The Hurst and two Freedom Fighter cruisers were being chased by a Scarship "Hurry up, Tex!" Sally ordered. Tex was trying to guide the cargo into the hold of the cruiser next to the Hurst "Steady… Got it. Cargo transfer complete". "Thanks, Dawn Leader" Sally heard the captain of the cruiser say before they jumped to hyperspace "Transport's clear. Let's get out of here" "Dawn-Leader, my hyperdrives is damaged. Attempting to dock". Sally saw the fighter heading towards the other cruiser "Make it quick, Dawn-Two. Those fighters are closing in!". Dawn-Two was almost made it to the docking hatch but was then shot down by a TIE. Sally sighed and then "Dawn-Two is gone. We have to jump down" the cruiser said before it jumped to hyperspace. Sally then made her jump to hyperspace escaping the Scarship.
Tails entered the cockpit where Sonic and Sally were speaking to a hologram of a fighter "At best our fleet is at half strength. We're not just losing fighters we're losing pilots faster than we can replace them" Sally said looking tired. Sonic nodded in agreement "Until we can find a base, we need somewhere to land our fighters" "Perhaps we can solve two problems at once. A cell has reported an Imperial carrier over their world. If we can steal that ship, we can use it to house all our fighter. The cell is located in the Knothole system". This surprised Sally "Knothole? I know the cell you're talking about. I'll contact them". The hologram cut off and Sally stood up. Sonic stared at her surprised "You're actually gonna talk to him?" "I don't think we have much choice. We need that carrier". She left the room confusing Tails "What's wrong with Knothole?", Sonic didn't say anything. Sally was now in the cargo hold leaning against a crate looking nervous before activating a holo-disc on top. She stood back and saw a hologram of an older Nigel Acorn. He stared blankly at her "Sally. This is unexpected" "Father, we need to talk".
An old Clone Wars shuttle began docking with the Freedom Fighter command ship. The Hurst crew were heading to the airlock to greet them. Sonic nudged Tails "How do I look?" "Uh, same as always. Why?" "No reason". They all waited at the door, Sonic glared at Tails "Straighten up a little bit. You're making me look bad" "What's the matter with you?" Tails asked confused. Tex was behind them smirking, "Nothing. Just calm down" Sonic told Tails, "You calm down". Nigel then entered with his hands behind his back, behind him was a male of unknown species with orange hair and jacket. After him came an older Mina Mongoose, she wore similar clothes from before except now also had a backwards yellow cap on her head and a green vest over her violet shirt. Sally stared at Nigel "It's been a long time, father". Nigel looked back at her coldly before turning to Sonic "Ah. You must be the Shinobi I've heard about". Sonic stepped forward "Yes. Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog. I've-" he cleared his throat "Heard a lot about you too, sir". He bowed his head before gesturing to the others "This is the rest of our crew. Tails, Wave and Tex". G-merl beeped angrily making Nigel smirk "I already know you, G-merl". He looked back to Sonic "A fine group of fighters. Nigel Acorn at your service". Wave smiled "The liberator of Knothole. I studied your Clone War tactics at the Academy" "Yes. The Empire is still trying to beat me. These are to of my finest warriors. Mina and Max". Sally continued to look emotionless "Well, we should get to the briefing. There's a lot to do" she left the room.
Everyone was now in the command room staring at a hologram of Knothole "The Empire has a light carrier in orbit over Knothole they use to bomb the Freedom Fighters there. The ship's well defended but we can get aboard using the stolen bomber while the squadron is away". Sally showed a hologram of the carrier and a shuttle "One team secures the hanger, the other storms the bridge. Then we jump out before the figure out what hit them". Nigel stared angrily at the carrier "No, this monstrosity has rained destruction and death on the citizens of Knothole. It is not enough that it simply disappears. My people need to see it fall from the sky in flames as a symbol of our strength. So, I recommend a change in plans. Using my bomber, schematics and timetables we can destroy the carrier when it's most vulnerable". Sally leaned against the unit "If you could have destroyed it you would have done so already. You need us and we need the carrier" "We need each other. Nigel's intel, Sally's plan. This works, we all win" Sonic said. Nigel stared at his two warriors before crossing his arms "Very well. With Shinobi on our side, how can we fail?".
Sally was in her room working on G-merl. The doors opened and she saw Tails about to enter with Mina behind him "Sorry if that's not-" "No. It's… Thank you" Mina looked disappointed and walked out of sight. Tails walked over to Sally who looked concerned "Is she alright?" "I'm not sure" "What were you doing?". Tails shrugged "She said she heard about the other clones we met with Fang" "And?" "I told them their names were Konor and Karl. She seemed disappointed". Sally looked concerned "I hope she's okay", she then held a small hatch onto G-merl "Sorry, could you hand me that?" she pointed to a tool on a crate. Tails handed it to her "So, what's going on between you and your father?" "I'd rather not talk about it". Tails thought that was fair and didn't say anything else, but Sally then sighed "We haven't spoken in years. He was a hero in the Clone War. He fought with the Shinobi to free Knothole from the badnik army. But after the war, the Republic became the Empire and refused to leave so he started fighting them. Once my mother was killed in the resistance Knothole's freedom became the most important thing to him". Tails began to understand "More important than family". Nigel then entered "It's almost time. We should head out soon".
Tails quickly got up and left the room. There was silence for a moment before Nigel patted G-merl's head "I'm surprised you still have this old gizoid" "I wouldn't have rebuilt him if I weren't keeping him". Nigel's face dropped "If you had given the resistance the same attention, we would have liberated Knothole by now. This is what's wrong with you, child. You hold onto the wrong things, devote your time and effort to lost causes. What a waste". He turned his back to her as she started to get angry "I am not wasting my life. I help people. I lead ships into battle. I am part of something bigger" "The Freedom Fighters? I thought you knew better than to put your faith in outsiders". He turned back to her "You forget what happened when we trusted the Republic" "This is different. The Freedom Fighters are trying to save everyone". He glared at her with disgust "Save everyone? I don't care about everyone. I care about Knothole!" he left the room, "So I've noticed" Sally said to him with contempt I her voice. She sighed before working on G-merl again who put his hand on her shoulder.
The group were not sitting in the main hold of a stolen TIE which was being carried by Nigel's shuttle which jumped to hyperspace. Sonic looked to Nigel "Master Merlin spoke highly of your heroics at the Battle of Wood zone" "Ah. Merlin the Fox, hmm. Outnumbered 100 to one we charged across Wood Zone's energy bridge to certain doom. We would not be stopped. They named that attack in songs. The Hammer of Knothole" he chuckled. Sally was listening to this from the cockpit before closing the doors. Behind her was Max "Nigel has taken a shine to your Shinobi" "More the other way around". Sonic entered laughing "General Acorn, I could listen to your stories all day" "And I could tell them all day". Sally closed the door again and crossed her arms. Sonic turned to her "Your father's not such a bad guy. I see a lot of him in you". She silently glared at him "What? You're both great leaders trying to help people". Sally scoffed "You don't know him like I do".
The ship jumped out of hyper space and released the TIE and Sally flew towards the carrier. Nigel entered "Max, get ready for landing", Max nodded and left the room. Nigel then sat next to Sally "If the Empire is on schedule, they should be sending their bombers to the surface which will make the ship more vulnerable" "They're always on schedule". They watched the carrier release two bombers "There they go. I'm signalling the A-wings. Let's hope this works". Two A-wings then jumped out of hyperspace and started chasing their ship and fired. Sonic activated the commlink "Bomber pilot to carrier. We are under attack by fighters! Request permission for emergency landing!" "Incoming bomber, transmit your clearance code" "Clearance cod is-AH!" Sonic was trying not chuckle. "Proceed to bay two. We'll cover". They flew towards the hanger and the engine was hit. The carrier fired on the fighters behind them forcing them to back off. "We've been hit! Come in hot!" Sonic said over commlink as Sally crashed into the hanger. Everyone was thrown to the floor and they could hear an alarm go off. Wave tried to get back up and saw that a bag Max was carrying lying on the floor carrying charges "Explosives?". Mina and Max step in front of her with the former carrying Wave's wispon. They both then raised their clone pistols "Sorry, my friends" they then shot Wave, Tex and Tails with stun blasts. G-merl helped Sonic up "What happened? I heard shots", Nigel then stood up and stunned him "Ahh!". Sally watched in surprise "Father, what're you doing!?". He then shot G-merl "We only needed your hep to get on board. I'm sorry". A group of troopers arrived in the hanger and ran up to the shuttle "Pilot, are you alright?" one of them asked. Nigel jumped out of the right side and grabbed the lead stormtrooper. He used him as a human shield and used his pistol too kill three more. Two troopers tried to shoot him, but Mina and Max jumped out and beat the two troopers to the ground.
Inside the fighter Sally had her hands cuffed to the pilot's seat. She tired to free herself but was unable so instead tried to kick G-merl's shut down body "Gem! Gem, get up!". G-merl eventually managed to stand up, he broke the cuffs and beeped "Yes, I know my father betrayed us. Thanks for the update, buddy". She went over to Sonic and tried to wake him up "Sonic, come on! Sonic, wake up!". He groaned in pain "Oh. On second thought, I don't like your father anymore". Tails then walked in holding his head "Um, Sally, uh our friends have bags full of detonators". Wave and Tex then entered, the former had her wispon "Enough to blow up this carrier. We're scrubbing the mission, right?" "No, we're finishing it. We'll stop Nigel then we'll steal this ship". Sonic nodded and stood up "We'll take the bridge. Tex, you and Wave check the munitions rack for those detonators". He and Sally then climbed out followed by Tails. They left the hanger as Wave and Tex headed to a group of proton bombs where Mina was placing charges. Tex took out his blaster "I'll stun her from here". Wave pushed him "Are you crazy? You hit one proton bomb, and you'll touch off the whole magazine" "I wasn't planning on missing". They were suddenly fired at by Mina now with lethal shots. Max then revealed himself and fired as well when a door opened, and a squad of troopers entered. Wave gestured to them "See, now you have something you can shoot" "Yeah, that'll do". The four Freedom Fighters fired on the troopers and Mina shot the control panel closing the door. She then got on her commlink "General. The others are awake. They're trying to stop us" "Is Sally with them?" "No. It's just the Sand Blaster and the Wispon" "Set the charges. I will deal with my daughter".
Sonic, Sally, Tails and G-merl made it to the higher levels and saw two guards at a door. Sonic pushed both of them against the wall knocking them out. They got to the door and they saw a two more troopers at the end of a corridor "Seal the blast doors" "Tails!" Sonic yelled. He used the Force to launch Tails through the doors before they closed. Sonic and Sally heard screaming from the doors before they opened with Tails standing at them. They ran through towards the bridge. Neither Sonic nor Sally noticed that the troopers were brutally killed by a lightsaber instead of stunned. They moved on to the final door "G-merl, get this door open".
Tex and Wave had still not managed to disable Mina and Max "We don't have time for a standoff. You got any ideas?" "Yeah. Catch me that robot" she pointed at a small green robot on a wheel with a rhino like face.
Sally and the others entered the bridge "Stand down!" she ordered as she raised her weapon. The officers all put their hands up, but the tiger captain didn't move "I have already contacted reinforcements" "Thanks for the heads-up. Sonic, do your thing" "Actually, Tails, you take this one". Tails nodded with a smirk "Okay, I can do this "You're going to abandon ship" "No I will not". Tails sighed and tried again "You are going to abandon ship". The captain stared straight ahead "We are going to abandon ship". He got on the PA system "Attention. This is your captain. The fires in hanger three are out of control. Abandon ship. Get to the escape pods. Abandon ship". Tails smirked smugly but Sonic stared at him "What?". Sonic sighed "You should get going" he said to the captain, "I should get going" he then left the room. "Alright, Sally. We're on the clock. Get is out of here" Sonic then got on his commlink "Tex, the bridge is secure. What's your status?".
Tex and Wave were still hiding behind crates "Oh, the usual. But Wave has a plan of sorts" he glanced at Wave who was working on the rhino bot. Wave smirked "Yeah. Sort of a great plan" she placed a charge on the robot which then rolled towards Mina and Max. Once close enough it detonated but instead of exploding it released an electric charge knocking them both out. They ran over to them "Wave's plan actually worked. No sign of Nigel… Sonic?".
Sonic had his hands up with Nigel in front of him holding a blaster "We're not going anywhere". Sally however had her back to him "You're too late, Father. G-merl, make the jump to hyperspace". G-merl beeped "The hyperdrive's offline. What did you do!?" "I must destroy this ship for Knothole". Nigel got on his commlink "Mina, Max, proceed with our plans" "Apologies, General Acorn. We have been captured". Sonic lowered his hands "Nigel, we don't have time for this. Imperial reinforcements will be coming". Sally took a step closer "Destroy this ship and the Empire will just send another. But if we take it we can use it to fight them". Nigel glared at her "You haven't been here to see what the Empire has done to our world. They plunder our wealth and sell our people into slavery. This ship must burn for all Knothole to see". Sally saw that an Imperial cruiser jump out of hyperspace "I want freedom from the Empire as badly as you, but this battle can't be won on Knothole alone. During the Clone Wars, you didn't just fight for a village you rallied everyone to liberate the entire planet. You inspired me. The Freedom Fighters is no different. But either you couldn't see that, or you didn't believe in me. That's why I left".
Nigel was conflicted over his daughter's words but then over the commlink "I'm with you, Sally" "I'm also with you" they heard Mina and Max say. Sally stared pleadingly at her father who sighed and holstered his blaster "I guess you have your chance to prove me wrong". Sally smiled warmly at him before getting on the console "Everyone on the turrets. Father, tell G-merl how to fix the hyperdrive. Everyone focus fire on the shuttle. We can't let them retake the ship". The fighter began swarming the ship as a shuttle attempted to make it to the hanger bay but Sonic just managed to destroy it. Nigel then looked towards Knothole "The bombers are back". The bombers made a run damaging the ship, Tex managed to shoot one of them down and Max got another. Tails was using his turret to shoot the torpedoes before the hit. The shup suddenly tipped to the side "We've lost stabilizers". Sally tried her best to get the ship level when Nigel grabbed the wheel and helped her eventually managing. Nigel sighed in exhaustion "We were always stronger together". Tails ran in "The cruisers chasing after us, but I think I know how to stop it" "I'll help you" Nigel said. Tails stared at Sally who nodded "It's okay. Go. Hurry!". Nigel turned to G-merl "I shut down the hyperdrive's power coupling on the third and fourth rector" he and Tails then ran out.
Nigel entered a bomber where Wave was waiting "I've rigged the explosives" "You actually think this ridiculous plan will work?" "Yeah. Kind of fun, isn't it?". They worked on the console before getting out and Wave hitting a control. The fighter hovered above Tails who then used the Force to push it out and it drifted towards the cruiser. Wave turned to Nigel "You wanted to blow something up. Now's your chance". Nigel ran into a turret and aimed for the fighter and fired on it once it got close to the cruiser. The bomber exploded taking a huge huck of the cruiser with it. Nigel smiled at the cruiser began falling down to the planet "For you, my people". On the bridge G-merl beeped to Sally "Yeah, let's see what she can do" they jumped to lightspeed.
The ship was now with the rest of the fleet. Sonic and Sally were listening to Nigel in the hanger "I'm getting reports from all over Knothole. Our people are rallying against the Empire. Every hour more joins our ranks". Sonic nodded "Glad to hear it". Nigel looked to Sally "Daughter, may we speak?". The two walked away from the others. Nigel sighed regretfully "When you left, I was heartbroken but now I understand. You're like your mother. She was a dreamer, too" "But I learned to be a leader by watching you". Sally hugged her father who happily returned "I am proud of you, Captain Acorn". He entered the shuttle followed by Max and Mina. The other came over to Sally and they then all watched the shuttle take off and exit the ship.