That lovely lizard gal in the pic is the main character of this side story to Hero Of Sorts, a former member of the Starmada that appears in Sonic The Hedgehog issue #128. She is not given a name in the comic, so I gave her one myself. This story takes place between Hero Of Sorts: Synthetic Sister and the upcoming Hero Of Sorts: Kill The Messenger.
Surviving isn't easy out in space. She found that out the hard way. The trick is knowing, of course, that planets are in space.
On day, it came. Her homeworld was torn apart, all its metal absorbed by the massive entity called E.V.E. that had become known as a harbinger of death to the whole universe. So few had survived, escaping the doomed world moments before E.V.E. appeared. Many of the fleeing ships were not fast enough and were dragged into the gravity well of the cosmic machine.
She could still remember the petrified screams of the refugees as her ship was torn apart. She had to wrestle her way past frightened innocents to acquire her own safety. There was nothing she could do, no time to save them, and they were too panicked to save themselves. She reached the escape pod and ejected just as the hull was compromised. She rocketed away from them, leaving them to their fate. She swore she'd find a way to destroy that monster.
Crash-landed on a barren world, she waited for the dim hope that anyone out among the stars would hear her distress signal. That was when he showed up. Her savior in her time of need. Bagbar Breeblebrox and his ship, the Sentelle. He was ugly, and his name uglier, but he and the rest of his fleet, the Starmada, shared her mission. Together, they would destroy E.V.E. for good.
Things aren't always so simple.
This was the second time. E.V.E. had destroyed her home once again, her friends, her family. And it felt like she was the only one left. Again, the only one to escape. Bagbar was gone. Sentelle and the rest of the Starmada was obliterated. She'd barely managed to survive, crashing into another barren and lifeless world in another escape pod. Her clothes were tattered, her favorite hat was lost. Alone and unarmed on some desolate world, waiting for death and darkness.
She had no way of knowing if E.V.E. was still out there, or if Sonic the Hedgehog had survived his encounter with it either. At the end of four weeks, the sparse emergency supplies from the escape pod were all gone. It was a week later that she began to wish she hadn't also lost her gun. The world's atmosphere was toxic, so she was trapped inside, and that meant hunting would have been useless and dangerous. At the very least, she could have forgone what was next. She didn't look forward to slowly starving to death.
Starvation never came. Instead, they did.
Horrendous, dastardly myriads. Claws and wings and fangs and spines in the most wicked of shapes, all forged out of nightmares and shadow. They took her off that waste of a world and imprisoned her on their flying fortress on their trek across galaxies. She had no way to know what they wanted her for, but it was a blessing in disguise, and she was good at seeing through disguises.
Escape from a barren planetoid with a toxic atmosphere is easier said than done. Escape from an alien prison is much easier. You know where to start. She started with the walls of her cell. It was all made from some dark stone. Stone is easy to break through when you know how, but there was no guarantee she wouldn't be breaking through to open space. So it was on to the bars, made from a purple energy that sparked and fizzed. This wouldn't be so hard.
She knew these bars were energy, and the apparent instability in them told her that their power source was inconsistent. Chaotic, even. They would flare up when more power came to them, and become thinner when less power was being produced. The lulls came immediately after a flare, more often than not, and during the lull there was much more space between the bars. Enough for her to fit through. She set her back against the far wall and waited for the bars to flare up again. The moment they did, she charged. When they became thinner soon afterward, she dived between them, twisting herself around so as to avoid touching them as much as possible.
These monsters had what looked like gunships docked inside their fortress. She made her way inside one and blasted her way out of the giant ship. Not fast enough to escape them, her stolen gunship took damage, and the engines exploded. She was sent careening downward to whatever strange new world awaited below. Wherever these alien creatures had taken her.
It had been years since she lost her home, and she'd all but forgotten what it was like to be on a world full of life. Staggering away from the crashed gunship, she found her way to the nearest settlement. Hardly able to hold herself up as she entered the small village, she ended up stumbling right into the arms of one of its inhabitants.
"Hold on there, darling. We'll get you safe."
She woke up, not knowing how much time had passed, laying on her side in a soft and warm bed for the first time in years. The smell of fresh food wafted through the air. Everything about this place pointed to her being safe, but she could never know that for certain. Space is never safe, and planets are in space.
There were voices coming from the other room. "It's groovy, man. She's hurt, and we nursed her back to health. Most people would be thankful after that."
"Well, I've dealt with enough folks to know that that's not always the case. If ya hadn't noticed, she's some kinda lizard or something."
She sat up and put her feet on the ground, listening to the voices. They were obviously talking about her, so she wanted to be sure if they were friendly or not. If they would help her or not. It wouldn't be too hard for her to bust her way out again if they weren't possible allies. They seemed far less dangerous than those shadowy aliens, and she'd made it out of there in one piece.
"Why don't we just go ask her? Even if she is completely ideologically opposed to us, she doesn't know that any better than we do. And helping people is always the right choice."
"You do remember where the Eggman came from, right?"
"So? She has neither the belly nor the mustache."
"That has nothing to do with-"
"No, wait, she's got a point. We're stuck for time too, so we might as well. I'm overruling the objection. Let's go see if she's awake yet."
It didn't sound like they had come to a conclusion that was bad for her. She stood up and pushed open the door to find out who she was a guest of. There were only four of them in the next room. She was sure she could beat them in a fight either way, but they just looked surprised that she was up and about so quickly.
"Where am I?"
The tall feathered one of the four stepped toward her. "You're safe. We got you in our HQ where no one can find you. We don't know who might be after you, so we thought it would be best to keep you in here while you recover."
The next tallest, an orange-brown furred creature, spoke next. "My name's Walt Wallabee, the leader of the Downunda Freedom Fighters. This is my crew." He introduced them one after the other. "This is Guru Emu. That's Wombat Stu. And finally, the one who brought you in here, Barby Koala."
Wombat Stu crossed his arms over his chest. "So, why'd you fall from the sky in a meteor?"
Barby shushed him. "We didn't ask her name yet." She turned to their guest. "So, uh… what's your name?"
"I'm Trillian. The last of the Starmada."
"Okay." Stu nodded. "So, why'd you fall from the sky in a meteor?"
She shook her head. "It wasn't a meteor. It's a gunship I stole from my captors before they shot me down. What planet am I on?"
The all looked surprised. Walt answered. "This is Mobius. You're from outer space?"
Guru Emu smiled. "Wild. Totally awesome. What's it like in the great expanse? Far out, right?"
Wombat Stu frowned. "If you were shot down, doesn't that mean they might come after you? Are we facing an alien invasion?"
Barby put her hands on her hips. "Well, I'll be. I know some people who would like to hear about this. What do you say we join forces for the time being."
But all she heard was the word 'Mobius'. She'd heard that name once before, from the mouth of one Sonic the Hedgehog. This was his homeworld, where he and that machine E.V.E. hailed from. He was here, somewhere. Countless worlds destroyed because he released E.V.E. to the universe. He was responsible for the death and destruction of everything she'd ever known.
She grabbed the nearest person, Walt, and shoved him away. She hadn't counted on being any stronger than these creatures, and so was caught off guard when Walt crashed through the wall and into the night. She took it in stride, but chose to hit a little softer from then on. She picked up Wombat Stu and tossed him at Guru Emu, sending them both tumbling out the door.
Barby jumped at her, swinging her clawed hand at their former guest. "You've got some nerve attacking your saviors!"
Trillian caught the Koala's wrist and twisted just enough to hurt. She grabbed Barby's throat and lifted her into the air. Pulling her close, she leaned in. Her slit eyes burned red. "Where is Sonic The Hedgehog?"
Author's Note: It begins. The hunt for Sonic the Hedgehog begins. But... is there even a Hedgehog to find? Tune in next week to find out what the Downunda Freedom Fighters know.
