Chapter 1-3: Mind That First Step

As the sun rose upon the new day, the carnage of the previous night was all too evident. Scorched trees, blackened and skeletal, lined the edge of a vast crater where an innocent looking shack once stood. Now, all that was left was devastated timber planks and robotic debris.

Two miles away, far from the reach of the explosion, Strider was sat by the remains of the escape pod that carried him and his allies to safety. Sifting through a crate of firearms, he found a pistol, reminiscent of a Beretta M9. Though he would always prefer his longbow, he knew that a secondary weapon wouldn't do much harm.
"You ready yet Strider?" asked a gruff voice.
"Almost," he replied. "Be there in 5 minutes."

"Make it quick. We need whatever time we have."
Within a ring of large and seemingly lively mushrooms, Shadow stood, binoculars in hand, having spent his morning surveying a nearby outpost. Sitting on one of the larger 'shrooms was Amy, who, after much coaxing, had changed into a red/white top and ankle boots (similar to her usual get up), a pair of short jeans, a leather jacket and black fingerless gloves. Though the whole situation was relatively difficult, she was holding up well.
"Sorry to keep you guys waiting," Strider said, entering the circle and sitting by Amy.
"That's one way of putting it," Shadow growled, sounding a little on edge. "Now we can begin."

During the next half hour, Shadow filled Amy and Strider in on why he had set up camp in the forests: it turned out that Shadow had been sent by the resistance to "collect" information from an imperial outpost that concerned the fortress town controlling the sector. In the three years of Strider's absence, the resistance had managed to bring down Metallixa Gamma and Delta (all at great cost), though Beta was proving somewhat difficult.
Fortunately, the escape pod came out in Mushroom Hill, practically next door to said outpost, speeding up Shadow's mission. Now it was all a matter of hacking the mainframe and making a beeline for the resistance HQ.

"Any questions?" Shadow asked.
"Just one," Strider said. "How has it taken so long for you to get this intel? Couldn't you have used Chaos Control at any point?"
"That would have been a fine idea had it not been for the fact that when Metal seized power, he locked the Chaos energy out to anyone but himself. Chaos Control is now essentially impossible.
"Chaos powers also generate a psychic ripple that imperial sensors could detect, so it wouldn't be a good idea to use them if we're trying to stay covert. So...you ready to move?"

The Mushroom Hill outpost, as isolated as it was, still had an aura of caution about it. Ten foot high mesh fences lined with razor wire and monitored by floating sentries; a constant patrol of imperial machines, reinforced by a platoon that had arrived the next day; and, at the centre, an ominous cylindrical structure quite like a tower (albeit one with turrets on all sides), which Strider had been told was both an automated defence system and the main data bank.

It seemed insane that Shadow was going to attempt to break in, but he had to carry out his mission.
"If I'm not out in five minutes, head for Sunset Hill," he said, crawling through a gap in the fence. "It's 2½ clicks east: I've agreed to use it as a rendezvous point."
"What if no-one's there?" Strider asked.
"Uh...we'll think about it when we get there. Just keep an eye out."
With that last sentence, Shadow slipped through the fence. Using what espionage skills he retained from his experience with G.U.N., Shadow spun around a low wall and out of sight.

For a brief moment, Strider was caught in the unsettling silence, feeling cold and sealed off from the rest of the world. Though he was used to this feeling from three years of travelling through space, it was nonetheless a worrying feeling. The only thing that stopped him from panicking was Amy's presence, stood at the other side of the gap in the fence, though she too appeared to be quite terrified.
In that moment of merciless silence-
"Organic life forms: state your name and intent!"

Before she could get a grip, Amy wheeled round, drew a hammer from thin air and hurled it, knocking out a floating sentry droid. Realising her mistake, Amy looked back to Strider, held in a moment where all she could see was his shocked face. This spell was broken however when a blaring noise, sharp and wailing, echoed through the clearing, emanating from the down sentry.
"SYSTEM ALERT! SYSTEM ALERT! INTRUDERS DETECTED! INTRUDERS DETECTED!"

Having reached a computer terminal with considerable ease, the real challenge came from hacking into it and finding the appropriate files. Imperial computer networks seemed to have a ridiculous amount of firewalls and Shadow was having difficulty working into the terminal.
~Where's the Doctor when you need him?~ he thought to himself. ~Wait. What am I thinking?~

Though it took him all his self-allotted five minutes, Shadow had finally found what he was looking for: detailed plans of Metallixa Beta's security structure. After inserting a blank disk, now it was just a matter of waiting. Fortunately, it didn't take too long. As Shadow went to retrieve the disk –

"SYSTEM ALERT! SYSTEM ALERT! INTRUDERS DETECTED! INTRUDERS DETECTED!"

Within seconds, red lights were pulsing all around the immediate area and the monitor of the terminal went dead. Fortunately, the data was already extracted and Shadow made for the exit, taking occasional pot shots at whatever stood in his way.

What had happened to Strider and Amy?

Rooted to the spot with fear, the only thing that could be heard above the infernal siren was pulses, electric-like, on the other side of the fence. Breaking free of the engulfing darkness, Shadow reappeared and vaulted through the hole in the fence.

"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?" he yelled.
"I don't know," Amy replied. "I just...just got caught off guard. Panicked."
"It's not your fault Amy," Strider said. "It was that sentry that-"
"Never mind now – JUST RUN!" Shadow interrupted.

Sure enough, the recently arrived platoon had begun to barrel out of the front gate and started to pursue the three hedgehogs.
"Base – this is Infantry Unit 5F Alpha. Intruders have been detected. We are now in pursuit."

Even with crazed automatons, Strider got a deranged kind of thrill running from impending doom. The hedgehog trio had outrun their tormentors and stopped half a click east.
"Right," Shadow started. "Exactly what happened back there?"
"Well," Strider replied, still trying to catch his breath. "The darkness was kinda unnerving - and..."
"It was my fault," Amy interjected. "I panicked...and...and -
"Downed one of the perimeter sentries, setting off the defence systems."
"Yeah, and -" Strider stopped for a second. Either Amy had become a master ventriloquist or that wasn't her speaking.

Glancing over his shoulder, Strider's fear was confirmed: behind him stood the origin of the voice. A two meter tall imperial android; arms that were made into vicious, clawed pulse blasters; a single eye that appeared to be staring down at the off guard hedgehogs; and a body shape somewhat reminiscent of a chicken.

"Ah!"
"Squad! Reveal yourselves!" the machine called.

In a wide circle, fourteen other imperial troops burst forward from the shadows. They looked largely like their leader, but each had two eyes and lacked claws on the arms. The metallic ring slowly began to close in on the hedgehogs, who'd also closed in, now standing back to back.

"Got any ideas?" Shadow whispered reaching his hand towards his coat.
"Uh...maybe," Strider said, looking kind of doubtful. "Amy. When I give the order, grab your hammer and -"
"Silence!" barked the lead robot. "You have been caught having broken into an imperial compound and vandalised imperial property. The penalty for these combined offences is termination".

"Any moment now would be good," Shadow whispered.
"Wait for it," Strider replied.

"In the meantime you shall be detained until further notice. Failure to comply will lead to immediate termination".

"Wait for it."

"Squad! Detain these prisoners!"