Chapter 02: Looming

Citadel Tower, Robotropolis, Mobius

Inside the conference room at the Citadel tower, Dr. Robotnik wasted no time heading to the conference room, where his commanders, the Sub-Bosses had just barely sat down in their seats. Robotnik was almost to his seat when Sub-Boss Mordred Hood walked in, panting hard.

"Made it… barely made it," he said.

"Indeed, had you been late, I would've had you shot on the spot, not Roboticized, shot," said Robotnik.

"Y-yes, my lord…sorry," said Mordred Hood.

"I presume the purpose of this meeting revolves around the return of Imperial forces to our planet, sir?" said Akhlut.

"Yes, thanks to that trouble-making teenager and his little band, the Empire is no longer happy with our effort to bring order to this planet. I only recruited the lot of you because you were willing to cooperate, but mark my words, the Empire will not grant such…leeway unless you can prove you all are useful," said Robotnik.

"Oh yes, my lord! I will not fail in my efforts to quash the resistance!" Thunderbolt said.

"Good, because as of now, those Freedom Fighters are conspiring with the Rebellion to continue operations against us in the wake of the destruction of the Death Star, and I intend to give the Empire what they want; every rebel on this planet, their heads on a stake," said Robotnik.

"With very good pleasure, sir," said the Grand Battle Kukku.

"Isn't that what we've been trying to do for the last five years?" said the Bride of the Conquering Storm.

"This time, we have the full might of the Imperial military at our backs. If they found Knothole village as easily as they did, then surely, they can find the other holes where those rodents hide out and burn them to the ground," said Robotnik.

"Hey, as long as they leave the loot, that's fine by me. And besides, I've been dying to make some cities in the Southern Seas burn," said Abyss.

"The Imperials will only motivate me further, those fools humiliated us by bringing them here, now, they will pay dearly," said Tundra.

"Excellent. Our liaison with the Imperials will be Admiral Goran Kreeshkin of the Star Destroyer Praetor. He will provide you with whatever resources you will need to root out the remaining Freedom Fighters. I want them, anyone who helps them, anyone who has even had contact with them, anyone in any kind of position to decide to assist them, to burn. Capture, roboticize, pillage, I don't care. I want nothing for them to come back to, remind anyone that the loss of the Death Star has done nothing to affect us!"

"Yes, Lord Robotnik!" said the Sub-Bosses in unison.

"Good! Now, get going! Don't come back unless you have good news for me, or you all will end up either shot…or roboticized," said Robotnik.

The Sub-Bosses looked at each other with an air of nervousness. Cassia the Pronghorn soon turned to her sister Clove.

"Does this mean we can see those awesome walkers bash some heads in, sis?" Cassia said.

"Yes, Cass…there will be some head bashing," Clove said.

"Everything okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Come, we have work to do."

Rebel Base, Yavin IV

Aboard the Star Tornado, Sonic was sitting in the pilot's seat, with Tails occupying the co-pilot seat.

"Everything set?" said Sonic.

Tails nodded, as he finished plugging NICOLE into the ship's computer systems.

"System check complete, Sonic. We are ready to commence takeoff when ready," said NICOLE.

"I'm ready when you're ready, Sonic," said Tails.

"Good, let's stretch her legs and do it to it!" said Sonic.

But as the ship begun to power up, they felt the ship rock with the rest of the base. Sonic pushed a button for the comms.

"Jericho, what's going on?"

"Sounds like another raid, Sonic. The Imperials are trying to slow us down, hoping they can scoop us up easier. Not gonna happen," said Jericho.

"You got the 'not gonna happen' part right! Okay, everybody, we're taking off! Ready?" said Sonic.

"Proceed when ready, Sonic!" said Sally.

Sonic then pushed the switch to begin powering the engines, but within seconds… the ship begun to make a noise.

"What the… A STALLOUT?! OH, COME ON!"

Sonic tried again, and again, and again…. even slamming the console, but nothing happened.

"NICOLE, I thought you said everything was cool?" said Sonic.

"All systems are functional, Sonic. I cannot detect any mechanical defects," said NICOLE.

"Strange, I'm not picking up anything either!" said Tails.

The ship rocked again as explosions drew near. Sonic snarled and then slammed the console even harder, and as if by miracle, the ship started up.

"Well…that was weird…anyway…let's get outta here!" said Sonic.

The Star Tornado slowly lifted off the ground, as the Storm Ranger flew past, with the Tornado flying close behind it.

"Sonic, once were up there, stay close to me, this is the real deal again," said Jericho.

"Yeah, stay close, we'll get you outta this," said Dayton.

"You think I don't know that?" said Sonic.

"Don't fly like you got a death wish, don't argue, just come," said Jericho.

As soon as the two ships cleared the hangar doors, they emerged in the middle of combat between Alliance and Imperial forces, with both ships attracting attention as they fled.

"Could use some people on those guns right now!" said Sonic.

"I get dibs! I got a record to break!" said Knuckles.

"Y'all keep a record?" said Bunnie.

"Yeah, starting with kills right on the Death Star," Knuckles said.

Sally rolled her eyes as she went to the lower gun, with Knuckles occupying the upper one, and begun aiming the turrets at the TIE Fighters and their TIE Bomber support.

"Watch those TIE Bombers! They can take a beating, and they got warheads!" said Seraphine.

"Just hope Sonic doesn't do crazy stunts!" said Knuckles.

"I heard that!" said Sonic.

The two transports weaved in and around the combat zone, most of the Imperials not paying them too much mind, save for the few TIE Fighters and Bombers chasing them.

"Four Fighters heading our way!" said Knuckles.

Knuckles opened fire on them, with Sally doing the same, with Knuckles eventually hitting one, while Sally was able to down two more.

"Hey! That was my kill, Princess!" said Knuckles.

"It became mine when it got into my sight, Knuckles!" said Sally.

As the two ships begun to exit the atmosphere, Knuckles took aim and was able to hit the last TIE Fighter on the wing, sending it plummeting to the surface below.

"YEAH!" he said.

Sally rolled her eyes.

"NICOLE, how soon can we make the jump to hyperspace?" said Sonic.

"Jump point is beyond that Imperial Star Destroyer."

"Aw, you gotta be kidding!" said Sonic.

"Stay calm, we can get past these guys!" said Jericho.

"If we can just get past this guy, we're all clear," said Dayton.

"Why can't this be easier? Tails, how's our shields holding up?" said Sonic.

"Still holding strong, Sonic! Keep covering us, guys!" said Tails.

"More fighters, heading our way! They got some friends, too. TIE Interceptors," said Jericho.

"TIE Interceptors?" said Knuckles.

"They're faster and more maneuverable than standard TIE Fighters, and they have quad guns. Skilled pilot can fly circles around an X-Wing," said Dayton.

"Heh, they don't look any tougher," said Knuckles.

The TIE Fighters and Interceptors rushed to attack the Tornado and Ranger, opening fire as soon as they were in range, battering both ships' shields. Knuckles fired back, hitting one of the Interceptors, but the rest swarmed past.

"They're coming in too fast!" he said.

"Stay on course, we can take 'em," said Jericho.

Knuckles and Sally continued firing at the TIEs, with Knuckles shooting one Interceptor in the wing, causing it to crash into a TIE Fighter nearby.

"Two birds with one stone!" he said.

"Derek, Mercy-Giver, how are you doing up there?" said Jericho.

Derek and Seraphine, operating the Storm Ranger's turrets, were also taking on the TIEs around them.

"No problem, Jericho, handling it as usual!" said Derek.

"Yeah, and name-calling at least helps me here, makes me wanna imagine these guys are you right now," said Seraphine.

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that. We're getting close to that Star Destroyer, brace yourselves for turbolaser fire," said Jericho.

Sure enough, the Star Destroyer in their path began to open fire on them, as turbolaser blasts flew past them.

"WHOA! That almost clipped us there!" said Sonic.

"Stick with me, Sonic! Closer we get, the harder it'll be to hit us," said Jericho.

One turbolaser blast struck the Tornado, making it shake violently.

"Harder to hit, you say?!" Sonic said.

Knuckles and Sally continued holding off the TIE Fighters and Interceptors, working to keep them at bay.

"Sonic, these Interceptors are faster than you!" said Knuckles.

"Excuse me? Faster than moi? In your dreams, Knucklehead!" said Sonic.

The two ships flew closer to the Star Destroyer, as it's guns tried to get a bead on them, but so far, they kept missing.

"Full speed! Don't give 'em a chance to lock tractor beams onto us!" Dayton said.

The two ships begun skimming the surface of the Star Destroyer, dodging the turbolasers, until they flew over the rear of the ship.

"Okay, this is our chance! You guys ready?" said Jericho.

"Are we ever! Let's juice!" said Sonic.

Sonic pulled a lever on the control panel, and the Tornado followed the Ranger into hyperspace, leaving their pursuers behind.

"Aw…I was hoping for a few more kills…oh, well," said Knuckles.

"That was a close one," said Tails.

"Get used to it. It's the nature of life out here," said Jericho.

"Regardless, how did the Star Tornado perform?" Derek said.

"Well…so far, she runs as smoothly as Sonic on a good day, but there is room for improvement," said Tails.

"Yeah, she's no Millennium Falcon, so, I think you and Rote got plenty to work on here," said Sonic.

"Agreed," said Sally.

"Relax, I got plenty of ideas on how we can improve this thing. Once we get to the Salvation, I can get set up," said Rotor.

Sally nodded.

"Good. Speaking of getting set up, once we get to the Salvation, we need to work fast and get ourselves re-established, the sooner we can get set-up…,"

"The sooner we can kick some Imperial butt," said Sonic.

"Yes, Sonic, so we can kick some Imperial butt," said Sally.

Citadel Tower, Robotropolis, Mobius

Dr. Robotnik was sitting in his command center chair when a human male in an Imperial uniform entered.

"Ah, Admiral Kreeshkin, excellent you were able to join me," said Robotnik.

"Let's get right to it, Doctor. Our forces have imposed martial law on every settlement and city under our control. Curfew and checkpoints are in place, and our Probe Droids are scouring the countryside for wherever those filthy furballs hide."

"Oh, that's good. It warms my heart that we're ready to retaliate against that Hedgehog and his friends for making a fool out of me…," said Robotnik.

"Lord Vader himself will be conducting an inspection, by which I hope we will have stamped out the resistance on this planet," said Kreeshkin.

"Oh, trust me, Admiral…we will. And I intend to publicly show how helpless they are against my Roboticizer….and that Hedgehog will see," said Robotnik.

Snively then read a message that popped up on his console.

"Sir, we just received a message from one of our operatives, regarding the Wolf Pack," said Snively.

"Go on, Snively," said Robotnik.