Well, this going well, I think.

Taser: Isn't this the point where you're doing a few chapters for some different events?

Yes Taser...

Taser: Isn't that going to be a bit confusing?

Glacier: Who cares? Let's get on with it!

Tornado: An apt suggestion, my dear.

Taser: Let's not take the same ill-fated route that Star Wars did...

On To The Island

This latest piece of news was a disturbing revelation for everyone. The Daleks were greedy and hungry for power. Any advantage, any resource they could get their manipulators onto, they would exploit it to their limit, no matter what it was or how big the risk could be. The fact that they were going after the Master Emerald and, possibly, the other seven Chaos Emeralds was both predictable, because they were highly desirable objects of power and frightening, because of what they could do with that power.

"I shouldn't have left Angel Island," Knuckles was saying, trying his best not to lose his temper. "I should have been there to protect the Master Emerald, I should have been there!"

"Calm yourself, Knuckles," Blaze told him sternly. "What's past is past, you can't go back and change it."

"Blaze is right," Nightshade agreed. "We need ta focus on the here and now and figure out what we're gonna do to stop 'em."

"What about Shade?" asked Knuckles, still keeping his voice low and calm. "Will she be alright?"

"We don't know yet Knuckles," Dan answered somberly. "Very few people can survive a full on Dalek blast, unless their biology or some piece of technology allowed them to. You may need to prepare yourself for the worst case scenario."

"It's your fault she's like this!" Everyone was startled as he yelled and pointed at Dan. "If you had let her go with us instead of stay here with your group, she might be alright!" Dan raised his hands in a neutral manner and stepped toward Knuckles slowly.

"Okay, Knuckles, just remain calm and-" He was cut off as Knuckles' fist collided with his face and sent him flying across the room, slamming him into the wall. Angela shrieked and ran for him, while the other Chosen Ones pulled out their weapons and pointed them at Knuckles.

"You'd better hope he's alright, you hot tempered fool," Lu'saa hissed at him. "If you've injured him in any way, I'll fill you with so much lead, we can sharpen your head and call you a pencil!"

"He deserved it, if Shade is dead because of him!" Knuckles retorted, as the Wolf shoved his wrist-knives in his face.

"Is he alright Ang?" Ko'skarr asked. Angela had his head in her hands and his eyes were closed.

"Come on, wake up my love," she was saying. At first, there was nothing, then he suddenly sat up, eyes wide and grin wider.

"Oh, one hell of a right-hook!" he shouted and shook his head clear. "Have to watch out for that. Thanks Angie," he said to the Witch, who kissed his cheek and growled at the echidna, who was evidently surprised at his reaction to his punch.

"Hold on," Dan said, raising a hand to his nose, which was dislocated. He grabbed it, breathed in and quickly shoved his nose in its proper place with an audible crack and a grunt of discomfort, followed by a yell of pain.

"Knuckles, why did you do that?" Amy asked angrily. "You could have seriously hurt him."

"Leave him Amy," Dan ordered, rubbing his nose and stepping towards Knuckles. The echidna in question broke out of the weapons circle and raised his fists in a combat stance.

"Come on then, I can fight you! I'm ready!"

"Knuckles," Dan started, kneeling down and looking into his eyes. "I understand how you're feeling. Someone you care deeply about has been injured, perhaps fatally. You're angry, but more than that, you're scared. You're scared that person may not pull through, that she may die and if she does... you can't begin to imagine what you would do without her and you feel so helpless, that you feel there's nothing you can do, but you try to do something to just let it out."

Knuckles looked stunned, to Lu'saa, due to what he smelt like and to what he could feel in his mind, she could tell that her leader's talk was having an effect on him. He had a tendency of being able to have that effect, in the right circumstances. She remembered one time he had helped her with an emotional problem that she'd had, with help from her loving mate, after she'd returned from a dimensional rift, a few of the team's members had fallen through and become separated in and ended up in many different places and times. In her case, she'd returned from a planet called Reach.

There had been a war, a war between humans and a gathering of aliens known as the Covenant. She was told this when she had ended up with the remnant of a team of super-soldiers called SPARTANS, designated Noble Team: Carter, Emile and one who only went by the designation Noble Six. She never learned his real name. She'd gotten to know them well and it was exploring here she found her weapons of choice; M7 caseless sub-machine guns. Carter had sacrificed himself to destroy an enemy vehicle and Emile died fighting what they called Elites. She was saddened by their deaths, as she would for anyone she'd known and liked, but more by the fact that, as she hated to admit it, their cause was a lost one. Reach would fall and there was nothing they could do.

Noble Six volunteered to remain behind and his efforts ensured the destruction of a Covenant battleship and the escape of the Pillar of Autumn from Reach, that contained the Master Chief, one of the last of the SPARTANS and part of humanity's hope for winning the war . There was little chance of survival and the SPARTAN had known it. She had been greatly touched by his sacrifice and felt it was suitable that he had lived up to his teams' name, fighting and dying on the planet that had once been his home.

The rift had opened again on the Autumn, just before the ship went onto it's next destination and as she had looked out of the window and saw Reach being glassed by the Covenant battleships. All of those people, who had lived and fought on that world, were being slaughtered right before her and there was nothing she could do to help them. She prayed for the Ancient Queens to watch over them, to guard the essence of their beings throughout all time, before returning home.

Ko'skarr noticed something was wrong when she had come back through. She was quiet, she had barely said a word and he felt her pain and sadness through their mental link. He had gone to comfort her, as did Dan. She told them of what had happened, what she had seen and, while Ko'skarr comforted her mentally, Dan told her something that made her feel better: During one of the wars on his home world, when enemy forces were bombing the cities in his country, Great Britain, many people were killed by the bombs and many buildings and homes were destroyed. And yet, in the middle of it all, St. Paul's cathedral still stood amid the flames and smoke. Seeing this gave people hope and, far from making them give up, made them want to fight back even more. By helping save the Master Chief and all the people on the Pillar of Autumn, she had helped to deliver hope to the people back home and the soldiers on the front line. In times like that, hope could strengthen the human spirit. Even though Reach had been destroyed, humanity would continue the fight and the Chief would be there to lead it, until they had won.

The memory of this still bought a feeling of inspiration and it filled her up inside. Ko'skarr felt this too, across their link and moved a little closer to her, as Dan continued to talk to Knuckles. His hand gripped one of the echidna's shoulders.

"I understand how you feel. But think, would she be wanting you to act like this? Would she want to you to fight people who are trying to help you beat back a deadly enemy? As Cosmo already said, we must be fighting the Daleks and not each other. If we do, we'll be easy pickings for the Daleks. Once we're gone, no one on this planet will be able to stand against them, they will kill every living thing here and, if she is, her death will be for nothing. For her, make it count for something. How about it, eh?"

Knuckles was shaking slightly, a tear ran down his cheek and splashed on the floor.

"Yeah," he said quietly. "You're right, she wouldn't want me like this. I'll fight them, for her."

"Good man!" Dan roared, slapping his shoulder. "That's more like the echidna spirit!"

"Then allow me to strengthen it," came the voice of Clanker, who marched towards them from a side door.

"When you say 'strengthen it,' you mean Shade's..." Knuckles tailed off, not wanting to get his hopes up.

"That is an annoying habit organic life forms have, not finishing your sentences," Clanker noted. "Assuming you were going to say 'is Shade alright,' my answer is yes."

"Really?" Knuckles asked, hardly daring to believe it. "She's fine?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes she is." The android let some time for the sighs of relief and cheers to pass before explaining. "Yes, it seems her battle armor is stronger than the Daleks anticipated. The same function that allows her to drain the energy out of opponents also drained the energy from the blast she took and made it almost harmless. Unfortunately, it took quite a lot of power from her armor to stop and store that beam and that wasn't quite enough to make it completely harmless. The energy that remained still struck her and put her into a coma for at least six hours."

"But she'll be okay when she wakes up?" Knuckles had to be sure.

"Too early to say. It may effect her in a small way, we'll find out when she awakens." Knuckles didn't say anything at this. He turned to look at Dan, who was watching and waiting for his reaction.

"Dan," he started. "I'm sorry I..."

"Think nothing of it Knuckles," he said quickly. "Don't dwell on it. Now then, back to the Daleks and fighting them, I think."

"We need to change our priorities, that much is certain." Angela stroked her chin with her claws thoughtfully. "We need to stop the Daleks getting the Master Emerald and stop the rest of the fleet from attacking the next city. No more innocent lives must be lost."

Before anyone could suggest something, a beeping noise resounded close by. Rouge looked at her wrist to see her communicator with GUN going off. Surprised they were contacting them when they hadn't for a while, she answered it.

"Receiving... yes, this is Agent Rouge... Shadow and Omega are present... why?... what, you are?... that's brilliant!... okay we'll be there, we may bring along some personal backup. Rouge out."

She switched off her communicator and turned to look at them all. "GUN HQ are amassing for a standoff against the Daleks. They're going to intercept the fleet at a designated point between the next city."

"With the technology they possess, they don't stand much chance against them," The Wolf commented cynically.

"Well, we'll send some of us with them and help to shore up their defenses," Dan suggested. "If we can't stop the Daleks, we can at least delay them until the virus is complete and Dalek X is dead.

"Wolf, you go with Rouge, Shadow and Omega to assist the GUN forces. That is, unless you or any of you have any objections otherwise..."

The Wolf shook his head and moved to the members of Team Dark, as did Emerl, Silver, Blaze, Tornado and Taser, a few minutes later, saying and showing that they all wanted to help with the resistance and, quite clearly, the extra help was very welcome.

"Good luck to you all and may you all return safely," Angela said to them, as they were leaving. Before they had completely left, Li'thicka stepped forward from the group and towards the Wolf, stopping about half way.

"Wolf." He turned around and looked at her. She stood there, staring after him. She wanted to say somthing to him, but her mind was blank. In the end, she just came out with; "Take care." The Wolf seemed a little surprised, but he gave her a smile. Then, he walked up to her, leaned in close and whispered something in her ear. A smile grew on her face too and she nodded happily, as he left with the group again, but not before raising his head up to the sky and letting out a billowing roar, Li'thicka mimicking him, the roar of a Yautja mingling with the screech of Kainde Amedha, both of them uttering Nan-de Than gaun: The Kiss of Midnight, no mercy to be shown to their enemies.

Dan stepped towards Li'thicka, evidently to ask what he said, but she turned and, as if she had read his mind, said: "His name." The Chosen Ones were a little shocked. The Wolf had never shared his true name with them, they had simply known him as the Wolf. Li'thicka was the only one who knew it, but he had either asked or ordered her not to tell them, as none of them had managed to pry it out of her. He must have given her permission to say it.

"Sain'ja. It means 'warrior.'" The tone of her voice was full of pride and happiness, as if a great weight had been lifted off of her mind. Dan nodded in a way of understanding, then spun about and clapped his hands together.

"Back to buisness, then. While Clanker, Tails, Nightshade and Eggman stay here and work on getting the virus active, the rest of us will be off to Angel, stop Dalek X, destroy the Dalek fleet and all be home in time for tea."

"Great, now I'm hungry," Ko'skarr voiced. Everyone ignored this comment.

"How are we going to get to Angel Island fast enough?" Knuckles asked. "We need to get there before they do, or at least before they get the Master Emerald."

"That, Knuckles, has already been taken into account. Follow me." He strode off and they all made after him. Ko'skarr and Lu'saa ended up leading, due to their fast movements as Xenomorphs and the fact that they were scaling the ceiling and wall. After walking down a cold, steel corridor, with the occasionnal view window, looking out at the lava flows and worker droids, they reached a circular door with the words HANGER BAY above it. They opened automatically, revealing what lay inside.

"Woah!" Tails exclaimed, his face a vision of awe and wonder. "Incredible!"

A large starship was hanging from the roof of the hanger on hooks. It didn't look like it was built though, more like it had been grown. It had a sleek body design, streamlined and smooth and looked like some kind of giant ocean creature, having the graceful look of a stingray and the predatorial appearance of a shark. The top part of the ship was wider than the bottom part, which had a series of different shaped grooves in the underside, eight in total and three thrusters emerging from the rear.

More ships, smaller than this one, were landed on the ground beneath it: a disc-like ship, remniscant of a classic flying saucer design; a ship that looked like four claws pointing forward, the cockpit in the middle; another more organic looking ship, which was wider and less streamlined, with a gun turret set atop it, pulsing and throbbing, as if alive; a smaller, scaled down version of the bigger ship, large enough for one pilot; a needle-like fighter, one thruster and two guns on the side; one that looked like it had an enlarged version Clanker's head as the cockpit, with needle-tipped wings pointing forward and a small, triangle-shaped snub-nosed fighter, coloured blue and a dome-headed droid wired into the wing, whistling and beeping.

"This," Ko'skarr started, gesturing expansivley and dramtically at the largest one, "is the Chosen Chariot, our main flag-ship, transporter and home. We got it from the Wo-" He stopped at a look from Li'thicka. "I mean Sain'ja's species as a thank-you prezzie. They didn't let us have every attachment, just enough to get us from point A to point B. Some arnaments, including plasma-cannons, but nothing fancy, a defensive sheild, tough outer hull, cosy rooms and a hyper-jump engine."

"An incredible piece of engineering!" Eggman yelled. "If only you would let me study it-"

"Eggy," Lu'saa said dangerously, "if you still want to have kids, I suggest you don't finish that sentence. We don't trust technology like this with scumbags like you."

"That's just our main one," Dan said, taking over, leading them across to the other ships. "We each have our own indidvidual fighters: The Crown Jewel, mine-" He pointed to the saucer one. "- The Queen's Scepter, my darling Angela's-" The claw one "- The Hive Mind, Ko'skarr and Lu'saa's two-seater-" The pulsating one. "- Sain'ja's The Kv'var-de or The Hunter-" The scaled-down one-"The Vor'mekta, The Stalker, is Li'thicka's-" The needle-shaped one. -"Clanker's The Scar Raider-" The one built with his head. "-and, last but not least, belonging to Nightshade, The Peacekeeper.

"Now then, Glacier, Sonic, Amy, Knuckles, as you're all coming with us to Angel Island, you'll be in the Chariot with Li'thicka piloting. Myself, Angela, Ko'skarr and Lu'saa will be providing fighter escort, in case the Daleks decide to try and shoot us down, along with some airborne robots Eggman will provide. Hopefully, we'll make it there alright, but we will be going past the fleet and trying to catch up to The Exterminator II, so there'll be bound to be some resistance."

"Excuse me, sir?" Dan looked to see Cream step forward tentativly towards him. "What about Cosmo and me?" He sighed and kneeled down to her level.

"I'm sorry Cream, but neither you nor Cosmo are combat capable, so you'll both have to stay here. It'll be safe and you'll have Tails to talk to, if you want. I really am sorry, but I'm afraid you'd slow us down..." He trailed off. It was hard to continue, when her young, innocent face showed so much disappointment at being turned down. Eventually, however, she nodded in understanding and went to stand beside Cosmo.

"We should return to our research. We will let you know when it's ready." Clanker turned and lead the base team back through the doors to and from the hanger. Eggman stopped though.

"Wait." He walked towards Sonic and held out his hand. "Sonic, in case neither of us make it back from this, know that you really have been a most formidable and respected opponent. Good luck to you, you annoying blue menace."

Sonic was a little surprised, but he gave a smile and shook Eggman's hand. "Thanks Doc, the feelings mutual, ya big egg-head. See ya, Ro-butt-nick." Eggman returned the smile and went off with the other researchers.

"Right then!" Ko'skarr bounded up to them. "All aboard the Chariot! Next stop, Angel Island! Ding ding!" With that, they all made off for their designated positions. The Chosen Chariot detached from the ceiling and hung suspended in the air. The three, smaller fighters rose up next to it and surged forward, as the massive ship glided majestically out of the side of the volcano and onto their next destination.

"God be with them. God be with us all," Tornado said, as his group watched them leave. No one saw any reason to disagree with this wish, but remained silent and continued on their way, torwards either certain death or total glory.


"FLEET PRIMED AND READY TO DEPART," came the report from a lesser Dalek, as the Inquisitor General stood from his command station on the Exterminator II. He had waited a long time for this pivitol moment in his time, this great victory of the Daleks. They would destroy the next city and, with the power of the Master Emerald, they could fufill the rest of their plan, the Daleks would at last take their rightful place as the supreme beings. Not even the Doctor would be able to stop them.

With this power, Dalek X would return to their own universe. He would hunt down the Doctor, he would have his vengeance and he would be known as the greatest being in Dalek history, greater than even the Emperor himself. At last...

"MAKE FOR THE CITY, MY SHIP WILL PROCEED AS PLANNED."

"I OBEY!" The screen switched off and Dalek X's sensors registered the ship's vibration, as it's powerful engines started up, propelling the ship towards their ultimate power, towards their destiny, torwards their victory.


In the entrance corridor, where the final moments of Attack Squad Beta 5 had been, they still stood there. Their lifeless, dead machine bodies helped to echo the state of the creatures inside. Everything has it's time and everything dies. Even Daleks. Here they stood, dead and gone, not a sign of movement from any of them.

Then, one of them, the one that Taser had electrocuted, began to twitch. The eye lit up feebly, the gun twisted and the sucker twitched, then it stopped again. Death throes? Last struggles? It moved again, the casing whirring and hissing. The locking mechanism released. The neck parted, as did the gun platform, steam hissing as the metal cage opened. Inside, the creature's tentacles writhed slowly, it's body moved up and down, as if breathing. The eye at the centre of the creature was moving ever so slightly.

Slowly, but surely, like a gate opening to the infernos of Hell, it opened...


Glacier: *gasps* Oh noes! Why?

Tornado: Ugly little blighters, I'll say that much.

Taser: Are we talking about the Dalek or the readers?

Glacier: *freezes him* Be quiet...

Read and review please, sorry it took a while.