Tails woke up shivering. Not from any dream – Cosmo again by the end of it, of course – he was used to those. No, he was shivering because it was just so insanely cold. He tried to pull his nose out of his chest but couldn't. Even if he'd really wanted to expose himself any further his back and neck were just too stiff. No, better to just rock back under his blanket and – wait. What blanket?
The foreign weight was enough of a curiosity to drag the fox out of bed regardless. It was a thick orange jumpsuit a little shorter than he was, the same sort of thing the other prisoners had been wearing. Well, not the Talz, but until thirty seconds ago I'd have thought he had enough fur on his own. Still no shoes or gloves anywhere to be seen though, which was odd considering he could have sworn his cellmate had both. And speaking of gloves, Tails realized only when he tried to uncurl yet again that his hands were tucked deep into his belly fur. So that means he –
"I was wondering when you'd wake up." The human's voice was light and pleasant enough. In fact, it was about as close to accentless as the fox could imagine. His tone was just as flat as his accent, but Tails had heard a few creepily emotionless voices before and this wasn't one of them. No, the human definitely sounded friendly, just...quiet. Not quite that either, but until a better word came along that was what Tails was going to go with. "This is the first time our hosts have been gracious enough to give me company. Maybe they've just been waiting for the right person to happen by."
"How long have you been waiting, sir?" Tails asked hesitantly. Only part of his stutter came from nerves, the rest was all because of the accursed chill. Still, he had to look ridiculous, a pair of too-big pointed ears and similarly scaled eyes poking out of an orange backdrop. Is he laughing, Tails?
"No need to 'sir' me in here, little guy," the man said. His voice was still pleasant but it didn't hold the laughter Sonic's would have. How long has he been in here to silence him like this? "I haven't seen one of my fliers in almost two weeks standard. Judging by the meal schedule, that is, since it's not like there's sunlight down here. Speaking of titles, my name's Wedge."
Tails took advantage of his fresh mobility to blot out his giggle with a bare paw. The movement was slow and arthritic, but at least he didn't have the cuffs on anymore. And I thought I had it bad with the "miles per hour" thing. "Call me Tails. Thanks for tucking me in, by the way."
The man nodded. "Saw where you got that name from when I did, too. As awkward names go, at least yours actually makes sense."
"Thanks, I think." Tails rocked himself a little closer to upright while every muscle in his torso whined in protest. His eyes were finally starting to adapt to the shield's eerie glow that pushed just far enough into the cave-gloom he couldn't quite call things dark. Wedge had dark brown hair, not black like he'd originally thought, and it was kept in what had probably been a style as neat and nondescript as the man himself before the grit invaded it. And he did indeed have black gloves and slippers on, articles the fox would very much like for himself. "When they brought in my suit did they bring any gloves with it?"
Wedge squinted at him from across the meter or so between them. "Not that I noticed, no. To be honest, if this is like some of the other prisons I've seen it's actually a little surprising that they'd give a furry alien anything in the first place."
Tails frowned. At least his face wasn't as stiff as the rest of him! "Weird. You've been in here before, Wedge?"
"Not as a prisoner. Not as a guard either, if that's what you're wondering," he added quickly before the thought could even cross Tails's mind. "No, this is the kind of treatment you get when you've cracked open half a dozen other prisons and made yourself too important to just shoot while escaping or something. To be honest I've expected that to happen ever since I arrived."
"You're a...well, tell me, then. You're fighting an empire, but I could think of half a dozen words and none of them might fit anyway."
"Call us Rebels," Wedge told him, putting just enough emphasis on the word that Tails spotted the capital letter. "I'm one of the runaways from Yavin Base – not that whoever's checking our microphone doesn't know that already – which means that even if they didn't know my name I'd already be kind of a special case. We blew up their biggest, spendiest superweapon, you see."
That wasn't too impressive considering Eggman's repertoire, but something else stood out. "Rogue Squadron," Tails repeated. Blue eyes went wide. "You're a flier?" he asked breathlessly.
Wedge nodded crisply. "That I am. Handled snubfighters and a few of my parents' freighters most of my life. Just snubs now though," he said a little more softly.
That brought Tails the rest of the way upright despite his aches. "Me too!" he squealed, eyes bright despite the gloom. "Well, er, not exactly – I mean, I only fly into combat when I really have to, I guess, but I've worked Sonic's plane since I was four and –"
"How long does that give you then?" Wedge asked. There was definitely an edge of curiosity in his voice now, and the fact that it was an edge made Tails pause for just a second.
"Six years, give or take," he said proudly.
The man's nostrils flared. "What is a blasted ten-year-old doing in Imperial super-maximum security on Kessel? I've heard they keep inmates' kids in the mines too, but you're not obviously not one of them." His tone was still level, still reserved, but there'd been a pulse of anger Tails would have had to have been deaf to miss. And the fox was feeling a surge of his own.
"Inmates' kids? What kind of place is this?" the fox demanded.
"Exactly what it sounds like," Wedge replied immediately. "If we could've scraped up the transports to come after it we'd have cracked Kessel wide open months ago. Literally, if we had to."
"You could do that?" The wonder was back in Tails's voice. "You Rebels would actually be able to get everyone out?"
The other pilot hesitated. "No idea," he replied after a minute. "I'd like to think we couldv'e – I really like to think that we will, although that might just be because I'm stuck here now," Tails had no idea how the man kept his voice so light and his face so clear even as what he said – and didn't – carried his meanings across. "No one group of rebels knows what the whole Alliance is like at any one time. My squadron's got its command ships, support staff, fighters, and a few transports, plus whatever we get to escort or rescue. Same for everyone else, I guess. That's why Yavin hit my squadmates so hard back when we were Red Group, but it's also why even a loss there wouldn't have wiped us all out."
Tails sat back on his namesakes for a moment and processed what Wedge had just said. And what he hadn't. "That has to be the vaguest bunch of specifics I've ever heard."
"You noticed?" Wedge was definitely smiling now, a broad grin that looked as out of place on his circular face as it had on Quinn's triangular one. "Guess I need to practice then."
"No, no, you're fine," Tails bobbed one tail to reassure him. "Sure, I guessed they were there but that doesn't actually give me anything to go on."
"Well, that's a relief." The smile had eased a little, looking a bit more natural. Now that's something I bet he hasn't practiced in a while. "The Commander would kill me if I told the Imps more than they already knew, and he'd only do it so Princess Leia or General Reikan couldn't drag it out."
"So, uh, I guess you know a lot, then, Wedge? I won't ask," Tails assured him quickly, "but I kind of do want to know why you're in here."
The other pilot sighed. "I got careless. My squadron and one or two others went after the Imperial Enclave – that's an R&D base out on Kyle Five. Had to pick up a data dump from some hacked droids and then bomb whatever looked tempting Easy mission until about ten minutes in, then somebody got to an alarm panel and the interceptors showed up. They caught my Y-Wing in one of the canyons while I was trying to shake them, and here I am. Hope Janson's okay."
"Janson?" Tails would have been on the edge of his seat if the terrain permitted.
"My wingmate. Gunner, actually, since we were in the Y-Wing. I'm pretty sure Luke managed to pick him up, because otherwise I would have seen him on my way in here."
Tails nodded. "Must be hard trying not to get arrested."
That got an actual laugh from Wedge, although the hard bark barely qualified. "Not really. All you have to do is hold still long enough and that won't be a problem ever again."
The fox was still shivering against the cold but Wedge's almost joking statement sent a fresh chill sweeping through him. Oh, Tails, what have you gotten yourself into? "But they captured you, didn't they?" he pointed out almost desperately.
"I don't know if they recognized my squadron markings or if they were just desperate for leads. The only reason Wes and I stayed alive long enough to run for cover was because the Y-Wing is a tough model. That much interceptor fire would have torn our usual X-Wings apart."
The shuddering intensified, but there was something underlying it. Not fear, although there was plenty of that too. No, more like an adrenaline rush. More like anticipation. Stop it, Tails! This isn't your fight. You need to get home to Sonic.
Sonic. The only people Sonic slows down for are friends and people in need. He doesn't let Eggman just walk away if he's plotting something and neither should I! After all, he trusted me to go out here on my own. He put up with me blaming him for Cosmo's death and the least I can do is show him I can stand on my own. He needs the rest.
Wedge was frowning at him. "Are you okay, Tails? I didn't mean to scare you too badly with –"
"How can I help?" Tails said bluntly. For a moment they just stared at each other, neither quite believing what they'd just heard. Then Tails said it again a little less automatically. "I want to help out. What can I do?"
"That wasn't meant to be a recruitment drive, Tails," Wedge said cautiously. "Besides, unless the Alliance does something ridiculous like send Rogue Squadron after me we're both going to sit this war out."
Tails's tails wove and knotted behind him while his feet tapped the chilly stone. "There's got to be something we can do," he muttered.
Something flashed across Wedge's plain features. "Why don't you try to find a more comfortable place to lie down? Even if all we do is keep each other sane from now on I don't want to see you writhing around again." Despite his level tone the pilot's request was clearly an order and Tails shrugged away the last of the jumpsuit and stood up. Then Wedge started gesturing at him and the fox stopped to watch. Cupping his ear and pointing up. What the...wait. Of course, the Imperials are listening in. Good thinking.
"All right, all right," Tails replied a little too casually, and Wedge nodded to confirm it. "Any thoughts?"
"I don't know how your species likes to sleep, but if you insist on the floor then the back of the cave should at least give you a little shelter whenever the air starts moving."
Tails nodded. Good plan, both for the bug hunt and for actually sleeping later on. Although I've got a better idea on that front. He started feeling his way along the walls of the cell, oddly grateful for his bare hands even as the pads on his palms and heels went numb. It'd probably happen through the gloves too. At least this way I can feel anything odd even more easily.
Like the little plastic grate smaller than his fingertip he managed to trace between a couple of protruding rocks just above ground level halfway back. "What –" he started, putting all the surprise he could feign into his voice. "Looks like you were right, Wedge, the Imperials really are spying on us." He fought his arthritic joints to wedge his stubby claws into the seam around the microphone grate, twisting and straining until finally the little machine gave way and popped out of its socket, trailing a length of cable behind it. "That's going to give someone a headache," he said much more proudly than he actually felt. He'd been on the receiving end of feedback squeals before and didn't enjoy the thought that he had probably just inflicted them on a dutiful guard he didn't even know.
He felt a wonderfully warm presence over his shoulder a second later as Wedge eased himself off the shelf and rolled to his feet behind the fox. "There's no way that's the last one," he muttered as quietly as he could from as close to the freshly-made hole as he could manage.
"Of course not," Tails whispered back the same way. "I'll keep looking."
"Hurry. Someone'll be down to check on the noise very soon. If you can, hold off on destroying the others. Better we leave them with one or two." With that Wedge hopped back up on his so-called bed, leaving the fox's back even colder than before. Teeth chattering, Tails went back to his painstaking exploration of the cavern wall. The other pilot started talking again behind him. "Well, I hope you find a good place to nest back there, since we're probably going to be in this place for a while. If the squadron gets too sentimental for its own good and breaks us out, though, do you really think you're up for joining the Alliance?"
He's giving you an out. Take it, you crazy fox! "The only cold feet I've got are literal, Wedge," Tails replied gravely.
"Look, I don't know where you come from but you might not go back for years unless you get a mission there. Seriously, kid, think it over. The only reason I'm even offering is because you seem too mature for me to believe you're barely ten."
He doesn't want you with him, Tails. He doesn't want you slowing him down. And do you really want to get him or his friends killed just like you did Cosmo and then pin it all on whoever's left like you did to Sonic? Tails, think for a change.
But I am thinking. "I promise I won't let you down!" he said too quickly for even his own brain to invent another objection. Besides, that's what this all boils down to. I failed as a commander, but if I get to be a pilot or an engineer I might be able to really help out this time. And just like that, his frozen pads scraped the surface of another microphone grate. Like Wedge had asked, though, he left it where it was and instead scraped a little arrow in the dust with an almost rigid index finger. This cold is going to kill me too fast for it to matter anyway.
Well, since it hasn't, Tails, you should get back to work. With a heavy sigh he moved on along the wall. "Not as good back here as you thought it would be," he called over his shoulder for the benefit of their cover story. Well, that and to set up his own much less grand plan. Wedge leaning over my shoulder like that pretty much ensured I'd do it anyway. A little awkward, I guess, but it's not like I don't do the same thing for Sonic or Cream or – or Cosmo, yeah, I guess I did. "I'll check around the bed – do you mind moving a little and letting me in?"
The human obliged, and after another few minutes of scrabbling Tails dug up a third listening device underneath the shelf. Hard to believe it's almost warm, although I guess Wedge has been on it all day. Since they were both up, they rallied around the first microphone to work out what to do. "Think I got them all," Tails whispered. Even through the cold, there was an electric thrill to this whole spy game that had him as awake and alive as he'd been any other time he could remember.
"Maybe, but I'm not sure about the ceiling. I couldn't check up there on my own even if I wanted to, but if I give you a boost and we work in little spurts so nobody sees –"
Tails shook his head. "Duck under the bed and give me space. I'll take care of it." Wedge gave him a skeptical look but obliged, and the little fox wound up his namesakes and hopped into the air.
His rapidly twirling tails caught the icy air of their cell and pushed it down past him, propelling him straight up at the ceiling. Maintaining his balance up here was going to be a little awkward considering he needed to get his hands flush with the coarse rock, but he'd flown in even smaller spaces than this before! All right, granted he'd been four years old and even more diminutive than he was now, but it was the thought that counted.
He flew a laborious circuit of the room just to be sure, but the only microphone he found up above was directly over the bed. He jabbed at it a few times with his thumb to let Wedge know and then let himself back down. In a space so tiny he hadn't really gotten the blood or adrenaline pumping that normally made flight so fun, but at least that meant he didn't have to come down from his euphoria either.
"All right," the other pilot hissed when Tails set down, "yank the other two at ground level and leave the one on the ceiling. If we're lucky they'll think we think we're in the clear." Even now that the fox knew where to look it was still hard to track down the little panels again through the overwhelming darkness, and that accursed barrier was still throwing off his night vision, but eventually the other two microphones came out of the wall. Wedge put an arm around Tails's shoulder as if to lead him towards the back of the cave once more, but then the odd pulsing light vanished. In its place came – what else – floodlights dispelling the blackness with their harsh white glare and razor-tipped shadows. Then someone stepped into the chamber and blocked most of it out while Tails stood there blinking frantically.
"Alien, you're coming with me. Just for a short time, don't worry." The man's voice was young and pleasant enough, even turning the "alien" into just a placeholder title rather than the insult the other Imperials had made it. "Intelligence wants to know who and what you are so we're going to run a few tests. Fluids, genetics, microorganisms, that sort of thing. Nothing more harmful than a few needles, though, and we're only taking out, not putting in. Don't worry," he repeated.
Needles? That was all Tails could process. His breath roared through his chest, echoing louder in his ears than his tailspin ever could. Wedge placed a protective arm across the kit. Just like Sonic... "Hold up. There are standards for prisoners of war even on this dustball. You'll have to go through me to take him, understood?"
The man in front of them raised his hands in placation, which would have been a little more comforting if it didn't let spurts of floodlight directly into Tails's eyes. "Please, Master Antilles. He'll be kept sedated the entire time – here," he produced something that glinted dully in the light. Don't worry about the drug, Tails thought woozily, I'll pass out just fine from thinking about it. "You have my word as a medical officer he'll return to you safely. Sleepily, but safely."
Wedge lowered his arm a fraction. "I'll hold you to that, officer. You've taken the sadism chips out of your medical droids since I went in for my physical, right?"
The man swallowed visibly, an impressive feat considering the overwhelming backlighting. "We're still looking into it, Master Antilles." He leaned in close, voice hushed. "I think it's the warden's idea of a prank." He seemed so earnest that Tails longed to tell him only one of the microphones was left, that he could speak almost freely. But the less the man knew the healthier it would probably be for all of them. Goes against the grain not to share knowledge, though.
Wedge sighed and sagged against the wall. "All right, take him. Not as if I could realistically stop you anyway. But if you bend my cellmate and he doesn't bend back, I will find a way to make you and the warden remember it."
Another nervous swallow and a quick head-bob. "Don't worry. Now, alien, please step forward. There is some risk to this part of the process since we don't know your physiology yet, I'm afraid, so until we've synthesized a working sedative we're going to have to knock you out the old-fashioned way." Too late Tails realized that the glinting cylinder wasn't a syringe, and then there was a bright blue flash and nothing but a world of pain.
The first thing Tails noticed when he woke up was the harsh dry grit in his throat, which seemed odd since he could feel some deliciously cold liquid in there too. Maybe he'd been too loud? He certainly hadn't had anyone to talk to between Sonic and Wedge, so he might have just burned himself out. But as the rest of his senses swam back he realized that wasn't quite right. Yes, he'd burned out his voice, but it wasn't from talking.
"Easy, Tails, easy," the friendly monotone told him as he kicked and pitched and screamed on the flat metal slab. "Stun bolts aren't pleasant."
"Understatement of the century," the fox grumbled between pants and groans. At least the wildfire in his fingers and toes had finally gone out, but as the arid cold of the caves gushed in to replace it he wasn't sure which he'd preferred. "How," he asked finally as his lungs got back to normal, "do I look?"
"Probably as tired as I feel," Wedge answered promptly. "Still, I guess that medic honored his word. You've got a couple of damp spots – both elbows and right shoulder – which match up with a blood draw. If they yanked out any fur I couldn't tell you."
Tails shook his head, mashing his ears against the slab. "I shed enough anyway they probably didn't need to."
"At least it sounds like you've recovered well enough." His voice dropped mischievously, probably to a level just low enough to spoof the last microphone. "I was going to show you something when they showed up, but I'd better let you just lie down until you're ready. They brought lunch back with you anyway."
That got Tails moving. "What kind of lunch? I don't smell anything."
Wedge chuckled a little. "If you did I'd be more worried. They've taken standard emergency rations and engineered the taste out of them for us. Which is odd, because normally they don't do prisoners favors."
Tails laughed, but the laughter devolved into a coughing fit as it caught at the back of his mouth. "Sorry, sorry. I'll be fine."
"Why do I get the feeling I'll be hearing that a lot out of you?" Wedge said.
Because you have good instincts. "Well, pass the tray up here and I'll choke them down."
A handful of plastic-wrapped cubes that together were a little smaller than the fox's hand landed softly in his belly fur. "No trays. Too easy to turn them into weapons, I guess, not that they'd matter against the shield system. I was surprised they didn't take your binders off when they kicked you in here, and I have a feeling they'd have punished both of us if I hadn't handed them over. Speaking of which, whose idea was it to lock up your tails back there?"
"Mine," Tails muttered. Not exactly a point of pride now, is it? "Figured I'd last a bit longer if I cooperated than I would if I tried a one-fox jailbreak with my tails free."
Wedge cocked his head, considering. "Probably for the best. That said," he practically subvocalized, "it wouldn't just be one...fox, not anymore." Tails had just reached down to pick up one of the ration cubes when something much colder and heavier rapped his wrist. "We've got a friend somewhere in the base. Maybe several. This holdout blaster was folded up in your jumpsuit."
"Holdout blaster?" Tails asked just as softly. Wedge had leaned over like he was about to smother the fox's cry, but since Tails had actually remembered the microphones he rocked back a little with a pleasantly surprised expression.
"Small enough to hide it, basically. Only has one setting, but against trooper armor that's all we need."
"These are...actually pretty good," Tails said aloud for the benefit of whatever poor soul had to listen in on them. He could actually try a ration cube later – hopefully very soon, considering the way his stomach sloshed and rumbled periodically – but right now the technology right over his hand was far more important. "Could it get through the shields?"
Wedge closed his eyes. "No. If they lower them, though, we can take out a couple of troopers and grab their rifles. Those might have enough punch to at least wear them down."
"We wouldn't have anywhere to go, would we?" Tails asked. His voice came back up a little, but there was a sad resignation in it that kept it safely hushed. "We'd have to cut through dozens of soldiers, watch out for the prisoners, and then just hope that there's a shuttle."
"Well, you certainly wolfed those down," Wedge said aloud. "I figure you ought to get some real sleep soon, since stuns definitely don't count. Did you find somewhere a little healthier?"
Tails rolled himself into the tightest ball he could manage at the head of the bed. "Sure did." He patted the slab with one tail, laying the other one over the old burn scar on his side. "Hop up. I can be your pillow; it'll keep us both warm and should be way better for your neck."
Wedge squinted at him, but recognized the intransigence in Tails's blue eyes and gave in gracefully. His head was a little sharper than Cream's and nowhere near as familiar as Sonic's; besides, Tails was still too hungry to just fall asleep like that. Instead of dozing off, then, the little fox leafed through the thick web of fur that had snagged the ration cubes when he moved, tugging the little concoctions out one at a time and sampling them. Yeesh, these really are completely flavorless. Wonder how they managed that – even back when she was still learning, Cream's stuff was at least distinctive!
As long as the meal wasn't going to be too distracting – and since the wrappers apparently were part of the food that was definitely the case – there was a little food for the mind tucked away nearby. He'd had his eyes closed when Wedge stowed the pistol but there were only so many places he could have put it, and a little scrounging with his free tail found the grip and tugged it out from a little cairn of loose rocks under the bed. He squirmed around until he was facing completely outwards, moving his tail blanket out to Wedge's chest as a consolation, and began fiddling with the miniature weapon.
Small enough to hide – I could probably use this thing! The thought wasn't even remotely comforting, not after the Metarex, not after Cosmo. The last thing Tails needed was some other innocent person – even if they were shooting at him too he had no reason to assume they were evil – downrange from him. Let's see if I can figure out how this works, at least, though. But the ribbed metal refused to pull apart and after many fruitless minutes the frustrated kit felt hot tears building. If I hadn't let them steal Sonic's screwdriver I'd be able to do this.
See, you're helpless without him. At least he tried to save Cosmo. You just shot her and watched him actually do his best. Now do you understand why he wanted you to leave? You're only locked up here because you were too useless for him to put up with anymore, and that's why you're going to stay locked up unless Wedge pulls you out.
He couldn't stand against the tidal wave of thoughts, even as some tiny rational part of his mind screamed that he wasn't being fair. The tears came fast and free for a few seconds before drying up entirely, and raw dry eyes burned as he strained against the darkness around and inside him. Then something landed between his ears. Something warm and soft, something that didn't quite know where to scratch or how to press in but seemed determined to try, and as it explored his scalp Tails felt some of the pain fade.
"Been a while since I've seen a domestic animal," Wedge said drowsily, "but I think I remember this calming down the neighbor's pet. Hope the idea's the same here." His hand cupped Tails's skull and kept massaging until the kit finally gave in and stopped trying to sob.
"I hope you don't do this to all of your pilots," he said instead, managing a halfhearted little giggle.
"No, not usually. Of course, most of them would blast me if I tried, but from what I've seen two-thirds of them could probably use it. Including my CO half the time. I don't care what your problems are; if you want to hold them in it's your choice. But I might as well stop you from going to pieces anyway. Besides, you're thinking so much my hand's actually starting to warm up."
Tails didn't answer, just squirmed into the amateur touch and tucked the pistol back below the bench with his tail. There would be time for all that later. After all, what did they have but time?
