The others got the generators onto the shuttle as Sonic and Tails stood their ground against the advancing Eclipse. The two of them ignited their lightsabers and Sonic quickly blocked an attack by Eclipse. Even with using one hand Eclipse was able to push against Sonic's lightsaber who was struggling to hold the Raiju at bay. The troopers went around them and fired on the others. Sally ran onto the ship while Wave and Tex hid behind the crates. Eclipse pushed both the Shinobi back. Sonic quickly got up and tried to hit him, but Eclipse grabbed his hands, lifted him up and threw him into directly at a crate. Tails charged at Eclipse, but he used the Force to hold Tails against the wall. He couldn't move as Eclipse stared at him "Your master has deceived you into believing you can become a Shinobi". The hand Tails held his lightsaber with started moving on its own. To his horror the blade was slowly moving towards his throat. Sonic got back up and tried to slash Eclipse's back, but he quickly turned around and stopped him. Tails fell to the floor and quickly tried to help Sonic. Even together Eclipse effortlessly held them at bay. Tex and Wave were still trying to deal with the troopers "You thinking what I'm thinking?" she held up a detonator making Tex laugh. They threw them at the legs of two walkers causing them to collapse and the troopers to retreat. Sonic and Tails seeing an opportunity pushed Eclipse forward causing the walker to fall on top of him. The two Shinobi were now exhausted and started walking towards the shuttle when they suddenly heard metal moving. They turned and saw the walker rise up and Eclipse lifted it above him undamaged "If that doesn't kill him, what will?" "Not us. Run!" Sonic yelled. They ran at full speed to the shuttle which started to take off. Wave fired at Eclipse to give them cover but he easily deflected it back at her. Her Wispon suddenly turned a indigo and the lasers hit a small shield as it was a centimetre from hitting her in the chest. The force of the blast caused her to fall back but Sonic and Tails managed to jump on, and the shuttle escaped. Eclipse watched as a trooper ran up behind him and bowed "My lord, I will mobilize our fighters to pursue" "That will be unnecessary, Commander. The insurgents will not leave the planet yet".
The group were in the main hold of the shuttle looking exhausted. Tails watched Wave open her wispon, inside were nine small slots, two of which had a glass cylinder inside. One was full of a cyan liquid and the others was half full of an indigo liquid. Sally was examining her to make sure the laser didn't do any damage. She seemed to just be bruised "Tex, make sure they can't track us" "Got it". Wave gasped when Sally pressed her stomach "You alright" "I'll live. The shield stops the heat not the force". Sonic was sitting next to Tails and was clutching his right shoulder, Tails turned to him "Sonic, what was that? Another Inquisitor?". Sonic groaned form the pain in his shoulder "No. Something worse. A Raiju Lord. The ancient enemy of the Shinobi" "How do we fight him?". Sonic stared at him in surprise "Fight him? Tails, we were lucky to survive". Sally turned to them "Then that settles it. I'm going to make for orbit so we can jump away" "Sally, no. He will have a blockade of Scarships waiting for us". Wave nodded "And this shuttle is slow, with barely any weapons or shields. We're gonna have to smuggle ourselves off Emerald Hill for a change". Sally smirked "That's not a bad idea. We do know someone who can smuggle us off-world". Sonic and Tails looked to each other "Not him!".
Infinite, wearing his mask entered the office where Eclipse was waiting "My lord, our scans have indicated that the stolen shuttle has not attempted to leave the system" "Fear has driven them to the ground. There is a refugee camp the Freedom Fighters have provided aid to in the past". Infinite nodded "Yes. It's named after Governor Finitevus. You suspect the Fighters are hiding there?" "No, but I want you to burn it. The compassion of the Fighters is a weakness. One we will exploit". Infinite was unreadable "Yes, my lord".
In the cockpit of the shuttle a hologram of a happy Monkey Khan appeared "Well, hello there, Captain Acorn. This is a pleasant surprise. What can I do for you?". Sonic rolled his eyes "This isn't a social call, Khan. It's business. We need your help to smuggle something off Emerald Hill" "Past the Imperial blockade" Sally added. Khan crossed his arms "You know if the Empire learns I got involved, it'd be all over for me. I'd be taking an awful big risk". Sonic sighed "What do you want?" "What've you got" "Imperial shied generators. Military grade" Sally answered. This got Khan's attention "Ooh. Now that's merchandise I can move. How many we are talking about?" "Two" "Two? You are no gambler, Sally. Offering me two means you have at least six, so I think three is probably fair". This annoyed Sally "Fair? You're taking half" "Those shields won't do you much good if you're dead" "Three it is. So, we have a deal?" Sonic said surprising Sally. Khan shrugged "While I'm not on Emerald Hill at the moment, my robot is. Go to my operations and he'll set you up with everything you need".
The next they landed on a field where a black and grey robot was waiting "Welcome. I have prepared everything according to Khan's instructions. Is one of you a mechanic" "That must be me" Wave answered. G-merl beeped angrily "Definitely not you". They then saw a large cloud of black smoke in the distance. Tais knew where that was and ran to an Extreme Gear board "Hey, kid!" Tex yelled but Sonic stopped him. Tails raced towards the smoke and stopped at a hi not far from its origin. He took out his binoculars and saw what was left of Finitevus. He heard Sonic arrive behind him "There's no one. They're all gone. Why did they-?". Tails couldn't finish that sentence, Sonic walked up next to him "To spread fear, make us afraid. The people who lived here just got caught in the middle". Tails sighed "This happened because of us?" "There's a cost for any action we take now, Tails. Things are getting worse just as they did back when I was your age. But back then, there were 10,000 Shinobi Knights protecting the galaxy. Now…". Tails nodded "There's just you and me" "Against an Empire". Tails looked determined "We can fight. We have allies" "Do you understand what you're saying? You saw what we're up against" Sonic said sounding angry. Tails stared at the fire "I'm not afraid" "That's what worries me".
They returned to the others who were working on transponders "What happened out there?" Sally asked. Sonic sighed "The Empire burned Finitevus". Wave's eyes opened wide "Did… did anyone survive?" "We don't know" Tails answered. Tex punched his fists together "Let's make them pay. Where' my rifle?", Sonic stopped him "No. That's what he wants. Sally's right. We have no choice. We have to leave". Sally went over to the transponder "Khan gave us these. Wave's gonna tune their signature codes to match this shuttle's. With so many targets we should be able to slip away".
The shuttle took off and as it flew Tex and Wave started throwing transponders out. After a shot time Sonic checked the scanner "The Empire's taking the bait. They're fighters are splitting up" "Alright. Let's make our run". As they entered orbit Sonic saw that the transponders are being destroyed "Looks like they're figuring it out" "Well, it's too late, boys" Sally said smugly as the shuttle jumped to hyperspace. The two of them headed down to the hold where the others were waiting "Never thought I'd say this, but thank you, Khan". Sonic stared at her "So if we can't go back to Emerald Hill. Where are we going?" "What're you talking about? We're part of the Freedom Fighters now". Sonic looked to the others "Are we? Are we all sure about that?" "Maybe we could just grab the Hurst and lay down for a while" Wave said". Tex sighed "I like fighting with Dawn Squadron. Reminds me of the Honour Guard. Besides, they're counting on us. Wouldn't be right to abandon them now". Sally smiled and then turned to Tails "What do you think?". Tails took a moment to answer "We can't hep Emerald Hill now, but I think the Freedom Fighters can hello us get stronger, so we can go back and change things. I think we should stay with the fleet".
A hologram of an eagle Scarship captain appeared in front of Infinite while Eclipse had his ack to them both "My lord, I regret to inform you that the Fighters have escaped Emerald Hill". Eclipse turned to him "Have my ship prepared" he said to Infinite before leaving. The captain was confused "Agent Infinite, I don't think I understand" "There is a tracking device hidden aboard that shuttle. Now ready the fleet to deploy".
The shuttle made it back to the fleet and docked with the lead ship. The crew entered when G-merl suddenly started to panic "G-merl said a transmitter activated on our shuttle moments ago". They started running to the bridge where Bristles and Amy where speaking "Commander! The fleet needs to jump out of here. Our shuttle was tracked" Sally yelled. One of the bridge crew turned "Commander. I'm detecting a ship heading towards us". They al looked out and saw a single TIE fighter being piloted by Eclipse "Move Dawn Squadron to intercept". The group watched the fighters being released to intercept the TIE. They all fired but Eclipse managed to avoid all of it and shot down one of the fighters "He's coming in too fast!" "Raise deflector shields!" Sally ordered the fleet. Eclipse got past the squadron and fired on the command ship causing it to shake "How can one fighter best our entire squadron?" Bristles said angrily. "Your pilots are outmatched, Commander" Sally said before running to the door. Sonic watched her "Uh, what are you doing?" "Getting involved". Sonic reluctantly followed "Not without me you're not". Tex, Wave and Tails happily followed behind with Amy not far behind.
They all boarded the Hurst, Sally, Sonic and Amy were in the cockpit while the others were on guns "Alright kids, do mum and dad proud". Sally took off and lead Eclipse away from the command ship which had taken heavy damage. Wave fired on him but easily avoided it "Who is this guy?". The then heard Bristles over the commlink "Setting Dawn to Hurst. We are dead in space. We can't withstand another attack from that fighter" "Copy that. Squadron, form up and focus fire". They followed the fighter and Amy suddenly looked troubled "The Force is strong with him. Sonic, let's find out how strong". Sonic nodded and put his hand on Amy's shoulder. The two closed their eyes and focused on the TIE. Eclipse was heading straight for the command ship for a killing shot. Amy focused and could feel something, so much fear, anger, hate "It's the Raiju we faced" Sonic said. Eclipse could feel the two of them watching him, he recognised one of them particularly. Amy's eyes opened wide looking absolutely shocked. "The apprentice lives" Eclipse said calmly. Amy screamed before falling back unconscious, but Sonic caught her "Amy?". Eclipse broke off his attack "Captain Bristles. What ever you're doing keep it up. the fleet can recover". Sonic shook his head "No! Commander, you need to get the fleet out of here now!" "He's right, sir. Without a hyperdrive you must abandon ship" Sally said.
Three Scarships suddenly appeared, the eagle captain was leading them "Lord Eclipse, we await you orders" "Move your Scarships to block their escape, but hole fire. I want them alive". Eclipse got behind the Hurst and fired on it, Sally avoided the fire as much as she could as the command ship was being evacuated. "Guy's, I'm gonna have G-merl divert all mower to the hyperdrive. Including cannons" Sally said as she headed to the Scarships. "Sally, what're you doing!?" Wave asked, "I think I know" Tails said. The eagle captain saw the Hurst "That is our primary target". Sally heard Bristles "Hurst, the escape pods are secured. Fleet, prepare for hyperspace jump" "Copy that, Commander. We'll meet you at safe haven". The rest of the fleet escaped "Everyone, hang on!" Sally yelled. Sonic saw them heading straight between two Scarships "Sally!" "Wait. Juts wait". The captain watched them "Fire tractor beam". "Gotcha" Sally said as the Hurst jumped to hyperspace. Eclipse was about to follow when his fighter was suddenly caught in the tractor beam. The Captain didn't see this "Status report on the craft" he asked a scared looking lynx officer. "Sir, we've locked onto a ship, but it's not the Freedom Fighters. It's Lord Eclipse's ship. Fear entered the captain's eyes "Release… Release him immediately". The human officer did so. The captain looked down at him "It's not your fault, Officer. But Lord Eclipse won't know that".
The Hurst was with the rest of the fleet, Amy was alone in the cockpit looking saddened by something. Tails and Sonic entered "Amy, Sally said you wanted to speak with us". Amy smiled "Please, come in" "Are you okay?" Tails asked. "I am, thank you" Amy said blankly as she turned to him "I wanted to ask you about the Raiju Lord you encountered on Emerald Hill". Sonic didn't like remembering it "You know we encountered and Inquisitor before, but this was nothing like that. The fear, the anger, the hate. You felt it. I haven't sensed a presence like that since… since the Clone Wars". Tails looked between the two of them "Amy, do you know what or who he is". Amy glanced away as she answered "No, I don't. But I do know that he will be coming. They'll all be coming now" "And you'll have us beside you when they do". They turned and saw Sally with the Hurst crew at the door. Amy turned away from them all and horrified expression formed on her face.
The Scarships jumped into hyperspace leaving behind the corpse of an eagle. Eclipse entered the bridge where Infinite was waiting "With their command ship destroyed, the Freedom Fighters fleet has been shattered. You have them on the run-" "Clear the bridge" Eclipse said. Infinite nodded and left the room. Eclipse kneeled in front of a holo-unit which then showed Mephiles "Lord Eclipse, have you dealt with insurgents in the Emerald Hill system?" "Yes, Master. They are broken". Mephiles stared down at him curiously "And yet I sense in you something more to your victory". Eclipse paused before answering "I believe the apprentice of Shadow the Hedgehog lives and is in league with these Freedom Fighters" "Are you certain?" "It was her" Eclipse answered knowing for sure. Mephiles was surprisingly pleased "This is an opportunity we cannot let pass. Shadow's apprentice could lead us to other lost Shinobi" "Such as Espio" "Perhaps if he lives. Be patient, my old friend. For now, dispatch another Inquisitor to hunt them down". Eclipse stared blankly at him before bowing his head "As you wish, my master".