In Care of an Angel

December 5th, 3235, 1145 hours (local time)

Groombridge 34 system, Groombridge 34b

UNSC Hunter's Quarry

"Somebody stop that hedgehog!" the Sergeant yelled hitting an alarm on the side of the bulkhead. Immediately klaxons began to blare and a red flashing light lit the hallway. Crewmen looked shocked as they saw a dark mass sprint towards them. Some of them tried to stand in the way to block the escapee from going any further, but they were knocked back by an unexpectedly powerful show of force. One of them was knocked against the corridor's wall and slumped, apparently unconscious from the blow. The hedgehog looked back at the Sergeant who had his sidearm drawn and was pacing towards the Mobian, but before that, he was already moving down the hall.

"Stand down, Shadow!" the Sergeant called! "Stop, or I'll shoot!" He raised the gun to shoulder height, sighting at the escapee. The Human clicked off the safety, showing he was ready to fire if necessary.

Shadow the Hedgehog slowed to a halt, amused by the threat of violence. He turned to look at the Human with a soft smile on his face. "Try it. I've survived worse."

But the Sergeant did not fire. He didn't lower his weapon though. The grizzled man took a step forward. "Put your hands on your head and get on your knees. Admiral is not happy you got out of interrogation."

Shadow did not comply, still keeping the smug smile on his face. "It was a boring conversation anyway. Maybe I shouldn't have let you catch up after all."

"I said on your goddamn knees now!" the Human said, keeping his aim true. Behind Shadow, a small fireteam of Marines arrived carrying stun weapons. Zappers, they called them. Two handed weapons that looked like rifles, but fired small ball lightning pulses that incapacitated targets. That was how Shadow got on the Hunter's Quarry in the first place. The fireteam took a knee and aimed. Several laser dots appeared on the Hedgehog's shirt and pants. They were aiming for vital regions to knock him out quickly. "You're not leaving the ship. Even with those fancy shoes of yours, you so much as twitch at me wrong, and I turn you into a steaming, twitching vegetable!"

Shadow hatched a plan. It would need some direct involvement from the Sergeant's part. To the Human's surprise, he got down on his knees, and placed his hands on his head, hooking them just behind his quills. "Alright, you got me. I'll come quietly."

The Sergeant actually seemed shocked by this at first. After the fight that got the renegade hedgehog aboard the ship, the fact that he was giving up so easily was surprising to say the least. The man lowered his gun somewhat, taking his finger off the trigger, but leaving the safety off. The Marine walked a little closer to him, getting close enough to reach out to grab one of Shadow's arms. "Don't worry, this won't be happening again, boy."

That's where they were wrong.

Shadow snapped out, grabbing the Sergeant's right hand and gripping him around the wrist. Shadow was quite strong naturally, and he had caught the Sergeant off guard. The man yelped in surprise and tried to point the gun at Shadow, but the assailant had already twisted the arm of the man. With a quick jerk, the wrist twisted, the man shouted, and the gun dropped from his fingers. Shadow snatched the weapon and stuffed it in his pocket, after he clicked on the safety of course. Half a second after he snapped into attack, the Marines opened fire. Shadow grabbed the Sergeant and hauled him into the path of the stun weapons. The balls of concentrated pain slammed into the man's back, making him jitter a bit before falling unconscious over Shadow's shoulder. With a quick dash, the hedgehog broke through the Marines with the Sergeant acting as a sort of battering ram, and using his unconscious mass to absorb two other blasts. When he was through, he tossed the man backwards, and boosted down the corridor using his recently-reacquired scout shoes.

The entire encounter took a little more than four seconds.

It was sloppy, Shadow thought to himself as he rounded a corner, pushing his way past more Crewmen. The bridge must have been in chaos now, especially Admiral Devenson who was no doubt pulling his hair and imagining the ass-chewing that was about to befall him for losing Shadow the Hedgehog after having him hauled aboard his ship and held on the Admiral's terms. Shadow smiled, thinking of the anger.

Finding the hangar was easy enough. He had a good look at the Hunter's Quarry while he was on the command shuttle. There were two in actuality – a port and starboard one, and Shadow knew that there were plenty of Pelican dropships parked inside. He knew this because he was hauled aboard one to the ship. The Hunter's Quarry wasn't a large ship, and especially with his jet shoes, he was able to traverse the distance quickly.

The PA systems were on by now instructing any and all personnel to apprehend Shadow. Curiously, they weren't recommending lethal weapons. Naturally they wanted him alive. Shadow chuckled. No pain, no gain. Would have made things exciting.

But then he burst through the still-open blast doors into the starboard landing bay. As luck would have it, there were in fact several Pelicans out of their gantries, and the launch bay door was wide open. Beyond the protective shield and airlock was a gas giant. Shadow had come here not for any particular reason, but because his hand had been forced by the fleet sent to apprehend him.

Then the launch bay entry slammed shut, and the PA system crackled to life again.

"Attention Shadow the Hedgehog, this is Rear Admiral Devenson. Don't bother responding. I know where you are, son. I know what you intend to do, and I'm not going to let that happen. Once your feet touch the deck of my ship, they never leave."

Shadow glanced from side to side. He saw technicians looking at him curiously. Some of them looked for cover, possibly aware of his reputation back on Mobius.

"So I'm going to give you a choice, Shadow. You can go to the doors and meet the security personnel that will escort you back to your cell, or you can stay in the launch bay, and... we'll see what happens. You have thirty seconds. More than enough time for you."

It was indeed more than enough time, and Shadow made his choice well before Devenson even have him the option. He saw a Pelican dropship ripe for the taking and sprinted towards it.

"Poor choice, son. All technicians vacate the area."

And they ran. They all ran. "Is he crazy? We're still in here!"

Shadow sprinted across the bay, vaulting over a vacant cargo buggy and sliding next to the hatch of the nearest dropship. Before he could locate the controls to open it, his ears started to pop. He knew that it meant the pressure was dropping in the launch bay. Devenson was trying to vent the atmosphere out of the room. He wanted to suffocate him.

He needed to work even quicker now. He probably only had a few minutes until the pressure was low enough for him to pass out. No good. The lock on this dropship was code-locked, which meant that there was no way to get in. The corners of his vision were starting to darken. It was like a vignette had been draped over his eyes. He found himself breathing much more rapidly. He had enough of it. Shadow looked around for something that could probably pry open the door.

"Fifty percent optimal pressure, son. Want to rethink your decision?"

The Admiral was just taunting him now. The PA announcement was quiet, possibly because half of the air in the room was gone.

Regardless, Shadow found what he was looking for, a piece of metal that was probably a structural support beam from a cargo pile. He saw a good point of entry on the back hatch and slotted it between the fissure. Then he pulled. He pulled with all of his might to make the hatch just budge an inch or two for him to hit a door release panel. The dark corners came closer and closer to the center of his sight. Yanking at the door was not helping things either, but he needed to try. Then the door gave. Angry servos growled at him as the doors slowly parted on the bottom part of the hatch, and they didn't move back when the space appeared. Shadow grimaced as he kept on widening the gap. He took in large gulps of air now rapidly. He wasn't going to last much longer. Devenson's men would probably pick his unconscious body up, and when he finally did wake up, it would be in chains.

Then it snapped open another inch. It was all he needed. He reached his hand inside and found the door controls right next to the hatch. The Pelican's back door slid open, revealing the troop bay. He could barely hear Devenson's next shout to send the Marines inside to take him down. He didn't need to. Shadow slammed the hatch shut again and made his way to the cockpit. The pilots weren't there, which was perfect. He could have the stick all to himself.

The hedgehog strapped himself in. "Well, this should be easy." he said looking around for a power switch. The first button he hit activated the windshield wiper. Shadow couldn't do anything but laugh. However, the pinging of bullets on the side of the hull dragged him back to the real world. Shadow then found a pair of switched on the instrument board that activated the fuel pumps and the engines. The Pelican roared to life and the dials spun to maximum. The next part was harder. Shadow gripped his hand on the throttle.

"Alright, no pressure. Takeoff is easy." The throttle appeared to move both ways, so he moved in forward. The aircraft did indeed rumbled ahead, turning on its wheels. Shadow moved the dropship into the center of the runway and turned to face the door leading to space. "This should be fun." he said before slamming the throttle down

The distance was closed in less than a second. The Pelican shot through the field in into space, rocketing away from the Hunter's Quarry. Shadow found the controls were difficult to deal with. The steering seemed greased, but the Pelican's systems stopped him from spinning in the vacuum. No doubt Devenson was on his tail. This became apparent when a streak of autocannon fire zoomed not a hundred meters on the right side of the ship. Shadow had enough time to curse and strafe the Pelican out of the field of fire. It appeared that Devenson had the small ship dialed in. He had to think about what was going to happen next.

The next thing that happened was that a communications request appeared on the screen. The tag showed that it was indeed from the Hunter's Quarry. Shadow let it ring for a second, but then tapped the accept pad on the screen. Rear Admiral Derek Devenson appeared looking quite annoyed at Shadow. He had come to like the creases his face made when he looked annoyed.

"That's enough running, son. As you can see, you're looking like a big target."

Shadow tried to play it cool, glancing at the orbital chart on the Pelican's dashboard. "I can see that. Seems you have me locked in."

Devenson took a second to show off a smug grin. "Indeed. It was a good job. Nice thinking with the improvised crowbar. Didn't expect you to clear the runway so cleanly. But the time for fun is over. You are ordered to kill your engines, shut down on all power except for life support, and await the Hunter's Quarry whereupon you will be returned to your cell."

Shadow was fascinated by the grin. For a man who was not known to smile often, he was showing off plenty of teeth. It confused Shadow, but then again, a lot of things in this universe were confusing to him. He eyed the orbital charts again. It appeared that he was heading fairly close to the gas giant. His periapsis would take him rather close to the atmosphere. Possibly too close. He had an idea.

"And what if I refuse?"

Devenson shrugged. "Then we shoot you. No question of it."

Shadow's brow furrowed. "You were ordered to take me in alive, Admiral."

"And we intend on doing that. We shoot out the engines of the Pelican, or we hole your ship, drag your carcass back aboard, and we resuscitate you. We've gotten pretty good at reversing brain damage four or five hours after death."

That was a threat, plain and simple. Shadow didn't want to be left cartwheeling in vacuum waiting to wake up in a cell back aboard that ship. He needed to move, and quickly. The gas giant began to fill up cockpit's canopy with the cloud bands clearly visible on its surface. Now was as good a time as any.

"That's a rather... interesting offer, Admiral." He wrapped his hands around the stick and throttle. "However, like a lot of things on this little chase... you'll have to catch me first."

It was on. Shadow gunned it blasting the dropship forward and manipulating the stick to make the Pelican point directly at the gas giant. The different vector pushed the craft into the upper atmosphere of the planet if he continued on his course, which he was perfectly willing to do. There was no doubt that Devenson was aware of his plan, as he was still on the line.

"Are you crazy?!" he shouted. "You know what's going to happen to you?"

Shadow smiled. "All I know is that you're going to be left behind... again."

Devenson's face was full of anger and the smug attitude had all but vanished. He shouted to someone off-screen to plot a course following Shadow. One of the crewmen informed him that the path would also take him into the atmosphere of the gas giant. The Admiral didn't care. He wanted his prize. The link snapped off. Now Shadow could focus.

Autocannon fire still streaked past the cockpit. No doubt the Hunter's Quarry was trying to intimidate him, as if that was actually going to be effective. Shadow kept the stick steady and let the fly-by-wire guide his thrusters. He was skirting the edge of the atmosphere. His computer blared a warning; he was not at the right approach angle. That was OK, he wasn't trying to enter the atmosphere.

Flames had started to lick at the bottom of the window. The atmosphere was now tugging at him, and the horizon began to show a slight tinge of orange. The highest of the hydrogen vapor clouds began to show themselves. At any other time, this planet would have been beautiful to see, but right now it was merely a means to an end. The flight computer warned him again that his angle was improper, but his speed was increasing greatly. The Hunter's Quarry had stopped firing. Shadow couldn't see the ship, but he reasoned that Devenson had finally sparked a few neurons and realized that his plan was absolute insanity, and decided to move the ship away. Shadow thought that it was absolutely stupid as well, but he was going to try it anyway.

He pulled back on the stick hard. The Pelican rumbled as the superstructure took stress. Shadow could feel the g-forces on his own body as the craft struggled to turn in the thick atmosphere. The flames were still licking the heat shielding on the bottom of the Pelican dropship and the elevators were pushed to their limit trying to lift the craft. Shadow wondered if he was going to lose control and tumble into the gas giant's atmosphere to be crushed by the immense pressure or suffocated by the toxic clouds.

His vision was darkening, his hands were shaking, and the entire aircraft felt as if it would shake itself apart, but then the altimeter started to rise, slowly, but then it quickened. Higher and higher he climbed, faster and faster until at last, he was back above the atmosphere. His suicidal plan had actually worked! He had skipped across the atmosphere back into space, passing so close to the planet that the perusing craft had to pull back to avoid getting caught in the atmosphere themselves! He smiled, and even laughed to himself, wiping away a bit of sweat that had forced its way through his fur. Was he really that relieved? He composed himself to send a text message back to the Hunter's Quarry.

'Your Move'.

He had a head start, good speed, and a break in the line of sight between him and Devenson's ships. He had passed far enough below the horizon to disappear visually from them, but that wouldn't last forever. Shadow coasted for a few thousand more kilometers until he has a moon rise above the horizon, but what caught his eye was that it was blue... and green, and brown. A moon with life. Shadow then saw that it wasn't just one moon with a Mobius-like atmosphere, but two! They must have been hidden behind the gas giant when they had first arrived in the system. Shadow now had to make a choice. He had an opportunity to disappear. He didn't have infinite fuel or air, and that stunt in the atmosphere probably wouldn't work a second time. Devenson's men would probably catch him on the upside of his orbit. He needed to land, to get out of sight. He chose the larger of the two moons which was also the closer. He adjusted his orbit with a few quick burns and let the system do the math. Three minutes later, he was on an encounter with the larger moon, which the computer pegged as 'Compass'.

The moon grew quickly as the Pelican kept on its speedy acceleration. Shadow realized though that he was coming in steep. No matter though, he needed to act fast to blend in to some of the local traffic that was going about their business around the moon. They never saw him coming. He was moving far too fast, and no ships were coming to intercept. He would just barrel through the atmosphere and find a secluded spot to land and disappear. He laughed at the thought of Devenson wallowing back to Earth to inform UNSC High Command that their hand-picked man for the job had let Shadow get away from him. He imagined the Mobian RAF for taking a few swings at Devenson as well since they probably gave him their blessing.

The moon was soon as large looking as the gas giant. The computer gave him his warning again, although this time, Shadow was pointed in the entirely wrong direction. Eager to try and set down, he sacrificed maneuverability for speed. The Pelican hit the atmosphere like a sheet of metal hit a swimming pool's surface. Instantly, Shadow felt upwards of 20gs from the acceleration. His head slammed against the rest and his spine felt an incredible amount of pain. He still tried to right himself though pulling the stick back as far as it would be allowed. This time his vision did leave him as the blood rushed out of his head down towards his feet, but he kept on pulling. Shadow only had the computer beeps to guide him. His face felt hot. He could feel the reentry heat on the windows. It sounded like a blast furnace to him, but he never let go of the stick. Suddenly, the weight was lifted off his chest, and colors and shapes returned to him as the craft started to right itself out. It was actually working out.

Snap.

The left wing tore itself off, finally done with the stress. The Pelican began a tumbling spiral through the air. The flames were gone, but the landscape was darkened and flipping around in a kaleidoscope of chaos. He was on the night-time side. Shadow cursed that, among his other misfortunes at that particular moment. He wouldn't have been able to see the land anyway. His heart started to beat even quicker now. There was only one way he could have survived at this point, and it was to punch out. The twirling was making him dizzy, and once more, his sight was failing. This time though it appeared as if he would indeed lose consciousness. The flaming and spiraling wreck of the Pelican was going down hard, but Shadow was not intent of going to hell with it. He found what he sincerely hoped was the ejection mechanism by the leg-rest of the seat, hoped that he was pointed in the right direction, and with the last bit of his strength, pulled with all of his might.

The canopy snapped off and was dragged away by the rush of wind. Stars barreled overhead and a gale tore into the cockpit. Half a second later, the pilot's seat shot out of the craft and a rocket flared, blowing the seat clean away from the wreak. It was twirled around and tossed by the wind.

Shadow had no way of telling if his parachuted even deployed. He didn't even know if he actually even left the Pelican, because by that point, he had already passed out.