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Egg Carrier Rakshasa, port side cargo hold. January 26, 2003. 0833 hours.
*WHAM* Knuckles' fist slammed into the wall, trying to make an exit, and was only awarded with a sore hand. They had been at it for the past five minutes, ever since the cargo bays closed, and the egg carrier took off.
"Fire in the hole!" Sonic shouted before firing another grenade round. Once again, the only proof of his efforts was scorch marks on the wall. "Dammit! Now what? Rouge, find anything on those walls?"
"Nope. We just may be—"
"Hey, guys! A ventilation shaft on the ceiling!" Tails announced, hovering near the rafters.
"Damn, I can't get to it." Rouge said after looking up..
Knuckles looked up. "Hey, I can do walls, but not ceilings."
Sonic chuckled. "And I sure as hell can't get up there. Tails, if you go, it'll be up to you to get us out."
Tails landed to rest his tails. "I know."
Sonic drew his SOCOM pistol, and handed it to Tails. "Then take this. It's on semi-auto fire. Leave it there." He also handed the fox a chaff grenade. "And if you get in a bind, use this chaff grenade. It'll disable any electronic equipment nearby, E-series sentries included. I don't have to tell you to be careful. Good luck." With that, he let Tails hover to the vent shaft.
Egg Carrier Rakshasa, starboard side cargo hold. Same time.
"Requesting a status brief, King six!" Vasquez demanded over the radio. "The Rakshasa has taken off, and she was only docked with the rig for all of three minutes!"
"Calm down, Vasquez." Speigal said on the other side. "We're looking into that now. It doesn't make any sense on this end either. What's your status, over?"
"Well, it appears we're locked inside the cargo hold. It may be hours before they open the holds."
Speigal groaned. "It better not take that long. We have vectored its course to dock with the fleet egg carrier Ravana in four hours. You guys better find a way out before then."
Sonic's voice was now heard over the radio. "King six, this is Alpha Team. We're working on springing ourselves out as we speak. I got Tails in the vents to attempt to open the doors on the other side. As soon as we're free, we'll get to Charlie Team. I'll keep you posted on our situation. Alpha Team, out."
"10-4, Alpha."
"10-4, boss."
Egg Carrier Rakshasa, vent shafts. Same time.
"Hehe, Solid Snake, eat your heart out!" Tails joked as he navigated the vents. Five minutes later he came across a vent opening in the ceiling of a room. This was probably his best chance to get out. "Okay, here we go!" Gingerly, he removed the vent covering, being careful not to drop it. He thought he had it, but his tenuous grip on the cover slipped, and it clattered noisily on the floor. "Shoot!" He hissed. "I hope nobody was around." The sound of mechanical footsteps approaching revealed his worst fear. "Crap!" He backed his way through the vent, praying the sentries wouldn't suspect an intruder. He froze, holding his breath. He could have sworn his heart stopped beating, too. Soon, the sound of those same footsteps receding let him relax. "That was close. Now, down to business." With that, he slid his way back to the covering. After double-checking to see if it was clear, he jumped down.
"Hmm, a service corridor?" He reasoned. "If I remember right, the cargo holds were down the hall, that way. Hang on, guys. Here I come." With that, he sprinted down the hall. He rounded a corner, and saw a big automatic double door. "This has got to be the cargo hold Sonic and the others are waiting. Now to open the door—oh crap!" He just noticed the LCD panel beside the door. It was in the shape of a hand of one of Eggman's robots. "A sort of biometrics, huh? Hmm, all I have to do is kill me something." He started to run back. "I could have sworn I saw another room on the way here."
He arrived at the room. Sticking his ear next to the door, he could hear some mechanical footsteps, probably of some sentries, or peons. He readied his chaff grenade. "Well, here goes." Quickly, he pulled the pin, opened the door, threw the grenade in and shut the door. He heard the grenade go off. Readying Sonic's SOCOM pistol, he cautiously opened the door, and was relieved to see the grenade work its magic on the bot in the small room. Tails just opted to spin-dash it to oblivion, instead of wasting ammo.
"Okay, I hope I left an arm intact," he muttered, shifting through the wreckage. In a few short seconds, he came across one undamaged. He proudly held it over his head. "Mission accomplished! Now, to get back to Sonic." With that, he went back to the doors. He placed the robotic hand onto the LCD screen. "Please let this work."
"I.D. confirmed. You are clear to enter." The panel responded.
Tails pumped his fist into the air. "Yeah! Who's da man? I'm da man!"
"Hey, I think I hear Tails on the other side," Rouge said. The doors began to part slowly. "And I think he got it done."
Sonic stood up. "Finally! Alright, form up." When the gap was wide enough, Tails shimmied through. "Great job, Tails."
The fox handed back Sonic's sidearm. "Sorry, had to use the chaff."
Sonic shrugged his indifference, then went to his radio. Before he could switch it on, a klaxon went off. "What the hell?! Tails, you didn't trip up any alarms, did you?"
"No, I didn't see any surveillance cameras on my way." Tails answered.
Then, what would have set off the klaxon? Sonic switched on his radio. "Charlie 1, this is Alpha Team. We're out of storage, and heading your way. What's your status, over?"
Egg Carrier Rakshasa. Starboard cargo bay. 0840 hours.
"Alpha Team, get your asses over here, now!" Vasquez yelled over gunfire and into the radio. "We have multiple contacts coming into the cargo area, and were pinned down! If you don't get over here soon, there'll be no more SEAL Team 3!"
"Goddammit!" Sonic cursed on the other side. "Stay calm, Vasquez. Help's on the way. Cut transmission." Click.
More AK fire prompted Vasquez to drop behind his container. Someone screamed. Vasquez looked to his right to see Profile fall backwards, blood spurting from a wound dangerously close to his heart. "Shit! Profile's down! Profile's down!" Vasquez went back to his radio. "Sonic! Vasquez here! What's your ETA?!"
"Less than a minute! We're almost there! Stay calm."
Vasquez shut off his radio. "Stay calm my ass!" He stood up, M4 at the ready, with tracers coming dangerously close. "You want some of this, mothafuckas!? Huh! You want some!?" He fired multiple bursts from his rifle, until the clicking noise from his rifle told him he had to reload. "Oh, shit!"
*BOOM*
Down the hall, a couple of explosion sent the entire squad of E-series bots flying in pieces. A few seconds later, Sonic eased around the corner, hand first as so to avoid being shot at. He laughed. "Who's ya daddy!"
"Alpha Team, Profile's down! Get over here, quick!" Barnes shouted.
Sonic and co. ran down the rest of the service corridor to SEAL Team 3. When they got to Profile's body, Sonic paled. Sonic immediately covered his camera, and sent Tails away. There was a pretty good-sized pool of blood on the ground. Probably got hit in the heart, Sonic thought. He bent down to feel for a pulse. Nothing. Sonic looked at the rest of the group and shook his head. "He's dead." He said solemnly. "There's nothing we can do."
"Goddamn." Collins breathed. "Dammit. He was a good friend, y'know. We both entered SEAL training together in San Diego. Both of us got through hell week together, graduated together. And we were both assigned to SEAL Team 3 together."
A beat. Then, Rouge spoke. "What are we gonna do now, Sonic?"
Sonic cleared his throat. "Hang on." He switched on his radio. "King six, this is Alpha one. Are you receiving?"
"We're still receiving, Alpha." Speigal responded. "What's your status, over?"
Sonic took a deep breath. "Profile's dead. You might wanna notify his spouse or next of kin."
"Goddammit… 10-4, Alpha. Anything else?"
"That's all—no, wait a minute. Did you find anything out about why the Rakshasa took off early?"
"No new intelligence on that front." Speigal said. "I'll fill you in as we get information. Cut transmission, and continue your mission." Click.
Sonic replaced his radio. "Well, you heard'em. Let's move."
"Where to, boss?" Vasquez asked.
Sonic thought for a moment. "Wait. First, let's make sure we are on the right carrier. If we're dying here for nothing, I'll be extremely pissed off. Let's find a computer terminal somewhere." With that, everyone vacated the cargo area, and walked down the service corridor. "Since this is a service corridor, my guess is we have to walk a little bit 'til we get to the main part of this crate." He then noticed that Tails was still holding that robotic arm. "And why are you hanging on to that?"
"Oh, this?" Tails asked, holding up the arm. "I figured out that this carrier uses a type of biometrics for its security system. This'll come in handy."
Moments later, they came to a door. Reasoning that it's a way out of the service corridor, they cautiously went through. "Alright, people. Form up. Knuckles, you have the rear." Sonic ordered. After creeping for a few seconds, Sonic saw a door ahead. "Okay, there's a door to the left. We're doing a clean sweep. Vasquez, you're with me. Tails, you're behind us. The rest of you, stand watch. And try not to use any chaff grenades." He and Vasquez crept to the door. "Ready?"
Vasquez nodded.
Sonic opened the door. Inside were two sentries, and three terminals in the back. Vasquez fired a three round burst at one, destroying it, and taking cover behind the wall as tracers came out of the room. Sonic readied his SOCOM pistol, waiting for the gunfire to stop. It did, and Sonic quickly dove into the room, shooting and destroying the other sentry with two shots, and jumping back at the last minute to avoid being perforated by death reflex burst gunfire. "All clear. Tails, get to work on that terminal. The rest of us, get in here and guard this room."
Tails walked up to a terminal, examining it. "Okay, guys. This shouldn't take long. Hey, Sonic. What do you need?"
"How about the brig population?" Rouge suggested.
Sonic nodded. "Yeah, and get a record of all the aircraft in this place, and a flight plan if you can. But get the brig records first. If we're here for nothing, I'll be nothing short of pissed."
"Uh, I can't get a flight plan from here. We'd have to go to the helm for that. Everything else, I can do." With that, Tails started typing commands quickly into the terminal, with Sonic watching. Not much later, Tails' screen came up to a menu of sorts. "Okay, accessing brig recor—what the?!" The screen showed another login screen. It was obviously there to prevent Tails from getting into the system. He clucked his tongue. "Pshhhhhh! Who does Eggman think he's dealing with, anyway?!" He typed some more. "Hmm, 128-bit encryption? Ha! Give me a minute to get around it."
Rouge's eyes widened in surprise and she walked over to him. "Just one minute?! Kid, it takes the best hackers in the world an hour to get around it."
"Pshhhhhh! Just watch me work."
While Tails was working the terminal, Speigal's voice came through Sonic's radio. "Alpha 1, this is King six."
Sonic retrieved his radio from its strap, and flipped it on. "I read you loud and clear, King six."
"Sonic, we've figured out why the Rakshasa left the rig early. We've detected cruise missiles fired from the destroyer U.S.S. Vincennes, a Ticonderoga class guided missile destroyer. We've vectored the warheads' course to the re-supply rig. Their ETA is about five minutes. Since that destroyer is based in Yokosuka, Japan, they had no knowledge of our black op., and thought they could destroy two birds with one stone." Speigal sighed into his radio. "It could've been worse, but we're glad everything worked out okay."
"Yeah, me—" He heard Knuckles' rifle fire.
"We got company!" The echidna yelled, firing a couple of shells from his shotgun down the hall before stepping back into the room to reload.
"Shit! Cut transmission!" Sonic shut off his radio, not even bothering to replace it, and loaded a grenade round into his launcher. After confirming the direction of the gunfire from Knuckles, he just pointed the barrel around the doorjamb, and pulled the trigger on the grenade launcher. An explosion later, he could hear metallic components clatter on the floor.
"Alrighty! I'm in!" Tails announced. "Looks like the brig has some new arrivals."
"Wow, that was quick! You should come work for the CIA when you get older." Rouge remarked. "So, how many are in there?"
Tails took a moment to count the names. "Nine, including one Ivan Antonov, and one Mark Cummings (A/N: Notice that I'm not including any real names here? I just don't want to take any chances.)."
"Yep. Those are our targets." Sonic nodded, switching to his secure line with Amy. "Hey, Ames. Do you remember how to get to the brig from here?" He asked.
"Afraid not. Sorry, Sonic." Amy said remorsefully on the other end. "I never went anywhere near the cargo holds. You guys might have to look a little for landmarks."
Dammit! "Landmarks like…"
Amy thought for a moment. "I remember going through engineering… a bathroom… and that's about it."
Sonic shrugged. "Well, it's a start. Cut transmission." He addressed the squad. "Hey guys, our guide tells us to move toward engineering. From there, she'll know the way." Sonic just now remembered something. "Hey, Tails. I almost forgot. What's in this ship's hangar?"
"I'm already on it." The twin-tailed fox answered. A beat. "Okay, got it. Man, this thing really is a light carrier." He mumbled. "Okay, we have twenty Hammerhead multirole fighters, a wing of five Scorpion medium bombers, five Condor dropships, and as many Rhino tanks."
"Five dropships, huh?" Sonic thought for a moment. "There's seven of us, and nine prisoners. We'll be cramped, but one dropship will do fine. Alright, everyone. Let's form up and move out. Collins, you have the rear." With that, the squad exited the room, heading left down the hall.
After walking further without interference, they came across another big double-door. After Tails got past the modified biometric system with the hand, the doors opened up to a platform inside a cylindrical shaft. There was a gap between the platform and the center platform from which it is supported by two rails, where a switch lay. There were two double doors separated by 90 degrees each. "Now, this looks familiar!" Amy exclaimed loudly through the headset, making Sonic wince a little.
"Yeah, I see that switch." Sonic walked to the edge of the platform. He couldn't even see the bottom. "Tails! Hit that switch! If one of us falls, we're dead. You're the only one who can fly."
Tails hovered to the center platform and hit the switch. The platform retracted toward the center platform a bit before panning to the right 90 degrees to the middle double door. Everyone readied their weapons at the door, Sonic in the lead. The door opened.
"Wait!" Amy said. "It's the other door. Have Tails hit the switch again.
Sonic had Tails hit it again. Once again, the platform retracted, and swung around to the rightmost door. It opened to reveal engineering. "Is this it?" Sonic asked Amy.
"Yep! The atrium should be just a hop, skip and a jump away."
Sonic nodded. "Right. Cut transmission." He looked around the room. There were two rows of terminals flanking the way to their door. There was also an assembly of two huge gears in the middle of the room, which probably had more gears down below. The room's other exit was above the gears, and the only way of getting there was by a staircase and catwalk. "Okay, let's get across that catwalk, double time. We're sitting ducks up there."
Before they could move, another squad of sentries entered the room's aperture, not looking at the group. "Look sharp. Contacts." Collins warned.
"Shit!" Sonic cursed, hiding behind a gap between terminals. The rest of the group had retreated back onto the platform. "Well, I guess I have to use another chaff grenade." That would leave him with two left. He pulled the pin, and lobbed it to the other side.
He missed.
Instead, the toss was wide left, and the chaff grenade fell bounced off the wall, and into the abyss of engineering. Sonic cursed silently and tried again, this time counting to a silent four Mississippi. He missed his mark, but the grenade discharged before it could drop into the abyss, and the sentries were disabled. "Let's move!" The group emerged, and followed Sonic up the steps and across the catwalk. Once across, Sonic somersault attacked the disabled sentries into scrap, to conserve ammo. He looked back at his comrades. "All clear—dammit! We've been tailed! Let's go!" A squad of five E-series sentries had entered engineering from where Sonic and co. had entered. Sonic fired off a few burst of rifle fire. He managed to destroy two of them before he was forced to get prone for cover and reload while tracers filled the air.
Rouge was the last to reach the doorway. "Sonic, go! I'll hold'em off!" She switched firing modes to automatic, got prone, and fired a spray of bullets at the sentries while Sonic retreated toward the aperture.
"Rouge! C'mon! You can't—"
"Contacts!" Barnes shouted in the other room over gunfire.
Now they were surrounded. Sonic hurriedly loaded a grenade round. "Rouge! Help the others!" With that, Sonic fired the grenade round, succeeding to destroy the rest of the squad before they were able to get to the stairs.
On the other side, Knuckles suddenly felt a searing pain in his right shoulder, he cried out and fell behind the corner. "Dammit! I'm hit!"
Sonic and Rouge did a double take. "Oh, shit! Where?!" Sonic panicked.
Rouge studied his wound. "He'll live. It's just in the shoulder. I should be able to stop the bleeding quickly."
Sonic nodded. "Do that. I'll fill in for the Knucklehead who got himself shot." With that, Sonic locked and loaded a fresh clip, and moved to join the gunfight around the corner.
"Fire in the hole!" Vasquez yelled before lobbing a frag grenade around the corner. A moment later, it exploded, clearing out two sentries. But it seemed every time they destroyed one, two more would come down the hall. "Hey Sonic! This ain't getting us anywhere!"
The blue hedgehog fired a burst around the corner. "I know, and I'm starting to run out of grenades. I only have one chaff grenade left and four grenade rounds. Oh fuck it. Make that three." He loaded another round and fired it. The last four sentries were destroyed. "Let's move while there's a break!" With that, Sonic took off running.
"Hey! Where do you think you're going?! You'll get yourself killed!" Vasquez shouted to the charging hedgehog.
Sonic crept up to the next corner, and peaked around. "Dammit! More of'em!" He ran back to the rest of the group. "Prepare for incoming!" A thought occurred to him, then. Wouldn't Amy know of another way? "Y'know, I'm open for suggestions, Ames." Sonic muttered into his secure headset.
"Sorry, this is the only route to the atrium, Sonic." Amy said sadly on the other side.
"Goddammit!" He looked at Knuckles. "You alright?"
Knuckles nodded. "It ain't bad."
"Good, 'cause we're gonna be needing your shotgun." Sonic said while loading another grenade round. Seems he's been doing that a lot. Two left. "Okay, listen up. We're gonna make a mad dash down the hall. Me and Knuckles will lead the charge. Vasquez, Rouge, you're right behind us. Barnes, Collins, you guys are protecting the rear. Tails, stay in the middle."
"Right!" Everyone shouted in unison and formed up.
"Okay. Ready… go!" With that, the group rounded the corner. The first three sentries rounded the corner. Knuckles switched to his shotgun, and three shells took care of the first wave. Still on the move two more rounded the corner just as Sonic and Knuckles reached it. Rouge stepped up and destroyed one with a flurry of kicks before it had the chance to shoot while Knuckles deposited a shell in the other at point blank range. Finally, they rounded the next corner, and the corridor got wider. "Spread out!" Sonic ordered, and Rouge and Vasquez moved to the front flank. There were more E-series bots entering the hallways. The four continued to advance down the hall with guns blazing, always beating the drones to the shot. Another large group entered the corridor from a door on the right, and Sonic fired his grenade launcher, destroying the entire group. "Go! Go! Go!" The group moved double time towards the door at the end of the corridor. Sonic took a post at the doorjamb to protect the rear. "Let's go, Barnes! Let's go, Collins! Move! Move! Move!" The last of the group was through the door, and Sonic slipped through.
The next room had a massive aquarium in the walls. Amy's voice came through Sonic's headset. "Okay, you're close! Up ahead is an elevator. It'll lead to the atrium." She said.
"Alright, got it." Sonic responded. He then addressed the rest of the squad. "The atrium is not far from here. We just have to go up an elevator at the end of the hall."
Vasquez sighed in relief. "Amen. I ain't even gonna look at another computer after this! Let's move!"
They got into the elevator without any interference to everyone's surprise, and everyone took the time to reload. "Man, this has been a tough mission." Rouge muttered.
Vasquez shrugged. "Well, it ain't over yet."
The elevator stopped and the doors opened up into the atrium. "Okay, Amy says the brig is to the immediate left…" There was no door to the left. "Okay, that's another change in the design, I guess." There were other doors on the first and second floors of the atrium.
"Well, it's time to find it ourselves for a change." Barnes announced.
The group spread out along the atrium. "Hey, guys! Look at this!" Vasquez shouted a half-minute into the search. "Looks like I found the armory!"
"For real?" Collins asked. "What's in there?"
Vasquez shrugged. "It all looks Russian. We got Kalashnikovs (Mikhail Kalashnikov was the man who introduced the world to the AK-47 and AK-74. In fact, the AK stands for Automatic Kalashnikov), some RPGs (Rocket Propelled Grenades), and some Stinger missile launchers, and—"
"Found it!" Tails exclaimed, standing at a monitor by a door on the second floor. Everyone stopped what they were doing, and went over to Tails. He used the robotic hand he carried for the security check, the doors opened, and everyone went in.
"Wow! They sure did expand the brig," Amy remarked on Sonic's headset. Steel doors with narrow peep slits lined the walls.
"Tails, find a way to open all the cells." Sonic muttered.
"Right!"
A voice with a thick Russian accent oozed out of one of the cells. "Who's out there?!"
"Relax, comrade." Sonic began. "We're an American task force on a black op. mission to rescue the FSB Head Ivan Antonov and U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Cummings. Who are you?"
"Lieutenant Vladimir Orumov. I was part of the Spetsnaz squad assigned that very same mission. We were ambushed in the middle of the Black Sea. Of the ten sent, only five of us survived and were captured. Rasputin's forces sent the dead to the bottom of the sea."
Sonic blinked. "Rasputin? You're talking about Dr. Robotnik, correct?" Sonic asked.
Another Russian voice answered. "Ah, comrade Sonic. I would think that you of all people knew that Rasputin is of Russian descent (A/N: Okay, before you flame me, here me out. Ivo Robotnik. Don't you think that sounds even a little Russian? Just say it a couple of times. You'll get my point.). He's a Cold War relic. He used to be a top Soviet scientist in Moscow until the Cold War ended. Then, as Russia started to embrace the Western way of life, Rasputin became bitter towards both Russia and America. We didn't think that after the ARK incident, that bitterness would be quelled. He means to control both Mother Russia, and America—no, the entire world! Needless to say, he must be stopped at all costs!"
"I've been trying to do that for years." Sonic said. "And if you Spetsnaz want to avenge your comrades, now's your chance. We gotta get to the flight deck and onto a dropship. Hopefully, we won't be too far out of allied airspace. There's an armory in the atrium outside with AK's."
All the doors in the room clicked open at once. Weary, beaten Russian soldiers and Spetsnaz, along with FSB Head Ivan Antonov and Sec. Def. Mark Cummings emerged from their cells. Antonov approached Sonic and the SEALs. "Gentlemen, let us treat you to a bottle of Russia's finest Vodka when we return."
Vasquez chuckled. "And how can I pass up an offer like that? Let's go!"
Everyone started to file out. Cummings approached Sonic. "You said you guys were black oping?" He asked. Sonic nodded to the affirmative. "Why do you guys need to black op?"
Sonic sighed. "Because President Dugan (A/N: Like I said, I'm not using any real life people) was gonna leave you to rot here by being too cautious." The two began to walk out. "Dugan wanted to see what Eggman wanted. I was banking on the fact that Eggman wanted something that Dugan just isn't gonna hand over, so with some help from the CIA, we decided to take out Eggman's bargaining chip."
Cummings laughed. "Y'know, if you were in the military, you'd make a fine General someday."
Tails ran up to Sonic. "Sonic, the Russians say that we can't use the flight deck until this carrier is in battle mode." He announced.
Sonic paused for a moment. "Hmm, we'll have to go to helm control. Leave that to me. You guys get to that flight deck. We'll rendezvous there. Vasquez!"
The Hispanic turned around. "Sir?"
"You have the lead." Sonic said.
Vasquez just looked at him. "What the hell?! Where are you going?!"
Sonic climbed up the steps at the rear of the atrium. "To helm control. I'm gonna open the flight deck so that we can get outta here." He turned around. "Everyone stay sharp." The door opened as he turned back. He gasped. Everyone gasped. What he saw in front of him almost made him drop his gun in shock, but then he held it at the ready again. "Damned phantom!"
Standing before him… was Metal.
A/N: Oh, great. Just when things were looking good for the group, a ghost from the past shows up. This could possibly spell death for the team. How will this pan out? Stay tuned. Peace!