The New Age Chronicles 06 New Alliances

by MTP

What does a trip to space hold in store for the group? Going out on their own can they really form a new alliance or is it all a trap?

3. Friends And Foe

Chapter 3 - Friends and Foe

Sonic sat on the floor of a cell staring at the wall. He had been sitting in this position for a good few hours now and before that had been pacing back and forth across his cell for an hour. All six in the group were in separate cells next to each other and for some of them the situation wasn't sitting right. Jet and Alicia had been imprisoned on the Phantom and Chalk had been locked up in a military base near Never Lake meaning the three of them sat glumly at the back of their cells deep in thought. They hadn't even touched the plate of food they'd been given.

Sonic looked down at his own empty plate. Quite surprisingly the food was good. These guys certainly didn't treat their prisoners quite so horribly as the Alliance which was fortunate. Sonic looked up at the other two members of the group. Andrew stood leaning against the side of his cell giving the guards outside evil glares from time to time. Occasionally one was shot in Sonic's direction as if to say "This is your fault.". Sonic took no notice of these glares though and for the most part didn't notice them. The only one left in the group was Sally. She was pressed up against the bars looking in alternating direction down the corridor. Sonic could see her mind ticking over, going through plans and stuff as she always seemed to do. Sonic himself had long since abandoned the chance of escape for now. The guards outside were one reason but the realisation that he knew nothing about the ship was another. The maze of passages from the landing bay to the cells was a blur to him and he wouldn't have known where to go for one second. Besides they weren't scheduled for execution or anything so he wasn't too against sitting tight, they still might be able to work this out. A further thirty or so minutes passed by with much the same happening before footsteps were heard coming down the corridor. Sonic pricked up his ears and listened as they drew closer before a military officer came into view. He walked to one of the guards and whispered something in his ear. As much as he strained, Sonic couldn't hear what he said but the guard looked slightly shocked and then nodded. The officer gave the guard a nod and then walked off leaving everything still for a moment. Finally the guard stepped forwards and ran a small card through the lock on Sonic's cell. The door slid open with a hiss and Sonic stood up slowly. He looked at the guard but made no move to leave or escape.

"What's up?" he asked.

"The commander wants to see you…all of you." replied the guard.

The other couple of guards stepped forwards and unlocked the other cells but for the moment nobody left. Sally was now looking at Sonic, waiting for his lead.

"Oh yes? Sudden change of heart eh?" he said.

"Don't get cocky." said the guard flatly, "I just do what I'm told ok."

Sonic was impressed, the guard had managed to take one of his remarks without making one in response and had responded flatly and frankly. Sonic took a few steps forwards and stand next to the guard at the cell door.

"Well if that's how it works around here I guess we best do as were told too eh. Everyone! Up!" he said.

On the command Sally darted from her cell and raced round to Sonic, hugging him tightly. Jet seemed to have received a jolt of energy and walked from his cell, Alicia and Chalk joining him a few moments later. Andrew slowly approached the door of his cell and spoke.

"Me too?" he asked.

"Yes you as well." replied the guard waving his gun up the corridor, "Come on everyone move."

"Don't want to keep your boss waiting eh." said Sonic as he set of behind a guard.

The group formed up around him with one guard leading and two more behind. They slowly worked their way through the ships passages, up various lifts and along more corridors. They started taking note of various things stencilled on the walls. Messages detailing ship locations, floor levels and directions were everywhere much like on the Alliance ships. Sally had first hand experience of this, those messages had saved her life nearly a year ago. Finally they came to a large set of double doors and the lead guard stopped. He pressed a small button on a console beside the door and spoke.

"Unit 2 here with the guests ma'am." he said.

"Good show them in." replied a feminine voice.

The door slid open and the guard ushered them inside. The room after the door was fairly large and looked like something the royal palace would have had. A long table filled the centre of the room surrounded by a host of chairs. Around the edges of the room stood small pillars holding vases with plants in them, long old looking carpets were draped across the walls and long strip lights hung above. At the head of the table, at the furthest point in the room, sat a woman. She had long blonde hair and wore a uniform similar to the guards, which was a white colour with golden trim, but slightly more lavish. A few tassels dangled from various places on her uniform and a set of red shoulder pads lay across her shoulder. She didn't look too old, maybe around 40 but then none of the furries were good at judging human ages. Next to her sat the captain they had met earlier, Harry Thompson. The women stood as they walked in and opened her arms in a gesture of welcome.

"Hello there, I hope the trip hasn't been too stressful." she said.

"Stressful? Well not exactly that, more like terrifying at times." replied Sonic walking forward.

"I apologies for that but you did give us a nasty surprise."

"Well you should have been more specific in your instructions."

The guards at the door gave a small cough causing the women to look up.

"Oh yes, you're dismissed." she said.

"Wait outside." put in the captain.

"Captain Thompson will you stop contradicting my orders?" said the women looking round.

"This is my ship ma'am." replied the captain.

"Yes yes!" she replied shaking her head.

The guards left closing the door behind them and leaving them alone in the room. The women indicated to the seats around the table and slowly one by one the group sat down. The woman was at the head of the table with the captain sat next to her. Along her left sat Sonic, Alicia and Chalk and on her right sat Sally, Jet and Andrew. The group sat watching her for a moment before she spoke.

"Well I'm guessing none of you know who I am…or maybe one of you does." she said looking at Andrew.

Andrew squinted at her and then shrugged.

"You look familiar from somewhere but I'm unable to pin it down." he replied.

"Well then let me introduce myself, my names Silvia, Silvia Higara."

Andrew blinked and looked like he had suddenly swallowed a melon. Jet's hands hit the table top at much the same time.

"No way!" he exclaimed.

"Forgive me, two of you apparently know who I am." replied Silvia, "Where have you heard of me?"

"My…my friend Jeremy told me about you just before…"

Jet fell silent and looked away. The loss of Jeremy a year ago was still with him and it still pained him to think about it.

"Ah…I take it you mean Jeremy Francis but if you know him you must be…Jet Mathews right."

"Prower, Jet Prower." replied Jet looking back, "My mothers name was a cover name."

"A cover name eh…interesting but necessary I guess."

"Miss Higara!" spluttered Andrew, "I…everyone thinks you're dead!"

"Yes they do, and I want it to stay that way until we're ready." she replied.

"What?"

Silvia looked closely at Andrew who looked back equally closely. They looked at each other for a few moments before Silvia pulled back.

"I think we can trust him." she said.

"Miss Higara may I interject? It's too early to tell. For all we know he's an Earth spy." said Harry.

The captain leaned over and looked directly at Andrew, who returned his look.

"I don't trust him." he continued.

"Well excuse me! Next time I'll stay home!" replied Andrew.

"Andrew joined our group a little while ago. He helped us defeat an enemy and in doing so put himself in a position where he couldn't return to the Alliance." said Sally.

"That so eh?" asked Silvia looking at Andrew, "Well for now I'll have to bow to the captain's guidance…until we know your story completely."

"Hmm!" replied Andrew before sighing and looking at her, "Very well miss president."

"President?" asked Sonic.

"Oh yes, I should tell you about that too." said Silvia with a small giggle, "I suppose only Andrew and maybe Jet here will know about that but I was once the President of the Earth Alliance."

"Huh?!" cried Chalk.

"Wha?!" said Sonic and Alicia together.

Sally just blinked a few times and Jet nodded.

"I kinda remember that." said Jet, "Jeremy told me about it…kinda. He said you were the youngest president or something."

"Yes Jet, the youngest and also a female. I started my rule when I was twenty two. For the most part it was easy going but then one little event changed all that."

"What?" asked Sonic.

Silvia indicated towards Jet before continuing.

"Simply put, his mother arriving. It was quite a surprise to say the least. Was she an alien? What was she doing here? How had she gotten here? Everything was soon answered when she finally decided to talk. It was another surprise to hear her speaking in our language too but once things were cleared up I made a decision to help her get home."

Silvia stopped and shook her head slowly.

"That must have angered them even more."

"Sorry?" asked Sally.

"Let me explain. Over the five years I was in power I made…a lot of decision, some of which didn't sit well with certain people. I concentrated on the people you see, a noble goal but it did leave other areas lacking namely the military. I saw no reason for a military or for military research. Why did we need it? We weren't at war with anyone and as far as we knew there wasn't anyone else out there. Your mother's appearance soon changed that Jet but anyway. My competitors began to get restless with myself being in power. They began to move secretly to get rid of me. They saw your kind as a threat and decided they wanted someone else in power who would deal with you. That came to a climax two years after Jet's mother arrival. I was on a business trip to another continent and my jet was sabotaged. We crashed in the mountains and we were all presumed dead. However a search team was sent and amazing I was found alive. The rest of the crew and all my staff, some of them my close friends, were dead. I was taken to a hospital and then transferred back to my home to rest."

Silvia again shook her head and then looked up at the ceiling slightly.

"Rest is not what I got. My competitors tried once more to get rid of me. I was resting in the gardens a few weeks later when my entire home went up in a huge fireball. Later investigation blamed it on a gas leak. A gas leak! Some people are too naïve but anyway. I was knocked out by the blast even though I was outside and two of my personal guards that were with me at the time finally saw the truth of the matter. I had earlier expressed my concerns about the plane crash and now the explosion at my home made it click that someone was after my life. They picked me up and we disappeared of the face of the planet. Disappeared is right too, we fled to one of the outer colonies using fake ID and travel papers. It wasn't too difficult for a president to get hold of those types of things. Once in hiding I sat and waited. Trying to pull as many facts together as I could in an attempt to work out who was after my life. The answer I got wasn't to my liking. I checked it three times and every time the same name came back to me, the name of my vice president Jacob Kidderminster."

"What?!" cried Andrew looking up, "The president!"

"Yes, I couldn't believe it myself." replied Silvia.

"Why would your vice president want you dead?" asked Sally.

"Simply put…power. He wanted the power. I never saw it either. I was a naïve twenty seven year old and couldn't imagine anyone wanting me dead, especially not my vice president. He helped me on nearly every decision I made, congratulated me on the ones that went right and even took the blame for some that went wrong but it happened. Soon after I was presumed dead at me home he was appointed president and started his military operation that has eventually come to what is going on now. However things haven't gone exactly as he had planned."

"How so?" asked Sonic rocking back in his chair and putting his feet up on the table.

"They moved too fast." replied Silvia giving Sonic an odd look, "The time between their assassination attempts was only a few weeks and it made people suspicious like my personal guards. Some people within the military didn't like the idea that my death had been an accident and began to form small secret groups. We found out about these groups and brought them all together. What followed was a military coup with about twenty percent of the military breaking away from the Alliance. Jacob sent everything after them and only a small fraction of the ships managed to escape and meet up here. Jacob was satisfied he had stopped the coup and was unaware I had started it. He relaxed and settled back into his program of military building. Meanwhile we waited here in secret, slowly building up our strength. This ship was the first thing constructed. Many of the ships that had escaped were heavily damaged and unrepairable with our level of support. Therefore we scavenged from them, taking pieces from all over to make this ship."

"The problem is that this ship isn't fit for combat." said Harry beside her, "If she got hit with enough heavy weapons fire she'd probably split apart at the welds. We basically just took the damaged ships and stuck them together."

"Yes but then it was all we could do at that time Harry." said Silvia, "The Saratoga now serves as a big port and gathering place. The cloak and gravity fields make the ship virtually impossible to detect unless a ship came very close to the star of Alpha Centauri itself. We've been able to design a very effective heat shield from the suns radiation and most Alliance ships can't get as close as we can, thus it is a perfect hiding place. Besides they think they stopped the rebellion so they aren't looking for us."

Silvia stopped and leaned forwards, looking at each and every person in the group.

"The thing is we're still here and we're still willing. We've just had to bide our time and wait for the correct moment to act. Last year ol' Jacob made one critical error, he decided to invade your world. He thought he'd have it over and done with in a few months but you've hung on for just over a year. This is not what he expected and it is worrying him. I have to commend your skills, I've seen the Earth Alliances full strength and for you to hold on this long is incredible."

"Well it's nothing really." smirked Sonic.

"Whether it is or not you are the door for us to act. You see Jacob has tried to show himself off as a president similar to myself. He doesn't want anyone to suspect him as my assassin or that he is running his own private war. Almost every person on Earth is oblivious to the war he has running with your world. He doesn't want anyone to know…and we intend to show them. To do this we need help. We haven't been able to gather any more help from within the military and we've gone as far as we can with covert operation. Our only other choice was to find new allies and what do you know, Jacob supplies us with some. I'd like to ask you to join our fight against him. I'd like you to help us help you. Please."

Silvia fell silent and looked at everyone. Everyone in turn looked at Sonic. Not even Sally was willing to make this decision and as Sonic was king it was up to him. The blue hedgehog sat with his arms crossed and feet on the table as he had been for a while now. His eyes were closed and it almost looked like he was asleep. After a moment he spoke.

"I gotta say miss Higara, you've got one hell of a story there." he said slowly opening his eyes and looking at her, "I have to say I've never trusted humans. Our past experience with your kind even before the Alliance has virtually cemented that but then if I read your story right you don't even trust your own kind."

Sonic sat up and looked directly at Silvia.

"Maybe Sally was right when she said some humans were different. I've always trusted her, even when it seemed I didn't, and I'm not about to stop now. Miss former president, you've got yourself a deal."

He put out his hand and slowly Silvia reached forwards and shook it. She was almost crying as she did.

"Thank you, thank you so much." she said.

"No need for thanks, getting the Alliance off my world is thanks enough." replied Sonic.

"Yes we will help you, and maybe you can help me take back my government too."

"If we can we will."

Silvia gave a smile and sighed. The peaceful mood was shattered a second later by a cry.

"Alright!"

Everyone looked round to see Jet had leaped out of his chair and was in a position to leap onto the table in joy.

"You sound just like Tails did when he was a kid." said Sally with a glowing smile.

"Ah the energy of youth." chuckled Silvia.

Sonic looked over at Jet and then back at Silvia.

"You know it's occurred to me that you've introduced yourself but we have not done the same. Sonic T Hedgehog, king of Mobius at your service." he said putting his hand out again.

Silvia shook it again and smiled.

"Pleased to meet you your highness. Who might the others be?" she asked.

"This is Sally Acorn, my wife and queen." said Sonic indicating towards Sally.

Sally reached forward and shook hands with Silvia.

"My first child Alicia."

Alicia gave a small wave and a smile from her seat.

"Looks like you already know of Jet Prower here."

Jet gave a grin and a wave like salute.

"There's Andrew Pierce at the end there."

The human gave a swift nod at Silvia.

"And finally we have Chalk, one of my close friends."

The rabbit stood up from her seat and bowed.

"Greeting's miss president." she said sweetly.

"Aaaaah! If I'm not mistaken you were the one who was armed in the docking bay."

"Yes ma'am." replied Chalk.

"Then I have something for you."

Silvia pressed a button on a small panel in front of her and a small buzzer was heard. A moment later a guard entered through the door carrying a large and very familiar looking gun.

"Catrina!" cried Chalk.

"You may have it back now." said Silvia

"Are you sure that is wise miss." said Harry from her side.

"These people have done nothing aggressive towards us and have given me no reason not to trust them. As they are part of my plan you can't go over riding my decision about them." replied Silvia getting slightly pompous as she spoke.

"Very well miss Higara."

Chalk, meanwhile had stepped forwards and taken her gun from the guard. With a swift move the metallic boom attached to her belt extended and clipped into place on the guns underside. Chalk slipped her hand onto the handle and there was a small metallic click as her cybernetic parts interfaced with the gun. She swung it back and forth a few times, making sure not to point it at anyone and then returned it to a ready position at her side. The gun folded up beside her and she unclipped her hands from the handle. She gave another bow in Silvia's direction.

"Thank you." she said.

"Not a problem my dear." replied Silvia looking at Chalk with some interest, "Now I think we would all be ready for some food yes?"

"I would think so. The stuff we got in the cells wasn't that appetising." replied Sally.

"Well let me make it up to you then. This way please."

Silvia stood and motioned to another door at the back of the room. Slowly the others rose to their feet and followed her out of the room.

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Sonic sat picking his teeth with a toothpick. His stomach was exceedingly full after meal he had just had, in a word it had been excellent. Silvia had earlier guided them down a level and into a large dining hall. Sonic kept being surprised by this ship, for a military vessel it looked more like the Royal Palace to him. Small talk had been exchanged for a short while before the main meal had arrived, starting with a rather nice soup which he had been told was apple and parsnip. The main course had been steak or a pasta dish. Sonic and Jet had opted for the steak whereas everyone else had gone for the pasta. Desert had been the best though, an apple and cinnamon tart with whipped cream.

They now sat drinking coffee and nibbling on small mints, everything seemed way too homely to be real and Sonic kept feeling the urge to pinch himself. As the meal had progressed Sonic and Sally, with small interjections from the others, had explained the past of Mobius to Silvia. Alicia, Jet and Chalk had been there for some of it but Sonic and Sally had been in it since the beginning to the three of them were quite alright with them telling the story. Andrew for the most part had been silent and, flanked by two guards standing next to his chair, didn't look to comfortable either. Silvia had stopped them at various points to cross reference times and call up other info on a small console next to her. Sally had been doing likewise, calling upon Nicole's vast achieves to check certain details and stuff. Finally the tale had ended with them arriving on the ship and for the moment everything was quiet. Silvia looked back and forth across the assembled group.

"Well that's quite a history you have there." she exclaimed.

"Yes." replied Sally.

"I never knew you're world was so…different. It's truly astounding."

"Why thank you." replied Chalk giving a stretch.

Catrina folded out slightly allowing Chalk to stretch and then folded back against her side. The rabbit had yet to disarm herself but Silvia seemed comfortable with the huge weapon being present. If anything she seemed intrigued by it.

"Miss Chalk may I ask you something?" she said.

"Just Chalk and yes of course." replied Chalk.

"I'd like to ask about your weapon. It appears like you…interface with it?"

"You mean these?"

Chalk held up her hand to show the metallic parts covering her fingers. Silvia gave a nod.

"I don't know myself really. I was part of an experiment which I have no knowledge of…I can't remember."

Chalk looked away to one side and sighed.

"Hey Chalk!" called Sonic, "Buck up will you? Everything's not lost you know. I doubt that Robutnik can erase memories, you'll remember eventually."

"Yes, its just…"

Chalk looked up and nodded firmly.

"Yes Sonic." she said equally firmly.

"Chalk, it might seem inappropriate to ask but would you mind if our research boys had a look at those implants?" asked Silvia.

Chalk looked round at her, eyes wide in a sort of stiffened panic. Sonic quickly looked at Silvia.

"Our Chalk doesn't like labs or researchers that much Silvia." he said.

"In fact she's terrified of them." whispered Sally.

Silvia looked bad for asking the question.

"I'm sorry, forgive me. You don't have to do anything you don't want to."

Chalk calmed slowly and took a long drink before looking back at the rest of them.

"What would you want to do?" she asked nervously.

"Nothing major at all. Just a few simple scans and maybe a little surface analysis." replied Silvia.

"No machines? No needles or capsules?"

"Nothing like that at all. Maybe a few hand held scanners, they look a bit like this computer Sally has."

"Well….ok, but only if Sonic comes too."

"Of course."

Chalk returned to her drink and remained silent for quite some time afterwards. The others knew how much the events with Robotnik had scarred her and were impressed she'd agreed to this. Maybe she was getting over it? The topic was swiftly changed by Jet a moment later.

"Miss president can I ask something?" he said slowly, munching on a mint.

"Yes feel free." replied Silvia.

"You said earlier that you don't have much military strength but I'm confused. What about that Ion Beam Frigate? The big one you sent in to help us escape a year ago. Those fighters you have looked impressive too."

Silvia chuckled slightly and leaned back, sipping her coffee.

"Yes but you see one problem remains Jet. We don't have the numbers. Our tech is advanced but against a full Alliance fleet we don't stand a chance."

"But that frigate could plough through anything right?"

"Jet do you have any idea how much energy that frigate put out?"

"No…a lot?"

"More than a lot Jet, try insane. That one shot we took at the Phantom completely fried the entire cannon structure. Yes it took the ship out but it cost us a ship in return. We couldn't even begin to repair the damage to the cannon systems so we were left with one choice, scavenge it for parts. Bits of that frigate are scattered all over this ship and a few others we have. The bits we couldn't use we had to send into the sun to make sure it wouldn't be found. You see Jet that's why we need help."

"Oh."

The cat looked away slightly disheartened. Silvia sighed and started tapping her hands together slowly, looking slightly irritated by the situation she was in.

"So what kind of help were you wanting from us?" asked Sally.

"Well up until this point we haven't made much forwards progress. We've relied on staying hidden and slipping covert operatives into the Alliance to find out what we needed." replied Silvia turning to face Sally, "When we heard of you we decided to intercept and make partial contact. Sorry to say but not everyone thought you could be a good ally at first and insisted on a test. One year, if you could survive one year and manage to decode our message then you might prove worthwhile."

"So much for confidence all round." said Sonic.

"I'm sorry but we couldn't risk it. If you had succumb to the force of the Alliance then we would have looked elsewhere, harsh as it might sound." replied Silvia leaning forwards with a smile, "The truth though, is that you didn't and I for one am quite pleased."

"You for one?" said Sonic raising an eyebrow, "So are we but I tell you it's been no picnic."

"Yes I understand. Your story isn't that cheery I have to say, but what doesn't kill you makes you stronger right. I'd like you to become tactical resources. Help us find the chinks in the Alliance and use them to our advantage. You seem to have done a lot of that."

"Yes a lot." replied Sally with a nod, "Sonic?"

The hedgehog was yet again resting his feet on the table. He looked up and nodded once.

"Sure I guess so…but I don't like being called a resource." he said.

"Bad choice of words, does advisor sound better?" asked Silvia.

"Better yes."

"So what would we do?" asked Alicia.

"Depends on what you can do." said Silvia, "It seems Jet here is able to pilot Earth tech, which I have to say is mightily impressive for one so young."

Jet blushed heavily at the comment and looked away slightly.

"Well I…" he mumbled.

Silvia chuckled and looked at the others as if so say "Well?".

"I don't know where my skills would come in handy on a battleship." said Sonic, "Being able to run at mach one wouldn't land me any other job than a message boy."

Sally looked at him with a slight smile which Sonic caught quickly.

"I am NOT being a message boy!" he said defensively.

"We'll find something for you to do." chuckled Sally turning to Silvia, "Myself and Nicole make quite a team when it comes to plan formulation and strategies. My daughter is exceedingly athletic and has a great head for problems. Jet has supplied us with more information on the Alliance than I ever thought possible. He's also an ace pilot as you said. And Chalk is…err…very skilled in large weaponry."

"Thanks Sally." nodded Chalk from her seat.

"Well for now we'll leave the assignments until later. Right now I've got something else to show you, this ship for starts. A little tour and then some rest I think, you'll probably be tired from the trip."

"Amongst other things yes." replied Sonic standing up, "But a tour would be interesting."

"Very well this way."

The group got up slowly, Alicia taking a quick gulp to finish her coffee before joining the others. As Andrew got up though Silvia stopped him.

"I'm sorry but you'll no longer be able to accompany us." she said.

"Huh?" said Sonic turning round.

"What?" asked Andrew.

"We've spoken of too much in front of you already and the captain and I are not prepared to show you any more until we know that we can trust you completely. For the time you'll be confined to quarters."

"Hang on a minute!" said Sonic, "He may be Alliance material but we've spent a good few months with him. I don't trust him completely myself but I've not allowed that to interfere with how I run things. Remember that if we hadn't met him this little meeting wouldn't be happening. It was Andrew that helped Jet crack your codes in the first place."

"Yes I know." said Silvia sharply, "But unlike you, we are in a slightly more risky situation. You have my word he will not be harmed in any way and when we trust him enough we'll allow him to join you again."

"Now…"

"Sonic we best do as she says. Look at the position she is in and remember the position you were in when we first met him." said Sally calmly.

Sonic shook his head and then threw up his arms.

"Fine I'll go along with it." said Andrew, "Believe me I don't like being in this situation any more than you do. I'd much rather be back at my post not knowing any of this but…"

Andrew looked at Silvia and nodded once.

"…but Madam President, I was one of those people who liked your time in office, I respect you."

"They all say that…but I hope that this time it's true." said Silvia.

She looked over Andrew's shoulder and gave a nod at the two guards. They stepped forwards and stood next to Andrew.

"These two will show you to your quarters. If you need anything just let them know." she said.

"A beer and a TV." replied Andrew.

Silvia nodded at the guards again and then turned away as the guards guided Andrew from the room.

"Now how about that tour?"

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The next few days passed by slowly for the most part. Slowly over time the crew of the ship adjusted to having the furries around and the group soon found themselves participating in various activities. Sonic, after firmly refusing to be a message boy, had joined Silvia in going over various pieces of data that came in from the Coalition's spies. Sally was always by his side offering her advice and opinions and together the three of them formed a good team and Silvia found herself implementing plans that she wouldn't even have thought of if they hadn't been around.

Jet and Alicia found themselves in the hanger bay for the most part. Jet's knowledge of Earth systems meant that the workforce in the hanger bay often called on him with problem. Jet was more than happy to help if he could and apart from that he liked it anyway. Like Tails he had a knack and a liking for tinkering. Alicia was using her athletic ability to the extreme on frequent occasions. The slightly lower gravity conditions of the loading bay enabled her to throw herself around the gantries in the bay with ease. Being a squirrel she used her tail quite a bit and it hadn't taken her long to get the hang of it. She was constantly swinging back and forth, delivering messages, tools and equipment across the bay.

Chalk was for the most part relaxing in her quarters. Two days after their arrival she had finally gone to the lab, accompanied by Sonic and Silvia. It had started out fine but after a short while the lab technicians got a little too carried away and Chalk had freaked at one of the particular instruments. The resulting chaos led to a fair amount of damage to the lab and Chalk sitting in a corner shaking. Sonic had promptly taken her from the lab back to her room and she had remained their for the most part recovering. Sonic and Sally had looked in on her from time to time and Chalk was more or less calm now.

As time continued Sonic began to get restless. He found himself searching the databanks for information on Mobius and the rest of his friends. He didn't like just sitting around without knowing what was going on back home. Were they alright? Silvia had caught him at it twice now but had been sympathetic and understanding about it. It must have been a week or so after their arrival when Sonic sat looking over an electronic pad of data but really he didn't feel up to it. His feet kept twitching, wanting some sort of action.

"Fidgeting again I see." came a voice.

Sonic jumped slightly and turned round. Standing in the doorway to the room was Silvia. She stood up and walked towards him.

"How's the analysis going?" she asked.

"Badly." said Sonic with some mild irritism.

He threw the pad at the table beside him sending it clattering to a stop a few feet away. He rolled his head back and groaned.

"This is not my style. Sally is better at figures than me."

"I noticed but you are helping."

"I guess but I'd prefer to be out their doing something."

Silvia gave a wry smile as she sat down across the table from him, Sonic raised an eyebrow.

"What?" he asked.

"I might just have what you want."

"How so?"

"Well we've been working on a new piece of tech for a while now. Originally we had planned to let our ace pilots use them but I've been thinking about it recently and decided to show it to you."

"New tech? What kind of new tech?"

"You'll see. Round up your friends and meet me in the port side hanger bay in one hour. Section Alpha 12."

"Alpha 12? You said that section was restricted to all but top level officers."

"Yes, yes I did. One hour."

With that Silvia got up and left the room. Sonic sat for a minute puzzling over what she had just said. It was certainly interesting and better than looking at lists of data. He picked himself up and, leaving the pad on the table, shot from the room. The fast moving blur shot across the level and then down a set of stairs to the next level. Once there it stopped and waited beside a lift for a few minutes before it got impatient and took the stairs again down several more levels to the residential deck. There it stopped and opened the door to one of the room. Sally looked up as Sonic entered.

"Finished already?" she asked.

"Not even started." replied Sonic, "Something else came up, Silvia wants up down in the hanger deck in an hour."

"Oh? Where in the hanger?"

"Section Alpha 12."

"The restricted area?" asked Sally raising an eyebrow, "Why there?"

"No idea Sal, I'm just the….oh boy."

"What?"

"She turned me into a message boy."

Sally looked at Sonic for a moment and then broke out a fit of the giggles. Sonic placed his hands on his hips and tapped his foot slowly.

"Sally."

"Ahem….sorry Sonic, one hour?"

"One hour."

"I best get Alicia ready then. 'Licai? Alicia come on out."

"Yes mom?" said the squirrel appearing from another room.

"We have a meeting to attend." said Sally.

"A meeting? What about?"

"Sonic?"

"You got me. She wouldn't tell me." replied Sonic with a shrug, "Just make sure you two get yourself down to the hanger on time ok. I'm going to get Chalk and then I'll be after Jet. Alicia any idea where he is?"

"He should be in the hanger right now. He's helping some guys on one of those fighters." replied Alicia.

"Right, thanks. Later guys."

With that Sonic turned and darted from the room sending paper and loose objects flying. Sally and Alicia looked at each other and shrugged. Sonic carried on down the corridor for a short moment and then skidded to a halt at another door. He pressed the alert buzzer and waited. He got no response so pressed it again and called.

"Chalk? Hey Chalk you in there?"

"Huh? Wha?" came a sleepy reply.

"Chalk its Sonic, I gotta speak to you."

"Huh? Oh ok."

The door slowly slid open and Sonic walked in. Sonic's quarters were large because he shared with Sally and Alicia but Chalk's was fairly small. Everything was in one room which included a bed, small living area, an equally small kitchen unit and then in a separated part of the room a shower and bathroom. Chalk was propped up on her bed looking a little ragged, it was obvious Sonic had disturbed her during a deep sleep.

"What do you want pest?" she said with a yawn.

"Chalk, Silvia wants us all down in the hanger bay in an hour. Big meeting."

"I'd rather not Sonic. I'm still a little frail from earlier."

"I know Chalk but this sound big, and she did say she wanted all of us."

"Ok, I'll be there."

"You feeling alright Chalk?"

"Not as such. Ever since that incident at the lab I've been having flashbacks of when I worked for Robotnik. The tech in that place was just too close to what Robotnik's looked like."

Chalk sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed. Sonic walked over and sat down next to her.

"Robotnik isn't completely gone you know. I'll have to die before that happens."

"Huh? Chalk what do you mean?"

"What do you think I mean?" replied Chalk lifting her hand up and showing her robotic parts, "Half of my body is covered in robotic parts from when he changed me. I wish I could get rid of it, rip it from my body, I just want to be free of it."

Sonic remained quiet, looking at Chalk with a heavy expression.

"You think these people would be able to remove it?" she asked.

"I dunno Chalk. Guess all you can do is ask, although you know that it'll entail the lab if they can."

Chalk looked down, her ears flopping down in front of her eyes.

"I know Sonic, it's a double edged sword. Continue like this or confront it, I don't know what to do."

"Chalk you've lived with this for years now, you'll make it. Just don't give up ok."

"I won't Sonic, I won't. An hour?"

"Yup, in section Alpha 12."

"That's restricted."

"Yes but that's where Silvia said to meet."

"Ok then, I think I'll have a shower before hand."

"Good idea, you freshen up and come on down. It'll do you good to get out of this room anyway."

"You're right Sonic, thanks."

"No problem, I'll see you in an hour."

Chalk gave a nod as Sonic headed to the door and then left, speeding down the corridor towards the hanger bay where Jet should be. Chalk sat for a moment before getting up and closing the door. A small smile spread across her face as she turned and headed into the shower.

The blue blur shot along the deck and this time waited for an elevator to the lower level. Once there it shot along a long gantry that ran the length of the ships core and then darted downwards to the side heading into the hanger bay near the tail of the ship. The bay was busy as always with people bustling one way and another with various things. In the bay sat a long line of fighter crafts. They were identical to the ones that had rescued Links' group from the Phantom a year back and were the Coalitions standard fighter. Around most of them nothing was going on, an odd mechanic here and there, but one fighter had quite a gathering. Sonic smiled and shook his head, it could only be one thing. He shot down the gantries and skidded to a halt behind the group. He could hear a familiar voice talking.

"Yeah and then my father came flying into the room inside a huge tornado and completely decked the entire squad."

Sonic knew the story of the Phantom escape well and Jet was a good teller of the story. He waited a moment longer before calling.

"Jet! Yo Jet come on down for a sec will you."

The chatter stopped and Jet's face appeared over the side of the fighter's cockpit.

"Heya Sonic, be right down."

Jet drew himself up and then jumped out of the cockpit, landing lightly on the ground in front of Sonic. It was true what they said about cats always landing on their feet. Jet stood up and looked at Sonic.

"What's up Sonic?" he asked.

"Meeting in just under an hour Jet. Section Alpha 12 in the port hanger." replied Sonic.

"Woah! The restricted area? They're actually going to let us in there?"

"I have no idea Jet. Silvia just told me to get everyone to meet up there."

"Way cool! I was going to help these guys this afternoon but then a meeting is a meeting. You know I've watched some of the guys coming out of that section and listened to them talking about the stuff they do in there."

"Jet that's called spying."

"No it's called over hearing. I can't help it if I have good hearing."

Sonic shook his head and sighed.

"Just don't let anyone catch you doing that ok."

"Well if they're inviting us in today it won't matter will it."

Jet gave a huge grin and then looked back at the crowd.

"Well thanks for letting me know Sonic but now I got a story to continue."

"Hehe! Alright then." chuckled Sonic, "Remember just under an hour ok."

"Gotcha, later."

With that Jet jumped back into the fighter and continued his tale as Sonic walked off across the bay. He didn't know what to do now so he decided to just sit and watch the activities going on in the hanger. He sat down on a box and started to doze lightly as he waited.

-----------------------------------------

An hour later the group was assembled in the open area next to the large doors to section Alpha 12. The doors were huge, standing a good ten meters tall, and were covered in warnings and messages saying "Restricted" and "Do not enter". They were just awaiting Silvia's arrival now so they could enter. Everyone was quiet, occasionally glancing back at the doors, as they waited, this was going to be interesting. As the hour arrived so did Silvia flanked my Captain Thompson.

"Glad you all made it on time, I hate waiting." she said.

"So do we, what all this about?" asked Sally.

"You'll see, captain."

"Yes ma'am."

The captain stepped forwards, taking out a key card as he did. He ran it down a small lock on the side of the huge shutter and stepped back.

"Welcome to section A12." said Silvia with a grin.

A split moment later a warning klaxon went off accompanied by several flashing orange lights as the huge doors slid apart down the middle. They stopped with a heavy metallic clunk and Silvia motioned inside. The group slowly stepped inside followed by Silvia and the captain. They hadn't gone more than a few meters inside when there was a giant metal clang from behind. The entire group jumped and spun to see the large metal doors has closed again.

"Pretty jumpy I see." commented Silvia.

"Well this is all new to us." replied Sonic.

"You've got nothing to fear you know."

"Yes well…"

"Now come on, I've got something to show you all."

Silvia now took up the lead, walking ahead of the group with the captain behind the group. They went a little further down the long metal corridor. Along the side of the corridor were chambers, separated from the corridor with thick clear material making it easy to look inside. Various pieces of tech lay scattered across most of these chambers.

"What is all this stuff?" asked Jet almost to himself as he walked along.

"Past research programs we'd been working on." replied Silvia.

Jet jumped, he hadn't expected a reply, but soon settled and became curious again.

"Like what?" he asked.

"Well there," replied Silvia pointing at one of the chambers, "there we have a fighter with a new type of slipstream star drive. Problem was it created too much gamma radiation, killed the test pilot."

"Oh…"

"No worries Jet, oh yes, that one there is a new type of fighter particle cannon we invented."

She pointed to a long cylindrical cannon with tattered remains or something hanging off it.

"What that debris?" asked Sally.

"The fighter we attached the cannon too. The recoil was so intense it vaporised the fighter, luckily it was just a test drone."

Silvia led them on down the corridor pointing out a few other failed projects as they continued. She seemed to be enjoying telling them about there failures for some reason. Finally they arrived at another large set of doors. On the front of the door was a huge stencil saying "MCBS Control Centre". Again the captain stepped forwards, swiping his card down a lock. Silvia was now virtually drooling in anticipation causing the group to look at her in a very odd manner. As the door swung open Silvia stepped forwards and motioned for them to follow her in. They did and started to look around the room they were in. It was pretty large and had a lot of mechanical pullies and lifting gear suspended from the ceiling. To one side of the room was what looked like a command and control area. The room had large glass windows to it and was filled with monitors and displays which at the moment were all inactive. The rest of the room was filled with various pieces of machinery and people mulling from one place to another. One of these people slowly approached the group as the door behind them closed with a bang.

"Greetings Ma'am President." he said with a smile.

"Ah hello Simon, how are the projects doing?" greeted Silvia in response.

"As always miss Higara very well indeed."

"Good."

"You're here to see them yes?"

"Correct Simon, are you all ready?"

"We've been ready for an hour miss president, we're just going over the data again."

"Very good, fire them up then."

"Yes ma'am!"

Simon quickly turned, his lab coat flying out behind him slightly as he darted off towards the glass windowed room in the corner. Silvia turned to the group.

"Follow me please."

They did, not speaking a word as Silvia led them across the room to the far wall. When they reached it they found that the wall had a number of doors in it. Each door was a couple of meters tall and about the same wide, a total of six of them were spaced out across the wall. On each of the doors was a stencilled label reading "MCBS Angel 1", "MCBS Angel 2" etcetera along to the sixth door.

"Angel?" asked Sally.

"You'll see." replied Silvia with a grin, "Open them up."

With a series of metallic clunks the locks holding the doors shut opened and the doors slid back revealing their contents. The group blinked and gasped before Jet voiced their feelings.

"WOAH!"

Inside each of the doors was some sort of backpack, however it wasn't any ordinary backpack. It was constructed of metal and had a small set of twin tail fins coming out of the bottom of it which would reach a person's knees should they put it on. A second larger set of fins stuck out of the backpacks back, these dropping down to about ankle height. On the floor below each backpack, separate from it, was a large set of metal boot and standing upright on each side of the backpack, also not connected, were a set of metallic arms each with a different type of weapon on it. The group starred for a moment longer before Sonic spoke.

"What are those?!" he asked still looking at the units.

"Those are Mobile Combat Battle Suits, better known to us as Angel Suits for obvious reason." replied Silvia, "We've spent the last few years developing them."

"What…?" asked Jet.

"What are they?" finished Silvia, "I guess I can't expect you to know. Basically each of these six units is a mechanised suited that a pilot can use in combat. They have been designed to work in space, air and even sea so they are definitely multi purpose. We're still working on a few features like the sea mode but they are roughly finished and mission ready."

"Can…can I take a look?" asked Jet looking up.

"Of course, I want you all to take a look, go ahead." replied Silvia.

The others were a little hesitant but Jet raced forwards towards one of the suits. The one he picked was the one labelled number five. He started to look over it closely, being careful not to touch it though. The others soon joined him, looking at the suits next to the one Jet was looking at. Nothing was said for a few minutes before Jet turned around.

"These are so cool, wish I could have a go in one." he exclaimed.

"Why don't you?" asked Silvia.

"Huh?"

The entire group looked round at Silvia, puzzled expressions on each of their faces.

"What do you mean Silvia?" asked Sally.

"I meant what I meant. Why don't you have a go." she replied.

"You're kidding me!" said Jet completely gob smacked.

"Not at all."

"Ok what's the deal Silvia?" asked Sonic giving her a funny look.

"You said you wanted adventure Sonic. Listen, we've already tested these suits but none of our pilots could get to grip with them. They've spent too long in fighters and can't control them properly. We've had to straighten out more than a few dents and breaks over the last year. I know you aren't exactly experienced with our tech either but I've discussed it with the captain and he agrees we should let you have a shot."

"Correct." said Harry appearing from one side, "If we are going to let our own pilots destroy these things we might as well know if you can do any better first."

"Well put Harry." said Silvia giving him a fake round of applause.

"You can't be serious." said Sonic.

"Deadly serious Sonic. Why's it so hard to believe?" asked Silvia.

"Well it's just…just…I dunno." he replied.

"I think what Sonic is trying to say is it's a little unreal. We never expected this." said Chalk.

"I can understand that but I'm not lying. We want you to try out these units for yourself and see if you can handle them any better than our pilots."

"Even me?" asked Alicia looking from the suit labelled number four to Silvia and back again.

"Yes even you my dear."

"This is SO cool!" cried Jet still gawking at unit five.

"I thought you'd say something like that Jet. Now I have a few preferences I'd like to inform you of first." said Silvia.

"Preferences?" asked Sonic.

"As in who tries each suit. Firstly you Sonic, I think you'd be best with unit one."

"Why?" he asked.

"It suits you, excuse the pun. But anyway it does. That unit is armed with 2 large energy beam rifles. They would no doubt go well with your up front attitude."

"Up front attitude…"

"Quiet Sonic." said Sally, "Anything else Silvia?"

"Yes, you Sally might be better of with unit two. We've equipped it with a few support functions like for example and EMP generator. After hearing of your experience with such things it would make sense."

"Yes that true….hey maybe there would be a way to connect Nicole to it? That way she could control the support functions." said Sally.

"Hmm…interesting idea. I'll have to have Simon look into that…if you don't mind working with him."

"Not at all."

"Great, I'll inform him later. Now Chalk I think you'll like this."

"Oh? Why?"

"Come and take a look at this."

Silvia walked over to the third unit and tapped her finger lightly on the right arm weapon. Chalk raised an eyebrow.

"What's that?" she asked.

"This is a neutron accelerator particle cannon. After noticing your experience with heavy weaponry…"

"You mean Catrina?"

"Yes that…after noticing your experience with such things I thought this was best for you. This gun carries the firepower of around ten beam rifles in a single shot."

"WHAT?!" cried Sonic spinning round, "That's insane."

"Yes maybe but effective against larger targets. What you say Chalk?"

"I dunno, I've grown quite attached to Catrina. I don't really want to abandon her."

"You wouldn't be. I'm sure we could modify your weapon so it would be compatible with the suit. It could even serve as a third weapon for you."

"Well I guess so." said Chalk with a shrug.

"Good. Now the children, I must be frank. I never expected your group to include children but that's the position we're in."

"I'm not a child!" said Alicia folding her arms and putting on a firm face, "I prefer young adult right now."

"Very well, sorry Alicia. But as I was saying, our situation. We designed these suits for people slightly larger than you two so you might have a few operating problems but you're still welcome to try if you desire."

"Oh yeah!" replied Jet.

"In that case your units. After observing Alicia's little antics in the cargo bay I've decided to give you unit four to try. It's been designed for close combat and to aid this we've installed a few extra engines to make it more manoeuvrable. With your agility I though you'd like it best, you alright with close combat?"

"No disrespect miss president but would I do martial arts if I wasn't ok with close combat?" replied Alicia.

Silvia gave an understanding nod and moved on to Jet. The cat was literally climbing all over the fifth unit.

"I see you like that one Jet." she said.

"Yup, really nice." he replied.

"I was at a bit of a loss at decided whether to give you unit five or unit six but it seems you've decided that for me. That one is a long range unit. A beam sniper and long range missile launcher."

"Nice."

The cat didn't even appear to be listening as he continued to examine the unit extensively. Silvia turned back to the group and saw Sonic looking past her at the sixth unit.

"Who gets that one?" he asked.

"At the moment no-one." she replied.

"What about Andrew?" asked Sally curiously.

"Well we did ask for six people with this in mind so the sixth unit would have been for the sixth member of your group but we still don't trust Andrew fully."

"Oh come on this is getting tedious. The guy has probably died of boredom in his room by now." said Sonic throwing up his arms.

"We'll continue to watch him and if things change we'll include him ok."

Sonic sighed and nodded.

"Very well."

"So when do we start?" asked Jet looking up from his unit.

"Right now if you like. You can at least try on the suit and get the feel of it." replied Silvia.

"Sweet!" replied Jet, his tail flicking around behind him.

"Everyone else alright with that?" asked Silvia.

Alicia and Sally gave a nod and Sonic soon nodded too. Chalk however was looking at her suit with a little caution. She aimlessly rubbed her arm as she felt an odd warm spot building on it and then dying away.

"I have a bad feeling about this…" she murmured to herself.

She turned and finally nodded giving her approval. Silvia turned away and gave a few orders and a group of people clustered forwards to help them. They first went to unit one and Sonic stepped forward.

"How'd this work anyway? I don't see any straps or anything to hold this thing on." he said.

"Straps? That's so primitive, these things use a magnetic gravity field to hold themselves on. It feels like you're wearing nothing." said one of the guys beside him.

"That so? Ok then tell me what to do." replied Sonic.

"Turn round and back up towards us."

Sonic did and stopped when he was told. He felt an odd tingling sensation run over his back and then a feeling of something brushing against his back. He involuntary stretched his shoulders back only to find that they banged against something on his back. Looking over his shoulder he found the unit already attached to his back and gawked.

"Woah!" he said giving his body a little shake and watching as the unit clung to him.

He slowly stepped forwards and turned towards the others. Sally couldn't help but chuckle, the winged pack on his back really did make him look like an angel.

"All you need now is a halo Sonic." she chuckled.

"That can be arranged." said Silvia stepping forwards again holding a small black ball.

"What?" asked Sonic, "You're not going to give me a golden ring are you? Hey we could use a power ring Sally."

Sonic started chuckling himself before looking back at Silvia and stopping.

"No nothing like that." replied Silvia, "This."

She held up the black ball and pressed her hand lightly on the top of it. The ball gave a small beep and then a couple of small lights blinked on it. Seconds later it had shot from her hand and was buzzing round Sonic's head before it finally settled over his right shoulder.

"What's that?" asked Sonic looking at the ball.

"That's your targeting system. That little ball is filled with sensors and detection equipment. It gathers data and sends the information to a display on this headband."

Silvia lifted a small metallic headband into view. On it was mounted a small glass scope on an extending boom.

"Put this on and watch what happens." she said handing Sonic the band.

Sonic looked at it for a second and then slipped it on. A moment later the screen folded down over his left eye and blinked into life. Strings of data started to flash across is but Sonic was only able to catch odd words like "formatting", "synchronising" and "uploading". A moment later the data stopped and a more user friendly display came into view. As Sonic panned his head the screen outlined various items and people in the room, surrounding them in a green glow and labelling then with a little tag saying "Threat: 0%".

"Now watch this Sonic." said Silvia drawing a small gun from her side and cocking it.

Almost instantly the screen flashed red in Sonic's face and Silvia was outlines with a red line and a new label appeared saying "Threat: 80%". The next thing Silvia did was to point the loaded weapon directly at Sonic causing the label to change to "Threat: 100% WARNING!". Before any of the group around her could react, Silvia dropped the gun and holstered it. On Sonic's display the line around her went orange and a new label saying "Threat: 50%" came into view. Sonic was just stunned by the whole thing.

"That was….I mean….woah!" he said at length.

"I see the threat system is working as well as ever." said Silvia, "Pay close attention to that display, it's invaluable. Ok next thing Sonic is the boots."

"Boots?"

"Yes boots, turn around."

Sonic did and saw the people around him holding two very large metallic boots.

"What I do? Just slip 'em on?" asked Sonic.

"Yes." replied Silvia.

Sonic shrugged and did so. As he did the guys holding them clamped a metal strap round his feet securing the boots to his shoes. He moved them round slightly, oddly enough they didn't feel that heavy.

"I wouldn't be able to run in these." he said slightly gloomily.

"You don't have to. Both the boots and wing fins behind you have jet engines installed in them. We can't activate them in here you understand."

"Interesting, anything else?"

"Apart from the arm weaponry no, you want to try that on too?"

"Might as well make it complete." replied Sonic.

Silvia nodded and motioned to the technicians to do it. They soon came forwards holding two arm like booms. They fixed one to either side of the backpack and then brought them round in front of Sonic. The arms had a large grip mounted on it and around each grip was constructed the beam rifles Silvia had mentioned. Sonic slowly took hold of the grips and raised the arms into the air. He expected them to be heavy but they weren't really. He took a few steps around, moving the arms as he did, getting the feel for it.

"Everything ok?" asked Silvia.

"Feels weird." replied Sonic still moving around slowly.

Silvia gave a nod and a slight chuckle and then looked at the other.

"Care to try it next Sally?" she asked.

"I guess so." she replied.

Sally soon found herself with the pack on her back and the boots and arms attached as well. Silvia then released the orb and gave Sally her headband. She explained that it was better to do it this way as the system fully calibrated when it switched on and had only released the orb early for Sonic because of the halo observation. Before long Sally stood next to Sonic wearing her suit. Her weapons were slightly different to Sonic being that of a shield on her left arm and a beam rifle on her right. At present both arms were lying at her side as Sally had Nicole out on scan mode examining the entire suit. Next came Chalk and she wasn't too thrilled. Even as they were putting the backpack on she was complaining.

"Maybe this isn't such a good idea, you know." she mumbled to herself slowly.

Even through all her mumbling she didn't really try to stop them but it was evident on her face that she was uncomfortable. Finally she stood there wearing the backpack, boots and arms. Sonic had been watching her the whole time and was slightly concerned, Chalk was definitely nervous. Silvia released a third orb and it proceeded to hover over Chalk's head forcing the rabbit to look up nervously at it. Silvia then held out a headband towards Chalk and this time the rabbit took a step backwards, her boots making loud metallic thunks as they hit the deck.

"Um I've been thinking you know." she said as she stopped backing up, "What if I tried it out without that for now? I've handled Catrina for years and I know how to aim a weapon."

"Yes but you're not familiar with the suit itself. This will take away the need to aim for the most part and let you concentrate on the suits operation." replied Silvia shaking the headband around slightly.

"Yes but ah…"

"Hey Chalk what's up?" whispered Sonic.

Chalk looked to her side to see that Sonic had made his way slowly over to her and had just whispered in her ear. She looked over at him looking down slightly as she did, her expression made her look like she originally had when T2 had saved her in the mountains.

"Sonic I…I can't. It's….it's too similar…" she murmured.

"Chalk I know you don't like this but trust me its ok. This headband isn't the high of fashion but it works and there's no control device or anything in it."

Sonic knew why Chalk was apprehensive. The headband reminded her too much of the one Robotnik had used on her. She was afraid.

"Sonic I…ca…"

Chalk looked away, almost looking like she was about to cry. Sonic swiftly put an arm round her shoulder and pulled her closer, whispering to her as she did.

"Chalk trust me ok, myself and Sally are fine yes. These guys are on our side, they've done nothing to make me think there after us. Just give it a try Chalk. If you don't like it then I won't make you wear it."

"But you can't decide that…"

"Yeah right I can't decide that! Chalk if you try this and decide you don't like it I'll force the issue. Silvia can't make you wear it if you don't like it but at least give it a shot."

Chalk looked back up and Sonic and sniffed, giving him a small nod as she did.

"Ok Sonic. I guess I can't run from this forever, I gotta face it sooner or later."

"That's my Chalk, come on now buck up."

Chalk nodded and looked up, wiping her face slightly as she did. Sonic stepped back and nodded at Silvia who held out the headband once more. Chalk looked at it and spoke.

"Can…can you put it on for me?" she asked.

Silvia just gave a nod and a smile and stepped forwards. She undid the strap and fed it round Chalk's head. Chalk jumped as she felt the metal touch her head and then calmed. Silvia fastened the strap and stepped back. Moments later the screen descended over Chalk's left eye and started to flash, setting itself up and calibrating the different suit systems. Chalk kept her eyes closed for this part, wearing it was bad enough but looking at the flashing screen was something she completely refused to do. Finally she opened her eyes and looked around, it was done.

"There not so bad after all." said Silvia.

"I guess not Sil…."

Chalk stopped in mid sentence and closed her eyes lightly giving a faint moan as she did. She raised a hand to her head and ran it along the headband as if she had just developed a headache. A faint electrical charge ran across her hand as she rubbed her head.

"Chalk? Chalk you ok?" asked Sally cautiously.

Chalk didn't reply, instead she just moaned again and swayed slightly on her feet.

"Chalk?" asked Sonic joining Sally in her concern.

Chalk still didn't respond. The electrical charge running over her hand started to increase. It was now easily visible and as they continued to watch Chalk's headband began to glow a slight red colour. At length Chalk gave another moan and this time they could tell she was in discomfort. She moaned again and inhaled sharply. Seconds later the electrical charge running over her hand crackled and spread, flashing over her whole body causing her fur to stick up on end. Chalk's entire body went rigid and she screamed as if she had been jabbed with a hot poker. She bent double, causing her suit's wings to stick up into the air, and clutched her head as she continued to scream. Sally quickly rushed as quickly as she could to the rabbit's side and reached out for her. As her hand made contact with Chalk there was a giant electrical bang and Sally found herself flying backwards into a piece of machinery. She would have been knocked unconscious had it not been for the Angel suit behind her taking most of the impact. Even so she slumped to the floor before looked up, a look of panic on her face.

"Chalk!" she cried struggling to get back up again.

"Shut it off, shut it off!" cried Sonic spinning to Silvia, his own wings sending some loose items flying across the bay as he turned.

"We can't!" replied Silvia equally panicked, "It's internally powered and controlled. The only way to shut it off is to get to her."

They all looked back at Chalk who was still standing rigid although her scream had quietened now. Suddenly it reached a pitch again and, with several splatters of blood, a number of green tubes burst out of Chalk's skin before swinging round and clamping themselves onto the backpack. A number of small electrical wires also pushed their way out of her skin and fixed to various pieces of the suit, most of them around the headband. The static charge across her body was fading now and as it did Chalk started to relax. Finally the static stopped and for a moment Chalk stood motionless before giving a slight moan and collapsing to the floor with a crash. Sonic and Sally couldn't move that well in their suits so both Alicia and Jet raced forwards to kneel down beside her. Alicia gave her a nudge.

"Chalk? Chalk wake up."

Chalk gave no response and Alicia looked up looking worried. Silvia acted quickly.

"Get her out of that suit, now!" she screamed.

A number of technicians raced forwards and started to remove the suit from around Chalk. However they soon found they couldn't. The boots came off easily enough but the backpack and headband was stuck and wouldn't move an inch.

"She needs help!" cried Alicia now getting frantic.

"Get her down to medical stat!" responded Silvia.

"But what about the suit? It can't leave the bay." argued one of the technicians.

"Either you remove that suit now which you can't or you take it with her! I don't care about protocol or secrets right now. Get her to medical!" screamed Silvia.

"Yes ma'am!"

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"Chalk, hey Chalk wake up. Come on now, wake up." urged Sonic nudging the rabbit.

Chalk made a small moan and her eyes fluttered slightly.

"That's it Chalk, come on now."

Chalk gave another low moan and slowly her eyes opened. She stared back at Sonic's face beside her.

"Hi Chalk, how you feeling?" asked Sonic.

"It…it hurts…" moaned the rabbit quietly.

"What does?"

"E…everything…"

Sonic looked at her apologetically and sighed.

"Sonic?" whimpered Chalk softly, "What…what happened? My body feels strange. Not normal."

"Hush Chalk. They'll be time for talk later, you just rest now ok." replied Sonic gripping her shoulder slightly.

Chalk didn't even try to resist. She looked away slightly and fell back to sleep. Sonic sat back in his chair and looked at the rabbit. The Angel suit was still attached to her and the tubes and wires that had appeared from her skin were still attached to the suit. Was this his fault? He had pushed Chalk into it after all. Was he to blame? He gave another sigh as he continued to watch over her.

Above the medical bay ran a long corridor with large glass windows looking down at an angle. It was here that Silvia stood watching Sonic and Chalk. She gave a firm sigh and turned to face the person behind her.

"Ok let's hear it." she said.

The person, obviously a scientist from his clothing, took out a small electronic pad and looked over it for a moment before speaking.

"Well Miss President it seems that she has…merged with the suit." he said.

"Merged? How'd you mean merged?"

"Well we did a few tests down in the lab while she was unconscious. The area of her skin around the suit has split and attached itself to the metal plating. The wounds have completely healed too. It's like someone welded the suit to her skin."

"How is that possible?"

"I don't know but I think it has something to do with the technology already in her body."

"Go on."

"Well from what she told us of it, it was implanted inside her by a person called Robotnik. He used this implanted technology to then control her through suggestion turning her into some sort of android servant."

"Yes I already know that…but what does it have to do with this?"

"If I can speak frankly, she doesn't know the extent of this technology and I think if she did she'd be acting very differently."

"How'd you mean?"

"She assumed the only implants were in her hands and head. Her hands so she could use that weapon of her and her head for control purposes but I'm afraid to say it extends much more than that. Roughly sixty five percent of her skin is full of micro circuits and we've detected a few large components throughout her body. Namely metallic additions to her arms which would explain why she is able to throw that weapon of hers around as if it is nothing."

"Why didn't you find any of this out earlier? She was scanned before yes!"

"With all respect miss president she was a little more active then. When we went near her with any heavy scanning gear she freaked and ended up destroying half the lab in her panic."

Silvia turned away in a fluster and looked back down at Chalk and Sonic.

"So what you're saying is that we can't remove the suit." she said.

"Yes. Even if we could undo the skin from around the metal plating she's have huge areas of bare flesh which could easily go septic. Couple this with the fact that this happened during the calibration stage of the process. I think our own technology awakened the circuitry in her body and caused it to react. We don't know what affect it would have on her to remove it."

"Great, just great."

"I'm sorry Miss President."

"That's alright, I just never expected this. I wonder what will happen when she wakes up."

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It was a few days later when Chalk finally woke properly. She had been slipping in and out of consciousness but finally looked like she was going to come round. As always she lay on her front, the Angel suit sticking into the air behind her. Everyone had gathered around her bed, Sonic and Sally stood at one side with Silvia on the other side and Jet and Alicia watched from the foot of the bed. The captain was standing a little way off watching from the doorway of the medical bay. No-one was going to push Chalk and so far they had been waiting around thirty minutes for her to come too. The rabbit's eyes were opening slightly and then closing again in fairly quick succession as she came round. Small moans escaped her lips with her breathing coming in long gentle sighs. At length her eyes finally opened and she glances around slightly as much as she could with her face buried in the pillow.

"Huh?" she murmured.

"Chalk." cooed Sally as she slowly knelt down next to the rabbit.

Sally reached forwards and took a gentle grip of Chalk's shoulder.

"You ok?" she asked.

"I dunno Sally." replied Chalk still slightly out of it, "I feel funny."

Sally looked back at Sonic for a moment and he nodded. The pair had earlier decided that Sally should tell Chalk the situation. They both knew that Sally was better in these situations.

"Chalk I have something to tell you." said Sally slowly looking back at Chalk.

"Sally?" asked Chalk slowly seeing the look on her face, "Sally what happened?"

"Chalk do you remember anything?"

"I…I remember putting the suit on and then…pain. Intense pain, like my skin was burning off. And then…..then flashes. How long have I been out?"

"A few days Chalk."

"A few days…what happened? Why do I feel strange Sally?"

"Chalk this is going to be difficult for you to accept but…look at your arm."

As Chalk moved her head to look Sally shut her eyes. She couldn't bear looking into her face as she saw what had happened to her. With her eyes closed she still heard Chalk's reaction. The rabbit gave a shrill gasp and her breathing started to come in sharp pants. The equipment attached to her to monitor started to bleep frantically, her heart beat jumping drastically. Chalk slowly reached behind her as best she could and felt the large backpack and set of wings on her back. Her hand slowly dropped back to her side and her face went completely white.

"What…..what happened…?" she said her face shaking."

"I'm sorry Chalk." said Silvia from her other side, "We didn't know how extensive the technology inside you was…it reacted with our tech and…"

Silvia fell silent and Chalk turned her head to look at her.

"What…what do you mean?" she asked.

"While you were unconscious we did a few scans Chalk. The technology in your body extends further than the implants on your hands. Nearly two thirds of your skin and both your arms are full of circuits and metallic parts." replied Silvia looking away.

"No….he said he wouldn't…." stuttered Chalk, "He said he wouldn't robotize me…he said he wouldn't!"

Chalk was now obviously panicked and scarred to death. Her entire body was shaking and her face was blank and white. She looked back at Sonic and Sally, as if they'd suddenly come up with some brilliant idea to make everything better again. Instead the pair of them were looking at the ground with downcast expressions.

"No…..please no…" murmured Chalk.

Sally slowly looked up, the sadness evident on her face.

"I'm sorry Chalk." she said slowly.

"No…"

Chalk turned and buried her face in the pillow before bursting into tears. Her sobbing was loud even through the pillows and continued for quite some time before, exhausted from crying and the event she had just been through, she finally fell asleep. Most of the group walked away but Alicia and Jet stayed at Chalk's side.

"We'll stay with her mother." said Alicia slowly.

Sally gave a small nod and smiled slightly.

"Thank you Alicia." replied Sally.

"No problem mother."

Jet and Alicia slowly sat down on opposite sides of Chalk as the others moved off. They spent a moment looking at her and then looked at each other.

"You think she'll be ok?" asked Alicia.

"I hope so." said Jet, "I hope so."

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The days slowly dragged on. For now work on the Angel Suits was postponed until the recent events had passed. Everyone went back to their normal jobs but their heart just wasn't in it. Sonic just couldn't bring himself to make any decisions and Sally found herself getting irritated by Nicole's read outs. Alicia had stopped swinging around the hanger and now walked from place to place delivering messages and equipment. Jet had stopped telling stories now and constantly had a defeated look on his face as he went about helping to fix various things. Chalk had been checked out of the medical bay and had spent most of her time in her room crying. Occasionally one of the group had found her sitting in a dark corner of a hanger or room sniffing and murmuring about home.

Eventually two weeks had passed by since their arrival and things were still moving along the same beat until Silvia received a shocking piece of news. She was sitting in her office with her head in her hands when a soldier burst through the door gasping heavily. Silvia was instantly on her feet and staring at him.

"What's going on?" she snapped annoyed at the disturbance.

"Miss President! Our latest intelligence report from Jupiter just came in. We have trouble." replied the soldier holding out a computer printout.

Silvia quickly grabbed it and then stared in disbelief at the paper.

"Are you sure this is accurate?" she spluttered.

"Yes ma'am. We checked it three times."

"My god! Call those furries together in the main meeting hall. I want the captain there too."

"Yes ma'am!"

The soldier quickly left at a sprint leaving Silvia too look over the print out once more. She looked away, dropping the printout onto her desk.

"This isn't good at all."

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Not long after a group consisting of Sonic, Sally, Alicia, Jet, Silvia and the captain sat around a large meeting table. A stack of papers sat next to Silvia as she started the meeting.

"I know now is not a good time for any of us but trouble never seems to occur when it's convenient." she said, "I've just received a very disturbing report from our operative on Jupiter."

"What's Jupiter?" asked Alicia.

"A planet…gas giant and the biggest planet in the Earth system." replied Jet.

"Correct Jet, it's also the Alliances main ship building facility." said Silvia handing out a set of photos to everyone, "Does anyone recognise that ship."

"Like hell yeah!" said Jet.

"That's the Phantom." finished Alicia staring at the photo, "But you blew that ship up right."

"Yes we did. Now take a look at this photo and compare them."

Silvia then handed out a second set of photos to everyone. They all blinked as they looked between the photos and then looked up at Silvia.

"Those are….the same!" said Sonic.

"Nearly. What the second photo shows is a ship currently being constructed in the main Jupiter ship port. Its name is the Phantom 2, a MKII Dauntless class cruiser."

"MKII? That doesn't sound good." said Sally.

"Its not." replied Silvia.

"Hang on!" said Sonic sharply, "You keep going on about how you have the best covert operation of anyone so why didn't you find out about this earlier?"

"We've been tracking things coming in and out of the Jupiter station for months now. They were never big and we though they were going to be used for repairs or construction of smaller ships. Our operative didn't notice until recently that they were constructing a second Phantom."

"Great, just great?! So what are we going to do about it?" asked Sonic.

"According to our sources it won't be completed for another few months so our best bet is a pre-emptive strike." said the captain, "Miss President I request permission to send a squadron to Jupiter and destroy this thing."

"You know very well captain that our fighters are not capable of destroying something that big. Nothing is apart from that Ion Beam Frigate we had." replied Silvia.

"Yes I know that Miss President but its not yet complete and if we strike now while it is unprotected we might have a chance. All it takes is one volley at the main power core and we could probably take it our and the Jupiter station too."

"That's unacceptable captain and you know it. I will not endanger civilian lives and if I remember correctly Jupiter station has families onboard. If we are going to do this is it is just the Phantom and the dock, not the station!"

"I understand but I still request permission to start an operation."

"It's worth a shot I guess, start your preparations captain."

"Yes ma'am!"

The captain gave a sharp salute and left the room. Everyone watched him leave and then Sonic spoke.

"What's Jupiter Station?" he asked.

"Jupiter Station is a prototype ring colony. It's not even complete yet but when it is the ring will encircle the entire planet and be the home of a good few million colonists. At the moment just the construction crew and their families are living there, even so it's a good three hundred and fifty thousand people. About half the ring is complete now and they've been constructing it for over half a decade. Attached to the middle of this half ring is a large port and construction bay run by the military. Part of the port is used for civilian traffic and supply ships but most is used for military vessels. The Phantom 2 is being constructed in this port."

"So if the captain's squad can get in they'll have to destroy the Phantom but leave the ring intact." said Sally.

"Correct but it's harder than that. The area around the port is heavily guarded and even if no other ships are present the ring colony is armed with multiple beam cannon turrets and missile pods. If used all at once the half ring could probably take out this ship in a single volley."

Sonic and Sally looked at each other cautiously.

"Ouch." said Sonic.

"Quite Sonic, what happens if they fail?"

"Then we'll have trouble. The Alliance still isn't that aware of our existence. As far as we know they still haven't worked out I'm still alive and although they know it was humans that took out the Phantom they don't know who they were. If this goes badly they might find out who we are and that could be disastrous."

"We better hope they don't fail then." said Jet slowly.

"Yes." replied Silvia with a nod.