Prologue to a Prologue

A/N: I apologize beforehand, because I will essentially be altering a small portion of the Sonic X storyline (Sonic X and all of its characters are owned by Sega, not me), so I needed to create a prologue story. Parts of this story are referring to Star Wars, so all related characters and technological references – other than my OC Maerick, and maybe Slick, Biome, CM, Snipe, and Sarge – are owned by Lucas Film. This is my first fanfic, so please review; I need all the help I can get! As you can see, I tend to ramble in my notes, so enough of this author's babbling and on with the story!


Current Day; Tails' Workshop, Mobius…

He sat there at his workbench looking hopelessly out the window up at the starry sky; a little orange fox with two tails. When one looked closer at his short muzzle, soft and white, one could see the moonlight reflect off the lines of tears running down his cheek. The tips of his tails drooped down below his feet that hung to one side of his chair, almost touching the ground, while his head rest sadly on his right forearm while his left arm, propped up at the elbow, was wrapped around to the back of his head in a vain attempt to provide some small comfort by holding his head.

Tails, however, could not be comforted from the wound he had been dealt for it struck deeper than any blade ever could, and it left a scar that was invisible but more dreadful to see than any physical mark. He had lost the love of his life one month ago. Her name was Cosmo, and she was a petite, almost fragile girl with hair as green as grass, a voice as gentle as a breeze through the leaves of trees, and a disposition as tender yet persevering as a single tendril of a vine growing on a trellis. There is a reason for these redundant similes to plants, as she was a plant herself, one of the Seedrian species of anthropomorphic plants, and she had sacrificed herself to save the universe from annihilation.

Tails continued to look at the sky with his vision blurred by tears, and as another wave of sorrow filled his heart he shut his eyes and cried out to the midnight sky.

"Cosmo, why did you have to go? Why couldn't you let me figure out a way to stop Dark Oak without anyone dying? Why…WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME HERE?" he wailed, though he knew that he still, after a month of desperate searching, could not find a better way of stopping Dark Oak.

He fell back in his chair as the pain overwhelmed his senses, and tears began to stream down his cheeks anew as he wept once more. She had been everything to him, yet she had left him. He had made a promise to keep her safe no matter what, and in his mind it was unforgivable that he had failed, even if she had asked him to break his promise. Even worse, he had pulled the trigger that had fired the cannon at Dark Oak to destroy him while she bound him in place, destroying them both. He had killed her. He did his best to not think about that, because he knew that if he did he would go mad with guilt. After all, just the thought of failing her had left him like this for a month with no end in sight, so what would the thought of having killed her do to him?

As the sorrow subsided for the moment he wearily opened his eyes, looking over at a pot of soil on his window sill. It brought a small measure of hope and despair to him, for Sonic and Shadow, being in their super forms at the time, had immediately tried to save Cosmo with Chaos Regeneration when she had been killed, but all that had formed was a small seed; his only reminder of her. It was comforting to think that maybe the plant would grow into Cosmo, but he had begun to lose hope now that a month had passed and, despite the best efforts of Cream and himself, the seed had not even begun to sprout. As he remembered her last words to him on the ship, he began to think.

Cosmo… one day we will be together again. I hope that it will be sooner than later, whatever way it happens…

________________________________________

Two months before Cosmo's arrival on Mobius…

392nd Lieutenant's Log: My name is Lieutenant Maerick Stevens. I am the Commanding Officer of the 392nd Clone battalion of the Navy of the Galactic Republic. We have been stationed on a planet passed the Outer Rim designated VIP (Ironically enough for Very Important Planet) because of its plentiful resources and uninhabited state.

We are far beyond any help if we are attacked here because of how far into uncharted space this planet is. It would take approximately 3 standard Coruscant days while traveling in hyperspace if you left from the nearest Republic-controlled planet. Yes, we are out in no-man's land, and it is our punishment for being "corrupted".

The 392nd was originally founded to be a way of disposing of problematic clones by throwing them into "necessary" missions that were completely suicidal, until the Senate realized that rebellious clones weren't the only ones that could cause problems. Then I was put in command of the unit, for I was considered to be the "ultimate sign of corruption" by the Jedi Council … bottom line I became the only human in the navy not in command of a fleet of ships, performing a role considered to be too "low" for humans of perceived superior intellect as punishment for being…different.

Every clone under my command her has a large fluke in their genes or personality that separate them from regular clone troopers. This goes beyond just personality quirks, which all clones have; this is deviation from the mold. Some have fully-developed morals and will question orders that seem immoral or cruel, or have an intelligence considered too large for a lowly clone trooper, while others have faces with features that vary from the standard clone face, or different hair color, or some trait on the long list of "corruptions". And that was the problem: they were too unique, too much like people. If the public began to realize that the clones could be genuine like "real" humans, there would be a public uproar about how clones were being used like droids.

In any case, under my command the 392nd became a cohesive fighting unit and began to beat impossible odds due ironically to the fact that their quirks gave them a common bond that allowed them to fight with more passion, more tactical thinking, and in a more overall "human" manner. Once the navy began to be stretched thin the Senate began to lose their ability to give the credit for our successes to other battalions, and so we were essentially exiled so that we would remain the Republic's dirty little secret.

So anyway, now we essentially stranded in paradise… ha-ha-ha, I think the Senate believed that this uninhabited planet would be a death trap like Felucia, due to its large plant presence, but most of the plant life is as benign as it is beautiful, so we stay at our posts discussing the nature, and sometimes politics or just life. It brings us all closer together, and the talks are good for making the new recruits we get every few months feel at home, since they are just coming to terms with their exile when they arrive.

I don't know why I'm describing the history of our unit in this entry, since today is no different from any other day; I've been doing this the passed few days with information about the unit and the war…maybe this is for the future generations after the war is over, but who knows, after all this is talking about me. So anyway, I'm just gonna give my daily report now…

______________________________

A few weeks later, on a refugee ship…

"Galaxina, you are needed on the Bridge right away!"

"What is it, Elder?"

"We found debris orbiting the nearby planet and discovered something, but you mustn't tell little Cosmo; you'll know why when you see…"

"Yes, Elder, but is it the Metarex?"

"We are unsure, little one, but please hold your questions; they will all be answered soon."

"Yes Elder."

"Oh, and Galaxina, what do you remember about…animals?

"They were the monsters that drove us from our home, and are the scum of the universe that survive by leeching off of our kind. Why do you ask?"

"Nothing, I was just trying to see how you might react later…but anyway, please hold your questions for now and come with me."

"Yes, Elder."


What did the Petali clan find? Why in the world did I include some random Star Wars trivia in here? And who is this Maerick? Find out in the next chapter, and please R&R! (Honestly, I am sorry. This is a boring intro, but you have to start somewhere, right?)