Epilogue

Sonic sat side by side with Sally beside Alicia's bed. It was now two days since the events at Jupiter and things had not changed that much. Not long after Sonic had asked for a transport one had arrived from the frigates parked outside. Once they had boarded the transport had left and docked with the frigate before the frigate had made for the Saratoga at best speed. The other two frigates had remained behind to recover the two Angel suits and to clean up before leaving themselves.

Meanwhile Jet and Alicia had been taken to the Saratoga's medical bay and had been immediately rushed into intensive care. Sonic and Sally had sat for many hours before news had finally come to them. Both of the children were in a bad way. The vacuum and cold of space had given their systems such a shock that if they had been out in it a moment longer they would certainly have died. Jet had been slightly luckier than Alicia but he was still in a bad way. He was slightly conscious now but no where near awake. His pulse and breathing were stable although very low. Alicia was in a critical condition. Her pulse was erratic and she had to be hooked up to a ventilator so that she could breathe. Sonic and Sally had also heard the doctors speaking of possible brain damage too which had sent Sally into floods of tears.

Chalk had retired to her room for the most part. She had been limping when she came in and had been suffering from a few electric shocks due to her being merged with her suit. Andrew hadn't been seen either since they returned.

Presently Sally lent forwards and ran her hand through Alicia's hair. As Sonic looked at her he could see the pain she was in. Her face was stained with tears and looked pale. Sonic couldn't deny that he wasn't feeling the same because he was. He never really showed his emotions much and tended to cover them up at times but this was too much for even him to contain. For the last two days he had been reliving every moment he had ever spent with his daughter over the last sixteen years of her life. All of those moments started to come back to him now as he sat watching her.

"Hey Sal, remember Alicia's fourth birthday?" he asked slowly, "You invited nearly the whole cities child population."

Sally gave a small gulping laugh and sniffed.

"Yes, you kept complaining about the noise." she replied.

"Looking back it wasn't that loud, the hum of this ship is more annoying."

"Alicia never did get used to that hum. I kept hearing her tossing and turning in bed, she likes quiet places."

"Yeah."

"Sonic? She'll be alright won't she? Won't she?"

"I don't know Sally. I hope so, god I hope so."

"Me too Sonic."

Sally leaned back from Alicia and turned to hug Sonic. The pair fell into each others arms as Sally began to sob, even Sonic was now struggling to hold back his tears.

"Please let her be alright." he said slowly.

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Chalk walked along one of the ships many passages at a slow pace. He mind wasn't really on the moment but stuck in the past. She was comparing the different reaction of the people around her. Most of the crew had been ecstatic about the Phantom 2's destruction. There were still parties going on now two days after it and wherever she went she found someone asking her to retell her story. She had now taken to spending most of her time either locked in her room or in some isolated spot. It wasn't that she didn't want to tell people her story or celebrate their victory but after recent events she didn't want to celebrate. What was there to celebrate? Jet and Alicia were nearly comatose and they all had their own feeling to deal with.

Presently Chalk stopped at a corridor intersection and leaned against the wall. Silvia and the captain had had completely different reactions to the news. The captain had immediately started planning their next move, "This is only one step along the road we have to tread." he had said. Chalk couldn't help but laugh slightly, typical military response. Silvia seemed to be the only person onboard who was genuinely concerned about Jet and Alicia. She had made sure the pair were stable at least before returning to her duties and was constantly checking back on their condition. Chalk had to admit, she liked Silvia. As humans went she was very decent and kind, so much unlike Robotnik. Chalk gave a sigh and moved on down the corridor heading towards the ship's canteen. She just hoped it was empty, she wasn't in the mood for talking much.

As she entered the canteen she quickly scanned the room. The lights were all on but the canteen seemed to be closed for the most part. Various trays of cold food had been left out should anyone want to eat though. Chalk then noticed someone sitting to one side of the canteen bent over a tray of food. Even though his hand partially obstructed his face Chalk could tell it was Andrew. She hadn't seen him much recently and had wanted to ask him some question, now seemed as good a time as any. She hurried over to the counter and looked over what was on offer. She finally decided on a bread roll and some cold meat stew and walked over to where Andrew was sitting. As she approached he made no visible sign of greeting nor any sign of leaving either. She sat down just across from him and placed her food down. She dipped her bread in her stew and took a bite. Seconds later she cringed and threw the bread roll down along the table.

"Yack! What they make this out of?" she said pushing her bowl away.

"No idea but I swear it comes from somewhere dark." replied Andrew.

Chalk gave a short laugh and looked at Andrew. The human was leaning on his hand staring into his plate with a thoughtful look on his face.

"Penny for your thoughts." said Chalk politely.

Andrew looked up and shrugged.

"Oh it's nothing, just thinking." he replied.

"About what?"

"Well what I've chosen to do. Thinking everything over you know."

"Ah! Mid life crisis." snickered Chalk.

"Nothing of the sort, I'm not that old yet. No I was thinking about Earth and what really is going on."

Chalk didn't reply, instead she leaned back in her chair and allowed Andrew to continue.

"I've been in the military since I was a teenager, joined when I was eighteen." said Andrew leaning back also, "Oh it was good back then, saying that I was just another private in the ranks. That was a few years after Silvia supposedly died. My parents had always been very much behind Miss Higara, especially my father. Many thought it odd that a top level military officer would back a president devoted to peace and low military spending. Well anyway there I was following in his footsteps. By this point I think just about everyone in the military knew about "Sarah Mathews" appearance, can't say I wasn't interested by the fact of life on another planet. That's why I volunteered for the Mobian mission when it came about. Never thought I'd end up joining forces with them though."

"So why did you join with us?" asked Chalk, "I mean you could have made yourself a prisoner or left once Basanda had been defeated. We weren't exactly in a position to stop you."

"I know and I did think about it but…something made me stay. I didn't really know the full story of events on Mobius, I wasn't exactly that high of a rank, but I felt as if something underhand was going down. It sounds egotistical but my record was spotless, I've never put a foot wrong, and I end up supervising some lousy dig site and nearly getting killed. Some reward for a good officer eh. Plus I've always felt a bit odd about Miss Higara's alleged death. My father was always very vocal on the subject and wore it was a conspiracy so I've never full believed the reports. I see I was right to do so now and after hearing what Silvia had to say now I know I was right. The Earth Alliance has gone crazy, President Kidderminster is…well he's gone mad! I know we should be cautious when we encounter something new, especially a new planet and life forms, but to attack them without provocation? Where's the sense in that?"

Chalk pushed a hand through her hair and smiled.

"You don't know how refreshing it is to here a human say that. But how did you get Silvia to let you use Angel six? More to the point how were you able to get the hang of it so quickly?" she asked.

"Ah well I basically told her what I told you just now." he replied.

"Somehow I doubt that would have been enough, she's had you under lock and key since you got here."

"True and when I said that she countered with how was she to know that I would defect back to the Alliance as soon as I got out."

"Good point."

"Very and I had a hell of a time explaining my way out of it. I said that if I was planning to defect and give the Alliance Angel six then I'd be a bit dumb as they had already captured Angel four and five and wouldn't need a third unit. I then proceeded to tell her all about my father and the doubt I held over her death. She was flattered but that was about it."

"So?"

"Well I didn't really have much more to say. It wasn't until she heard you were going back in to try and save those two kids that she finally agreed to let me go. Saying that she did send those three frigates with me, guess she was making sure I kept to my word."

"A wise precaution really when you think about it."

"I guess so and we did end up needing those frigates in the end. Saying that it was Sonic's cannon blast that did the trick in the end. I'm just wondering if I did the right thing."

"You mean leaving the Alliance and joining Silvia and us?"

Andrew gave a small nod.

"Well I think you did." replied Chalk sitting up, "Look at it this way, were you comfortable in the Alliance?"

"There were times."

"Right, and do you feel comfortable here?"

"Um…so long as everyone stops looking at me like their plotting to stab me."

Chalk chuckled and covered her mouth.

"Well there you go. Here you know what the people around you are thinking so you can protect yourself and act accordingly. Back in the Alliance did you always know what people were thinking? Or what they were planning? If you weren't fighting for them as they wanted you to did you know what would happen to you?"

Andrew folded his arms in front of him and looked down, thinking it over. Finally he looked up and flung his arms to the side.

"I guess you're right Chalk. I've always been interested in how Silvia did things in her time. Guess I'll actually get a chance to see first hand now."

"Always looking on the bright side eh. Now…how did you get the hang of that suit so quickly?"

"Simple, video games."

"Pardon?"

"When I was younger we lived in one of the smaller cities. There wasn't all that much to do and hardly any other kids lived in my area. Both my parents were always busy so they bought me loads of stuff to occupy me. Video games were one of those things, hell I even won a tournament on one game. I played a lot of simulators and combat games, probably why I went into the military, so I got used to the controls pretty quickly. Plus I've never piloted another ship of any kind so there was nothing to confuse me."

"Sneaky, bet Silvia was impressed."

"You could say that."

"It was certainly a surprise when you came to our rescue, but a nice surprise."

"Glad I could be of service, I just hope we didn't arrive too late."

"Don't blame yourself for that Andrew, without your help we'd all be dead now for sure. The kids will be fine."

"I'll have to take your word on that. Question now is what do we do now?"

"The infamous question eh? Well there's still us two isn't there. I can't do much else but fight in my current situation."

"Same as me really, I doubt Silvia will give me anything else to do until she knows she can trust me."

"Right well if you need any help with your suit just let me know, I know a fair bit about them now."

Chalk pushed her chair back slowly and made a move to stand up.

"But right now I'm going to go and see if I can find something a little more edible and then check on the kids." she said.

"Think I'll join you, nothing else to do on this ship." replied Andrew.

Chalk slowly stood followed by Andrew. As Chalk stood her suit's wings bumped into the table behind her causing her to stumble.

"Must be irritating having that thing on all the time." he said.

"Yes it can be but without it I would still be without my memories." she replied.

"How much can you remember now?"

"Not a great deal so far but it is coming back. I can remember my mother and my sibling. I can remember the last few moment of my real life and a few other times like when my mother took me camping. Heh, she forgot to put the stove in our pack, we ended up eating cold soup."

"Camping eh?"

"Yes, now let's go get something to eat."

Chalk and Andrew slowly left the cafe still talking about various things. They hadn't noticed Silvia and the captain standing in a corner of the room. They had arrived about mid way through the pair's conversation and had remained quiet until now.

"Quite the pair don't you think." said Silvia.

"I wouldn't say that but interesting conversation." replied Harry.

"Yes but we shouldn't eavesdrop now should we."

"Always the angel aren't we."

"Well someone has to be."

"You really trust that guy?"

"I'll be watching him but yes I do."

"I hope you're right about him."

"Me too Harry, me too."