Calm before the storm! A rare and
welcome respite from endless battle
awaits Shinobi Knights Shadow the Hedgehog
and Merlin the Fox as they travel through
deep space aboard the Shinobi cruiser
Endurance. Preparing to rendezvous
with a Republic frigate, the Shinobi remain
unaware of a deadly peril lying hidden
in their midst….
Inside a shuttle a shark clone was speaking to a group of young clones "War does not come with a guarantee. No soldier gets the promise of safety, survival, or victory. Men, I guarantee you this, every member this clone youth brigade will have his moment and it that moment when you are no longer a cadet. You are a soldier". All the cadets were standing to attention looking directly ahead as the shark walked past them. One of the clones now out of sight of the shark looked to the clone behind him and whispered "There's the Shinobi cruiser" he said excitedly as he gestured out the window. The shark continued "You are a soldier. You have the best training in the galaxy. But no one will train you for when you look death in the eyes. What you do then and the soldier you'll become is up to you. Docking procedures begin shortly. Until then, dismissed". The young clones left the bridge when one of them noticed a purple weasel clone at the front "Who's the new guy?" "Some last-minute replacement" "Looks green to me". A coyote clone walked up to the weasel "Hey, what outfit are you from?" "Three-twenty-second" the weasel answers bluntly. A wolf clone walked to the other side of him "I thought they had their tour?" "They did. I couldn't make it. I broke an arm". The wolf scoffed "A real trooper could lose an arm, Softy". A polar bear walked up to them "Hotshot, Whip, leave him alone" the two clones glanced at him before walking away. "What's your name?" the polar bear asked the weasel "Bark" "Jack". Bark nodded "Thanks, but I can handle myself" "Maybe, but a trooper's only as strong as a trooper beside him. We're all in it together. Right?". Bark reluctantly nodded "Right" "And with the training we've got, I feel ready for anything" Jack said excitedly.
The shuttle docks with the Endurance and the young clones are led inside. There was a line of adult clones waiting which impressed them all except for Bark. Jack noticed "Don't be nervous. Only thing between them and us is experience. It's not like they're Shinobi". Shadow and Merlin then came through a door at the end of the corridor and stood in front of the young clones "Morning, troops" Shadow said, "Welcome aboard the Endurance. I am Merlin and this is-" "Shadow the Hedgehog. Today you'll see how a real Shinobi cruiser operates. And you'll have the chance to work alongside two Shinobi Knights". The young clones started talking to each other excitedly when a badger clone entered "Generals, new orders from General Espio in the war room". The two Shinobi nodded "Another time then" Shadow said to the cadets before walking away and no one noticed Bark glaring at Merlin. Merlin glanced at Shadow "You seemed more disappointed than the cadets?" "It's our job to instruct and inspire" "You just wanted to show off". They entered the war room "Hey when I show off it is inspiring" "For you maybe".
The cadets were now in a large room where Emerl was standing next to a cheetah clone who was sitting at a turret that fired an object into space that was then shot by a laser. The echidna Admiral walked up to the cadets "Looks easy doesn't it? Well looks can be deceiving. There's nothing more dangerous in all of space than a moving target". "What do you use for targets, sir?" Jack asked, the cheetah turned to him "Malfunctioning robots" Emerl beeped nervously. The Admiral turned to the cadets "A mechanical disc full of explosives. Now this is my ship and my rules. I do not allow tourists on board, only soldiers. Now time for target practice. You take the gun" he said to Jack. He got on the turret controls and after a few seconds getting used to them he nodded to the cheetah. He then saw the disc get launched and all the other cadets watched. Jack tried to hit it but missed every shot and the disc eventually got out of range.
"Can I try again?", the echidna shook his head "Oh no, you're done. I assure you the Separatists won't give you a second chance. Next". More cadets tried but all missed the target, the Admiral stepped forward "Training is no match for experience and it's one thing you don't have". He then saw Bark staring up at him causing him to smirk "I know that look". Bark got on the turret and fired a single shot which destroyed the next disc causing the other cadets to cheer. The cheetah was impressed "Good job, kid. But let's see how you do when the Seppies come at you in attack formation" he fired multiple discs. Bark fired three shots and destroyed three discs. The other cadets cheered, the cheetah was lost for words but the shark then stepped forward "Alright, head to the observation deck" they did and the Admiral watched them leave "Now that's a cadet to watch".
When the cadets were in the corridor the shark started asking them questions about the cruiser which they were all able to answer. Bark sneaked away and activated his commlink "Channel open. Ready to receive code five transmission" Nack, I'm sending you the data now" a female voice said on the other end. His commlink beeped "Transmission received. Nack out". He turned a corner and ran into two clones "Hey, what're you doing here?" one of them asked. "Uh, sorry, sir. I've been dispatched to General Merlin's quarters. There's no problem, sir" Nack said convincingly, "Oh there's a problem. You're lying. Admit it, you're lost". The other clone rolled his eyes "Come on, cut the kid a break. Merin's quarters are that way, cadet" "Thank you, sir". Once Nack was out of sight he took a breath. He was reminded of when he used to sneak through the cloning facility on Soleanna when his dad was out on jobs. He went down the corridor and found Merlin's quarters. He went inside and placed a small device underneath the door before leaving. He ran and turned a corner only to hit Merlin. "Eyes on were you're headed, cadet" Merlin said calmly, "Yes, sir. Sorry, sir". Nack tried to hide his face as he walked away and made it back to the other cadets. The shark then turned to him "Cadet, what reaction propels the main engines of this Shinobi cruiser" "Post combined sparking off the reactor core, sir". The shark nodded and continued to lead the group.
Merlin was about to enter his quarters when a dolphin clone walked up to him "Sir, General Shadow requests your presence on the bridge" "I'll be their shortly". He opened the door "He said it was important, sir" the clone said sounding slightly nervous at questioning his General. Merlin sighed "No rest for the weary. Put these in my quarters, would you?" he handed the clone a few disc "Yes, sir". As Merlin walked away as the clone entered the quarters and hit a laser line which caused the device to explode. Doors began to close to trap the fire, so Merlin pulled the clone outside with the Force "Trooper?". The clone didn't respond, Merlin sighed and closed the clone's eyes.
An alarm went off, Nack's squad were heading for a safe room when their Sergeant met with two clone troopers "Status report" "Ship's undamaged. We have a man down. General Merlin's quarters got hit but he survived". Nack eye's opened wide with surprised which quickly turned to anger.
Shadow entered what was left of Merlin's quarters where he was waiting "You're lucky to be alive. The trooper?" "Dead. This was no accident" "Agreed". Shadow pondered "The ship's navigation is nearby", Merlin activated his commlink "Admiral Hawking, has the navigation been damaged?". "Nothing unrepairable. I've ordered all engines to be shut down until we're fully operational. We're holding off near Monopole. We've been scanning incase of any incoming ships and haven't found anything. Until we get navigation back we're a fat and easy target. I won't have it. Hawking out". Shadow turned to Merlin "If nothing's been destroyed that means you must have been the target".
Nack broke off from the group again and once out of sight he morphed into a badger and took out his commlink. "This is Nack. It was a miss. I repeat, a miss. What should I do?" "Head to the reactor. Blow the core" this surprised Nack. "But the crew. This isn't about them" "If you want Merlin dead do as I say" she replied sternly. Her order brought back a bad memory of when Nack was seven. Mimic was out on a job and Nack got caught sneaking through the facility and got scolded by one of the scientists.
Merlin and Shadow were on the bridge speaking to a group of clones being led by Commander Diablo "We have a killer onboard this ship and we're locked in did space" Merlin told them. Shadow nodded "Just like our assassin. We'll form an unbroken line of troopers. Scour the ship from bow to stern. Check every corridor, bulkhead, and storage unit. We want him alive".
Nack still in disguise runs into the reactor room, he heads for the centre console, but a mongoose clone enters "Hey, you there! Come here". Nack stopped and the clone walked up to him "I got lost, sir" "The ships on full lock down, son". Nack nodded "Yes, sir. Sorry, sir. I just... I'll return to my company" "Not alone you're not. Emergency protocols are in effect. I'm calling a trooper to escort you out of here". He activated his commlink and started talking, Nack glanced at his blaster "Is that a refractor?" "Oh, yeah. Here. keep the safety on". He handed Nack the blaster and turned his back to him "Copy that. We're pretty overloaded with he emergency status but-". Nack smiled and turned back to his normal form. He hit the trooper over the head knocking him to the ground "What are you doing!?" he said as Nack raised the refractor to him. The clone stared up at him "We're brothers. Don't shoot!". Another memory hit Nack, the scientist that caught him was telling him that he wasn't Mimic's son, even with no alterations he was still like the rest of the clones, property, just not there's. "You're not my brother" "Don't shoot" "Don't worry" he shot the clone with a stun blast. Nack turned into a crocodile and started smashing the console before shooting at the reactor.
Shadow and Merlin were walking with Hawking "Our sweep has now covered half the ship, Admiral" Shadow said with Merlin adding "Still now sign of the assassin". Suddenly the ship violently shook "The reactor" Merlin said before the two Shinobi rushed through the corridor. Hawking met with the shark Sargent with the cadets "Sir, we're on our way to the safe room". Hawking put on a fake smile so the cadets wouldn't panic "I guess this is more action than you signed up for. Well, let's see what you're made of. Head for the escape pods" "Escape pods, sir?". The cadets started speaking to each other, but Hawking remained calm "Yes, it'll make a fine story when you return to your base. I'll even time you". The sergeant left with the cadets and another clone ran up to the Admiral who's face dropped "Launch the distress beacon. We're going down".
Nack, now back as a weasel re-joined his group as they headed to the escape pods. "Follow the coordinates for the other pods. Good luck, cadets" the Sargent said before entering a pod with half the cadets while Nack, Jack and the other half entered another pod. As the pods launched Nack sneakily pressed a button which activated the reverse thrusters. The pod spun out of control and flew right past the rendezvous.
Shadow and Merlin entered the bridge were Hawking and Diablo were doing their best to keep the cruiser under control. "Admiral, the main reactors beyond hope. You have to abandon ship" Shadow said, "No, you must abandon ship. I'm staying". Diablo told the other clones to evacuate "I'm staying with the admiral". Merlin walked up next to Hawking "Admiral, you must abandon ship" "Not a chance". Shadow shook his head "Sir, with respect that's an order" "It may be your command General, but this is my ship". Shadow was getting impatient "We don't have time for that kind of sentiment" "It's not sentiment, General, an admiral goes down with his ship. You wouldn't understand it, Shinobi" he said this with slight contempt in his voice.
Jack finally managed to stop the pod "We're lost". Nack stood at the back of the ship just watching as Hotshot and Whips looked worried "What happened. Did we lose control?". Jack sighed "Navigation's shot. Looks like our pod was damaged in the escape" "What about fuel?". Jack shook his head "No feed. We're dead weight" "So what do we do?" "Wait. That's all we can do".
Not long after Shadow and Merlin were in their fighters watching the cruiser "Admiral, what's your status" "We're caught in the gravity of Monopole. I'm gonna try and set her down of the surface" "Once you're down we'll send a rescue team to your location". The ship entered the atmosphere "General Skywalker, this is General Thrasher. We have a pod of cadets unaccounted for". Merlin pondered "Sounds like our saboteur may have gotten to the cadets. Let's go".
The cadets heard a noise outside "Is that a recue ship?" one of them asked, "It can't be. It's to early" Jack answered. The pod shook and Nack turned to the doors as they opened revealing Drago the Wolf and a purple female weasel wearing a hat "Well what do we have here? You boys look lost" she said. Nack stepped forward which made her smile "Congratulations, Nack. Job well done". Jack looked confused "His name's not Nack. It's Bark" "Bark? Haha, that's a good one". Nack looked away form a surprised Jack "You're with her?" "I wasn't expecting you to bring friends along". Nack looked at the cadets "I couldn't help, Nicolette. What're you going to do with them?" "What do you think?" she sadistically smiled. "Let them go?", she rolled her eyes "They're living witnesses, honey" "That was never the plan. I just wanted to kill Merlin" his body shifted, turning into Merlin for a second before turning into his octopus form. He looked at his hands realizing he changed and concentrated, turning himself back into a weasel. She looked down at him scornfully "That'll have to wait. Grow up. We have to get out of here. Get onboard or you can stay with them". Nack turned to the clones "I'm sorry" he said regretfully before leaving with Nicolette. He stopped at a panel and hesitantly pressed a button which closed the door and released the pod "Traitor!".
Shadow and Merlin were flying in the direction of the pod. They saw the pod with a ship near it which jumped into hyperspace. "Oh no" Shadow said worrying that something's happened. He flew round to the front of the pod and shined a light inside and saw the cadets still alive "Thrasher, I found your cadets" "Thank you, sir. How are they?" "They look fine but there was a ship. We'll send a pickup and find out what happened".