Chapter 7: The Ceremony
July 9th, AD 2169, 10:05 AM.
Location: Project Shadow Research Facility Bravo, Robotnik Enterprises, Somewhere in North America.
It was five minutes past 1000 hours, and Tails was unsure why 300 Mobian recruits and their drill sergeants had lined up in formation, and stood at attention in front of the Assembly hall,waiting for the doors to open.
Tails was not in a good mood; his feet were aching from standing in the same place for the past half hour, and in their rush to get everyone here, the sergeants had rather efficiently robbed him of a well needed breakfast. Tired, hungry, and freezing, he stood at parade rest near the door to the Assembly Hall.
Finally! He thought in relief, as he saw Sonic run to the side entrance, and without even thinking about it, he waved at the hedgehog. They were waiting for him because he's the guest of honor. For a speed demon, he seems to have a habit of being late.
Sonic promptly waved back, and then dashed into the building, just as Sergeant Vance descended on him with a face darker than a storm cloud.
"DAMMIT RECRUIT," He shouted, his beet red face inches from the fox's face. "HOW HARD IS IT TO STAND STILL?"
"EASY, SIR!" Tails responded, almost automatically.
"THEN, YOU'D BETTER HAVE A PRETTY DAMN GOOD REASON FOR BREAKING YOUR BEARING, MAGGOT! DROP DOWN AND GIVE ME FIFTY!"
"FIFTY WHAT, SIR?"
"DAMMIT RECRUIT, FIFTY DOLLARS FOR HELL'S SAKE!" He bellowed sarcastically, "NO,PUSH-UPS, YOU DUMB-ASS! AND THAT'S ANOTHER FIFTY FOR BACK SASSING ME, RECRUIT!"
"But I didn't-"
"ONE HUNDRED PUSH-UPS! NOW, RECRUIT!" the sergeant bellowed again.
Tails dropped to the cold ground and began to do his push-ups. "ONE... SIR, TWO... SIR, THREE... SIR..."
Tails struggled the entire time. His body wasn't built for extended physical labor, and he was beginning to think that enlisting had not been worth it. Caring for the Little Ones wouldn't have been as bad as this. He thought.
Of course, as soon as he finished, the doors opened.
Sergeant Miller, swiped his card through the scanner next to the door. There was a beeping sound, and then the scanner's light flashed green.
The door slid open, and he entered. He flipped a switch, and with an electric sputter, the lights in the room flickered on, producing a dim light that illuminated everything within. Wires and heavy pipes threaded their way through the room, making hallways out of what would otherwise be a huge, empty room. Miller entered the makeshift hallway, and the door slid shut behind him. He walked forward, intent on his objective.
If this feeling of dread that I am having turns out to be false, I can return it after the ceremony, He thought, as he walked down the hallway. If not... well, I think I will get to that if the time comes.
After a few twists and turns through the hallways lined with pipes, he finally got to his destination. The center of the room. A huge dome, a reactor, was built into the center of the room, and pipes and wires extended from it in random directions. The area was closed off by a chain link fence, but he could see a gate on the far side of the the fence, a wooden sign was posted with the words: "DANGER, HIGH VOLTAGE!" printed on them.
He walked over to the door, which was locked with another scanner. He swiped his card, and then the lock clicked as it recognized his identity. He opened the door, and stepped inside the room, careful not to touch anything.
Against the wall was a huge lever with two positions, one labeled "RESERVE POWER", the other labeled, "ON". It was currently set to reserve power, so that was good. That meant that the Chaos Reactor was not running, and it would be safe to remove the Emerald.
He walked over to the side closest to the hallway where he entered from, where a small hatch was built into the side of the Chaos Reactor. He reached out to turn the handle, but paused in contemplation.
No sense letting myself get infected with its power,He thought. Better if I protect myself. Who knows what these things do to the body. He pulled out a pair of leather gloves and put them on, then opened the hatch.
Inside was an elegantly carved gemstone, about the size of a large human hand. It was pure white, and it glowed brightly, a brilliant white light that could light up the darkest room. With great care, Sergeant Miller reached his hand in, and pulled the Chaos Emerald out of the reactor core, and placed it in a small leather pouch, which he then tucked inside his inner coat pocket.
He left the room, making sure to close and lock all the doors, and remove any pieces of evidence.
I hope that this precaution was completely unnecessary, He thought as he headed toward the Assembly Hall.
He entered the Assembly Hall through one of the side entrances, and followed the hallways to the back entrance to the stage.
Tails sat down heavily in the the middle of the second row. His feet were aching for standing so long, and he just needed a breather.
Almost as soon as he sat down, Captain Williams walked out and called everyone to attention.
Of course it starts as soon as I enter, He thought bitterly, Irony just seems to love me.
Two human soldiers, dressed in formal uniform, walked out onto the stage carrying sabers, and took up positions on either side of the stage. The honor guard.
The captain called out the first ten commissioned recruits, and shortly afterwords, ten recruits formed a line on the front of the stage. The Captain gave each of them their new rank pins, upon which the cadets saluted. Then they stepped back to make room, and the captain called in the next ten recruits. This process continued until the last few recruits were called out.
"Cadets Knuckles, Rouge, Sally, …" Captain Williams bellowed.
In response, a red echidna, a brown squirrel, and a black and white bat, as well as a few other Mobians walked out onto the stage, and formed up the last line of recruits. The Captain gave them their new rank pins, then saluted them as they stepped back.
Sonic glanced around nervously. Where is he? It isn't like him to be late.
At that precise moment, Sergeant Miller walked around the corner, his hands in his pockets. He was looking around nervously, as if he had just stolen something.
Finally, he shows up, Sonic thought.
"About time you got here," Sonic said rather casually, as his former mentor approached him almost sheepishly.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world," The sergeant said, somewhat wearily.
His hands were still in his pockets, and Sonic noticed that there were beads of sweat glistening on his forehead. He looked as if he was about to say something else, but he was interrupted by an announcement made by Captain Williams.
"...and, last but not least, your valedictorian of Class C-1, Cadet Alpha "Sonic" Hedgehog." boomed the captain from on the stage.
Sonic grimaced at the mention of his old name, and Sergeant Miller chuckled, although it didn't look like he was having a good time.
"Looks like you will have to hang on to your original name for a while yet, Sonic." He whispered as the two of them walked out onto the stage.
Sonic approached the captain, and sprang to attention. The captain handed him his silver bar, signifying his new rank of 1st lieutenant, and then Sonic saluted him.
Sergeant Miller turned and saluted Sonic, even as Captain Williams returned the blue hedgehog's salute.
Sonic stepped back and stood in front of the others, as the captain called everyone else in the Assembly Hall to attention.
"These cadets have graduated the Mobian Officer Advanced Training Course," He bellowed "Everyone-"
His voice cut off as there was the sound of something huge crashing to the ground in the distance, almost like the sound of an explosion, and the room shook.
"What the hell was that?" Sergeant Miller muttered.
BOOM! Another crashing sound, this time, louder.
The captain stood, in stunned disbelief for a moment, and then he shook himself.
"Sergeant Vance! Prepare the defences, were under atta-!" His words were cut off permanently, as two gun shots echoed throughout the room.
Sonic watched with wide eyes as the captain's body toppled to the ground with a thud, that seemed almost as loud as the explosions that sounded in the distance, with blood and worse flowing from the hole between his eyes.