CHAPTER 9

Is this the end of yesterday?

XxXxXxXx

Shadow shakily stood, hating the feeling of being weak. No one was around, many of the injured and sick in the Sick Bay moved to other locations. It was quiet, almost too quiet.

Shadow slowly made his way across the room, heading for the door. He wanted to have a purpose. He didn't want to be useless anymore.

"And where do you think you're going?"

Shadow cast McCoy a glare. "Where do you think?" it hurt to speak.

"You need to stay here. You're not yet recovered from the worst of it. If you push yourself too far, you could die."

"A small sacrifice,"

"No," the ship's surgeon said. "Sonic would be losing one of his best soldiers. After this war is over, we'll need people like you. Someone with a strong will to keep moving forward. Others look up to you...And I think that fox is one of your biggest fans."

Shadow scoffed. "Right now, if something is not done, I will be losing one of my best commanders, and your captain may be among the dead. I cannot just sit here and watch it all happen."

McCoy grinned slightly. "I know what you mean." he walked over to the wall and pressed a button on a panel, saying, "McCoy to engineering."

A moment's silence, and then another voice. "Engineering,"

"Mr. Scott, I have another to add to your crew,"

"Aye, sir! I'll send Tails to pick him up,"

McCoy shut off the communicator and said, "Well, you got your request. We need our transporter up and working as fast as possible. Work with them and try to find out how to jam the signal that's jamming us, or better yet, shut it down altogether."

Shadow nodded. "Thank you, doctor,"

"Anytime," McCoy shrugged.

XxXxXxXx

"As far as we know, the signal is powering the robots, controlling them, and jamming our transporter. The signal is transmitted from Robotnik's base to here," Tails pointed to a pinkish gem embedded in the robot's chest. "This translates the signal into energy."

Shadow nodded, looking over the array of destroyed robot parts lining the tables. "What wavelength is the signal broadcasting on?"

"It changes. Constantly." Scott said. "It's just enough to scatter the transporter signals."

"What if we produce a stronger signal to destroy the receiving end?" Shadow pointed to the pink gem.

"That's what we're trying to do." Tails said. "But we're not sure what'll happen if we do it. The signal would not be taken in by the robots...it could target us instead."

"The signal is strong enough to enter space?"

"It might be able to. The transporter works, until it hits the atmosphere. That's where the signal is throwing it off. We're picking up small amounts of the signal up here, but it's mostly being absorbed by Robotnik's robots."

Shadow frowned and watched Scott dismantle a robot's weapon. "What if...we produce a signal to turn them against their creator?"

"We should just destroy them. They're too much of a threat." Tails said.

"But Robotnik always keeps a select few robots inside his base...with him. If we turn the signal...we would have the element of surprise. We may even end the war abruptly." Shadow said.

Tails blinked. "Wow...I never thought of that...it just might work. Scott?"

"It might just, laddie. I'll see what I can run by the other engineers and we'll get right to work!" Scott said.

Shadow smiled slightly. Perhaps things had taken a turn for the better.

XxXxXxXx

Kirk leaned heavily against the wall and coughed violently, flecks of blood staining his sleeve.

"Captain..." Spock said hesitantly. "We cannot afford delay."

"I know..." Kirk coughed again. "I'll be fine in a minute..."

"Captain, we don't have a minute,"

Kirk straightened as best as he could and nodded. "I'll be fine until we reach the Enterprise. I'm not getting worse...the chemicals in the air prevent it. I'm just at the point of no return..."

"Doctor McCoy will find a cure, Jim."

"No doubt he will. How's he doing?" Kirk asked, motioning to the limp form in Spock's arms as he began walking again. Sonic muttered something, twitching slightly.

Spock quickly followed the Captain, keeping watch behind them. "As you would put it, 'The point of no return'." The First Officer reported.

"I suppose that's good," Kirk muttered. "How much further?"

"Just around the hallway." Spock reported. "Then through the main room,"

"So far so good...don't let my luck fail now," Kirk muttered, rounding the corner. No one there. He motioned for Spock to follow and they continued through a door under the balcony of the main room.

"I see you got past my security. I have to congratulate you on that."

Kirk stopped, trying to pinpoint the voice. "Where are you?" he hissed, turning.

Robotnik grinned down at them from the balcony. Standing on either side of him was a robot, one as tall as him and armed with a deadly looking gun and another that was looking nervously back and fourth, barely half the size of the man in charge.

"Paradoxes. You just keep finding my weak points and using them to your advantages. Soon, you'll be at a loss. I will improve. I will perfect. You won't be able to win very, very soon." Robotnik said.

Kirk reached for his phaser.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

The robot with the weapons shot, the accuracy deadly and precise. The phaser was shot out of Kirk's hand and thrown—useless and broken—into the corner.

"Good shot!" the smaller robot said.

"Well, Kirk...I want you to come with me. The rodent, too." Robotnik kicked the little robot out of the way and walked down a flight of stairs to meet the Enterprise crew. "The other can stay here. He has no meaning to me. In fact..."

The armed robot took aim at Spock's head. "...I should just kill him right now,"

"No!" Kirk shouted. He broke off in another violent coughing fit.

"I suppose you're right," Robotnik snapped his fingers and the robot dropped its weapon to its side. "Perhaps he'll make a good cyborg. Now, move."

The smaller robot trotted up to Kirk and kicked his ankles. "Yeah! Move!"

Kirk didn't budge.

"You know what? You can go. Head on outside. Back to your pitiful army." Robotnik's grin grew wider.

"What are you playing at?" Kirk growled.

"Oh, nothing! Absolutely nothing..."

The armed robot had brought the gun to the back of Spock's head. "But you really must leave my base."

Sonic twitched in Spock's arms and muttered something, a wheezing cough making his entire body spasm. Robotnik laughed. "Go on! Leave!"

"Captain, it's most likely a trap," Spock said calmly.

"I know. And yet there's nothing we can do." Kirk started walking to the exit. Spock, Robotnik and the robots followed close behind. The smaller robot made a sound that would have been laughter had it been human, saying, "Oooh, this was the best plan ever, boss! No one else would have been this intelligent to think of something like this!"

Robotnik kicked it along. "Shut up and keep moving,"

They walked out of the building and into the rain. Robotnik walked up to Kirk, saying, "Well...?"

It took him a moment to realize what he was looking at. The dimmed light and the fog rising from the ground confused him. The ground was a reddish brown, as though fertile soil had been dug from deep within the crust of the planet. A pile of leaves was burning nearby, smoke still curdling from it.

Kirk fell to his knees. It wasn't soil.

It was blood.

The pile of leaves...bodies.

"You've..." Kirk stammered.

"Killed them. Don't worry, a few managed to escape," Robotnik grinned.

Kirk clenched his fists. "How could you...?!"

"Simple. Give the word, it's done. Just a simple word ordered to my undying army of metal and bullets and it was done. Do you want to know what it was?"

Kirk remained silent.

"It was 'Kill'. Such a simple word. A word without meaning to my machines."

"Shut up..."

"And just like that, this once beautiful field was stained ruddy red with the filth that ran through their veins they called blood. I think half of them died within the first ten seconds."

Kirk stood again, staring with disbelief at the smoking pile of bodies. Before he could stop himself, he lunged at Robotnik and slammed a fist into the man's jaw, catching him off balance.

"Captain...!" Spock had set Sonic down and was now by Kirk's side, as though unsure of what to do.

"Mistake, Kirk." Robotnik snickered, wiping blood from his lip. "You just confirmed who I kill first,"

The robot aimed its weapon at Kirk's head and awaited orders. Spock was still by his side, a stony expression on his face. Sonic muttered something again, agitated by the rain. He slowly sat up, still wheezing slightly. "...K...Kirk...?"

"Oh, perfect. The rat wakes to witness the execution of the captain." Robotnik snickered.

"...! No!..." Sonic shouted, breaking off in a terrible choking sound.

"Goodbye, Kirk. It was nice knowing you," Robotnik laughed. "Now...KILL HIM!"

Kirk shut his eyes and waited. It never came. He blinked and stared at his executioner, waiting for some sort of reaction from the robot. Nothing...

"KILL HIM!" Robotnik shouted.

Still, nothing. Even the little robot had gone still.

"Captain...!" Sonic coughed, dragging himself across the muddy ground toward the Enterprise commanders.

"What...?" Kirk asked, eyes still fixed to the robot's weapon.

"...R...run...!"

"NO! FIRE! KILL HIM! FIRE!" Robotnik screamed.

The robots shuddered, as though detecting a small earthquake only they could feel. The one with the weapon lowered it and turned to face Robotnik.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! FIRE! FIRE!"

Kirk couldn't believe what was happening. As he watched, the robot raised its weapon again and aimed it at Robotnik's chest.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! DO AS I COMMAND AND SHOOT HIM!"

A moment's silence, and than the smaller robot spoke. Its voice wasn't its own.

"You heard. Shoot him."

All Kirk knew for certain was there was a gunshot. He saw Robotnik fall. And he saw the glow of the transporter engulf Spock, Sonic and himself.

Kirk was still in shock as the bloodstained field was replaced with the Enterprise's transporter room. He made out faces he recognized...McCoy, standing by the door; Scotty, at the controls; Shadow, standing by Tails in the doorway; Rissa, a huge grin on her face.

"Mr. Scott! I thought the transporter was nonoperational?" Spock said.

"It was, laddie. Until we fixed it," Scott beamed.

"Robotnik's not dead." McCoy said. "And unfortunately, he had an override control in his pocket. Almost all of his robots are out of commission. But we have the upper hand now."

Kirk grinned. "Then let's bring Hell to him instead of waiting for it to claim him."

McCoy returned the grin. "I can't tell you how long I've been waiting for this moment."

XxXxXxXx

This entire chapter written, edited, and uploaded in one day. You're welcome. My thumbs are going to fall off, cuz I wrote this on an iPod. Two more chapters until this story is completely done! The finally is next chapter! Whoot! And then the next one after that is gonna be boring conclusions! Hurray!

Anyway, remember to review and stuff!

Hasta la Vista, Readers!

Lordoftheghostking28