"The Combined Federation of Interstellar States, or Com-Fed for short, was first formed in response to the threat of invasion from the Confederate Fesonians over five hundred of your years ago." Chuck had not moved a muscle since the lecture had begun. He sat there like an attentive child, nodding occasionally as he stared in wonder. "It is currently the faction holding the majority of territory within this spiral arm of the galaxy." The lecturer was Captain Alexander, the captain of the Colony ship which had come to their rescue. The Blue Typhoon had been taken onboard the massive dome shaped vessel and was undergoing repairs. Chris stood nearby glancing out the window at the strange hanger bay around the ship. This ship was massive. It wasn't as large as the Black Arm mother ship they had encountered two years ago, but was large enough to enclose the Typhoon completely.
Their friends had been retrieved from the wreck of Giant Wing and the fleet of ships was now making its way out of the debris field and into clear space.
"Faction holding the most territory?" Amy Rose asked. "Just how many factions are there?" Alexander resembled a mobian bird, but the proportions of his body were all wrong. He was a great deal taller and had scaly legs while mobian birds had feathered ones. His arms were longer as well and still bordered on being wings. He waved off to the side with a single arm and a holographic display appeared next to him. Dozens of star systems and planets were shown at once, nebulas and asteroid belts forming before their eyes. It was a map, a map of two spiral arms of the galaxy.
Different coloured lines lanced from place to place, dissecting the entire map up into various areas.
"We are here." He pointed to the red outlined area in the bottom right hand. It lay directly beneath the nothingness between the spiral arms of the galaxy which as marked as; the 'Bad Lands'. A small dot appeared to indicate the present location of the ship in relation to the rest of the universe. "On this side of the badlands, three factions hold the most power. One is the Federation itself." He gestured to another of the marked territories. "Another is the Falcon Admiralty." This territory was a great deal smaller than that of the Combine Federation's.
"Falcon Admiralty?" Chuck repeated. "Who are they?"
"One might say my kin." Alexander replied. "I am myself a Falcon. We herald from our sanctuary, the world referred to as Roc."
"One species rules all that?" Prof. Thorndyke looked a little stunned.
"This is nothing compared to some others." Alexander assured him with a flat expression. "Next is the Kingdom of Merchants." The third and final section had enough territory within it to rival the size of the Combine Federation's and was outlined in blue. "They aren't much of a faction as such, a simple traders union acting as a Government."
"Who do these things belong to?" Hare asked, jabbing a large finger at the two huge sections of territory on the far side of the badlands divide.
"You're looking at the official territory of the Confederate Fesonian Empire." Alexander replied looking at it sadly.
"They…they own this much?" Chuck looked amazed at it. The two sections had to be twice the size of the Federation's in themselves and when combined they owned that entire spiral arm.
"They 'conquered' that much." Alexander corrected him. "They are professional occupiers. They have subjugated thousands of races and now seek to do the same to us." He glanced around at the rag tag crew that had assembled on the bridge of the ship, discerning all of them with a sceptical eye. "The ship's present state is enough evidence to say that you put up a fight with limited technology at your disposal. You must have known that you didn't stand a chance. Not against an entire attack fleet."
"And just what where we supposed to do?" Amy demanded angrily, her hammer already in her grasp. "Just roll over and let them take control?" Alexander simply shrugged.
"They would have gone a lot easier on your planet if you had." The door to the bridge opened and Sonic walked in, the helmet of his space suit tugged under one arm. His quills were hanging behind him laden with the sweat that had gathered inside his suit. His green eyes were still burning with defiance.
"Sorry, rolling over like a whipped dog ain't our style." Alexander looked the hedgehog over, a puzzled expression passing over his features.
"I've seen you before someplace…" He stated thinking out load. Those features were defiantly familiar. The blue fur and quills, the green eyes and even the way the hedgehog stood. He had defiantly seen this being before. He glanced back to see a good deal of his own crew glancing in, staring at the blue one in amazement. They certainly recognised him and were in utter awe of it.
"Can you tell the fan club to knock it off?" The hedgehog asked without looking back, narrowing an eye at the captain. "I'm used to this sort of thing, but you see I've been in a real bad mood lately." Suddenly it hit Alexander and he just stood there as the information sunk in.
"You…. You're… you're…" He looked stunned. "You're Sonic the Hedgehog!"
"You guys know who Sonic is?" Chris asked.
"Know him?" Alexander asked without taking his eyes off the hedgehog even for a brief moment. "How could we not know the hero that did the impossible? How could we not know the being that destroyed the Destroyer?" He explained that Com-Fed makes a habit of studying radio transmissions that are beamed out into space by pre-galactic societies.
By chance they came across news transmissions from Earth and were able to watch as the fabled Destroyer was bested by this blue hedgehog and finally defeated once and for all.
Angrily, sonic lunged forward and grabbed the captain by the front of his uniform.
"If you guys knew all that, then why the hell didn't you come to help us when the Confederates invaded?" He had never been more frustrated in his life and was still brimming with anger.
"I don't question the orders of the higher ups." Alexander replied, brushing aside the hedgehog's fist. "All I know is that a decision was made not to intervene, but to fortify out own front lines for the Confederate force when it arrived to bring the fight to us." It was more than clear that it was taking every ounce of will Sonic had not to smash a punch directly into the Falcon's face. "But you have my condolences for your lost planet."
"It's not over yet." Sonic stated. "I'm going right back there to kick those guys out of our home." The captain chuckled, finding the idea funny. The hedgehog clenched and unclenched a fist, now more than ever tempted to really hurt him.
"You'll be facing an army of trained soldiers armed to the teeth, and they'll have entrenched themselves by now. Besides, you still have to cross a great deal of space behind enemy lines to even reach Earth. You people are light-years away from your home planet." A smirk crossed the hedgehog's face.
"Like you said; I've done the impossible before, haven't I?
-
The Diablon had stopped moving. It was simply floating through space completely inanimate. When it became clear that it either couldn't move under its own power or had been damaged to the same effect, one of the miner ships from the Com-Fed fleet went to pick it up.
The miners ships were like the larger colony vessel in shape but were far more streamlined and had a far wider wing span. A set of mechanical arms descended from underneath the ship as its shadow fell over the silent machine. The pincer clamped onto the arm and leg and pulled it aboard.
Eventually the miner returned the mech to the Scimitar colony ship, dropping the machine down in the main hanger bay next to the Blue Typhoon. Scorch marks from the Confederate attack lanced up and down the red armoured chest plate and down the arms. Dents from projectiles covered the wings and even the head had received a blow.
Topaz and Rei were already there waiting for it as the mech was dropping down. As if sensing them, it knelt down so the entrance to its cockpit was near the ground.
"That stupid idiot." Topaz snarled, still fuming with rage. "He just received a life threatening injury and then he goes out there to fight in this stupid thing?"
"You know, technically, he is your superior officer." Rei reminded her.
"Superior Officer or not he's going to get a piece of my mind!" She replied without looking back, fists clenched at either side. Her violet eyes were burning with fuming rage. Just what the hell was Okida trying to prove, that he had a death wish or something?
There was a sudden loud mechanical sound and the armour around the cockpit entrance began to peel back. Topaz set her face into the deepest scowl she could imagine and walked right up to the entrance. "Get out here you irresponsible jackass!" She declared punching the side of the Diablon to emphasise just how angry she was.
Rei blinked as he felt a wave of strong emotion came wafting out like a tidal wave, hitting him square in the face. A powerful sense of unendurable pain that sent shivers down his spine. Something was very wrong.
"Wait!" He called out to Topaz but she was already glaring up into the inside of the machine.
"Just what the hell are you…" Her words died in her throat as she set eyes on what lay inside. Something wet fell from the inside and onto her face. She whipped it off with her fingers and saw it was red in colour. A moment later, a mangled shape fell from the interior and crashed to the floor before her.
A bloody mess of fur and leathery wings, arms and legs out of position and all put into a horrific stance. "Okida…" She began almost in a whisper with horror spreading across her face. Barely touching the mess, she rolled it over and staggered back at the sight of Okida's face, his fur matted with blood. "You…. You stupid, stupid, STUPID IDIOT!"
The Scimitar had a better medical facility than the Blue Typhoon and the vampire bat was rushed there by Alexander's crew. They had advanced medical knowledge that Chuck simply had to stop and admire. They were easily able to put his limbs and most of the body parts back into position, sorting out the mangled mess he had ended up in. The blood he had lost didn't seem to be much of an issue either. They were able to replace it by exposing him to an overhead light.
When Chuck inquired about the device used from the Doctor overseeing the procedure, who looked remarkably human for an extraterrestrial being, she told him it was a regenerative energy source that was able to use the bodies own system to replaced whatever it had lost.
"But what I can't understand is how he got in such a state in the first place." The Doctor added as an afterthought. "It's was if the idiot was inside a tornado, the way his arms and legs were out of place. He's lucky his species has such an impressive healing rate or he may have been in trouble."
"It's saved not just his life, but half the people on our ship." Chuck replied scratching the back of his head. "Mobians seem to be made to take extreme physical punishment."
"It's to their credit." The Doctor replied as she brushed some of her long brunette hair out of her face. "I'm Alicia." She offered her hand forward. Chuck took it with a shake.
"Prof. Charles Thorndyke, but you can call me Chuck." She paused briefly when looked up towards the old man.
"I'm…I'm sorry to hear about your home world. You're not the only one to loss their home to the Confederate army." Chuck sighed and sat down in a chair nearby.
"It all happened so fast we didn't get a chance to put up a decent fight." His face set itself into a scowl. "And we could have fought them off; it hadn't been for that traitorous bastard Eggman." The Doctor looked up in surprise.
"You mean Doctor Eggman?" Chuck looked surprised.
"You know Eggman?"
"I know of him; he's the newest General of the Confederate Army; appointed by the Doom's Eye himself. According to Federation intelligence, he's to oversee technological growth for their military." Chuck sat there in silence for a moment before he started to laugh.
"Oh that's too ironic." He said with slumped shoulder. Alicia raised an eyebrow questioningly. "He betrayed us to become the master and now he's a stooge himself." Okida felt his consciousness bubbling back piece by piece to him and as soon there was enough of it to form coherent thought; he pushed a single eye open to survey his surroundings. Understandably, every inch of his body was pulsating with pain. It felt as if something had taken him apart and then put him back together again.
The first thing he saw was a pair of angry violet eyes staring down at him, intended malice clear in their stare.
"You… are the most foolish, idiotic, brainless person ever to grace this universe." Topaz hissed at him, before drawing her fist back and striking him with a hard slap across the cheek. Admits the other pain Okida didn't feel a thing physically but the emotional damage was severe enough. "That thing…that Diablon thing nearly ripped you to pieces!"
"Yeah, it's a rough ride alright." He replied in horse whispered as he turned back to look at her. "I discovered a bit too late that it takes a lot out of you."
"A lot out of you?" Topaz nearly screamed. "You were loosing buckets of blood when we got you here. You were at deaths door for Christ's sake!"
"My body wasn't used to the system it uses." Okida managed to reply. "If you were to pilot it, you would be directly linked to it. As if you and the mech literally become one. That's not a control system you can take lightly." Despite the pain in his shoulders he managed a shrug. "I'll get it practise I guess."
"Not a chance in hell." Topaz stated angrily. "That thing nearly killed you. There's no way I'm going to let you…" He reached up and placed a finger on her lips to silence her.
"I'm going to figure that machine out." He stated giving Topaz a smile. "I'm going to figure out 'why' it nearly killed me and get around it. I had nearly lost all purpose before Topaz, this is a mission I can't turn down." She stood there with conflicting emotion plain on her face. Then without a word she flung herself at him and wrapped her arms around his neck in a tight bear hug.
"You stupid idiot." She uttered into his shoulder tightening her hug and refusing to let go. Okida sat there in bed for a brief moment, before he in turn put his arms around her.
"You guys must have been visiting Earth a lot to have so many humans here." Bean remarked to Alexander as the two of them observed the workforce tasked with the repair work on the Blue Typhoon. They all were, or had the appearance of being human. Alexander shot the duck a puzzled gaze.
"Been to Earth?" He asked sounding extremely confused. "What do you mean by that? The Combine Federation hasn't so much as set foot on that backwater planet." Bean scratched the back of his head.
"Then…where did you get these guys from?" He asked, gesturing to one of the workers from the Scimitar. They were working alongside the survivors they had rescued from the wreck of Giant Wing to restore the engine of the vessel. They were currently in the process of replacing the conduits from the engine itself to the Master Emerald.
"From various planets along the Falcon frontier." The captain replied. His eyebrows rose into an expression of realisation. "Of course, I'm forgetting what culture you come from." Bean's expression begged from him further explanation. "You see, the human species isn't native to your planet. One can find human colonies across this entire spiral arm. Their people thrive within most of known space." He turned to give the startled Bean a glance over. "Actually, I've been meaning to ask about your species."
"Mine?"
"You bear many of the physical traits that would mark you as a Falcon." Alexander explained. "But you are… mobian wasn't it?" Bean nodded. "It seems to me that perhaps the Falcon's and the Falcon-like mobians might share a common ancestor." Bean stood there thinking for a moment, suddenly something occurred to him and he looked up.
"If your people have never been to Earth and then why do you speak English so well?"
"To me, you sound as if you're speaking Falconese." The captain replied and showed that around his neck he was wearing a golden chain with a device hanging from it. It was rectangular in shape with a single button on it. "All officers and employees within Com-Fed are required to use one of these."
"What are they?"
"Translators. They alter brainwave perception, translating whatever is said into the primary language of the user. It bypasses all the nonsense involved in interspecies meetings." Bean looked a little stunned.
"This puny thing really works?" The duck asked poking the side of it sceptically.
"If it wasn't you've be hearing me speak like this." Alexander pressed the button on the device and cleared his throat. He then proceeded to speak in a language Bean had never heard before in his life. It sounded like bird chirpings rather than words and the duck found he could not recognise a single word. Once the demonstration was over, the captain pressed the button again. "See?" He asked in English.
"Incredible!" Someone else declared. Bean was thrust aside and Chuck took his place, marvelling the device. "How does the mechanism work?" He marvelled at the device so much it began to disturb the captain a little.
"I'm not sure, they just hand them out to staff."
"Grandpa, just what are you doing?" Chris asked wandering up.
"Chris you have to see this incredible device. This is technology I've been waiting all my life to see!" Prof. Thorndyke muttered enthusiastically. "This is unprecedented, a working piece of art!"
"If he always like that?" Doctor Alicia asked as she caught up with them. Chris nodded and slumped his shoulders with a sigh.
"Ah Doctor." Alexander began snatching his translator away from Chuck's eager grip and placing it back behind his shirt. "How's your patient?"
"He'll be alright providing he gets some rest." She replied. "He's lucky he belongs to such a resilient species."
Bark was impressed by the repairs done to the Typhoon. The conduits to the engine had been nearly completely replaced and they were already in the process of restoring the weapons and shields. Offers had even been made to outfit them with greater technological capabilities. It was clear that Com-Fed had a greater understanding of science than they did and were indeed in a position of making their ship both faster and far more well defended.
Bark however was slightly suspicious of this generous attitude. He wondered constantly why they would be so helpful, to complete strangers? What did they have to gain by repairing the Typhoon? Then again, what reason could they have for being deceitful?
Perhaps, Bark began to himself; he had simply grown a little paranoid. Given their current situation it was easy to do.
Deciding to continue busying himself so he had less time for distracting thoughts, he went to inspect the ship for whatever damage was left. The ships armour plating and the inside structure had been damaged in the battle, cracked floors and ceiling making where direct hits from Confederate ships had been scored. He made a mental note of each one as he passed by but found that without much mechanical know-how all he was doing was observing rather than helping.
Most of the people they had rescued from the wreck had remained on the Blue Typhoon, very few of them venturing out to see the inside of the Scimitar for themselves. That said, their curiosity had gotten the better of them and thick crowds had gathered against the windows of the canteen as Bark walked in.
Lieutenant Milford, the one of their number who had taken charge of their group as sat at a table nearby with a collection of papers in front of him. He seemed to be the only one of the sixty personnel on the ship not interested in the giant extra terrestrial vessel.
"Paperwork at a time like this?" Bark asked. The man glanced up at him.
"I've decided to keep myself busy." He replied looking back down at the papers in front of him. "All this stuff…" … He gestured towards the ship, implying that he was referring not just to the Scimitar but to their current situation. "Can be overwhelming so a little distraction can do wonders." The polar bear sighed in response and folded his large arms.
"Guess I can understand where you're coming from with that." He muttered almost to himself before glancing down at the papers the sergeant had on the table. "What are those?" He asked giving them a look over.
"I was able to talk that feathery Captain into letting me have these." Milford replied. "Since we're both fighting the same enemy, he gave me a print out of various bits of their intelligence information about the Confederates." He offered the first page to Bark, who took it up and held it closer to read the very fine print. It was written in English but clearly their translator had had a little bit of trouble and there were numerous spelling errors. "My brother once told me; the more you know about an enemy, the easier he is to defeat." Milford carried on. "I think partly the reason we lost was that we knew diddly-squat about the enemy we were fighting. Eggman's betrayal helped them out, but ultimately I think it was our ignorance that beat us."
As much as he was loathed to shift some blame away from the Doctor, Bark had to admit there was logic in what the sergeant was saying. The information contained within the first few lines was more than G.U.N's entire military force had been operating on.
According to this at least, the Confederate Fesonians had six attack fleets and four defender fleets. While their front line fighters engaged in skirmishes, their defenders patrolled their territory to protect it from incursions.
"Learn anything that might help us?" He asked.
"How to return to Earth or defeat the Confederates when we get there?" Milford asked glancing up along the rim of his nose.
"Either will be a blessing right now." The polar bear replied. The Lieutenant sighed and leaned back in his chair.
"Well, from these I guess the first thing the Confederates will do with Earth once they squash all resistance is to fortify it into a stronghold. That is what Eggman said they would do with the planet isn't it?" Bark nodded. "The intelligence data here will give us some idea of what defences we'll be facing when we get there."
"'If' we get there."
"Don't be defeatist."
Suddenly the entire Scimitar ship lurched to the side as if it was doing a sharp U-turn. Milford and thrown out of his seat and several others, Bark included, lost their footing and crashed to the floor. If the Blue Typhoon hadn't been clamped down to the enormous hanger bay floor it would have been thrown clear across it.
Okida had to grab Topaz by the arm to prevent her from falling off the edge of the bed in the medical bay.
Knuckles strained to push the Master Emerald back into position as it tipped dangerously close to the edge of the metallic emerald shrine replica in the Typhoon's energy core.
"Yippie!" Charmy declared as most of Chaotix had to hang onto the nailed down furniture for dear life. Vector tried to pull himself back up, but at that moment Rei lost his grip and fell backwards straight into the crocodile sending them rolling down into the far wall. "This is fun!"
"What the heck is going on now?" Bean asked as he pulled himself off the hanger floor.
"Attention this is the Captain speaking." Alexander's voice began into the air, talking throughout speakers scattered throughout the ship. "We have altered course. Our communications officer has just received confirmation that a Confederate transport ship is moving through this sector back to Fesonian friendly space. We are moving to intercept. All crew members take the necessary preparations for battle." The technicians from the Scimitar were suddenly in a blur, many of them making for the exits of the hanger bay dropping their various equipment and tools behind them.
Alexander watched from the bridge as their target neared. This was against protocol, but sensors and enemy communications chatter indicated that their target was a Confederate slave transport vessel.
If the Fesonian's had penetrated this deep into their territory than the colonisation mission was off. Rescuing the beings help captive on the vessel was of far greater importance.
"We'll be at intercept position within half an hour sir." The helmsman announced. Alexander just stared forward, his wings folded behind his back.
"Ready all weapons." He proclaimed. "All crewmen to their combat positions."
Sonic watched as the stars outside the window started to fly past at an increased velocity, showing that their speed had greatly increased.
-Earth is mine!- That was what the Doctor had confidentially claimed. Sonic could still remember each and every crease in Eggman's skin as he sneered those words.
"Not for long it won't be." The blue hedgehog found himself muttering.
The Confederate ship noticed them as they approaching from behind as soon as the large flat and circular vessel was within visual range; it started releasing dozens of round spherical objects in its wake.
"Space mines, fire barrage!" Alexander ordered and all the ships in his convoy opened fire, a thick stream of laser blasts flying forward. The mines began exploding before they could reach the vessels, but some of them were sneaking through the fray and were closing in. Judging by the explosions the others were making they could do a lot of damage if they hit the ships directly.
The smaller ships were swift enough to dodge around them, but being much larger the Scimitar was much slower and for a brief moment it seemed as if the mines might impact. Before they could, a beam of intense light flew out nowhere and struck each of them in turn; detonating them prematurely and before they were within range of the Scimitar. Metal Sonic kept firing his energy projectiles until the mines had been cleared from the ships path.
All the while the Confederate vessel sped on, hoping to use this momentary confusion to escape.
"Hard to starboard, all engines ahead full!" Alexander order and the Scimitar and the others ship sped after it. "Port barrage, target their engine emissions and fire!" Along the right hand side of the Scimitar, turrets rose up from hidden positions before firing streams of lasers. They missed the ship itself, but hit the ion emissions from their engines. These burnt with the abundant energy and the discharge sent a rippling shockwave through the ship, sending it tipping forward dangerously and it slowed down.
The Scimitars supporting ships were quick to surround the Confederate vessel in a tight circle.
"This is Alexander of the Com-Fed colony ship Scimitar." The captain announced to the fesonian ship as it floated there, now completely surrounded. "Surrender at once and prepare to be boarded." The Confederate ship had little choice in the matter. It was a simple transport vessel whose escort had abandoned it to be drawn into conflict elsewhere. It had no armaments save the space mines and they had already been used up. Within minutes the captain of the ship admitted defeat.
This ship was far different in shape from the vessels they had seen during the battle above the Earth. It was flat and shaped like a saucer, with long wings spread out either side.
"What is it?" Amy asked looking at it from the Scimitar.
"A Confederate slave transport ship." Alexander replied standing a short distance behind her. "Upon conquering a new world, common Confederation practise is to divide the native population in half. One half would remain to be the workforce on the planet and its regent, while the other half is transported back to their home world for slave labour." Amy glanced back at the captain, then at the ship as the smaller ships in the Com-Fed fleet made moves to begin docking. "A ship of this size can easily hold around 5000 people; despite its appearance it has space for that many." If the stories she had heard about the Confederates were true, then they had conquered many worlds. If they did this to each and every one of them, just how many slaves had they taken? How many slaves could they possibly need?
"Just where has this ship come from?" She asked, looking back over her shoulder slowly to meet the captain's steady stare.
-
Sonic kicked the door to the containment levels of the Confederate ship open and the sight beyond made him grimace with anger. Level after level inside this part of the vessel was filled with nothing but cells and cages, all of them stocked to near bursting point with both humans and mobians. The blue hedgehog's anger intensified with each step. Eggman had thrown in his lot with this? He had no idea what kind of mistake he had made.
As he walked amongst them, they reached out through the bars of their cells towards him; calling him by name; begging him to let them out. They hadn't needed to ask. Slowly, he held up a single hand and summoned the beginnings of his Sonic Wind attack between his fingers. Arching his arms back, the soft blue glow intensified before he cupped his hands and threw them forward. The clocking mechanisms were torn off each cell door as the swirling blue vortex tore its way down the corridors. The forced momentum threw the cell doors open and the prisoners nearly tumbled out. Their captors had clearly not been kind to them. Dozens, no, hundreds; had terrible bruising and many broken bones. Those who had resisted were in even worse condition.
Without even thinking about it, Sonic whirled around and grabbed the captain of the ship the soldiers from the Com-Fed had escorted down here. The hedgehog's hands clenched around the throat, threatening to break his neck in two.
"You bastards!" He snarled. "You think you can just do this to innocent people!" The captain struggled with the hands on his throat but Sonic was physically stronger than he was. "Let's see how you like it!" The soldiers tried to drag Sonic off, but the hedgehog refused to let go; his anger overtaking any rational judgement.
Without warning someone slammed a punch directly into Sonic's face, sending him flying down towards the ground. The blue hedgehog snapped up, to his utter dismay to find Chris standing there glaring down at him.
"What the hell has gotten into you?" Sonic demanded pulling himself back up now with a bruise on his cheek.
"Gotten into me?" Chris asked. "What the hell's gotten into you? I don't know if you're even aware of it, but you were about to kill him!" Sonic glanced over towards the fesonian captain. He was kneeling on the floor struggling for breath. "I know you're angry Sonic. We all are, but if you of all people start loosing it then what hope is there for the rest of us?" The blue hedgehog looked back at the people from Earth they had just released. They were looking u pat him with confused eyes. Right then he realised what he had been moments away from doing.
"You're right." Sonic admitted with genuine remorse in his voice. "I'm sorry…I….I just saw red."
"You should go back to the Typhoon and get some rest." Chris sighed. "I'll deal with this. You just find some time to calm down." Sonic slumped his shoulders and walked past. He stopped by the fesonian captain.
He looked down at the reptilian alien and saw a guy like any other, someone just doing his job.
"I'm sorry." He uttered before leaving him to the Com-Fed soldiers to pick up. Chris watched the hedgehog go with a heavy heart. Even since they had first met, Sonic had been an example for him to model himself on. Someone who let the pressures in life wash over them. Apparently this situation had affected the hedgehog more than he was prepared to show.
"Chris… is that you?" Hearing a familiar voice, Chris turned to see the last people he expected to see.
"Danny? Francis?" He began almost in disbelief. His friends from his school days were there amongst the crowds of the liberated. Next to the dark skinned boy of now 16 was another of his old friends; Francis, a girl they had went to the same class with. In her arms was a blonde haired girl with sea blue eyes. "Helen?" Hearing her name called, the girl looked up. Her eyes were red from salty tears. She said nothing.
He hadn't had an opportunity to see her since the rise of the Machine Federation on Mars over two years ago. She had grown much in that time. Her hair was longer and tied back into a ponytail. She had several bloody gashes down his arms and on down the side of her left thigh. The injuries patched up with dirty rags. Chris just stood there comatose for what felt like an hour before he finally looked up into the faces of his three childhood friends.
"What happened?" He asked.
"They rounded us up." Danny muttered; his eyes fraught with heightened emotional anguish. "They took our folks away on a different transport. We got stuck in here."
"Your parents?" Chris asked, quite aware there was little need to ask. "They were sent back to be part of the slave workers?" Danny and Francis exchanged brief glances.
"Not all of them…" The red haired girl muttered in a weak voice. "Helen's parents tried to…" As if she hadn't the courage to continue she trailed off. She hadn't needed to. The tears in Helen's eyes were evidence enough.
Her parents were dead.
"She hasn't said a word since they threw her into our cell." Danny continued looking down at the girl Francis cradled almost like a child. "Because she can't walk, their soldiers were going to shoot her." His face twisted a little. "Guess they thought she was damaged goods or something. It was the slave traders that changed their soldier's minds." The emotions tearing through Chris' mind were a mixture of impotent anger and anguish. Tears began to form at the sight of the battered girl before him. He took another look at those who held her and saw the same emotions clear in their eyes.
There was a brief moment of silence, before all four of them met in a hug. Helen wrapped her arms around Chris and refused to let go.
"Man would you look at all this?" Beck muttered as Chaotix began the task of moving the people on the transport vessel and getting them onto the other ships ready to be shipped back to the Scimitar were proper medical attention could be given to the hundreds of them. The captain, Alexander, had requested it off them as most of his men were busy dealing with the Fesonian crew of the ship. None of them had had anything to eat for the past two days and the drinking water supplied was clearly contaminated.
"French, Russian, African…" Rei stated, noting the origins of the various prisoners out load. "And I think that one's an Eskimo."
"Plenty of our own guys too." Espio was quick to add, seeing the dozens of mobians cramped together in frightened small crowds. "Can those Com-Fed guys cope with this many?"
"Who cares if they can't?" Vector demanded without looking back as they passed by a long stretch of cells. "We sure as hell ain't leaving them here."
"Hey scales, fancy meeting you here." The voice was so familiar none of them had even had to turn to look to know who it was. In the cell to their right, sitting on the floor glaring up at them was a weasel with bright violet fur. A cowboy style hat sat at a slat on his head and he had a large belt around his waist. His tail had a kink in it at an almost ninety degree angle. Descended through his lips was a single sharp tooth with gave him his name; Fang the Sniper.
Or as they knew him; Nack the Weasel; the traitor.
His cell door was open but that did him little good. He was chained to the wall with his arms held high above him. Evidence of lashings was clear through his fur, thick scars blistering the skin.
"Behind bars Nack?" Espio asked, glancing up at the restraints placed around him, a glimmer of satisfaction in the chameleon's eyes. "Fitting."
"It's 'Fang' now." The weasel reminded them sourly staring at them from under the rim of his hat. "And are you going to just stand there or get me out of here?"
"Just standing here seems like a good idea to me." Vector replied smiling sadistically to show every one of his sharp teeth. "Better yet, why don't we carry on as if we never saw him guys?"
Charmy stuck in the tongue out and they made moves to simply walk past his cell.
"No wait!" Fang cried out, sounding slightly desperate. "Don't leave me in here!"
"Why shouldn't we?" Espio demanded giving him a side ways glance as they walked. Fang frantically searched his mind for legitimate reasons. Suddenly something came to light and he looked up.
"Because I know where your bunny girl is!" Vector stopped dead in his tracks. "Vanilla isn't it? Yeah… well she was rounded up with the rest of us, set on a different transport back to Confederate space or somethin'." The Weasel continued. "I heard them talking about its destination." The others stopped and looked back at Vector, seeing the unquestionable look of boiling anger burn within his dark orange eyes. "I'll tell you where, just let me out!"
"Vector…" Espio began slowly. Vector glanced down at the chameleon. Out of all of them, Espio had the most legitimate reason to hate Fang and leave him rotting here. The weasel had betrayed their agency and lead them into a trap laid by the mob some years back and a close friend of the chameleons, Mighty the Armadillo, had paid with his life to give them a chance to escape.
"It's your call Espio." The crocodile stated. Espio was completely silent for a single moment, before with a single swift gesture tossed a concealed throwing star through the air. It slammed into the manacles holding Fang's arms to the wall, slicing the chains and letting the weasel fall free.
"It's not revenge I want anymore." The ninja stated turning away. The Crocodile managed a brief smile and turned to face Fang, his face twisting into a darkened frown.
"Start talking weasel."
"Alright then…" Fang replied, rubbing his wrists to restore feeling. "A deals a deal I suppose. Provided I get free passage outta here that is." Another throwing star slammed into the wall, narrowly missing the weasel's neck.
"DON'T try to be clever Nack or I'll throw you out an air lock myself." Vector stated clenching a fist as Espio admired another of his metallic shards. "If you know where Vanilla is, spit it out!" The crocodile's hands clenched around the nearest metal bar and twisted it out of shape in an intimidating display of strength. "NOW!"
-
The fact that the fesonians had advanced this far into their territory was alarming enough, but if they were already taking slaves from captured planets then it was clear they were already fortifying their positions. This puzzled Alexander a great deal. He had been out of contact with any Federation information distribution depot for some time and his current knowledge of events was someone lagging.
Still, he could not see how they could have advanced so quickly with such a Com-Fed presence at the badlands border.
While the contractors in the colonization businesses would not be happy, and the miners themselves would complain about a wasted trip; it was imperative that they return to planet Chimera to report the magnitude of the incursion. Settlers bound for planet Cyclops would just have to wait for another time.
By now, most of the liberated captives had been transferred from the Confederation transport ship to the Scimitar itself and various other ships in the fleet. As soon as they were all safely aboard, the Fesonian crew would be sealed in the brig to await questioning from Com-Fed authorities.
"How are the repairs on the Blue Typhoon coming along?" The falcon asked, leaning to the side to look at one of the technical officers.
"They're almost complete sir." The human replied snapping to attention to a click of his heals. "But I have to report that the technology used in the vessel is lower than our own and if the ship was put into a combat situation against an average Confederate fleet, it would not last that long. I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did against the Confederate's attack class vessels." Alexander said nothing in reply. He had already had the chance to go over the technical displays of the Blue Typhoon. While incredibly impressive for a society only just achieving space travel, it was no match in terms of fire power or defence for battleships in both the Confederation and Com-Fed fleets.
"It'll need to be upgraded then." The captained sighed eventually. "Well, we're not equipped for that here. We'll have to arrange it when we arrive back at Chimera."
"If I may ask sir…" The officer began slowly. "Why are you being so generous to them? They're not Com-Fed military personnel, or even our allies. I'm pretty sure this is a short step for a violation of military procedures." The Falcon smiled and stood up out of the captain's seat.
"Call it personal gratitude." He replied, crossing his arm like wings behind his back as he stared out across space. "They did defeat the legendary Destroyer Titan after all and regardless of the reasons, the Combined Federation did not come to their aid when it could have." His head turned to give the officer a glare over his shoulder. "Helping them repair and modernize their vessel and even rescue some of their people is the least we can do."
Sonic had gone right back to his room on the Blue Typhoon, thrown the door open and collapsed onto the bed face down. He was tired, both mentally and physically; and scared a little.
For a brief moment had lost control of himself and if Chris hadn't intervened, he would have killed that Fesonian captain. Resentment against their kind had been bubbling up in him for a while, only to be fully realized and expressed at the sight of all those cages.
The blue hedgehog had never killed with malicious intent in mind, but just now; he rolled over on the bed to look up at his hands. He could still remember how the neck felt between them. A little more applied strength and he could have broken it, in front of all the people who thought him a hero.
"What is wrong with me?" He asked, putting a hand to his forehead and closing his eyes. "This is nuts, I don't kill people." Those statements did little to cover the fact he had wanted to and nearly had. Anger was clouded his judgement so he didn't even consciously realize what he was doing until he was on the floor with Chris' fist imprint in his cheek.
And Chris of all people... that in itself was odd enough to mark this event in his memory for a long time.
A loud footstep came from the open door of his room and glancing up; he saw Metal Sonic's silhouetted form against the light in the corridor outside. The half eclipsed circular red eyes staring at him.
"I have decided that staying with your group is not what I should be doing." The robotic hedgehog said. "I have downloaded a map of territories known to this Federation, I am leaving." Sonic sat up and stared at him. "You have your own tasks…" Metal Sonic gestured around, referring to the blue Typhoon and the safety of those rescued. "And I have mine." A metal fist closed with a loud ringing.
Sonic forged a frown.
"Dark Oak, right?" Metal Sonic just nodded once in reply.
"He's my enemy, not yours. Once I find him, I will make sure he does not come back from the grave again."
"And the Chaos Emeralds? What will you do if you find them with him?"
"What do you think?" Metal Sonic's ambition of resurrecting his Machine Federation was well known and with the seven Chaos Emeralds he could do that. "Worry about your own present agenda's Sonic and forget about possible future ones." The robotic hedgehog's made a move to leave.
"Metal, tell me something…" Sonic asked and his metallic counterpart stopped. "Are you going after Dark Oak because you don't want him using the Emeralds, or because you're angry at him for betraying you?" Metal Sonic didn't reply. "I nearly did something I would have regretted for the rest of my life because I lost control of my anger."
"Machine's aren't bound by the same moral code organic life forms are." The robotic hedgehog stated. Sonic managed a short lop sided grin.
"Not all of them, but I think you are." Metal shot him an unimpressed glare, before leaving.
Captain Alexander watched as the robotic hedgehog left the ship and the thrusters on its feet, carried it off into the abyss until it was too small to see.
A moment after this, a thick barrage of laser fire came streaming out of nowhere, striking two of the mining vessels. The small ships couldn't handle the assault and exploded in a fire storm. The barrage continued and several more vessels were reduced to burning scrap metal.
"All ships, assume defensive formation delta!" Alexander declared dropping back into the captain's chair. "Shields, full power. All personnel to battle positions!" out of the bleak abyss of space, more space ships started to arrive; their design clearly showing they were attack class Confederation ships. Quickly their numbers ballooned to over twenty. Their combined fire power was enough to wipe out the Com-Fed fleet.
"All personnel and civilians have been evacuated from the transport ship sir." An officer at the front reported as the attack enemy ships assumed an assault formation and prepared to deliver the final blows. More Confederate ships were arriving one after the other, forming a gigantic fleet. Alexander quickly realized with growing horror that they been discovered by an advancing attack fleet; one of the Dooms Eye's elite forces.
"Lay down cover fire and retreat." He ordered. "Have the miner ships go ahead. The Scimitar will cover their withdrawal."
Topaz found the sickbed in the Scimitar's medical bay empty and the bloody bandages left where they had been dropped, a trail leading from the bed itself and out the door. Without even thinking about it, she ran without stopping through the corridors as the ship shook under the assault it was receiving.
Bursting out into the hanger bay, she was there just in time to see the metallic plates close around the Diablon's cockpit.
"OKIDA!" She cried out but by then it was already too late. She ran towards the machine and didn't stop even as it stood up and flexed its wings. "Okida, that thing's going to kill you!" The Mech made moves to exit the ship through the hanger bay doors. "No you don't you stubborn man!" She growled to herself, leaping forward and grabbing onto the leg of the massive foot of the machine. Climbing up the leg, she crawled desperately towards the cockpit entrance.
"When I open those doors, you'll be sucked out into space." Okida's voice stated from within the depths of the machine, projected outside by the speakers. "Let go and get yourself onto the Typhoon." The giant metal hand pointed towards their ship, sitting on the far side of the massive hanger bay.
"And let you go out there and get yourself killed?" She asked as she climbed, reaching the waist of the machine. "You don't know me very well." She began smashing her fist on the spot where the cockpit door would open but it didn't yield.
Eventually however the metal plates pealed aside and the interior was exposed. Okida had opened it from the inside. He was sanding there leaning against the side with a bored expression on his face.
"You're not going to let this go are you?" He asked raising an eyebrow. She raised a fist to strike him, then hesitated and lowered her arm.
"What's the point in hitting you?" She asked out load. "It's not like it's knocked any sense through that thick skull before." The ship around them shook again, a flash of yellow from the direct hit of a laser.
"This is the only working Mech and you can't expect me to lie in bed when you're all fighting that many ships?" The vampire bat asked. "I know this thing is dangerous. It was my body that got mangled remember? But if I don't master this thing, whatever self esteem I have left goes flying out the window." Topaz had known that already but had been choosing to ignore the fact.
A sudden smile crossed her face, along with a look that made Okida worry slightly.
"Then let's see you master it." She whispered almost seductively, sliding down into the cockpit with him. The metallic plates closed behind her and the Diablon's eyes glowed bright neon blue.