Chapter 4 – Energies
Morgan switched on a comm screen and waited for it to connect. Finally it did and the face of a squat man appeared.
"Ah Hardwell good." said Morgan to his second.
"Sir." replied Hardwell saluting, "How has your day been?"
"So far it's been very good. I take it you have received the transmission we started."
"Yes sir. We've currently got all free channels on receive mode to speed up the transfer."
"Very good. As soon as it's done compile the whole stream and send it back to Earth. The president says he will have all available sources receiving the transmission."
"Very good sir."
Morgan watched Hardwell's expression change. He had been fidgeting slightly during their short talk and now Morgan could see he was sweating slightly.
"Hardwell?"
"Yes sir."
"Is there something you're not telling me?"
Hardwell visibly gulped and Morgan frowned at him.
"Spit it out Hardwell. NOW!"
"Well sir it happened earlier today. That wolf broke free and tried to escape with the others."
"WHAT?!"
"We managed to contain them though sir!" blurted out Hardwell.
It was obvious that he was worried even though he had a good relationship with Morgan.
"Damage?" inquired Morgan raising an eyebrow.
"Minimal sir. Ship systems were not affected but we have a few holes to patch up. We have the prisoners in maximum lock up now sir and the wolf is in confinement."
"Well at least you contained it." said Morgan, "Those prisoners of ours are becoming a nuisance."
"Yes sir."
"Still they do have some use but I'm being to lose patients with them."
"Yes sir."
"Bah! I'll deal with that later! Good work containing them Hardwell."
"Thank you sir."
"Anything else to report?"
"Well we seem to have lost contact with the Royal Edwards military cargo drop base."
"Lost contact? How come?"
"They are not responding to any messages and their locater beacon is off."
"Funny…"
"We already have a transport on the way sir. It was scheduled to make a stop their before returning to the Phantom. They are checking it out."
"Which transport?"
"Its number was…" Hardwell stopped and looked to one side, a murmur could be heard and Hardwell turned back to the screen, "Flight 004921."
"Very well. Have them make a full report when they check in."
"Very good sir."
"Morgan Jake out."
Morgan switched off the screen and turned away.
"Funny.." he muttered to himself.
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Bunnie watched as a notepad that had been sitting on her console slowly started to rise into the air. She watched it intently as it floated up then started to hover. She reached her finger out and tapped it putting the pad into a spin that sent it sailing across the cockpit. Just then a head came floating into view.
"Have some fun Bunnie!" cried Lavender.
Bunnie looked up at her. Lavender was floating upside down in the air with her tails waving around behind her. Just then one of them shot forwards and whacked the notepad that had floated back across the cockpit again. It shot off at a fair speed and left the cockpit through the door. There was suddenly a thud and a cry.
"Aaaargh!" cried Jet from the other room, "Watch it."
"Sorry Jet." giggled Lavender.
She turned back to Bunnie who was smirking.
"Damn that was a good shot." said Lavender with a grin.
Bunnie snickered.
"Come on Bunnie its fun." insisted Lavender.
Bunnie looked down at her harness. Since then had left the planets atmosphere and entered space Bunnie had been strapped in her seat. Jet had set the ship to autopilot after setting the target for the Phantom. After surveying the transports logs he had found that the ship he had come to Mobius in was still here. Once he had done this he had removed his harness and floated off to investigate the rest of the ship. Lavender had followed suit but had stayed around the cockpit for the most part. Even Links had taken his harness off but Bunnie had remained seated.
"I dunno sugah..." said Bunnie slowly.
"Oh come on Bunnie! Unky Links is having fun."
Bunnie glanced over at Links. He was stretched out in mid air trying to grab hold of his staff that had floated off. However he was just out of reach and it looked like he was getting irritated.
"Is that supposed to be fun?" asked Bunnie.
"Oooooh!" complained Lavender.
She gripped the back of Bunnie's chair and pushed herself over to Links. She floated past him grabbing his staff as she did and then caught hold of another chair and flung herself back over to Links. She managed to stop near him and handed him his staff back.
"Thank you Lavender." said the fox with a smile.
"Any time Li…"
"Ok I got you now!" cried a voice.
A familiar looking notepad shot back onto the bridge through the open door. Lavender yelped and ducked as best she could. It was good enough to avoid the pad but left Links in its path. The pad hit him squarely between the eyes and bounced off into the cockpit. Links glared at the open door.
"Alright you little runt now you're gonna get it." cried Links.
Links grabbed a nearby console and flung himself towards the door. A number of yells and crashes came from the other side. Lavender cringed slightly.
"Oh he's having fun now." snickered Bunnie from the other side of the room.
Just then a small buzzing noise started coming from Links' console. A small red light was flashing on the from. The crashing in the other room stopped and slowly Jet, looking a little bit tattered, floated in followed by a smug looking Links. Jet made his way over to the console and looked at it. He blinked and then started sweating.
"What is it Jet?" asked Links.
"We got an incoming message from the Phantom." replied Jet looking up.
"A what?" cried Bunnie, "Oh ma stars."
"We have to answer." said Jet.
"Won't they know its us?" asked Lavender.
"No, it's just a voice message." replied Jet.
"I'll field it." said Links.
"You what?" cried Jet.
His call came too late though as Links picked up the receiver.
"Go ahead." said Links.
"Flight 004921 where have you been? You've been out of contact for several hours." came a reply.
"Sorry about that we had a little trouble at the base."
"Report what is happening at the Royal Edwards base."
"Looks like the planets weather is kinda against us. There's a huge thunderstorm over the area that is blocking transmissions."
"The weather hasn't effected us before why should it now?"
"Trust me this was a BIG storm."
"Very well, why were you so slow to respond?"
"One of my idiot crew members threw a notepad across the bridge. I had to go sort him out."
"Roger. Well you're cleared for a landing in bay eight. Come in on vector approach two seven nine four and we'll do the rest."
"Roger that, over and out."
Links put the comm down and looked at the others.
"Well it was sorta true." he said.
Lavender suddenly burst out laughing and Jet started to snicker.
"Links!" cried Bunnie from her seat, "You really are one for humor aren't you."
"I try Bunnie, I try." replied Links.
"Well let's get this ship ready for landing." said Jet sliding into the pilot seat again.
Lavender joined him and Links floated back to his seat also.
"Jet what did they mean by we'll do the rest?" asked Lavender.
"They're gonna pull us in using the ships grapple beams." replied Jet.
"Grapple beams?"
"Well they call them beams but it's more like a giant magnet. They use a stream of protons to polarize the hull of the ship and then pull us in with an inversely charge magnet."
Jet looked over at Lavender as he finished to see her staring blankly at him. He sighed heavily.
"Sorry Lav. Basically they turn this ship into a big magnet and draw it in with another big magnet. It makes landing these things in zero gravity a lot easier."
"Ah right….gotcha…" nodded Lavender with a nervous grin.
"Oh boy." moaned Jet.
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"Transport 004921 has just checked in sir." reported an officer.
"Very good." replied Hardwell, "What have they to report?"
"Apparently it's the planets weather interfering with our communication to Royal Edwards."
"That seems unlikely."
"They say it's a big storm sir."
"No matters I'll be sure to get a full report when they dock. Initiate the magnetic grapples and bring them in."
"Aye sir."
Far down in the depths of the ship two large generators started to humm. Their energy was transferred to a large field generator outside the ship and soon the area outside the docking bay was filled with protons. The transport came in slowly and was soon being drawn in by the magnetic field coil located at the back of the landing bay. The transport folded its wings in and its landing legs slowly lowered before it touched down with as faint 'clunk' on the floor of the landing bay. All around it a hive of activity started with men running backwards and forwards carrying things, ordering others around and securing the ship. A large hanger door had now been lowered over the space side of the hanger to allow the men to work. If any of them had really been paying attention they would have found it odd that nobody left the ship.
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Links, Jet, Bunnie and Lavender hid in the rear section of the transports cargo bay. Jet was running his hand round a small panel on the wall. He looked back at the other.
"Ok time to go. Once I spring this door we'll have to high tail for cover as quick as possible and hope nobody sees us." he said.
Bunnie and Lavender nodded at him.
"Well anytime you want Jet." replied Links.
Jet nodded and placed his ear on the door. He flattened it right back and pressed it firmly onto the metal to hear what was going on outside the ship. He started pulling a series of faces from frowns to shakes to mulling to nodding. Finally he slammed his hand on the door lock and the door unlocked and slid upwards with a hiss. Jet threw himself forwards out of the door and flipped over before hitting the floor. Lavender was next through as she landed in front of Jet and suddenly shimmered. By the time Bunnie and Links had leapt out Lavender had transformed herself into an exact replica of a large cargo crate that was sitting nearby. Jet was already hiding behind the new crate as Links and Bunnie ducked behind her too.
"Nice trick Lav." commented Jet.
A pair of eyes and a mouth appeared on their side of the crate. It smiled.
"Thanks Jet." replied the crate.
"Enough talk here sugah's. We have to hurry and find some real cover." said Bunnie.
"You got it." said the crate, "Follow me."
The crate without moving up or anything started to shunt itself effortlessly across the floor. Jet, Bunnie and Links hid behind it as the crate made its way over to the side of the hanger. The crate halted several times when various people looked in their direction and again if any of them had been paying attention they would have noticed it moving across the room.
"Just back a bit now Lav." instructed Jet.
"You got it." replied the crate as it moved backwards.
Soon they were level with a large metal door that led out of the hanger. Jet quickly reached up and tapped his finger on the release key. It opened with a hiss and Bunnie, Links and Jet dived through.
"Come on Lavender." insisted Links as he looked back to still see the crate sitting on the floor.
Just then the crate shook slightly and a single tail appeared out of the back. The crate started to make groaning noises as another few tails appeared and then in a rather long shimmer Lavender appeared. Links grabbed her arm and pulled her through the door which Jet quickly shut. Lavender collapsed to the group with a thud.
"Oh ma star! Lavender sugah are you alright?" said Bunnie with concern as she helped the kitsune to her knees.
Lavender looked up at her with one eye open and the other half shut. Beads of sweat covered her brow and face and she was panting heavily.
"What happened sugah?" asked Bunnie
Lavender took a few more heavy breaths and then answered.
"Just tired." she murmured, "Too far from Mobius and…the Vault."
Links down as Bunnie looked up at him. They caught each others look and understood. Lavender drew her energy directly from the Vault of Forever. Without its energy she'd loose consciousness and if for some reason the energy stopped she would probably die. As they had left the planets atmosphere and gotten further from the source of the Vault Lavenders powers must have been weakened.
"If you're going to be like this every time you use your powers then I suggest not using them." instructed Links.
Lavender nodded slowly as she got up with Bunnie help.
"You ok Lav?" asked Jet with concern.
"Uh huh, I guess so." panted Lavender, "….I can feel him."
"Him?" asked Jet.
"Yes him…" replied Lavender with a sigh.
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'Him' was currently sitting slumped at the back of a jail cell in the Phantoms jail block. Since they had tried to escape a number of hours ago they had just been left to sit. They hadn't been brought and food or water no matter how much any of them cried. They hadn't even been taken away for interrogation and Miles was at a loose end. Every last though in his head dwelled on Petya and what they were doing with her. He imagine that Hardwell guy teasing her with bursts from that control pad, he imagined her being beaten into a pulp by various officers, he imagined her lifeless body lying on the floor of a cell as the crew sneered at her. Some of his thoughts were so dark it frightened him. He curled his knees up to his chest and sunk his head into them. He started to lightly cry into his knees as he murmured to himself.
"Oh Petya what have we done to you.?"
He was so into his thought he didn't even notice as the alarms went off all over the ship.
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"Sir! SIR!" cried an officer.
"What is it?!" screamed Hardwell as he raced onto the bridge of the Phantom.
All around him alarms were going off and people were running all over frantically.
"Sir we have furries onboard." replied the officer.
"Of course we do you…"
"Apart from those in holding!"
"What?!"
"It looks like they came onboard on transport 004921!"
"They what! Where are they?!"
"They have only just got out of the hanger bay. We couldn't detect them in there because of the high magnetic field but once they…"
"Yes we get the picture! Get a squad down there! Make that two squads! I want them cornered before they get loose in the ship! How did they get a hold of one of our ships?!"
"Sir 004921 was the ship that went to investigate Royal Edwards."
"It was! Dammit!"
"Sir we have squads 04 and 09 moving in on their position. We should have them…what the?!"
"What is it?"
"Sir two of the signals are emitting odd things."
"Like?!"
"Well one of them has an identical signature to that wolf in holding but not as strong and the other is completely new. It looks like a multitude of different energy signature all mixed into one but strangely enough it's weaker than the first."
"Activate all dampening fields around the area. We don't want any of that energy being used. If that first signature is similar to that wolf then the field should affect that signature too. The other one.." Hardwell picked up the comm. unit, "…Hardwell to units 04 and 09."
"Yes sir." came a dual reply.
"You are authorized to use ANY mean necessary to secure this ship. And I mean ANY means."
"Yes sir!"
Hardwell put the comm down and chuckled to himself.
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"What the hell?!" cried Links as alarms went off all around them and a number of shutters slammed down along their path.
"Oh crap!" swore Jet.
"What is it?" asked Bunnie.
"They know we're here." replied Jet.
"That's just a little obvious." cried Links, "What else does that fabulous brain tell you…"
"Duck!" cried Lavender throwing herself against Links.
The pair hit the floor just as a number of laser volleys hit the wall behind then. Links looked up from the floor to see a squad of men heading down it towards them.
"Dammit! Run! Everyone that way!" he cried pulling Lavender and himself up.
Links half carried Lavender as he darted off down the corridor away from the men with Jet and Bunnie in hot pursuit. Just then to Links horror another group of men rounded a corner in front of him. He skidded to a halt causing Bunnie to crash into him.
"This way!" cried Jet as he darted for a small off shooting corridor.
As he did a large shutter slammed down over it. They were trapped between two groups of advancing men and a metal shutter.
"What do we do now sugah?" asked Bunnie in a panic.
"This!" cried Links swinging his staff round.
A small ring or orange built around the tip. Suddenly it gave a spark and faded away. Links clutched his head and collapsed to one knee. His staff fell with a clatter to the floor. Bunnie quickly knelt down beside him.
"Sugah! SUGAH! What is it!" cried Bunnie.
"Argh! What the hell is that drumming?" said Links still holding his head.
"What drumming?" asked Bunnie still frantic.
"That drumming!" cried Links as he groaned in pain and fell to the floor completely.
The two groups of men had nearly reached them now and Lavender's sight was fixed on her fallen uncle. What was going on? What was happening to Links? Never mind she had to do something! Lavender quickly stood up and faced one squad of men. She threw up her arms as each of her nine tails gave a short pulse one after the other. Lavender could feel the energy rising inside her. Drawing strength from the Chaos Emeralds, the Master Emerald she began to emit an aura of light around herself. The men in front of her stopped dead as they saw this. Lavender was having a hard time drawing energy, the distance to the planet below was making her connection very weak, but she had to do it. She finally latched onto the energy signature of the Deep Power Stones inside the Vault and started to draw on their energy. As she did she felt a twinge of fire shot down her back. It was so intense she froze solid. In a split second she knew what was happening to Links but had no time to tell anyone as she collapsed to the floor with a thud.
"Lavender!" cried Jet racing to her side.
He scooped her head up and shook her but Lavender didn't respond. She was breathing lightly, almost unnoticeably.
"Hey you!" cried a voice.
Jet looked up just in time to have a gun butt meet head on with his face. He fell to the floor on top of Lavender, blood streaming from his nose. The man who owned the gun's butt looked at him before taking a radio from his pocket.
"Sir we have them." he said happily.
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Jet slowly came back to reality with a throbbing pain in his head. His nose felt all stuck up from the blood that had dried in his fur. He groaned slightly.
"JET! Jet is that you! Are you alright?!" came a frantic cry.
Jet didn't move nut just listened. The voice was familiar, so familiar he couldn't forget it over any length of time.
"Mother." he said slowly.
"Jet you're alright!" replied his mother's voice.
Jet slowly moved a bit and rolled over. He looked up to see the anxious face of his mother looking down at him from the next cell. She was pressed up firmly against the bars of her cell. Jet could see the outer bars had a full repulsion field charge on them but the bars between cells seemed not to be charged. For what seemed like an eternity the two just stared at each other. Finally Jet broke the silence.
"Mother!" he cried scrambling to his feet and running to the bars.
Throwing his arms through he gripped her tightly and pulled her as close as he could. Sarah slowly raised her hands and ran them through Jet's hair.
"Jet…" she murmured quietly.
"Mother…" replied Jet rubbing his ear against her through the bars.
"Jet what are you doing here? Why did you come back?"
"We came to rescue you."
"Rescue me. Jet why? I heard about what Jeremy did. He sacrificed himself to get you out. Why did you come back for me?"
"Because I love you mum."
"Jet I love you too but I when I heard you had escaped I was so pleased. I was happy that you would be able to carry on living. Why did you come back Jet? Now neither of us will go on."
"Mother I…"
"And why did you only come with one other!"
"One other?"
Jet jolted backwards in shock. Just then a small voice echoed from the other side of the cell.
"Psst! Psst Sarah! Bunnie's waking up."
Jet turned to see a squirrel standing pressed up to the bars at the other side of his cell. She didn't look too great though. She had a black eye and a large bruise down one side of her face. Just then what she had said clicked.
"Bunnie! Is she alright." asked Jet frantically.
Just them a load groan echoed through the cell block.
"Ah crumbs! What they make those gun butts out of?" moaned Bunnie's voice.
Jet pulled away from his mother and raced over to the opposite side of the cell. He looked through the bars to see Bunnie in the next cell after the one the squirrel was in.
"Bunnie!" cried Jet.
Bunnie looked up to see Jet looking at her from a few cells over. She also saw the squirrel.
"Alicia sugah!" she cried.
Alicia ran back to Bunnie's side of the cell and pressed herself up against the bars.
"Bunnie!" she cried flinging her arms through the bars.
Bunnie quickly got up and rushed to Alicia to comfort her.
"There its ok sugah." said Bunnie patting Alicia on the back, "Calm down now sugah."
"I'm so glad to see you Bunnie." replied Alicia as she started to sob.
"Hey I'm here too!" cried another voice.
"Miles!" said Bunnie looking round.
The blue hedgehog was leaning against his cells bars grinning at Bunnie. For the most part he actually seemed genuinely happy.
"You ok sugah?" asked Bunnie.
"Sure am Bunnie." replied Miles.
"Great sugah. Jet you ok?" asked Bunnie.
"I'm ok Bunnie."
Bunnie then stepped back from Alicia and looked further down the cells. She spotted Sarah quickly.
"Can I ask who you might be?" asked Bunnie.
"I'm Jet's mother, Sarah Mathews." replied Sarah.
"Oh ma stars!" squealed Bunnie, "Pleased to meet you sugah."
"I'd be more pleased if you hadn't come. What made you think that yourself and my son could break up all out?" asked Sarah.
"Myself and Jet?" questioned Bunnie.
She suddenly took a quick look around the other cells. They were all empty. She sprang away from the dividing bars and ran towards the cell front. As she neared them they glowed and she was thrown back against the cell wall with a thud.
"Bunnie! Bunnie you ok?!" cried Miles.
"Wooo. Ah think so sugah." replied Bunnie.
"What's wrong Bunnie?" asked Alicia.
Bunnie groaned and looked at her again.
"We didn't come alone. Links and Lavender were with us." replied Bunnie.
"Links and…" said Miles.
"…Lavender!" finished Alicia, "Oh no."
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Lavender moaned softly and raised her head. She blinked a couple of times to try and remove the darkness around her. It didn't work though and she figured it must be the light level. Slowly she propped herself up on her arms and took a brief glance around the room. I looked like a deep shaft with a circular array of lights at the top of the shaft. There was a continuous humm in the room and Lavender began to feel cold. She wrapped her tails around herself but it didn't seem to help. The cold was cutting deep into her like it wasn't the air that was causing it. As her eyes slowly began to adjust she started to make out details around the room. It was defiantly circular and a few meters up the wall there looked to be a door but she couldn't really tell. It was then that she spotted a faint blue glow at the other side of the room. She decided to investigate and crawled over to it. To her dismay she found that the glowing light was the gem in Links' amulet and he was there with it. Links lay motionless on the ground in a heap breathing lightly. Lavender grabbed him and shook his fiercely.
"Links! Uncle Links wake up! Wake up!" she cried.
Links groaned slightly and rolled over as Lavender shook him. Lavender could feel Links body shuddering as she shook him.
"Links?" she said again.
"L…Lavender." moaned Links softly, "I…I can't…open my eye."
Links made a small whimpering sound before taking a slow breath.
"Links what's wrong?" asked Lavender.
"Can't…f…feel anything." replied Links with a shaking voice.
It was then Lavender remembered the feeling she had had when she had tried to draw energy from the Deep Power Stones earlier. She had felt like something had been pushing her head through a press. The feeling returned slightly and she shuddered. That was it! There was something on this ship causing her to shudder like this and it was connected to the Deep Power Stones. Then why was Links affected by it? Of course! His powers stem from the ring substance in his staff and amulet. Ring substance has the same energy properties as the Deep Power Stones but not as strong. But why did the Deep Power Stones feel like that? Surely they were on this ship! That would mean that Petya or T2 or both would be on the ship too.
It was at this point that Lavender looked up. What her eyes fell on gave her shivers for the rest of her life. Curled into a ball shaking madly was the form of Petya. She lay at the other side of Links and had a strange dark glow around her that, couple with the darkness of the room, almost blotted her from sight. She almost freaked at the sight.
"Petya!" she wailed as she catapulted herself over Links and landed next to Petya.
Now she got closer she could see Petya was in a bad way. The black glow was emanating from the Deep Power Stone and looked like it was going to explode. Her hand the Power Stone was in was caked in blood that was oozing from around the Stone. Petya's other hand was closed so tightly that her claws had dung deeply into her palms and were causing them to bleed also. Her eyes were wide as saucers and both were completely jet black in colour. Lavender grabbed her and tried to snap her out of it but to no avail.
"What's going on?" said Lavender softly.
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Hardwell smiled to himself as the link finally established and Morgan's face appeared on the screen. He saluted.
"You look too happy." commented Morgan, "What is it?"
"Sir I'm pleased to announce that I've found the real reason behind our communication loss with Royal Edwards." replied Hardwell.
"Very well explain."
Hardwell rubbed his hands, this was going to be good.
"Yes sir. I told you earlier that flight 004921 was scheduled to make a stop and check out the communication loss."
"Yes you did, go on."
"The transport has recently arrived back but the crew was not on it."
"What?"
"Instead the transport was piloted by a small group of furries."
"What?! So you mean they used one of our transports to sneak onto the Phantom?"
"Yes sir. At this time I'm unaware of where the real crew is."
"And what of these furries?"
"We have confined them sir. One of them had an energy signal similar to that wolf we already have in holding and another had a different energy signal. We have them both in confinement with the wolf."
"Any others?"
"Yes sir. A rabbit and I think you'll be pleased to hear this sir."
"Yes?"
"We now have Sarah Mathews kid in custody again."
At this Morgan suddenly cracked up and started laughing. A few moments later his laugher slowed to a chuckle.
"I bet he thought he could rescue his mother. He's even more stupid than I thought he was." said Morgan.
"Yes sir."
"So what of Royal Edwards?"
"We have recently diverted another transport to Edwards and found nothing."
"What you mean nothing?"
"The Royal Edwards base is no longer there sir."
"It what?!"
"The entire base has been wiped out or so report the transport."
"How?"
"I'm unsure as of yet sir but I would bet good money that our new guest are part of it."
"What do you mean guest? I've had enough of these damn furries! Get rid of them. All of them!"
"Yes sir!"
"Morgan OUT!"
The screen went black suddenly and Hardwell turned away from the screen.
"Get security down to the cell block and bring that Mathews cat and her son to chamber seven on deck three."
"Aye sir."
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Miles and Alicia stared at each other across Bunnies cell. They both blinked and then looked back at Bunnie.
"Links and Lavender are here?!" cried Miles.
"Then where are they." asked Alicia.
"I don't know kids." said Bunnie standing up, "They aren't here for certain."
"Excuse me, who is missing?" asked Sarah.
Jet turned round to face his mother.
"A guy called Links Prower and his niece called Lavender. They came up with us but they aren't here."
Sarah blinked and went weak in the knees. He couldn't know she was here, he thought she was dead.
"Prower!" she cried completely startled.
Jet looked at her oddly.
"Something up mum?" he asked.
"Oh! No nothing." replied Sarah.
"Where could they be Bunnie?" asked Alicia.
"Ah have no idea sugah." replied Bunnie.
Just then there was a bleep and the door to the cell block slid open. A couple of soldiers walked in holding laser rifles and walked past the line of cells. One stopped outside Sarah cell and the other outside Jet's. They slid a card through each lock and the cells opened.
"You two out." said one of the guards.
Neither Jet or Sarah moved and both stared back at the men coldly. The two men looked at each other and then stepped into the cell. Each grabbed one of them and dragged them out of the cell. Jet started to struggle in the man's grip. He drew his claws out and tried to strike the man but missed.
"Jet stop it." said Sarah.
Slowly and rather unwillingly Jet stopped struggling. The men placed then down outside the cells and slapped a pair of cuffs on them both before nudging them both in the back with their guns. Slowly they started to walk out of the cell block with their heads dipped. Nobody said anything as they watched them leave. As the door to the cell block closed with a hiss Bunnie yelled out.
"AH CRAP!" she screamed.
Miles hit his hand hard against the cell bars and yelped in pain as he did.
"Dammit!" he muttered to himself, "Sarah told me a couple of time that she hoped Jet never came back. Petya believed the only reason they were keeping her alive was for her son."
"We have to do something." said Bunnie.
"But what?!" replied Miles, "We're as good as stuck in here."
"Shut up or I'll get stuck." cried Alicia.
Bunnie and Miles looked over at Alicia in the next cell. She was trying to force herself through the bar into what had been Jet's cell.
"What are you doing Alicia?" asked Bunnie.
"They left the cell doors to Jet's and Sarah's cell open!" cried Alicia as she continued to force herself through the bars.
"They what?!" cried Bunnie.
Surely enough the doors to Jet's and Sarah's cell were wide open. They looked back at Alicia to see her struggling. She was by far the thinnest of the lot of them but even so the bars were only about twenty centimeters wide at best. She had got one half of herself through but her head was a lot bigger than the rest of her. She twisted it every direction she could but it wouldn't go through. She looked over at Bunnie.
"Bunnie do you know how to stop nose bleeds?" she asked nervously.
"Yes but…"
"Good."
With that Alicia flung her head directly into the bars forcing her head through. She screamed as she did as a faint crack was heard as her nose caught the bars and twisted to the side. Alicia started to whimper as she pulled the rest of her body through the bars. She quickly gripped her nose and fell to the floor in Jet's cell.
"Alicia! You alright sis!" cried Miles from the other end of the block.
Alicia just made a few gurgling noises and nodded slowly. She shakily got to her feet and removed her hand from her face. Bunnie, who was closest, gasped at the sight. The squirrel's nose was turning black in colour from the bruising and her muzzle and the front of her dress was covered in blood.
"Alicia! Why did you do that?" asked Bunnie with concern.
"So I can get you guys out." replied Alicia.
"How?" asked Miles, "You don't have a keycard."
Alicia walked out of Jet's cell and went to stand in front of the others cells.
"I got an idea." said Alicia.
"What idea?" asked Bunnie.
"You'll see." replied Alicia.
She walked over to the wall and started to scan it. Finally she found what she was looking for. He reached out her hands and grabbed two large metal handles. With a tug she pulled at them and the entire wall panel came loose. Behind it was the entrance to the ships ventilation system.
"Alicia! Don't tell me you're going in there!" cried Bunnie.
"Yeah." replied Alicia holding her nose again, "You can fix my nose when I get back."
"Get back from where?!" cried Miles.
"I'm going hunting."
With that Alicia flung herself into the vent and disappeared.
"She's gone crazy! She's finally gone crazy!" said Miles.
-----------------------------------------
"I might be crazy but at least I'm smart with it." said Alicia to herself.
She continued to crawl down the vent on her hands and knees. The tunnel was sloping down now and away from the cell block now and the air was blowing freely on her face.
"Must be a fan around her somewhere." she said to herself.
Sure enough the passage leveled out and ended in a large fan. A passage led to the side and she took it. She continued crawling for what seemed like an eternity. She kept stopping at side vents to look out but she mostly got corridors which she didn't want. At length she came to another vent and looked out. A soldier was standing guard at a door. Alicia squinted to see a sign above the door, it read "Confinement". She continued to watch as another soldier walked up to him.
"Ok shift over." the new soldier said.
"Man I don't even know why we bother to guard them. It's not like they can get out." said the other.
"True but that's order."
"Yeah, well cya tonight. Remember our poker game."
"I'll be there. Just remind Brian and Gary to be there too."
"Will do."
The first soldier walked off and the second took his place. Alicia slowly turned and felt the area quietly. A bit more searching brought her to a vent that lead into an office like room. She kicked the vent and it opened. She jumped down into the room. It looked like a huge old style study. There was a leather chair and desk at one side of the room and a large painting on the opposite wall. Another wall was covered in a bookshelf holding numerous old leather bound books and bits of other furniture lay scattered around. It was a very nice room but Alicia didn't have time to survey it as she heard noises outside. She darted across the room and hid under the desk. As she ducked down under it the door slid open. She heard someone walk in and start fiddling with stuff on the desk. Eventually the noises stopped and she then heard the person walking away. The door hissed open and then closed. She waited for a moment to make sure she was alone again and then stood up. She took a brief glance at the desk. It was covered in various pens and papers amongst other things. It was then that she noticed the name plate on the desk. It read 'Captain Stuart Hardwell'. Alicia's eyes widened.
"This is the captain's office?!" she said to herself, "Then he might have…"
Alicia started to plough her was through the desks draws. Stationary, papers, random objects and such like flew everywhere as she kept looking. Eventually she stood up and almost screamed in happiness. She held a small rectangular card in her hand. On it was printed 'Master Override'. Alicia grinned to herself.
"I gotta get back to the others….quick!"
She darted back towards the open vent and was about to leap up to it when she noticed something else. Standing in a corner of the room was a long staff with a set of metal blades on the end. A blue gem glowed between the blades and it certainly hadn't been there when she had entered the room. Alicia gasped.
"That's Links' staff! That man must have brought it in."
She quickly ran over to it and grabbed it before darting back to the vent. She threw the staff up into the vent and then climbed into it herself using a chair before crawling off into the pipes again.