Chapter 7

Nega Sonic's ship was gleaming dark silver as the rays from the distant sun reflected off of it. They aren't many command ships in the Pandorian fleet; there hasn't been much of a need for one. A fleet without a command ship still contained enough firepower to decimate an entire ship yard in one fell stroke. The Interdictor ships were harder to destroy than the normal command ships. They could not just rip a ship from hyperspace but also send out a signal that would disrupt any chances of entering hyperspace. Any chance of out running was irrelevant. Even though the ship was larger than normal Pandorian cruisers it packed more firepower and had even more speed. It was called the ultimate hunter; Nega Sonic had been assigned to the Destiny Destroyer when it was first commissioned to the field. It then became his personal vessel.

Rob could only sit at the docking hatch, buster sword on back, waiting for the tracker beam to pull them into the hanger. The Spin Dash became dark as it was pulled into the silhouetted side of the Pandorian Vessel. The ship slowly entered the hanger with a sound of electrical clicks and revs following. Rob didn't have to look at the view screen to see what awaited them. Nega Sonic stood at the front of a platoon of Giziods. They had their blasters raised in attack pointed at the Spin Dash. Turbo defense lasers mounted on the ceiling of the hanger were all locked on to the Sonic Hero ship.

Rob waited. It would be foolish to charge out of the ship under the firepower of a fully armed hanger and Nega Sonic. Even if they were able to survive getting out of the hanger there would still be the tractor beam to worry about, and even if there weren't a tractor beam to worry about, getting blasted to bits by the hundreds of auto turrets on the ship's hull would be another problem. If he was at it alone this would be no problem. During his ruling time on Maynosha he had been in situations like this but normally he was the only target. A group of mercenaries hired by a terrorist group trying to take over the Senate of Maynosha, attacked his transport and shot it down. They captured Rob and took him as a hostage.

The mercenaries were very inexperienced due to their carelessness and sloppiness. Rob could recall the commotion they made when they attacked him. Good mercenaries would have been quiet about their work. Instead all of Freedom Fighter HQ was on alert when Rob's transport picked up the mercenaries ship on the scopes. They didn't have a landing party to attack him when he stumbled out of the wrecked transport. He ordered his crew to stay in the ship and wait for rescue. The mercs didn't do a good job of searching the ship or searching the surrounding area. It was all too simple for him to pick them off one by one.

But this was different, these weren't mercenaries they were Giziods, programmed to kill, destroy, eliminate; and at the head of them was a brutal killer whose skills were only matched by those of Sonic the Hedgehog. But even Sonic had troubles with Nega Sonic. He recalled hearing about Sonic's first encounter with his doppelganger. Sonic was completely overwhelmed by Nega Sonic's speed and ferocity, Sonic was only able to beat him by using the Chaos Emeralds and turning into the legendary Super Sonic. Since that time Sonic's skills have become greater than they were before; more than enough to match Nega Sonic blow for blow.

Having Sonic would be helpful Rob thought. He would make a good distraction and he could match Nega Sonic. Instead it was him and his small team. Flesh beings may be more intelligent than Giziods because they can think more creative, but little to be told that would help when face with an entire platoon of merciless Giziods. Rob could now hear Nega Sonic's voice as he was making demands.

"Sonic Heroes! Surrender yourselves or be destroyed! This is your only warning!" Rob felt his crew behind him now. They were waiting. Waiting for Rob to give the order, to tell them the plan, to say what needed to be done. But Rob didn't have a plan he didn't even know how to approach this. Rob's only thought was fighting them. He opened his eyes and turned to his crew.

"I know this may sound crazy but were going to divide into two teams. The first team will head to the tractor beam generator and disable it. Then head to the bridge and set the ship on an immediate course anywhere in the galaxy. That way when they make a jump to warp space we can escape without being pulverized." Rob took his sword off his back and unlocked the new blade connected to it.

"Rob that's crazy!" This time it was Chris who spoke up. "Yes the plan is good but we can't possibly get out of here before the ship goes to warp!"

Rob turned his back to the door to face his pilot. "The ships escape pods should be somewhere in between the tractor beam and bridge. Take one of them and the other team will pick you up in the Spin Dash."

Chris sighed knowing it was their only way out of this. "Okay so who goes where?" Rob was silent, he turned his back to them and twirled his swords at his side. "All of you are doing what I just said." DC stepped forward in hearing this with a look of concern on her face.

"But what about you?" Rob knew they wouldn't like his answer, they were a team but this time Rob couldn't let them get hurt in the fighting. They needed to trust his instincts on this one. "I'll fight them…" Before DC could say anything Rob held his hand up. "Don't even think about arguing, my mind is made up now go, take the escape hatch out the back way and sneak out of the hanger."

There were no more words. They just left to the escape hatch. Rob pressed the panel on the wall and the loading ramp lowered. He walked out slowly to see the numerous Giziods with their blasters aimed towards him. He didn't plan on evading them or escaping them. Nega Sonic looked intrigued by this.

"Well so you dare to face me alone? I must admit I am impressed."Nega Sonic crossed his arms. Rob said nothing but breathed slowly, he dug deep inside for every amount of hero energy he had. His body began to turn fiery blue; his eyes flared bright orange, though Nega Sonic felt no reaction from him. Rob did his best to conceal his energy to the last second. "You destroyed everything and everyone I cared about Nega Sonic. Now… ILL SHOW YOU THE TRUE EXTENT OF MY ABILITIES!"
At that instant Rob disappeared in a flash of light and reappeared in front of the first line of Giziods. He tore them down with one swipe and sprinted towards more as the hanger ignited in a constant stream of fire. Auto turrets above fired there twin repeating lasers at the blue hedgehog. Rob flew through them; he crisscrossed his blades in attacks blocking blaster fire while cutting down Giziods. His adrenaline was pumping hard now, he didn't feel weary, and he didn't feel pain, just a drive to destroy every one of the mindless robots that stand in his way. He swept through another line of advancing Giziods, then deflecting fire from all sides as he ran towards more.

Rob's two blades were but a stream of light as he twirled them deflecting another arc of shots. The Giziods began to advance on him. They started coming at him from all sides. Rob anticipated this; he concentrated, shutting his eyes drawing on as much Hero and Chaos energy as he could. He was fighting blind now, but not a single shot got past him. Giziods started to rush him not caring if they were cut down or not. Nega Sonic just stood by the sidelines observing, he was not intimidated but this display of power. He had seen this same display with Sonic and Shadow.

Though he found it interesting that a being could have that much power and even more that was untapped. Rob was the last carrier of the genetic disorder Hero. If Rob were to find a cure for the degradation effect of hero, he wouldn't have fear of passing on this trait to any offspring. The disorder would then become a gift, and an army of beings would rise up all with the gift of hero. Nega Sonic found it best to test Rob and observe his power and how it started and see if he could unlock its true potential, if he couldn't then he need not worry about Rob ever finding a cure.

Rob felt his fighting space getting smaller. Still he fought his swords a fury of movement as he cut Giziods down one by one. His body was had now turned a shade of bright shining blue. His space was almost closed by the rushing Giziods. Rob opened his eyes and jumped into the air. Time froze like Chaos control for enough time for Rob to release his energy. "CHAOS…" Nega Sonic's eyes widened and he braced for the impact of the blow. "BLAST!" A shockwave erupted from Rob; the Giziods around him were obliterated by the amount of energy they withstood. The ones farther away were knocked off their feet and slammed into in ground.

Nega Sonic took the shockwave head on but remained standing unmoved from his position. He looked at Rob with a curious look. 'How can someone be able to do that, his power levels haven't even decreased much? How can this be? If Shadow had done that he would have used up at least half his strength!' Nega Sonic gritted his teeth slightly he was not about to let Rob walk away from this alive. He unbuckled his communicator from his belt. "All Giziod units I want you down to the hanger now!" More Giziods spilled into the hanger in an instant, immediately taking aim at Rob. The turrets above continued to fire at the blue hedgehog.

A stream of fire rained down on top of Rob, but missed as he somersaulted backward, his swords spinning as he deflected more shots from the Giziods. Even with the amount of power he just put into the Chaos Blast he only felt slightly weary. His Hero energy was maxed out and pushing him to his full potential. He charged the oncoming Giziods without hesitation. Right before he made it to the first wave he jumped. Rob landed on the head of one of the Giziods and jumped off of it. He flew right for the turrets on the ceiling. But his ascent was slowed by the oncoming blaster fire he had to deflect. He shifted his course and fell onto one of the maintenance walkways near the top of the hanger.

Shots ricochet off his blades as he deflected blaster fire. One shot he deflected flew right back at one of the turrets. It took the shot and ignited in a blast causing pieces of it to fall down to the bottom of the hanger. Rob jumped and grabbed the barrel of the turret. The Giziods noticed his position and aimed their riffles at the ceiling tying to bring him down. Rob swung to the nearest turret deflecting a stream of close range fire. He spun around slicing the turret in two.

He stuck one of his swords into the ceiling and deflected two oncoming shots back at the turrets they were fired from. Giziods came out of the maintenance hatch and ran onto the walk way now at an even level with Rob as the fired. Rob planted his feet on the ceiling and jumped off the ceiling over to the maintenance ledge topping off the head of one of the Giziods and drove his other sword into another chest causing it to collapse. Spark and bits of shrapnel now stained Rob's face, the hot pieces of metal left burn marks on his body. Rob ignored the pain and pressed forward cutting down more Giziods in his path.

He was knocked off his feet as the center of the walkway shattered as Nega Sonic spin dashed through it. His eyes were filled with rage and hate as he then lunged at Rob. Rob jumped to his feet and brought his elbow up to block his attack. Nega Sonic didn't take a second to counter, his foot landed square in the side of Rob's face. Rob took the blow and flew off the edge. He tasted blood as he gritted his teeth to suppress the pain He flipped over and landed on the ground to be met by more blaster fire from the Giziods.

Rob looked up to see Nega Sonic coming down on top of him. "Die you insolent pest!" His sword was drawn as he came down on a striking position. He rolled to his right dodging the attack, he spun around to counter, but Nega Sonic was already on his feet to block the attack. The Giziods laid down a constant stream of fire at Rob. He was fighting a double battle, against Nega Sonic and an army of Giziods. He could only now hope his friends were having an easier time than he was.

"I hope Rob is having an easier time than we are!" Dash commented to DC as he tucked back around the post he was firing from dodging more blaster fire. DC didn't respond, she only battered more fire away. The group was fighting under heavy fire getting to the hanger. Zeke had gone to shut down the tractor beam. While the others were making their way to the bridge to take fill out there part of the mission.

A group of Giziod Elite were all that stood between them and the bridge. The Giziod Elites were had the same design as the regular Giziods, accept they had temporary shields that deflected blaster fire, making them tough to take them down. The only thing most effective in taking down there shields was a melee weapon. But they made up for the faulty weakness with heavy blaster fire. DC struggled to deflect it with only one axe, it being a double bladed did not help in this situation at all.

"If I can get close enough I can go on the offensive." Dash shook his head at DC's plan and then laid down more fire. "No it's too risky. Cover me!"

Dash rounded the support beam and ducked down running to the nearest one. DC and Chris moved up the line distracting the Giziods to the best of their abilities. Dash got a running start and charged them. They switched their focus to Dash and sent a wave of shots his way. He ducked and slid under the shots. While sliding he pulled an EMP grenade out of his belt. He slid past the giziods, dropping it right beside them. The grenade went off and the Giziods toppled to the ground disabled.

Dash stood up and twirled his pistol in his hand before holstering it. He got down against the side of the blast door. The bridge was right behind it. The others followed to his position.

"Okay we have to do this the old fashion way, no guns just melee weapons, we don't want a stray shot hitting something important and sending the ship up in flames. DC you take point, Chris you've been training for this so give it you all, okay Team Chaos…" Dash pressed the door panel and the blast door slid open. "…Charge!" DC split her double axe into two pieces and tore down two Giziods that were heading for where they came in. Dash jumped and through Chaos spears hitting the two Giziods on the sides of the entrance.

DC locked her eyes Giziod commander. Two blades sprung out from the commanders arms. DC jumped and brought both axes down hard on the Giziod. The commander rolled back and spun around in a whirlwind of slashes. DC parried the attack and combined her two axes back into one. She flicked a switch and the axe switched back into a sword and blocked another attack. The commanders from was wild and sloppy to DC. It was nothing compared to what she was trained for. Easily she ducked and sliced the commander at the waist. Sparks flew as he split in two.

DC holstered her weapon see Dash and Chris had taken care of the rest of the Giziods. Chris dashed over to the navigation computer. He quickly began to enter set the ship for warp space. "Where to?" Chris kept his eyes on the computer as he talked, entering in the primary commands for the warp drive. Dash thought for a moment. "Take them to the Pandorian capital I'd like to see the look on the Pandorian King's face when his top general comes back empty handed haha!" Chris nodded and started to plug in the coordinates from the computer. DC grabbed Chris's hand and stopped him.

"Wait if this thing has the coordinates of the Pandorian Empire's capital, cant we take those coordinates?" DC had a wide grin on her face. Space coordinates were hard to come by for Garland and the Sonic Heroes, for most of the war they have been on the defensive protecting every known location they have under their control with only a limited amount of Warp space lanes.

Chris's face brightened up. "And this is Nega Sonic's Ship! So the Pandorian King would give him all the coordinates of every known location. If Garland gets this the…"

"It could turn the tides of the war!" Dash jumped in. Everyone was now in excitement and jubilation at their luck. It didn't take long for Chris to hack the system and download the various warp space coordinates. He pulled out his data pad out from the computer and pocketed it. He turned and nodded. "We have 10 minutes before the ship goes to warp. Zeke should already be at the escape pod bay. Let's go!" The others nodded and followed.

To Be Continued