Star Crossed [an old and terrible Star Fox fanfic]

C27 - Shot In The Dark

The freighter ship presently landed away from the main Cornerian city. The landing pad in question was in an area far less densely populated than that of the main city-hub, and was thus less open to public speculation, which was the exact last thing that Supreme General Pepper of Corneria needed at the moment. He watched as the freighter landed, and those now on the most confidential of death row lists were led out. They were each dragged, in their drugged state, by the soldiers of the freighter, eager to see the likely clean yet no less gruesome end of this plan.

A small platform was set up in the middle of what was otherwise a grassy plain, a clearing that gave a beautiful view of the dawn sky. It was this certain time, in particular, that the General picked for this event that would ensure his reign, one that had neither objection nor, even worse, a potential rival. He was old, unable, easily replaceable... A state that he knew would make him weak in the field of politics. It was wise, in his eyes, then, to eliminate this field completely, and this was one of the final steps in ensuring it.

The captured captain and his collapsed, staggering crew were placed by the soldiers before the Supreme General, really kneeling from their exhaustion and drug-induced relaxedness, but definitely looking like otherwise. As the four knelt in front of their ruler, a chuckle escaped from the old bloodhound's dangling jowls.

"Hello, Star Fox," he simply greeted, to the currently sorry bunch of prisoners that comprised the team. He didn't expect to get a response, knowing that, in this state that Fox and his friends were in, it was ultimately lucky if they could even think. Pepper only said this to revel in the fact that he was about to get rid of the thing that he had been using for so long, only to so satisfyingly crush it, like a plastic bottle after its emptying.

He waited, though. Star Fox was right in front of him, ready to be killed at the very moment he decreed, but he waited... for the fulfillment of a promise, to a very obedient cur. This Sergeant, he growled a bit to himself, best not be late now! There was only waiting to be done, and it couldn't be done forever. He tapped his foot impatiently, and this sounded louder than it really was, from it being the only sound for these certain yet all the more tense minutes.

Fox was still awake. They all were, technically, but they only gained their raw sensory perceptions with this consciousness, their brains being far too progressively bogged down by these neuron-blocking substances to do anything more. Indeed, if Fox was shot in the heart right this moment, he surely would feel the pain, but wouldn't be able to make the otherwise obvious connection that he would perish.

Now, though, came the time. Sergeant Bill Grey, wearing a minimal but expensive-looking helmet displaying the Cornerian Arrow, stepped out from the stolen Great Fox. He silently looked around, and walked hastily over to the Supreme General. "Greetings, Supreme General," he spoke, with that tone of respectfulness and formality necessary for an official and utmost of a secret event like this.

"Greetings, Sergeant Grey," the General spoke in an equally formal matter. "I surely hope you realize what today will bring," he then added, though, upping the hype of the small slaughter they were about to commit.

"I do. Let's get it over with," the uniformed sergeant nodded.

"...Bill, that really is the thing about you," Pepper spoke, sighing. "You don't care for the killing. I can sense it."

"Sense what?" the other canine replied.

"Your nervousness," General Pepper noted, in a dull tone. "It is clear, even beneath your guising helmet, that you lament anything you kill, or anything to do with killing."

"And how is that so bad?" the Sergeant asked, taking the opportunity to let his expression form beneath his helmet.

"Because you have not learned like I have," the General nodded. "You haven't learned. That was Andross's mistake... He tried so hard to save some people's lives, that he never considered the cost of any other's."