Star Wars: Tails of the Old Republic
Chapter 038
Lower City Taris – Vulkar Base, part two
The room instantly exploded into violence.
The heavy assault droids opened fire first, forcing the team to stay under cover. Tails' deteriorating health made it difficult to focus, but he aimed and returned fire as best he could. He ducked from cover to cover, and concrete and metal exploded into jagged chunks or molten globs. Tails got hit, but his energy shield dissipated most of the heat. Said shield was going to expire in about sixty seconds.
The Mobian fox had been pushed through Death's door and pulled back out again, and had laid quivering there at the doorstep for the better part of the day. It was only by this world's medical miracles that he was still alive, and it was only through his autonomic cybernetic augmentations that he was still able to push himself this far. Tails' mortal, organic body had been torn up, shredded, eaten and spit out again, and had been shoved so far past its critical limits it was hanging together by mere threads. Not only was each and every injury piling up on one another, Tails' body was practically consuming itself as his cybernetics scavenged his tissues for resources.
Lights and shadows danced around him as blaster fire strobed throughout the room. Shouts, screams, and explosions blasted his ears, confusing and distracting his senses, and scrambling coherent thought. If Tails had a plan even ten seconds ago, he honestly could not remember what it involved. The boy could only focus on what was directly in front of him, and he hoped his friends had his back.
Tails shot and destroyed a droid before it could shoot him, and suddenly he took two hits to his left side. He fell from the heat and shock, and the protective field screening him from incoming fire finally gave out. He turned to see a purple and orange shape aim a rifle at his head, and Tails swung his arm out to aim in the Twi'lek's direction. They both fired at the exact same moment, and just by chance they both hit each others' weapons. The boy yelped as his blaster was knocked from his hand, the skin over his fingers burned, and bits of metal and plastic showered his face.
His world was reduced to nothing but himself and the female Twi'lek. The sights and sounds of the battle raging around them was blanketed with darkness and muffled to inaudibility. As the alien woman recovered, Tails launched himself off the floor and tackled her head-on. They both tumbled to the floor, but the woman rolled and kicked him off with a boot to the head. He again scrambled back up and intercepted the woman as she reached for the long object at her hip. Tails grabbed her wrist before she could reach it and landed a solid punch to her face. He tried to press his attack, but even as she staggered, the Twi'lek caught his shoulder with one hand and tried to wrench his arm out of its socket with the other.
The boy was driven to the floor, and he returned the favor by pulling her down with him. He got a vicious knee to the face, and he broke off as the universe spun in circles. Tails blocked a second kick to his head and used it to trip his assailant. The Twi'lek ate the floor, and Tails used the nearby wall to help himself up. By the time his head stopped spinning, he heard the distinct, high-pitched whine of a vibrosword coming to life. The alien woman lunged at him, and he was completely on the defensive.
The weapon glided through the air as Tails backpedaled, its owner chasing his movements with tight, calculated swings, never leaving herself open for a counterattack. He inevitably tripped over a pile of rubble, and he fell onto his back. With a crazed smirk on her face, the woman dashed forward to skewer him, but Tails wasn't finished just yet. Using the momentum he still had, the boy contracted his abdominals and kicked out. His feet contacted her stomach, his twin tails coiled around her middle, and Tails heaved with all his might, sending her sailing over his head. The vibrosword barely missed carving him open, and it slid on the floor past him.
He again staggered against the wall, his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath. He watched the Twi'lek surge back to her feet and recover her weapon. She still had that crazed smile on her face, and her eyes were tinted with bloodlust. Tails could do little but scowl, and he was still practically pinned to the wall by gravity alone.
'Sonic...'
"You're a feisty little critter," he heard her say. "You should have accepted our offer. There are all sorts of things I could have done with you during off-hours!"
Tails tried to think of something bitingly sarcastic to say in return, but words failed him. He doubted he could even speak right then, he was panting so hard. His vision started to turn red.
'I need you right now...'
The Twi'lek charged forward and swung to end him, and Tails watched as the humming blade closed in. At the last possible microsecond, he kicked the wall, twisting himself to the side. The blade was so close, it cut into the side of his face and skidded against his jawbone before glancing off and plowing into the wall. Tails grabbed her sword-wrist and elbow with his hands and pulled her into him, and before she could register what was happening, the fox opened his mouth as wide as he could...
…And sunk his teeth into her arm.
"GYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
Tails' teeth sliced through whatever material the woman's cuff was made of, and alien blood spurted into his mouth. The sword fell from her grip and clattered to the floor. With her free arm, she pounded her fist into the boy's unprotected stomach again and again until he released his jaws with a gasp. His claws extended to their maximum length, and after blocking her last punch, he swiped his hand across the Twi'lek's face. Five lines of blood erupted from her face, one such line just barely missing an eye. Tails lunged to attack again, but the Twi'lek staggered back and kicked him away.
Naked, disheveled, bleeding, snarling, and with blood other than his own dripping from his natural weapons, Tails looked every bit like a rabid animal on a murderous rampage. At this point he was fighting not just to stay alive, not just to hang on to consciousness before his body failed him, but to keep a grip on his own sanity. His animal nature, the part of himself he kept buried deep within, the beast he had kept chained up for well over a decade, now strained against its confinement.
'NO!' he shouted within himself, 'I am NOT letting you out today!'
He rolled over and tried to stand back up, still fighting off his own base instincts. The Twi'lek woman had mostly recovered and was propping herself up against the wall, clutching her mangled arm as little rivulets dribbled off her face. Tails watched her press a hand to her face and behold at his handiwork.
"You. Dirty. BASTARD!"
Tails still couldn't see or hear anything from the battle around him, his senses so hyper-focused on the Twi'lek that nothing else registered. Were his friends still fighting? Were they even still alive? Were they standing around watching him like spectators at a duel?
The boy staggered forward, teeth and claws bared, growling quietly. His own rising bloodlust made him want to jump her and tear her throat out. Tails' cybernetics would follow every order he gave them, but they would not, and could not differentiate orders from a rational mind or those from a savage beast. If the Mobian fox turned on everything he knew, here, now, his cybernetics would make every effort to obey his impulses, the consequences be damned.
In her own screaming fit of rage, the Twi'lek woman pulled a simple straight blade out of her jacket with her uninjured arm and rushed him with it. Her balance was off, her aim was faulty, and Tails was ready for her. He grabbed her arm as she stabbed at him and sunk his claws into it, twisted to the side so that the two of them were now back to back, and wrenched her arm behind her.
The Twi'lek's arm broke like a celery stalk.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUGH!"
Tails kicked her down, the claws on his toes tearing through her pants and leaving bloody gashes on her leg. Before the Twi'lek could possibly recover, Tails flipped her over and grabbed her by the collar and pounded the daylights out of her skull.
"Now! Sit! Still! And! Take! Your! Lumps!" he screamed.
The Twi'lek stopped moving, and Tails let her flop to the floor. The boy didn't know if she was alive or dead, but already his mind was elsewhere. His whole body shook, and he tried walking away before he did something we would regret, but he only got a few steps before he collapsed to his knees. The sight and scent of her blood was driving him over the edge.
"I can't take this," he wheezed, his body still shaking. "I just can't take this."
Slowly, his normal senses returned to him, the world no longer confined to the tiny bubble it was previously. He could see and hear beyond the immediacy of the moment again. And right now his senses confused him, because Tails realized he wasn't even in the same room as before. He was in a hallway off to the side, butting up against a sealed door. Where the hell was he?
The fox heard multiple footsteps running toward him. His panic spiked to maximum again; if those were enemies intent to kill him...
"Tails! Tails!" he heard.
He slumped onto his face. He certainly recognized those voices. His body didn't stop quivering, but he felt his pulse begin to slow and his muscles relax. The footsteps rounded the corner.
"Tails, where – oh shit."
The footsteps drew near him, and he felt Mission kneel beside him.
"Tails, are you – you're alive! You vanished during the firefight, and we had no idea where you went! I was so worried!"
Tails tried to say something, but he barely managed to groan.
Carth checked the downed Twi'lek.
"All clear," said Carth. "For the moment."
"Carth, take care of Tails," said Mission. "I think what we're after is behind here." Mission got up and went to the door. "Hang on, there's some heavy security around it I've got to disable."
Carth replaced Mission kneeling at Tails' side and started patching him up with one of their last remaining medkits.
"Tails," Carth said softly, "You have my respect forever for everything you've done for us. I need you to hold together, just a tiny bit longer..."
"Got it!" called Mission, and the heavy door she was working hissed open. "It's here! The swoop accelerator... crap, it's mined. Just a minute..."
"Don't tell Sonic," Tails blubbered quietly. "I am not a monster..."
"What?" gasped Carth.
"Please... he mustn't ever know..."
Carth's jaw worked for a few seconds, but no sound came out. Tails' total non sequitur had completely thrown him for a loop.
"Tails," Carth finally said, "I promise you I will never tell this Sonic anything you don't want me to. But I need you to hold on right now."
"... not a monster..."
Carth was still confused by Tails' words, but the soldier chalked it up to battle trauma and let it pass. They all needed medical attention soon, and Carth knew Tails by far needed it most, and immediately.
"Finally!" said Mission. "I think we can hijack one of the Vulkars' speeders from the garage. It'll be tight, but we could get back to the Bek base in under an hour! Come on Big Z, help me load this thing!"
The Wookie gave a throaty rumble and picked up the oversized engine attachment, following Mission out of the hallway.
"Come on, Tails, up we go."
Carth helped Tails up to his feet as gently as possible. Tails' limbs weren't up to the task, and he clung to Carth as tightly as he could, even as the rest of him dragged behind.
Soon, four bodies and their cargo crammed onto a single speeder. Carth sat in the pilot's seat, while Tails somehow ended up with his head in Mission's lap.
"Hang in there, Tails," he heard Mission say. "There's some really good doctors at the Bek base... they'll fix you up, I promise!"
Tails just mumbled nonsense to himself, and no one else seemed to know what to say.
The speeder rumbled to life, and soon enough it was zipping down the corridors of the Lower City, leaving the nightmares of the Vulkar base, the sewers, and the rakghouls long behind.
Tails stirred, and after briefly opening his eyes, he whispered three words:
"Release... cybernetic... override."
Only then did he fall completely limp and slip into unconsciousness.
Time seemed to be running in fast forward and in slow motion simultaneously as Tails drifted in and out of consciousness. Vague shapes shifted in a kaleidoscope of colors. He felt himself being lifted up and carried about, almost as if he were drifting on the surface of the ocean.
Tails found himself sitting alone in a big playroom, surrounded by dolls of all his friends. He was much younger and smaller here – and much more carefree. He picked up dolls of both Sonic and himself.
"ZROOM! Here we go! Keep up, Tails!" he shouted, imitating Sonic's voice as best he could.
"WHOA! You won't leave me behind, Sonic! Zoom, VROOM!"
Tails waved his dolls around, as if he and Sonic were racing each other around the world. He picked up another doll.
"BA HA HA! I'll get you this time, Sonic!" he shouted in the most villainous voice he could muster.
"Oh no, it's Robotnik!"
"You won't get away with this, Ro-BUTT-nik!" he said as Sonic.
"Get a load of... THIS!"
"It's a Boss Machine!"
Tails made heavy machine noises with his mouth, followed by "pew, pew!" and "kaboom!"
He even made up his own battle music!
"Doo dee doo doo daa doo dee doo daa, doo daa, doo dee doo doo daa doo dee doo doo daa!"
Tails continued to make up his own sound effects, finally culminating in the Boss Machine blowing up.
"Cuuuurse Yoooouu Sooooooniiiiiiiiiic!" he cried, and Tails tossed the Robotnik doll away.
"YEAH! We did it Tails! We beat him together!"
"Yeah! We did it! Now we can free all the animals that Eggman captured!"
"Heh heh, EGG man, good one Tails!"
Tails picked up yet another doll, and this time affected the girliest voice he could make.
"Oh Sooonic, MY HERO! Marry me!"
"EWWWWWW! COOTIES! RUN AWAY!"
"ZROOM!"
Tails laughed to his heart's content. He set down Amy's doll and picked up Shadow's.
"I am Shadow the Emo-hog," Tails said in complete deadpan. "Bow before me, or I'll blow you up with grampa's space station!"
"Sonic, what do we do?"
"I'll get him! TERIAAAAAAH!"
"Noooooooooo I'm the Ultimate Lifeform asfergasblaaaaaaaaaaaaagghhh..."
"That's what you get for being an evil knockoff!" he said as Sonic. "Now go get some character development before people think you'll be emo forever!"
Tails laughed some more, and eventually dropped all the dolls except the one of Sonic.
"Oh, Sonic, we'll be together forever, won't we? We'll never run out of fun adventures, right?"
The doll didn't answer.
Tails suddenly felt ill at ease, and an icy chill travel down his spine. The dolls were silent. The room was silent. Tails was completely alone. He looked around the large rectangular room. Apart from the pile of dolls, a rug, a few lamps, and a single wooden door, the room was completely barren. There weren't even any windows to see if it was night or day outside.
There was a soft rumble beneath his feet, and Tails stood up.
"... Sonic?"
Still clutching his Sonic doll, Tails went to the lone door. The knob turned... but the door did not open.
"Hey! What's the big idea?"
Tails struggled with the door, but it wouldn't budge.
"This isn't funny! Lemme out!"
The fox kit finally resorted to putting one foot on the door frame and putting his whole body into pulling the door open.
"Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!"
The door frame creaked and groaned, and suddenly, the door ripped right off the hinges. Tails was knocked back on his butt, but he still had his Sonic doll. He looked at where the door used to be, and his blood ran cold.
There was nothing but brick behind the door frame.
"No..."
Tails scrambled to his feet and felt all over the dry, solid brick.
"No, no, no, no..."
Tails started throwing himself at the brick, as if trying to crash through it, but all he managed was to hurt himself.
"Guys! Let me out of here!"
He started pulling at the drywall were the lamps were plugged in. They had to be getting power from the outside, right?
Only, there was nothing behind the drywall, only more solid brick! Tails even held the power cord in his hand. The lamp was unplugged... but it was still shining brightly!
"W-what?" Tails mumbled. He started hyperventilating. "W-what is t-this?"
The entire room was mocking him. The walls that had no windows, the door that was no exit, the lamps that shined with no electricity... even the pile of dolls silently laughed at him, the faces of his friends now sneering at his helplessness.
"SOMEBODY! ANYBODY!" he screamed. "HELP MEEEEE!"
The rumbling returned, and this time the whole room shook violently as in a powerful earthquake. The lamps in the room started flickering on and off. Tails scurried into one corner of the room and curled himself into a ball, squeezing his Sonic doll into his chest like his life depended on it.
"Sonic..." he cried.
One by one, the lamps in the room exploded into a shower of sparks.
"... help me."
The last light fixture exploded, the room was plunged into total darkness, and Tails felt himself fall to his doom.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!"
"Tails, snap out of it!"
The teenage fox stopped thrashing around and looked at his surroundings. There was no brick or drywall. Bluish LED lights illuminated him from the ceiling. The walls were a kind of bare gray metal. Beneath him was a relatively soft mattress. Most importantly, Carth Onasi was standing directly over him, pinning his shoulders down into the bed. Tails just stared at him with wide, terrified eyes for a few moments, then finally exhaled and settled back down.
"Whew," said Carth as he sat back down in his own chair.
"Where am... what just happened?" Tails asked weakly.
"You're OK Tails, we're all back at the Hidden Bek base," Carth answered, his voice sounding as tired as he looked. "You've been in what counts as intensive care down here for the last three hours. Gadon actually summoned a whole team of doctors to help put you back together when he realized what condition you were in... though it was mostly because of the engine part we got back for them." Carth paused to take a deep breath, then asked, "So... how do you feel?"
Tails sighed and groaned. "Like I've had a really bad day," he replied, and managed a wry chuckle.
"You and your talent for understatement..."
"Heh. I guess I feel better... I don't quite feel like a walking corpse anymore."
Tails slowly sat up in his medical bed and held his head as the room started to spin. Once the vertigo passed, he added, "Was... I having a nightmare?"
"Yeah, I guess. You came out of surgery about half an hour ago, then about five minutes ago you started screaming and thrashing about. I was about to call for help when you finally came to!"
The Mobian groaned and buried his face in his palms. "Sorry," he said softly. "I didn't mean to scare anyone."
"It's not your fault, Tails; you weren't in complete control right then, and I know those old anesthetics can do weird things to people. Don't sweat it."
'Not in complete control... Carth, you have NO idea... ugh, I can still taste her blood in my mouth...'
"Hey Carth... can I ask you... a purely hypothetical question?"
"All right, shoot."
"If one of your teammates turned against you... if someone you trusted betrayed you... would you do everything in your power to stop that person?"
Carth Onasi sat rock still in his chair. All the emotion drained out of his face until it looked like it was carved out of marble. Only the slight narrowing of his eyes revealed any hint of what he was thinking or feeling.
"Yes," he said flatly.
"Even if that person... might not be quite... himself when it happened?"
"Is there something I should be concerned about, Mister Prower?"
"No – I mean, you know... back down in the Undercity, I got infected by the rakghoul disease. Without the serum – if I had turned, would you have... put me down?"
Carth's eyes bored straight into Tails'. He remained silent for several seconds, then said, "Yes. If you became that kind of threat to us and our mission – if you were lost beyond hope and turned like that... I would have shot you between the eyes. For your own sake. I wouldn't have liked it, but I can't let personal feelings interfere with my duties to the Republic."
Tails trembled a bit, and settled back into the bed a little, breaking eye contact with Carth. "All right. Thank you."
Carth sighed and brought a palm to his face. "Can I ask what brought that on?"
Tails was silent for about half a minute, staring off into space. "Bad memories."
Carth groaned, then said, "Well, I don't suppose this slice of hell called Taris does anyone's mental health any favors."
The Republic soldier got up and pulled up a cardboard box from underneath his chair.
"Come on, I need you to try to get up and eat something. There's some new clothes for you here, and they should be more comfortable than the ones I got you before. The clothes in the Upper City were designed almost exclusively for Humans, so I had to make the best selections I could. Down here there were more options available, since there's relatively few Humans in the Lower City. Get dressed and come out when you're ready. Swoop bike race is in 90 minutes."
"OH CRAP!"
Tails was busy stuffing his face with his seventh military MRE. While there were plenty of jokes to be made about MREs, right now they were a luxury the young Mobian couldn't pass up. At this moment Tails was greedily gnawing on a delightful amalgam of eggs, meat, noodles, steamed vegetables, and a fruit vaguely resembling banana – all of it pressed into rectangular blocks.
"I'm afraid there's just no way to change it," explained Gadon. "I needed to inform the other gangs who'd be riding under the Hidden Bek banner, and out of your party, I selected Tails. There are rules about this."
"Respectfully, sir," Carth began, "I have decades of piloting experience that Tails simply does not. And Tails just barely came out of intensive surgery."
The fox in question gave Carth a look regarding his apparent lack of piloting skills, but he was too busy wolfing down his food to interject.
"Then you should have mentioned something about that the day before. I'm sorry, Onasi, but the topic's closed. And since Tails is standing right here listening to us talk about him, he can answer for himself whether he's fit to ride."
The fox gulped down the last bit of his MRE and snapped to attention. "I'm still feeling a little banged up, Mr. Thek, but I think I'm fit and capable to compete in this race!"
"So that settles it, then. All right, here's the deal. My mechanics have just finished installing the engine accelerator into our lead swoop bike. Originally, I was going to have one of my top riders race in the modified bike and let Mr. Tails here race in just a regular one, but I've decided to change that plan. Tails, you'll be taking the accelerated swoop bike."
"Gadon, you can't be serious!" blurted Zaedra, Gadon's bodyguard. "We can't let some rookie take the prototype engine into the race!"
Gadon Thek glared at Zaedra, and she butted out of the conversation.
"I have to be honest with you," Gadon continued, "There's a reason I'm letting you take the prototype engine. The accelerator makes the engine unstable – there's a chance it could explode during the race. I can't let one of my own riders take the risk, let alone my best ones. They'll be running unmodified swoops into the race – you'll be the only one using the prototype. If you can complete the track before the accelerator overheats, then you'll win for the Beks. If you die, then one of my other riders could still come through for me."
Tails audibly gulped. "So... I'm getting the prototype engine because I'm... expendable. Eh heh heh... well... sounds like you've got all your bases covered..."
"Precisely," said Gadon. "You don't get to be leader of a swoop gang unless you know how to work all the angles. All right, the big race is in under an hour and we still need to get you to the track. I know this leaves you with zero time to practice, but I've got good instincts, and you look like you got better skills than your friend gives you credit for."
Tails took a moment to smirk at Carth.
"We're out of time. Tails, follow me and we'll get you down to the racing pits with enough time to at least get you familiarized with the controls. Mission, Zaalbar, Onasi – you're all welcome to make yourselves at home here in the Bek base until the races are concluded. You all deserve at least that much for all you've been through. If you have plans elsewhere, then so be it. But you can't come to the racetrack. Rules are rules."
Carth sighed and turned to Tails. "Well... stay safe out there, and good luck."
"I'll try to stay in one piece."
"We'll all be rooting for you, Tails!" said Mission. "Win that race for us, OK?"
"I'll do my best. I've had my fair share of experiences with high-speed contraptions!"
Tails then turned to the big Wookie. "Zaalbar?"
"It pains me you must endanger yourself with no way for me to help," he said in his rumbly language. "Please stay safe."
"I wouldn't worry about it too much. If that engine starts acting up, I'll just give it a good whack!"
"Now, Tails!" Gadon bellowed.
"Gotta go – bye!"
He followed, and after a moment, Tails heard Gadon say, "Someone get this kid a napkin."