EFS White Base, Shenandoah Valley, Virginia
September 25, UC 0079
0839 Hours

A line was patched directly to the central hangar. Chief electrician Daisuke Tierney answered Bright's call immediately. "Yes, Mr. Bright?"

"Tierney," Bright asked, "is it possible to power the catapult directly from the ship's engine?"

"Absolutely," he answered.

"Can you complete this job in fifteen minutes?"

"Sir, it's a cinch," Venture told him. "All we need to do is attach a steam valve from the main engine and we're set."

Bright turned to the boy who hatched this scheme. "Amuro, are you certain about this?"

"Well, Ryu said that a Core Fighter is no different from the cockpit of a mobile suit," said Amuro, "plus I've logged about eighteen hours in the sims."

Better than nothing, Bright thought. Even though the boy was still pretty green when it came to this sort of stuff, they really weren't in a position to try any alternatives. "Have you had your breakfast, yet?"

"No, sir."

"We're going to point the ship southward in the next fifteen minutes," Bright told him. "Hurry down to the galley and grab something to eat. Something light."

He was off. The elevator door opened as Amuro walked away, Sally passed him on her way out and she had that Fox who did that bomb removal operation on Bunnie and Tilly yesterday. A little robot dog was with them.

"Mr. Bright," said Sally, "Bunnie has agreed to join the group."

"I assume she'll be transferred to the brig?" he asked.

"For twenty-four hours," the Chipmunk confirmed. "By that time, we should be halfway across the continent." She turned to the Fox she'd entered with. "This is our friend Tails," she said, "he volunteered as well."

"Hello, sir." On the surface, Tails was pretty nonchalant about being there. Inwardly, though, he was pumped to be in a place like this.

"Are you joking?" asked Reed, dismissively. "He looks even younger than you two!"

"Lieutenant," said Sally, now seasoned from Reed's past tirades, "while Tails may indeed be younger than us, he's repeatedly proven himself a capable member of the Freedom Fighters throughout the past Robotnik Wars."

"I'm a pilot, mechanic, and engineer," said the child. He motioned to the little robot with him. "I even built T-Pup here." The little robot barked, as if to say "hello".

Even though Reed was clearly disgusted by the presence of the youngster, Bright was noticeably more open. "I can't say this isn't an unusual situation," he said, "but over the past few days, I'm not one to discard stuff like this."

"He's a kid, Bright," Reed complained, "and an alien, too!"

"We're not aliens," said Tails, somewhat offended, "we're from the same planet as you guys!"

"Lieutenant," Sally said, looking him in the eye, "you guys need help, we need help. By ourselves, we won't beat Zeon. Bright here even said that the ship's overcrowded and understaffed. We can help you out on the way to your HQ."

"Maybe you could let us leave some of these serfs here," Reed muttered under his breath.

Bright heard his complaining and gave him a sideways glare, prompting him to shut up.

Vanilla the Rabbit sat by the kitchen window in her house and sipped her tea, gazing out at the visiting vessel in the distance. Everyone in town had gotten the same advert: volunteers with experience in fighting, mechanics, or medicine to help the ship get to its home base in the Shazamazon.

Vanilla hated fighting. She was a nervous wreck when Cream told her about her first adventure as a Freedom Fighter. But right now, everything seemed desperate. She was no soldier; she was no mechanic. She was first-responder, though. Every part of her body was telling her to say in New Mobe, but something deep down was overruling it.

Amy Rose could sense this, too. The pink Hedgehog sat on a stool to the Rabbit's right and looked out at the towering ship with her. "Are you sure about this?" she asked.

"I really don't know," said Vanilla.

"After everything I heard from Sonic," she said, "the White Base needs all the help it can get, and I've been having trouble getting signatures for the voyage." She looked at the list she had with her: herself, Sonic, Sally, Bunnie, and Tails had all agreed to go. In regard to Bunnie, though, Sally had relayed to her that the conditions for this weren't exactly leaving her jumping for joy.

"I understand," said Vanilla. "After yesterday, with all the bombs and giant robots and all, everyone's scared about all this. I am, too."

"Sonic told me that the ship's loaded with human refugees who had to abandon their home on a space colony," Amy explained. "That's one big reason. But what about Cream?"

Vanilla looked at the Hedgehog.

"You aren't thinking of taking her with you if you go, are you?"

Cream was a big reason why she was considering this in the first place. Vanilla didn't like to see her daughter in any sort of dangerous situations, but if she were to leave on the White Base tomorrow, they'd probably get the same sort of nightmares like yesterday again and again. "She'd be safer if I left her behind."

Amy looked at the ship. It was gradual, but the White Base seemed to ease off the ground a bit. About a minute later, she had begun a clockwise turn. "What's the ship doing?" It couldn't be leaving. Not yet.

The White Base turned as if she were on a Lazy Susan. Within two minutes, her bow was facing southward, high off the ground.

From under a pair of pines which had been spared Zeon's onslaught, a reclining Sonic watched the ascending hulk. She wasn't leaving, that he knew, Bright or someone must have come up with some kind of scheme to make their situation a little less dire. Only Tails and Sally were aboard at the moment anyway. Limbs shook and grass went flat from the force of the warship's retros. One could barely hear a thing.

"Ow!" Almost.

Sonic looked over his right shoulder, at a nearby thicket. A stump stood in the midst of it. One that, for a microsecond, seemed to have closed. His attention was no longer the White Base. Something overcame him: the same sort of ominous feeling he had before Zeon levelled Sand Blast. Was a similar danger lurking beneath New Mobe? That ugly Tails robot he'd heard of only got into the city because NICOLE was exiled by the Council, not that she was back, nothing could have done something like this, could it? Whatever the case, something was off about that stump with a capital "O".

Sonic noticed a tiny crack between the rings, as if someone had taken a pen and drew in there. It took a little while, but POP!—he was able to pull it open like a lid sealed in place by hardened jelly. The door hid a deep shaft, with a ladder going down into the darkness. Even then, this strange feeling hadn't subsided. The Hedgehog stood there a few more seconds, peering into the abyss. Something or somebody was down there.

He looked back at the ancient vessel—still climbing. Not gonna get to the bottom of this watching you guys, he thought. Well, seize the moment…

The central hangar hatch opened, unveiling a clear morning sky and the mountainous Virginian countryside below. As the ship ascended, her bow began to tilt slowly upward for her desperate gamble with the Core Fighter on the catapult, primed and ready to go.

Within the cockpit, Amuro was as ready as he was ever going to be. It was his plan, and he was keeping his fingers crossed that it wouldn't fail. Nevertheless, he felt very nervous; he was gripping the stick with all his might.

Mirai's voice blared over the loudspeaker: "Preparing countdown: 10… 9… 8… 7… 6… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… 0…"

Next thing Amuro knew, he had been pushed back into the seat as if he were pinned by the hand of an invisible giant. He struggled with the intense acceleration, but the G's eventually won out.

Everything went black.

Garma looked up from his mess of reports and AARs at the tone of the incoming lasercomm message from the command room. "Yes, Harpe? What is it?"

"Commissar," the officer said, choosing his words carefully, "we've just received intel from patrol squadron Luna at Shenandoah. The 'Trojan Horse' is adjusting her position."

Garma stood, rising to his full sixty-eight-inch stature, with all the intensity of a piranha upon noticing a piece of meat in its water. "Quick," he ordered, "send me the data!"

Behind the desk, on the large, wall-mounted monitor, a computer-projected model of the valley appeared. It zoomed in on the area where the Anomaly was. Where the "Horse" was. Based on the data, the ship was indeed airborne—ascending. "The calculations are based on laser analysis," the informant stated.

"I don't believe it!" said Garma, his face reddening with annoyance and a little embarrassment. "Don't tell me the 'Trojan Horse' can break into satellite orbit that easily!"

"No," said Char, as he took a drink of coffee, "she's not fast enough to do that." Even though she had the ability to do so, it was too risky in a place like this. But then again, were they even trying to get back into space? The thought hit the Comet like a runaway car. "Garma, contact Dren immediately! We need a Komusai prepped ASAP!"

"What's this about, Char?"

"The 'Horse' isn't trying to escape the atmosphere; she's trying to contact the Feddies!" Char had a sense of urgency in his voice, yet still remained calm in light of his deduction. "She most likely has fighters aboard in addition to mobile suits."

As if on cue, a line was generated from the bow of the ship, as if coming out of the ship's "chest". "Update from Luna," Harpe reported, "the 'Horse' has just deployed something!"

"I knew it!" said Char, feeling vindicated, but not happy. "That's an orbital trajectory. She's attempting to shoot over us and notify Jaburo."

"Harpe," said Garma, "can we intercept the ship?"

"If the Komusai is launched in one minute, we can intercept in two minutes and fifty seconds."

"Good. Contact the Gaw squadron. We need cover."

"Yes, sir." The transmission ended.

"'We', Garma?" Char asked, noting that the commissar was heading for the door. "Don't tell me you're going into the fire."

"Dozle never got where he is now by sitting on his hands," Garma remarked. "I don't lead from behind."

The Comet smiled when he heard this. Outwardly, it gave the impression that he was an officer worthy of his rank and any respect. Inwardly, though, Char's attitude was different. You're as glory-hungry as you're spoiled.

"Amuro! This is White Base! Do you read! Amuro?!" Bright got no response. Amuro's fighter had only just launched and all they were getting was dead air.

"Maybe he was shot down," said Kai, snidely.

Mirai groaned. "This is no joke, you hear? So shut up!"

"Enemy detected!" Marker announced. "Enemy craft approaching Core Fighter; intersection in one minute!"

"You think it's Char?" Reed asked, a bit concerned.

Mirai wasn't taking it.

Neither was Bright. "Kai, Amuro needs support!"

Kai cackled. "Missiles on standby and ready to fire! Whenever you say!"

Annoyed, Bright curled his nose and faced his helmsman. "We'll have to lower his trajectory. Full speed ahead to catch the Core Fighter."

Metallic catacombs beneath the valley. Whether this was a creation of ADAM or NICOLE, was as big a question for Sonic as how he wound up down here. He thought he heard a yelp for a moment. People had a tendency to imagine sounds, but that didn't even touch his discovery of the secret shaft that led here. How would anyone even guess? It was the Gaws over Sand Blast all over again.

He trekked steadily through the corridor, as if being guided by someone or something.

This ominous feeling soon brought Sonic before a specific door. People are back there, he thought, but…

Hand on the knob, the Hedgehog hesitated for a second. Like a frightened puppy, he seemed to stop, not wanting to keep going. Yet through it all, the door opened, revealing the glow of a large Warp Ring. In the room, too, he found several faces he didn't expect: Silver, a robotic mock-up, two wolves, and an ousted monarch last seen leaving New Mobe before Eggman screwed up everything.

The looks on the party's faces displayed surprise as well, but likewise dread.

The room was as silent as space.

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

Happy New Year! With the dawn of the new decade, the New Mobotropolis arc draws ever closer to an end, and the Secret Freedom Fighters aren't much of a secret anymore, thanks to Sonic's [CLASSIFIED]. You too can help out with the dialogue and stuff by hitting me up on Discord: WhiteDevil#1229. Other than that, nothing much to say about this one aside for a big thanks to my consultant HyperionGM.

Also, check out the prologue to the side-story Knuckles: Shine in the Storm.