Hover Totality: Termination
Chapter One: Home Again
Tails wiped the sweat from his fuzzy brow as he finished the last few repairs on his aging fighter craft, then a smile crept across his scarred face as he looked it over. You've certainly seen better days, haven't you, ol' gal?
Four additional months of nearly unremitting combat hadn't done it justice, and he figured it was about time for an upgrade. Nearly every cog and chip in the aircraft were obsolete in one way or another and showing every sign of it.
He stood up from the soft, verdant grass and pressed his thumbs into his lower back in an attempt to massage the slight ache from it, then set his multitool on one of the sharp-edged wings of the black triangular aircraft. Countless dents, patches and scrapes stippled its skin like a man who had lived in gladiatorial arena throughout his entire life. A kid with catastrophic acne...or a seasoned warrior. I'll go with the latter.
He looked back at the hundred-foot-long gash in the ground. It had been carved by his jet about an hour earlier when it had decided that enough was enough and lost a good amount of its forward thrust in a very short amount of time. The vertical thrusters subsequently gave out and allowed it to undergo a none-too-gentle landing. He had been testing some of his own upgrades to the engines, though that had obviously proven to be too much for the craft's already compromised intregrity to handle. Before the modifications, however, the top speed of the engines had seemed to be gradually degrading, and he had seen that as an opportunity to put his inventive mind to work. And we see where that got me.
The vulpinoid chuckled to himself, thankful that Someone up there still liked him. He clambered atop the cockpit and set his attention on a rumbling storm that was tearing its way across a vast field nearby, then rested his arms on his knees as he sat smiling. The sights and sounds of the supercell served to calm his battle-worn nerves; he much preferred the crack of thunder over the boom of artillery fire and pew-pew of automatic weapons. The subsequent touchdown of a tornado was the icing on the cake and took his mind off the fact that General Keryns—that is, Dr. Robotnik—had ramped up his efforts in conquest and extermination.
Shortly after the defeat of the ARVaGeF drones, the madman released a series of more advanced models—ones that were more cunning and ruthless. Entire nations fell in the ensuing cacophony of brutal violence and were added to Robotnik's sphere of influence as a result. Each time, in one way or another, the Freedom Fighters or some other analogous group found an exploitable flaw that eventually led to each drone series' undoing, but it only continued to become more difficult.
Four grueling months of said events created a dismal scene of attrition and suffering. Some of the soldiers in other militias had gotten to the point of desiring death, and others speculated that it might be wise to surrender. The Freedom Fighters and their closest allies, however, remained steadfast. Even after the loss of some of their deeper comrades, such as Antoine and Elias, they kept going as though nothing had happened.
The storm began to grow in Tails' direction, sending stronger winds rushing through his golden-orange fur and the crisp smell of fresh air into his nostrils. He inhaled deeply, though the blissful tranquility of the moment was perforated by the sprinklings of rain that began to pelt his face, giving a light sting. He stretched a bit before hopping back to the ground, then snatched the tool from the wing and his toolbox from the ground before climbing into the pilot's seat. After securing the crash harness, he donned his flight helmet and said a little prayer before nervously flicking the 'on' switch, hoping the ship would start and not stall like a stubborn mule or explode like a fiery piñata.
He smiled when he heard the engines buzz and hum to life, and a few moments later the aircraft began to lift up from the ground as its vertical thrusters chose to comply. The controls were still fairly sluggish, but that was nothing he couldn't fix with his other tools at the base. He looked out across the field again and saw that the tornado was still there, so he grinned and arrowed his ship right through its twisting winds before heading home.
The base came within sight about ten minutes later. Tails' heart fluttered joyfully—he was home again. Thoughts of fresh, hot food at the mess hall came at him like a double-edged sword, making his mouth water and his empty stomach knot up in hunger. Even more importantly, however, was the warm embrace of his wife, Kaolin. His extended absence had likely engendered an anxious gastric knot of her own.
He examined the large military base as he came further within proximity. Much akin to the battered surface of his ship, the structure had also seen better days than those so generously bestowed by the Shaulandic Air Force and other militant appendages of Robotnik's oppressive regime.
The base had taken quite a beating since the fall of the Teminany factory. Subsequent raids had left the large structure with countless scorch marks, and the roof was mottled with discolored areas where holes had been repaired. The southwestern section was spotless due to the fact that it had been completely rebuilt; a stark switch from its occupation as a blast crater three months prior.
Memories of both sorrow and joy began to flood his mind as he gazed at the battlescarred bastion, but he quickly put the sorrow aside and focused on the fact that they were still alive and certainly kicking. And that kicking will soon be applied, quite literally, to Robotnik's face. Oh, the look that will be seen on it. Then I could take a knife, and... He stopped himself short with a bit of surprise. Calm down, Tails. That's not the way to go.
The sheer hatred and unbridled cruelty that Robotnik had shown Tails and his friends over the years had compounded into a veritable fjord of resentment in his mind, and he knew that if left unchecked, it could turn into a proverbial rift valley carving a gorge of bitterness into the surface of his heart. That sort of thing could drive him to become the very thing he hated, and he knew it. Yeah, not gonna go there.
Tails gradually cut in the vertical thrusters while simultaneously pulling back on the throttle for the main thrusters. The ship slowed to a manageable speed for hovering, effectively behaving like a helicopter, and he gently goosed the control stick forward. He maneuvered his craft into the huge opening of the main hangar after receiving the uplifting voices of his compatriots over the radio.
With the reverberating roar of decelerating engine turbines echoing off the huge walls, Tails' ship set down gently on its landing skids within a small docking stall with his name above the opening, bordered with luminescent orange paint. He flicked a few switches to finalize the craft's shutdown procedure, then took off his helmet and let out a slow, relieved sigh before opening the canopy. The very moment his foot touched the ground, he was practically tackled and pinned to the wall by his wife Kaolin, who was awash with joy.
"Tails!"—Kiss—"I missed you!"—Kiss—"And I was worried." She stared deeply into his big blue eyes with a beaming smile and kissed him again.
He laughed after returning the kiss and ran his hands down her back, outlining the curvy contours that complemented of a woman who was unafraid to pick up a fork. "Hon, seeing you again is like a breath of crisp spring air, even if it has only been a few hours." Another kiss followed.
She was still every bit as beautiful as she was when they had been dating―even with the scars that made her overall coat uneven in various places; her grievous leg wound that had required a cybernetic replacement; her well-fed figure; and the hole in her left ear from Snively's sniper bullet, he still found her to be simply breathtaking and even saw those attributes as adding a special, endearing spice to it all.
Kaolin squeed delightedly, then looked at her husband's ship. "Glad to see your jet is fixed. I also saw a rotation signature in the storm that was near you. Didja see anything?"
Tails gave a confident grin. "Not only did I see a tornado, I took the opportunity to fly through it. It was fun!"
"Ooooh!" She pulled back and slipped her fingers inbetween his, then began to fan her arms in and out, almost as though they were dancing. "We'll have to go storm chasing again once this war mess is over." She looked at his jet again and gave a disappointed expression at it, noting all the scrapes, dings and gashes. "Time for an upgrade. Gotta get away from those ancient turbojet engines. I'm quite certain we have enough resources now to retrofit our jets with ion drives and gravitic repulsion stuff."
He nodded intently before smiling again. "Yeah, but before that, I need to make some final touches on the controls. The last mechanical spat made'em sluggish. Anyways...oh..."
Tails trailed off when he saw Sally walking into the docking bay. Two years shy of thirty, her slender female form was obscured by loose fatigues and more tactical gear than anyone had known her to wear, and she sported shorter hair that terminated tight against the nape of her neck. The overall mien that enveloped her very being expatiated of a woman who had been hardened by countless battles against a relentless scourge that sought nothing more than to eradicate her every fiber from existence.
A more telling and recent feature of this fact was the eyepatch over her left eyesocket. She had lost the eye almost three weeks prior during a search-and-rescue mission to an outpost in the destroyed nation of Vasyugan. The distress call turned out to be a fake, and what they found instead was an ambush by some of Keryns' more advanced drones which specialized in hand-to-hand combat. The mission ended up as a catastrophic failure, with half the search team dead and most of the others wounded in one way or another in varying degrees of magnitude.
Sally approached with a grin that contradicted her embattled appearance, though that quickly transitioned to an expression of surprise and amusement when she noticed his damaged ship. "Wow, Tails. Did ya fly through an asteroid field?"
Tails gave a halfhearted and sheepish chuckle. "Pretty much. The engines almost entirely gave out and I had to make an unpleasantly rough landing. Nothing I can't fix, though." He paused for a moment. "Um...speaking of upgrades, I would like to know what the status is on our progress in getting more advanced tech. I figure our ships are just about on their last leg, so some retrofits might be nice. It'd bring them up to the technological level of the cruisers and would make all the pilots very happy." His wife nodded in agreement.
The leader of the Freedom Fighters laughed lightheartedly. "Yes, I am aware of the issue, and I do have good news. We are close to having the resources that would allow us to do the retrofits. It's looking very good."
The news brought a flood of relief for Tails and Kaolin, and both smiled in unison. Kaolin in particular was eager to test any new features that were available. Her confidence in flying had increased dramatically over the months and she could scarce find a reason that would make her wish to avoid the skies. Aviation continued to beckon like a siren of the sea, and as Shauland's reserves of ace pilots dwindled, so too did her reservations of taking to the sky and wasting some unfortunate lout who flew under that desecrated flag.
The gray fox found her zeal difficult to contain at best. "I can hardly wait!"
"Likewise." Sally grinned again, then clasped her hands in front of herself and looked to Tails. "I'm glad you made it back in one piece, Tails. I would also like to state the other reason why I came here. We will be having a meeting later today, so expect a message on your communicators soon stating the official timeframe. Now if you'll excuse me, I have other matters to attend to." She saluted and made her way out of the bay as the salutes were returned.
Kaolin's eyes widened slightly as she remembered something that she had planned to tell her husband when he returned to the base. "Oh! Your mom has been up and about―she finished her nap shortly after you had taken off. She made a tray of cookies with the help of your dad. They're very good."
Her words almost brought Tails to tears. His mother hadn't been able to do much of anything since she was cured of her disease. Her body had been so badly damaged that she required a cybernetic liver, kidneys, and months of intensive therapy. The thought of her finally crossing the golden rubicon of self-sufficiency brought him a feeling of unadulterated delight unparalleled by any he had felt in a long time.
He struggled to choke out even a single word due to the growing lump in his throat, but pressed himself to speak despite his emotional state. "That's great! Let's go see her!"
Kaolin grinned and kissed him once more, then gave him a big hug. "And thus we shall, hon."
The couple made their way out of the docking stall and into the cavernous main hangar bay. The sounds of clacking metal, idling engines and sparking welding machines echoed freely throughout the hangar. It also had the subconscious effect of bestowing a sense of free-industry and freedom overall to those who were present to hear it.
Tails suddenly perked up when he spotted another associate nearby―a familiar purple lump wrapped in gray denim overalls. "I spy Rotor."
"And I spy a visitation prompt."
The humanoid walrus was laying beneath a utility vehicle, toiling away at repairing the underworkings of the large machine. His overalls were covered in patches of grease and motor oil and his boots looked as though they had been through a hailstorm from all the tools that had been dropped on them.
A smile traversed Tails' muzzle. The two walked over to their friend hand-in-hand, and Tails looked down at the pair of legs jutting from beneath the vehicle. He tapped his right foot against Rotor's, inadvertently inciting a jolt. The subsequent 'THUMP' and cry of pain confirmed Rotor's surprise, and the walrus slid out from under his large project on a roller while babbling this and that about consideration.
"Seriously, it's like nobody has any decency anymo-..." His tusked frown flipped into a pleased smile. "Ha! Tails! And Kaolin! What a surprise!"
The Prowers laughed, then Tails extended his hand to help Rotor to his feet. "Sorry about the scare, pal."
Rotor had become a major mechanical support operative for the Freedom Fighters, choosing to remain in the support teams behind the front lines instead of directly partaking in sorties. He cited his large size as a hindrance to his effectiveness in ground missions and thus rationalized that he would be more valuable in the background of sensitive operations, just as he had been during his earlier days in the Freedom Figthers. Despite the pleas of his superiors, they acquiesced.
He and other mechanical experts often collaborated on projects pertaining to the enhancement of equipment operability. Those projects occasionally included the assistance of Tails, though the fox often preferred to work alone. Their work was especially valuable to the whole of the base since many of the previous engineers had been killed over the prior four months due to the particularly fierce combat seen during those times.
Despite his cessation of direct combat, he had stated his desire to reenter the main theater under a different field of combat in the near future. His particular fascination with the repair of and practice with foot tanks―the Freedom Fighters' common name for exoskeleton suits, also known as "footers" or "mechs"―had led to speculation that he would officially apply for the new Mechanized Division of the Freedom Fighters, although he declined to make a firm decision.
"No worries, friend." Rotor grasped Tails' hand and used his golden-orange friend as an anchor to haul himself up off the cold floor. He then looked the vulpine over, noticing some subtleties on both a physical and emotional level. "Tails, you look like you got hit by about three tons of reality. I see this when a pilot encounters a problem with their ship."
Tails shook his head in amused disbelief while Kaolin tried unsuccessfully to stifle a snicker. "Rotor, you never cease to amaze me. Some modifications I made to my ship could be best equated to sticking a small bandage on a broken leg―or in this case, a wing."
The purple walrus nodded sagely. "These ships have seen better days. I'm looking forward to seeing upgrades and I don't even fly."
"Which doesn't say much for the Shaulandic flyboys we shoot down regardless." A confident grin played across Kaolin's gray muzzle. "Seriously, we could take them all with just one engine working."
As if summoned by her words, a fighter craft on the other side of the hangar jolted as one of its engines suffered a blow-out. The blast, though small, was sufficient to gouge a hole into the side of the ship, appearing to be a newly-bloomed metal flower that was belching a column of black pollen from its center. Shards of the engine were strewn across the floor and one of the mechanics could be seen clutching his bloodied left arm while racing in panic to the medbay. Various workers rushed to the scene to lend a helping hand.
The three looked over at the mess in surprise and Rotor arched an eyebrow. "Indeed." He turned back around to face Tails, seemingly unfazed by the ordeal. "Speaking of...interesting developments, how have your projects been coming along? How's that cybernetic suit doing?"
Tails grinned. "The suit has been performing well. I'm also in the final stages of building one for Kaolin." His wife placed an arm around the small of his back and pulled him closer, giving a smile that carried joy and gratitude. Tails reciprocated the action and kissed her on the cheek.
Their actions caused one of Rotor's deeper insecurities to surface. Like Sally and Bunnie, he was only two years shy of having been alive for three decades; and unlike Sally and Bunnie―not including the latter's tragic loss―he was still single. There were two or three female mechanics in the base who had caught his eye, but he typically occupied himself with engineering work to the point of robbing himself of much of his social time. I should probably fix that, just like I do everything else.
"Nice, very nice." Rotor's expression quickly changed from approval to muted curiosity. He studied Tails' features further and subsequently gave a green-eyed stare that denoted incredulity. A sly grin followed. "Your eyes betray you, Tails. I've noticed that all engineers have a special unspoken language about their faces, and that tends to betray certain things they desire to retain within the shadows of obscurity. You're not telling me something."
Tails flinched. He had avoided mentioning a separate project that he had been tasked by Sally and some of the other leaders. They were so impressed by his power suit that they challenged him to combine that technology with other forms of high-end technology, such as optical camoflage and dynamic armor for the purpose of distribution to elite strike teams. They had instructed him to remain silent, even to his friends, so no word would fall upon perfidious ears.
Even though Tails trusted his friends with his life, he had no way of knowing if there were others listening in through some surreptitious eavesdropping device. The fox noticed some tension in his shoulders that had arrived as a result of Rotor's question, so he slackened them and took on a more cheerful countenance to ease the appearance of his anxiety. "That, my friend, is on a need-to-know basis."
Rotor seemed somewhat taken aback by the comment, but nodded in respect. "Very well, I'll leave it be."
During the brief silence that followed, their communicators began buzzing and chiming impatiently in their pockets. Kaolin was the first to retrieve hers and noticed an announcement scrolling across the miniature holographic screen floating over the surface of the device.
"Seems that meeting is in two hours."
Tails nodded, then looked to Rotor. "'Lin and I were gonna visit my mother for a bit, so I suppose we'll get to that before the meeting. It was good talking with you again!"
Rotor smiled brightly. "Likewise, my friends! Take good care; I know I will."
The two-tailed couple replied in kind and made their way to the double doors at the back of the hangar. Those doors connected to a parallel hallway that granted access to the base itself.
Deep down, Tails' heart sang with delight as he and his wife strode through the doorway hand in hand; his mother Rosemary was a true matriarch who deserved every bit of care she could get. His stomach proceeded to growl once more, adding to his anxious feelings. And I'm sure those cookies are phenomenal.
_
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