Chapter 11: Black Ops

Roman and Ashley's house, 18:45 pm…

"Roman. They're ready for you."

Roman looked around to see Ashley standing in the doorway, her eyes boring into his. Getting to his feet, Roman walked over, asking: "Who came?"

"Caleb, the clones, Shadow, Rouge, Silver, and Blaze." Ashley replied. "Cream isn't coming because Amy's invited her for dinner."

Roman scoffed. "Sounds like Amy's attempting to smooth things over." He remarked. Nodding, he added: "But at least the majority of them came."

Ashley nodded too. "At least." She said. Looking around, she added: "I've not got a very good feeling about this. Going against Sally's orders… It just feels wrong."

"I never said this would be easy, Ash." Roman replied, taking her hands in his. "But if we're going to rescue Seth before his kid's born, it needs to be done." Pulling her closer, Roman gave Ashley a gentle kiss. "Either way, we have to rescue Seth. With or without the help of the others." With that, he and Ashley came downstairs, finding themselves greeted by a throng of fellow Freedom Fighters: Caleb, Shatter, Tusk, Team Dark, Silver and Blaze.

Tails was also present, leaning against the arch that led into Roman and Ashley's lounge.

Roman stepped in, eyeing everyone thankfully. "Thanks for coming, guys." He said. "Especially on such short notice." Folding his arms, Roman said: "Now you're all probably wondering why you're here, so these are the facts." Sighing, he said: "Shortly after the meeting Sally called earlier today, Sally called me back to the War Room. Said she wanted to smooth things over in terms of what happened yesterday with Seth. So I did. I finally managed to get her to admit that she made the wrong call in leaving Seth behind, which in itself is a plus. So with that behind us, I decided to talk about planning a rescue mission." Roman sighed. "Only for Sally to outright veto the idea."

Gasps of shock and surprise filled the room, as chatter started over the reasons for Sally's decision.

"Sally's reasons are apparently because we barely rescued Caleb, she's reluctant to rescue Seth because he'll supposedly be more heavily guarded then Caleb was."

"I see where she's coming from there, lad." Caleb said. "I'm nobody to the Empire. Seth's a damn Jedi. No wonder she'd think that."

"Be that as it may, I've been on far more risky rescue missions in my lifetime whilst Eggman was first in power. Most of them in order to rescue Sally herself." Roman said.

"Damn. Talk about ungrateful." Shatter remarked.

Roman shrugged. "Other reasons apparently include the security of Ahsoka and her unborn baby. Sally thinks for some reason it's preferable to all of us dying in some bone-headed rescue attempt and leaving Ahsoka with no-one to raise her baby with. Which I'm aware is a valid risk, but honestly, we're the Freedom Fighters. We've done far more risky things. Remember when most of you risked your own lives to come save me and Ashley after Frederick had captured us? That in itself was risky, considering Frederick had his own private army of mercenaries."

Tails nodded. "Had we not done that, neither Roman or Ashley would be alive today." He added.

"And neither will Seth if we don't act soon." Ashley said. "You all know how determined Seth is to at least know his child and make sure his child knows him for who he is. Seth is hell bent on not repeating the mistakes of his father and leaving his child and Ahsoka alone without him there to support them."

"Which is why I called this meeting." Roman said. "Because despite what Sally says about the risks, I intend on going ahead with a rescue mission anyway. And I need your help to do that."

The silence hanging over the room was palpable, enough that the life imbued in each of the people was almost sucked out.

Finally, Silver spoke. "You can't be serious." He remarked.

"I am, actually." Roman replied.

Shadow chuckled. "Of all the crazy ideas you've come up with in the past, this one takes the cake for being the most balls-out ridiculous. As much as I am up for sticking it to Sonic every now and again, disobeying direct orders from Sally isn't one of the ways I'd like to go about doing that."

Roman shook his head. "Weren't you listening to a word we just said? We have no other option but to disobey Sally's orders. The life of one of the best friends I have in existence is hanging in the balance, as well as the security of Ahsoka and the baby she's having with Seth. Don't tell me you don't care about that."

"As a matter of fact, no." Shadow replied coldly, drawing a gasp of shock from everyone else. "I only stood with you this morning because I agreed that Sally had made a bad decision regarding Seth. I am not about to go against the princess' wishes just because one of her key lieutenants has a death wish!"

Roman folded his arms. "Well in my experience, having a death wish in these situations is better than not having one and pussying out of it." He replied.

Shadow's face darkened as he snarled: "Are you suggesting I'm a coward?"

Roman tensed as he replied: "It certainly looks that way." He walked closer to Shadow and shook his head. "I have to say, I'm a little disappointed. I was expecting the Shadow who'd be more than willing to take a chance to stick it to Sonic, the Shadow who would dare to disobey an order Sally gave, if only to brag to Sonic that he'd had the courage to do it whereas Sonic wouldn't." Pausing a moment, he added: "In that case, I'd best send you on the mission to the ground to find out what the Empire's plans regarding Seth are." Pausing again, Roman then added: "Since you obviously left your balls down there when the Empire took Mobotropolis."

Shadow bared his teeth in an almost feral snarl as he moved to tie up with Roman, but the vulpine Jedi was faster.

Roman's lighsaber was in his hands and ignited before Shadow could take a second step, stopping the obsidian hedgehog in his tracks. "Try me, bitch." Roman said.

Instantly, Team Dark prepared to attack Roman, but Tails, Ashley and the clones all brandished their weapons, resulting in a tense standoff.

Shadow was quick to realise he and Team Dark were at a numerical disadvantage, before turning to Roman, who frowned.

"It's your call, Shadow." Roman said. "Back down and agree to help, or attack me and get yourself and your team killed because you couldn't stand an insult."

Shadow scowled as he remained where he was, his crimson eyes burning a hole through Roman's face and head like wildfire.

The whole room tensed, with Caleb, Silver and Blaze all eyeing Team Dark and Roman's friends, wondering who would attack first.

"Not backing down would be a very bad idea, Shadow." Roman said, his lightsaber ready to cleave the obsidian hedgehog in two should the latter attack.

Another few tense moments passed, during which the silence itself seemed to fatten itself like leeches feeding on blood.

Finally with an angered growl, Shadow took a step back, motioning for Team Dark to stand down.

Roman nodded with a smile, deactivating his lightsaber and lowering it. "Good call." He said. Hooking his lightsaber onto his belt, he folded his arms as he eyed everyone else. "With that out the way then, who's with me?" He asked.

Another pregnant silence filled the air, the sound that would inevitably break it gestating like an embryo in a mother's womb, preparing to be brought forth like a newborn baby.

Caleb was the first to break said silence, stepping forward as he said: "As harebrained as this idea sounds, I'm in. I owe you, Tails, Ashley, the clones, and Seth for saving my life yesterday. It seems only right that I help you rescue him in return."

Roman nodded his thanks. Looking around, he asked: "Anyone else?"

Shatter and Tusk came forward, their hands raised. "We're both in, General. Seth is just as important a part of our team as you, Miss Ashley, and Commander Prower are. And we owe it to him to rescue him, no matter the risk."

Roman smiled and nodded. "Thanks, guys." Turning to Silver and Blaze, Roman asked: "Either of you in, or are the missions we did whilst I was presumed dead enough for you two?"

Everyone in the room chuckled. They all knew the stories of said missions. According to Roman, they had often ended with him walking in on Silver and Blaze in various states of undress, locked in an erotic position whilst blushing with the immense embarrassment.

Blaze was the first to nod. "I'm in, Roman. As much as I hate to go against a friend like Sally, Seth's my friend as well. Furthermore, he has a child due to be born in a month's time. I'd rather not have denying him a chance to see his child on my conscience."

"Then I'm in as well." Silver said. "It wasn't too long ago that we saved your life, Roman. Figure it's time to save another."

Roman nodded with a smirk. "Just promise you'll both keep your clothes on; and wear protection in the event that you can't."

The group all broke up into raucous laughter, whilst both Silver and Blaze shook their heads in disbelief.

"Told you he'd never let it slide." Blaze muttered to Silver, who face-palmed.

Roman turned now to Shadow and Team Dark, staring at them intently. "What about you three? Are you guys in? Or do I have to ask Sally to change your callsign from Team Dark to Team Yellow because of the yellow streaks down your backs?"

Shadow's nostrils flared at the jab, but folding his arms, he nodded. "We're in. Not because we want to save your friend, but just so like you say, I can tell Sonic that I had the gall to do what he'd not dare to."

Roman nodded. "That's the Shadow I know." He remarked. Smiling, he made to say more when a voice called out:

"Got room for two more?"

Roman turned to face the newcomers, and a wry smile crossed his face.

Standing where he had been standing before the confrontation with Shadow, flanked by Crankshaft, was Ahsoka, looking every bit the picture of health.

Nodding, Roman said: "The more, the merrier, Ahsoka."

"And the more Imperial blood I spill, the better for my skills." Crankshaft interjected.

Roman blinked. "Geez. Your droid's got issues." He remarked.

Ahsoka shrugged. "Blame Seth. He's the one that reprogrammed Crankshaft."

Roman chuckled, saying: "I'll make sure to tell him when we've saved his ass."

Ahsoka chuckled too before she stepped further into the room, asking: "What do you have in mind?"

Roman smiled and folded his arms, motioning for everyone to take a seat. "Listen close, people." He said. "This will be what we called in the Clone Wars a black operation. Black Ops, if you will."

The entire group nodded, and listened while Roman outlined the rest of his idea. The idea of Black Ops intrigued them very much.

God, this was a pain to write. I had a small case of writer's block for some of it, but I got there in the end.

Anyway, thank you all so much for taking the time to read this chapter. If you enjoyed it, then leave a review in the appropriate section telling me what you enjoyed and what you think I can do to improve for next time. In the event that you really enjoyed it, then I invite you to favourite and follow this fanfiction, in order to receive updates as to whenever I upload a fresh chapter.

All in all, thank you very much, and I will see you tomorrow (Hopefully!) with the next chapter, which sees Roman's friends embark on a supply run, to disguise their true purpose: To find information pertaining as to the Empire's plans for Seth.

T-Rock14