Chapter 04: Gathering Information

As the Falcon flew over Knothole, Sally pointed out a clearing for the Falcon and Luke's X-Wing to land. As the Freedom Fighters exited the Falcon they saw Luke in an orange suit with various kinds of equipment hanging off of him, and following him was a short and blue robot rolling along. Luke asked: "Which one of you is Sally?"

Sally came up and introduced herself and the other Freedom Fighters to Luke and then Tails asked: "Who's your friend?" as he walked over and looked at the robot.

"This is R2-D2. He's an Astromech Droid." Luke replied.

"Hello little guy." said Sonic.

"Beep-beep-beep-bop." R2 replied. "R2 sends his greetings." said 3P0. "R2 and I have been friends for a long time."

Sally then said "I'm sure we've got loads of questions to ask."

"Yes" said Luke. "Let's go somewhere and we'll trade stories." Soon afterward, the pilots of Rogue Squadron walked up from out of the woods and joined them as they went into the main hut.

"So you guys are fighting this guy Dr. Robotnik, whose taken over the planet and 'roboticizes' any organic lifeform he captures to make them into obedient slaves?" asked Han trying to remember it all.

"You guys are just kids! I'm amazed you've lasted over 10 years in this village." added Wedge.

"It's all thanks to Sonic, who's managed to foil his schemes." Sally replied.

"Amazing!" said Dack.

"Nice!" said Hobbie.

"Thanks guys. I juice 'em and reduce 'em! Bring 'em on!"

"So what's the story of y'all?" asked Bunnie.

Luke replied: "I guess our organization is in similar situation as you guys."

"How's zat?" asked Antoine.

Luke, Han, and the Rebels told the Freedom Fighters about the Empire and of their fight against them. "So y'all are fightin' this guy named Darth Vadah?" Bunnie asked.

"And you're saying they are worse than Robotnik?" asked Rotor.

"Yup. These guys are serious and Vader and Emperor Palpatine will stop at nothing to rule the galaxy." said Hobbie.

Sally then sighed, "Then Robotnik's Chrono Transporter did work after all."

"Beg your pardon?" asked 3P0, and then Sally told the Rebels about the Chrono Transporter.

"So Robotnik caused the tear. It makes sense." said Luke.

"So it did work after all, Sal." said Sonic with shock, "That can't be good."

She then said back, "It means Mobius is in real danger."

"No worries sister." said Han, "If you need help, we'll see what we can do."

"Thank you, Mr. Solo.", Sally replied.

Then, Rosie came in, and said: "Excuse me Sally, but I've prepared a meal for you and our visitors, so come and get it!"

"Nice! We get a meal out of this!" said Dack excitedly. Then Sally led the Rebels to the dining hall for a good meal.

Meanwhile Dulcy was out doing one last sweep of the edge of the Great Forest and landed when she spotted what appeared to be a meteor landing some distance away from her. She grabbed her binoculars and examined the impact site before grabbing her communicator and opened a communication channel to Sally.

"Incoming message, Sally, it is from Dulcy." said NICOLE receiving the signal.

"Patch it through, NICOLE." "Yes, Dulcy?" Sally asked.

"Hey Sally, I spotted something out of the ordinary here. A meteor landed near me." Dulcy said with a shade of curiosity.

"Never mind that, Dulcy, get back here, we've got something nice to show you." Sally said.

"OK, on my way, Sally" Dulcy replied as she flew back. But as she left, out of the impact crater came a large droid with multiple arms. It was the Probe Droid from the Praetor, and it left at once to begin exploring.

"Man, that was delicious!" said Zev with some delight.

"Yeah better than the stuff we get back home." added Wedge. Then Dulcy arrived and saw the Rebels. Sally introduced her to them and then they moved onto the final course of the meal. Luke then asked,

"Hey Sally, can I see that handheld computer….NICOLE?"

"Sure Luke." as she handed NICOLE over.

"So you are the closest thing these guys have to a droid." Luke said.

"Yes Luke, I have Artificial Intelligence and share similarities to your droid units." NICOLE explained. Luke was impressed, and so were R2 and 3P0.

Later, Luke headed out to check on his X-Wing. Rotor, Sonic, and Tails walked up and Sonic said "This is a mondo-cool ship Luke."

"Thanks" said Luke, "Incom T-65 X-Wing Starfighter."

"Starfighter?! Does that mean it can go into space!" asked Tails with delight.

"Sure can!" replied Luke. "Speed of 1,065 km/h in an atmosphere, but in space, it can go 80 Megalights (which is how we measure speed in space.). It has 4 blaster cannons, and two warhead launchers with 3 Proton Torpedoes in them, making a total of 6."

"Impressive design, this is far superior to our aircraft, the Freedom Stormer." replied Rotor.

"And R2 acts as my co-pilot, and he handles certain functions aboard the ship from that socket behind the cockpit." Luke added.

"And, what's with the ol' wings?" asked Sonic. "S-Foils. They help control engine heat and spread range and need to be open in order to fire the blasters."

"Oh, well that makes sense." said Rotor. Then the three walked over to the Millennium Falcon and Sonic commented "This thing has seen better days."

Chewie roared in anger as if offended and Han added "This thing has got plenty of tricks up her fuselage, and that doesn't include her quad guns and Concussion Missiles."

"How so?" asked Tails.

"She can make 0.5 past light speed, and this thing has plenty of compartments for smuggling." explained Han.

"Wait! So you guys are smugglers?" asked Rotor.

"Yep, until we got wound up with this crazy Rebellion."

Then they heard a voice come on Luke's communicator: "Commander Skywalker, we picked up something outside the forest. It is small and mobile." The Freedom Fighters and Rebels gathered around and listened to a strange sound coming from the object. "Robuttnik?" Sonic asked.

"No, sounds Imperial to me." said Luke.

"Sonic, you're fast, can you take me to check it out?" he asked.

"Sure Luke, grab on, it's juice time!" Sonic grabbed a Power Ring from his backpack and they raced off.

They stopped near the source of the signal and continued on foot. Hearing a strange robotic sound, Luke drew his blaster pistol and he and Sonic looked and saw the Probe Droid looking around. Sonic then shouted "Hey Bot brain!"

The droid sounding its alarm, turned and trained it's blaster on Sonic. Luke pulled him down and the droid fired. Luke fired back and hit the droid, but before he could fire again, the droid exploded into several pieces. "Whoa….thanks for the save Luke." said Sonic with relief. "What happened to it?"

"Self-Destructed, that's what happened." The two grabbed the remains and returned to Knothole. The Freedom Fighters and the Rebels were talking when Luke and Sonic brought back the remains and told them all about it.

"What does zis mean?" asked Antoine.

"This means that the Empire isn't gonna be far behind." said Han.

"Oh Mon Dieu!" said Antoine in panic.

Bunnie grabbed him and told him: "Calm down Sugah, let's not go on and panickin'…"

"Actually Mistress Rabbot, I'm afraid now is a good time to panic." said 3P0 with much concern.