out a quiet curse. The enemy flagship was huge. Bigger than anything Chase had attacked before. If the boomerang shaped vessel had been straightened out, it would have easily dwarfed the main hub of the corporation, a series of three, four-to-five hundred story skyscrapers. Chase guessed the flagship was about three times that size in its length, but the height of the vessel was about the same size as the buildings. "Oh hell." One of the pilots said, "That's a lot of flagship." "No kidding." Another replied, "And they expect us to destroy it?" "Not destroy, just cripple." Chase replied, "We'd need a series of orbital defense cannons to take that thing down." "Just cripple? That'll make things a whole lot easier." A third pilot replied wit ha sarcastic tone. "You know, the less sarcastic you are the more we can get done." Dark snapped, "We'll head around the left flank." With a sudden burst of power to the thrusters, Dark, Delta, and Chase lead the attack force into the belly of the beast. As they raced around the side of the flagship, several hundred turrets made their presence known. As turret after turret rose from the craft, they began opening fire. The brilliant red beams streaked by, Chase was forced to dodge and weave between the fire with the others, all while trying to stay somewhat in formation. "Evasive action!" Dark yelled, "Get away from that fire." "Get away from it, what a great plan." Chase thought as he rolled to avoid another burst of turret fire as it shot just over his canopy, "I should have thought of that." As the attacking crafts moved towards the engines, they began to open fire, lighting the ship with tiny explosions from the turrets that were being destroyed. Suddenly, a turret clipped one of the Calibers. As sparks shot from its destroyed wing, it lost control and slammed into the turret, exploding on impact. Then another was taken out when it ran into debris from a turret that had exploded seconds before. As the team advanced, more and more turrets popped up from their positions in the ship. Chase dodged to the right to avoid a shot that passed by the canopy. Another shot dug into his shields. Two more took them down. Once it had, Jennifer confirmed the shield loss. "My shields are gone!" Chase yelled. "Just a little further." Delta replied, "Hold it together Chase." As the team sped around the side of the vessel, Chase noticed something unusual. A box-like structure near the top of the flagship. "Jenny, what's that box?" Chase asked as he rolled again to avoid the ever firing turrets. "Scans indicate that it controls the defense turret grid on this side of the enemy flagship." The wolf replied, "Destroying it might be a good option." "Dark, we need to take that thing out." Chase stated over the com. "On it." The panther replied, "Gammas Six and Seven, take out that control box." "We're on it ma`am." The pilots replied, breaking off from the rest of the group. The two Dark Eagles opened fire at the box near the top of the ship, launching two small Shaker missiles towards it while pummeling it with gauss rounds. The external power source to the turrets exploded, sending a chain reaction of detonations through the turrets it controlled. Unfortunately, one of the Caliber crafts wasn't quick enough to evade the explosion near him. The force of the explosion sent him into the side of another Caliber. The two were locked by their wings and collided with a large piece of debris from the now destroy turret system. Chase heard Dark sighing over the channel, "Well that could have gone a lot better." "At least they stopped firing." Delta replied, "And the engines are dead ahead." Suddenly, Jennifer popped up on Chase's HUD, "The enemy crafts have destroyed two of our transports and are on route to attack. ETA fifteen seconds and counting." Chase cursed, "Dark, you hear that?" "Yeah, my AI's picked them up as well Ronin." The panther replied, "Take a couple of the Dark Eagles and bring them down." "Roger that." Chase replied. After falling back with a group of Dark Eagles, Chase raced to meet the fighters that had decided to attack. When Jennifer stated that the ETA was now two seconds, his fingers touched the throttle and triggers. Speeding up, the crafts opened fire. Lasers tore into one of the enemy crafts and it fell, flames trailing it before it exploded miles below. The others broke off from their strike teams and opened fire, coming from all directions at once. Chase flipped sideways and turned back to face the crafts that had blown by. As he did, a missile shot from under the Phoenix, ripping into the back end of one of the enemy fighters. The Dark Eagles opened fire, sending two more fighters down. As the last fighter turned and began to return fire, a third missile left its spot under the wing of a Dark Eagle, embedding itself in the enemy ship. Half a second later, the ship exploded. With their attack finished, the small force returned to the rest of the squad, which was just releasing their payload onto the engines. They peeled away quickly and the ensuing blast crippled the engines, but didn't destroy them. The Calibers came around for a second attempt, releasing several dark colored missiles with a sinister looking red tail. Ultima missiles! The ensuing destruction forced the warp core within the flagship to shutdown as the engines overheated and detonated. Without it, the enemy vessel was not going to be escaping anytime soon. One of the engines overheated and exploded, a brilliant blossom of destructive power off the back of the flagship. "That should slow them down." Chase smiled. "Don't start thinking this is over Chase." Dark snapped, "We've still got that sub orbital mass driver to take down." "That's not our only trouble." Another pilot replied, "Transports will be entering rift in T-minus thirty seconds. Once they're gone, the baddies won't be happy about us being here and damaging their flagship." "Then we'd better get split up. All Phoenix interceptors prepare your strongest missiles. The rest of you get out of here as soon as you're clear." Dark ordered. A resounding 'Affirmative' was heard across the channel. The other crafts broke off and raced towards the transports, six interceptors increased their thrusters to maximum. Soon, one by one, each transport in the distance was overtaken by a brilliant blue light. Little by little, the transports disappeared from the front to the back. But as soon as they were gone, the enemy fighters noticed that their flagship had been crippled, and they weren't happy about it. But as they raced back to defend their vessel, the crafts that they had been fighting began to disappear. Each one was suddenly engulfed in a white light before completely vanishing from sight, warping to a safety point far beyond the enemy's current reach. Suddenly, a series of small explosions riddled up the main weapon, the devastating sub orbital mass driver. Flying away from it were six small crafts, each one swinging around to launch another volley of missiles at the large cannon. With a resounding groan, the large weapon began to detonate itself. Small plumes of explosions raced along the length of its barrel as one of the crafts fired a last shot into the barrel. The greenish glow from the missile's tail lit up the barrel for a split second before it shot down its length, striking at the firing mechanism from the inside. As Chase flew away from the exploding weapon, he noticed that his radar was going crazy. "Uh, Dark?" He asked. "Now, warp to the rendezvous point." Dark ordered, "All Phoenix on my command." Just as Chase lifted the cover over the button to activate his warp core, Jennifer popped up once again on his HUD, "Chase, the core has sustained minor damage from the turret fire." "How bad is it?" the fox asked. "It is very minor damage." The wolf AI replied, "But it is just enough to possibly allow something to go wrong during the jump." "We'll have to chance it." Chase replied. As the enemy crafts closed in, Dark gave the order to jump. Her and the others vanished quickly, but Chase remained behind for a second. After firing the Nexus missile down the barrel of the vessel's main weapon, it had to be remotely detonated. Until that command came, it was simply lodged deep inside the firing mechanism. "Surrender or be destroyed." A rough voice stated over his headset. As he looked at Jennifer he already knew what had happened. Whoever it was had hacked the com channel and was now able to communicate with him. "I'll take the third choice." The fox stated as his finger rested on the warp button. "I never gave you a third option." The voice replied. Chase smiled and sent the detonation command to the Nexus missile and pressed the button down. "I'm sending you to hell." The fox smirked as his ship was engulfed in a bright glow. As his ship vanished from sight as well, the missile deep within the sub orbital mass driver weapon detonated. With the explosive force of a fifty megaton nuclear warhead, the vessel's front end detonated. Fires ripped across the inside of the bridge as the remained of the vessel slowly began to lose orbit, minor explosions rippling down it sides. * * * As Chase's Phoenix reappeared near an orbital outpost, he glanced over his cockpit. So far, nothing seemed to have been even wiggled, but an urgently flashing light got his attention. Jennifer popped up as he began to find the source of the trouble. "Warp core malfunction." The AI stated, "Attempting shut down. Shut down failure! Activating safety protocols." "Safety protocols?" Chase asked himself when a small disk-like object came up from his controls and turned to face him. Chase had never seen this thing before, but he didn't like the way it was pointed at him and humming. Without warning, it sprayed a foul smelling gas that filled the cockpit. The fox started coughing, trying to breathe. After a minute, the gases entered his system. Chase blacked out. * * * When Chase's mind reawakened, things didn't seem right. His senses weren't working right. The fox's sense of taste was way off, he couldn't smell a thing, and he couldn't hear more than muffled, contorted voices. Chase wasn't sure if he could move or not, it sure didn't feel like he could. Even his thinking was still fuzzy. The only thing Chase knew for sure was that he was cold and that something was gently pushing against his side. Suddenly, Chase felt so very cold and alone. Then whatever was pushing against him pushed harder and harder. It hurt so badly, like it was puncturing the skin on his arm to dig into the fox's soft skin underneath. It hurt, but he couldn't do anything about it. Then it was just gone. It still hurt where it had been, though. Chase was suddenly overcome with fear. Was he dead? Were the cold, loneliness, and pain around him there to tell the fox that he had died out there from whatever had happened to him? And if he had, where was he? Panic began to rise as the fear grew. Chase wanted to cry out. To scream! To beg for safety! But suddenly, a warm feeling slid up around him, comforting the fox. As if to say 'No, you cannot have this one'. Then, Chase was suddenly aware that he was breathing. And if he was breathing, he was alive! But if he was, then where was he? Had something else gone wrong during the jump? Was he far away from the outpost he was supposed to be at? The fox tried to open his eyes to see what was going on, but they wouldn't respond. But at least the voices were clearer now. Chase realized that he could understand them. "Please tell me he'll live." A voice begged. "We'll find out in a minute." A second voice replied, a much more male sounding voice, "Just let the computer analyze his system." As he listened, Chase tried to move his ears, hoping he could find out where the voices were coming from. But as he did, pain spiked through his skull. Had he even moved them? "Wait, look at his ears." A third voice said excitedly. "Ah, very good. Very good indeed." The second voice said, "His mind must be trying to figure out where he is." As Chase tried to open his eyes, a bright light poured in. With it came pain when the light poured into his eyes. With a groan, he tried to look away from the painful light as his eyes shut quickly. "Turn out the lights." The second voice said, "Let's see if he'll try that again." After a minute, Chase once more attempted to open his eyes. As he did, the blurry room made itself known in the darkness. He couldn't see very well, but at least he was able to open his eyes without pain. "Alright, turn the light up just a little." A voice to the right of him said. Slowly, the darkness was banished by a very dim lighting. Now Chase glanced around him, but all he could see were blurry outlines. Nothing was in focus, even the colors were slightly off key. "Good, he can move a little and he can see." The second voice said, "Chase, if you can hear me, look at me." It still hurt a little when the fox moved his neck, but the form he looked at seemed a little bit like the voice came from this figure. The voice had sounded male, so Chase began to wonder if this form was the male. "I said look at me Chase, not at her." The voice said, now clearly a male. His second glance was more successful as his mind began to assemble the forms his eyes were seeing into a more recognizable creature. "Be easy on him Doc." The form he had been looking at replied, "He just woke up." "I know he did, but the faster he regains his senses the better." The 'Doc' replied. Chase examined the form before him as more and more detail slid into focus. The 'Doc' was a male cougar dressed in a white lab coat. Around his neck was a silver stethoscope and a security card. With a shake of his head, Chase looked back at the first form he had seen. A blue furred vixen stood there, her emerald eyes held a look of pleasure, but were still a bit red around the edges from crying. "Krystal?" he asked with an unsure tone. "You remember!" The vixen cried happily, hugging him, "Oh Chase..." Chase slid his arms around Krystal to hug her back, but mainly to support his still weak body. But when Krystal tenderly kissed his cheek, Chase's grip weakened a little. "I'm so glad you're alright." The vixen said softly, her voice filled with worry. "I'm glad you're alright too Krystal." Chase replied. As he looked to a third furry in the room, the fox realized this was a pink furred, red haired, four tailed vixen. Her eyes were also a little red, but she seemed pretty relieved that he was alright. "Bianca?" He asked when Krystal released him. The pink vixen nodded, "Glad to see most of your memory is intact." She hugged him as well before lightly nosing his neck fur, "And Krystal wasn't the only one worried about you." After she released him, Chase laid back against the inclined bed he had been laid on. His mind raced as it mentally ran a check over his body. Everything seemed alright except for one thing. While he was covered in a blanket, he was naked from the waist down! "What happened." Chase asked, looked back at the cougar, "And where the hell are my pants?" Bianca smiled as she brought a pair out from behind her, "We figured you'd want these sooner or later." As Chase changed under the blanket, the Cougar tapped at a device near to his bed. Within seconds, a familiar wolf AI hologram appeared on it, dressed in a candy stripper's uniform. Jennifer, the AI unit from the Phoenix, had been removed from the craft while it was undergoing repairs. Due to standard protocol, the small drive that held all of her was to be kept near Chase at all times while outside of the Phoenix. "We're not sure exactly what happened." The doctor began, "But we do know this. During the execution of your jump, something cracked the cover of your warp core. As the jump ended, the rupture expanded, releasing a dangerous amount of radiation." "So what was the thing that popped up at me?" Chase asked. "That was a safety measure." Jennifer explained, "I had to release the chemicals in order to safely seal off the warp core systems and send a distress signal to this outpost. I am sorry for having to injure you Chase, but it was a necessary evil." "So will he be alright?" Bianca asked. "Oh Chase'll be fine." The doc replied, "Just a little too much gas mixed with the radiation. It should disperse over the next few days due to the tiny amount." "Doesn't radiation take years to wear off, not days?" Chase asked as his mind regained full control over his thoughts and movement. "It depends on the radiation." Jennifer explained, "The type released during the warp core's jump system activating is so unnoticeable it is usually close to nonexistent within the warp system. It is harmless in small doses, but can be dangerous if the core containment sphere has a large enough rupture. Luckily for you, the rupture was small enough to contain quickly before too much of it could reach your body." Chase shook his head. It made sense that there would be a security protocol to shutdown the warp core, especially after what happened last time he initiated a warp jump after taking fire. "But that still doesn't explain why I got gassed." Chase replied. "I needed to keep you under control during the protocol." Jennifer replied, "Unfortunately, that meant that I had to put you out for a bit. I did not anticipate the effects would last as long as they have." "As long as they have?" Chase echoed. Krystal cleared her throat nervously, "Chase...you've been unconscious for three days now." "Three days?!" The fox yipped in surprise, "Did I miss anything?" "Yes, but it's nothing to worry about right now." Bianca replied, "Right now, all that matters is that you're alright, Chase." The fox suddenly felt tired. His arms seemed to move by themselves as the fox laid back down on the bed. "Let's let him rest." the doc said. Bianca and Krystal nodded. But as they walked out, Krystal looked back to Chase. "You two go on. I'll catch up in a minute." The vixen said. Bianca nodded and escorted the doc away before he could say anything against it. With a smile, Krystal sat back down beside Chase, gently laying her hand on his shoulder. Chase looked up at her and pushed himself up from the bed to face her. "I'm just glad you're alright Chase." The vixen said softly. "And I'm glad to see you're safe and sound." The fox replied. Krystal hugged him tightly, nuzzling her partner and friend. As she did, Chase held her in return. "You heal up quickly." Krystal ordered with a soft smile, "There's a lot that you'll need to catch up on." Chase nodded and laid down again. As Krystal walked out and turned off the light, Chase simply smiled to himself. With the knowledge that Krystal was safe, the fox's eyes closed once more. In a few minutes, Chase was fast asleep. But even as he rested, the fox's mind wandered. Three days had passed since the warp core failure. In three days, a lot could happen. As his mind wandered, looking for a possible idea of what could have happened, it never came near the actuality. A war was coming...