Chapter 3
Prelude to Chaos
Back on Mobius; Sonic and Knuckles stood guard as Tails worked at the main computer console trying to hack into it, but so far after two hours of working the young fox didn't have much success.
"I don't think you're going to be able to get into that computer thermal." Knuckles commented.
"Give Tails a chance." Sonic said with a vote of convenience for Tails's computer abilities.
"I am not doubting his skills Sonic…I am just concerned that we have spent too long in this place. This silence is unsettling."
"I know what you mean, but" Sonic was about to say when a cheer from Tails caught their attention.
"I DID IT…I am in"
"Great job Tails." Sonic congratulated as he and Knuckles approached Tails's side and began looking over his shoulder to see what the young fox was looking at.
"About time…anything that can tell us what Eggman is up to?" Knuckles asked.
"I am checking…I am going start going through Eggman's daily operation files, starting with the last few he entered because I am not finding any other ones for this entire week." Tails said as he began checking through Eggman's files looking for something to tell them what the mad genius has planned. "Hey I think I found something…his last daily operation file which was about almost three weeks ago makes mention to a Operation Homecoming."
"Operation Homecoming…odd name, but maybe that's what were looking for?" Knuckles noted.
"Can you find anything else related to Operation Homecoming?" Sonic asked.
"Checking, I am doing a word search to bring up any files related to it." Tails answered as he waited for the computer to compile the files related to or had the words Operation Homecoming in them. After a few minutes saw a complete list of files with those words in them, but the file at the top caught his attention. "Egg Fleet"
"Egg Fleet…that can't be good."
"Open the file Tails." Sonic asked as Tails opened the Egg Fleet file and saw detailed plans and blueprints to the many ships of the Egg Fleet including a detailed schematic to building something Eggman called the Star Drive. "Whoa…Eggman has built an entire fleet of these battleships, and look at all these new robots he has built too."
"That's pure overkill…with an army like that Eggman could have easily taken over Mobius, but that provided we stop him like we have always have."
"If this file says that Eggman has already built this huge armada…then where are they?" Sonic asked.
"I am checking, but I am downloading a copy of this Star Drive to a disc just case. I am going need some more for the other ships. But I did find out where the Master Emerald is…Eggman has installed on his flagship called the Final Fortress as a power source for the ship's weapons and defenses."
"Then lets find this Egg Fleet and sink it." Knuckles adamantly said as Sonic placed his hand on his friend's shoulder.
"Easy there let's find out where he is at."
"I am not finding anything else on the purpose of this fleet or where they are going, but I did find a few references to some place called Earth."
"Earth…you mean another planet?" Sonic asked, as he was a bit surprised.
"Sounds like it…a file related to the planet I found is where Eggman came from. Looks like he's taking this fleet back to conquer it."
"That explains why Eggman has seemed to disappear…he must have gone to Earth and is probably attacking it right now." Knuckles said as he figured out Eggman's likely objective with his massive fleet of battleships.
"Catching him won't be easy now he is light-years away from us."
"That won't stop us…Tails do you think you can build this Star Drive?"
"Yeah…I'll need some special parts, but it shouldn't be too hard."
"We're going after Eggman…if we let him go to Earth with the Master Emerald he may end up coming back for us once he has conquered Earth."
"Right and we have to get the Master Emerald back…there is no telling what else Eggman could do with it."
"Ok I'll get as much information on Earth and his fleet as I can. I got the Star Drive saved to a disc along with the coordinates to Earth. I just need to build it now."
"Alright as soon as you are done lets get out of here." Sonic suggested.
About three days later, light-years away at Largepoint Three, at the Orb Union Resource Satellite of Heliopolis the students from the Heliopolis Technical Industrial College were leaving for the day as the last set of classes were dismissed. A certain group of teenage friends were leaving the main building and heading towards the automatic car stop to take one of the self-driving vehicles to the market district.
All of them were sixteen years ago, but there were obvious differences between all three; making up the group was one young girl with short brown hair, green eyes and a fair complexion wearing a pink blouse with a red working skirt and matching shoes on. The second was a young boy with brown slightly curvy hair and light blue eyes wearing a light green collar shirt with a pair of jeans on and brown shoes while the last member of the group was another boy with brown hair, purple eyes wearing a black T-shirt and dark blue jeans and black shoes on his feet.
"Say Kira don't we have to head to Professor Kato's lab at Morgenroete?" Tolle asked as his girlfriend Miriallia Haw was accompanying her.
Kira Yamato let out a delayed sigh as he replied. "To be honest I would rather not go today…I haven't even finished all of the stuff he keeps dumping on me. We got an hour before I have to be there so I figured we grab something to eat on the way since this is probably going to be another long session at the lab."
"At least he is giving you extra credit for all of your time." Miriallia pointed.
"Its nice, but I would like a day off."
A short time later the two arrived at the market district as the group was looking for a decent place to eat at before going to Morgenroete. After checking out a few potential places the group of college students decided on Subway and went inside to grab a few sandwiches. As they waited in line the trio took a look around the establishment as they waited for their turn in line. One sight that caught their attention was a young fifteen-year-old boy wearing a pair of blue tinted Prince-Nez glasses and clothing no one has ever seen before.
Lucas was sitting down at a window side table enjoying a Feast sub with the works minus the peppers and onions along with a side order of sweet and sour chips and a small soda. His attire and the robotic chicken sitting on his shoulder drew everyone's attention to him. After arriving at Heliopolis his papers and passport provided to him by his father with his fake identify allowed him entrance into the colony while his ship a little too large for the colony harbor was sitting right outside so the young man had to use a shuttle craft to enter the colony harbor before disembarking.
"What's with that guy…his clothes are kinda weird."
"Oh that guy, he's from Mars. He just arrived late afternoon a few days ago on a interplanetary cargo ship that finally reached Earth." The clerk behind the counter commented after overhearing their comment about the boy at the table. "My brother works at the harbor and told me about this huge cargo ship that arrived from Mars with that kid on it. I understand it takes a couple years for a ship to get from Mars to Earth so I can't blame that kid or any other members of the crew for wanting to get off that ship and come down here."
"A Martian…I heard there were colonies on Mars." Miriallia pointed out.
"Yeah just takes a long time to get from here to there. I am not sure if I could handle behind on a ship for that long." Tolle added.
"I wonder how things are on Mars?" Kira wondered.
"Well no one really knows, but according to some sources things on Mars have been peaceful by all accounts." Miriallia answered.
"I guess that's good."
After having lunch the group decided to head to Morgenroete although Kira was still hesitant about going, but the young man still had to go and do the lab work at the research facility. However when the group later arrived at Professor Kato's lab they were surprised to see that Lucas from the Subway was already there talking to the professor.
"Yes on behalf of Morgenroete we'll accept the cargo your vessel has brought us." Professor Kato said.
"I am embarrassed to admit our information on the current state of affairs involving Earth are out of date." Lucas commented.
"Yes I can easily see way the distance between Mars and Earth can hamper communications. Especially with this war going on its even worse now."
"Professor Kato" Kira began as both men noticed the new arrivals in his lab.
"Ah Kira good to see that you have arrived." Kato turned back to Lucas before he said. "Lucas Kintobor I would like to introduce my student assistant Kira Yamato and his friends Miriallia Haw and Tolle Koenig…all three are from the quantum computer mechanics class I teach at the Heliopolis Technical College."
"It's a pleasure to meet all of you." Lucas said politely.
"Likewise" Kira replied.
"A guy from Mars huh…you're already the talk of the town." Tolle mentioned.
"Ah I remember seeing you three at the Subway a little while ago." Lucas pointed out.
"Yeah we heard from one of the clerks there that you're from Mars." Kira added.
"So I really I am getting popular around here already." Lucas said with a grin.
"So how's Mars?" Tolle asked.
"Oh…its peaceful." Lucas said as he thought now it's peaceful, so I am technically not lying. "Not a whole lot going on. But from what I have gathered so far Mars is a more peaceful compared to what has been happening on Earth."
"I'll say…war has broken out between the PLANTs and the Alliance." Tolle noted. "Are there any wars going on."
Lucas hesitated for a moment "None right now, when I left everything was peaceful."
"Well its good to hear the Mars Colonies are not at war with each other." Kato commented.
"Indeed, but its equally good to see Orb and a few other countries have managed to avoid getting dragged into the conflict. I have already been trying to catch up on recent events. I also hope to bring all news of what has happened recently back with me to Mars so people there can be a little more up to date on what has been happening here." Lucas said with a faint smile on his face.
"Anyway Kira I have a new program analysis I would like you to look over." Kato said as he pulled a disc from his pocket and handed it to Kira.
"Then I should be off…it was great meeting you all. I'll be around for a week before I depart…I hope to see you all again." Lucas said as he walked out of the lab and began making his way out of the facility.
"Sure" Kira said as the door closed behind Lucas after the young man stepped out of the room.
"Well he is certainly a unique character." Miriallia commented.
"Weird sense of fashion, but he seems alright." Tolle added.
Later that afternoon after the small shuttlecraft docked with the disguised Egg Fort; Lucas disembarked the shuttle and made his way to the bridge of the ship where Decoe and Bocoe were waiting for him. The two robots were at their stations watching the latest news feeds they could get their hands on while Bokkun was watching a children's cartoon.
"Welcome back Doctor Robotnik…how did your second trip to Heliopolis go?" Decoe asked.
"It was fine…the transports are dropping off the cargo father gave me to use as a trading materials to help our cover. But most importantly my bug bots are now inside Morgenroete Research Facility…I even dropped one inside Kato's office where it should be establishing a link to his computer thermal which will create a wireless link for us allowing me to hack into their mainframe from here."
"Are you sure it's a good idea to try and hack their mainframe?" Bocoe inquired.
"Relax the computers aboard the Egg Fort are far more superior than their computer systems. Not to mention I am a very good computer hacker. Even if they detect me they will never catch me…I am already having over a dozen ghost locations set up within the Heliopolis's computer network to cover our tracks and to keep them from finding out it was us."
"Doctor we're getting a signal from the bug bots…one of them has managed to enter a restricted area of the factory. Wireless quantum communication established we're receiving now." Decoe said as he typed a few commands into his control console and brought up an image of the interior the factory on the overhead screen.
Below from where the bug bot was broadcasting as the fly-size robot was sitting on the ceiling of the sealed off factory area as Lucas saw a completed GAT-X102 Duel, next to it they saw the other GAT mobile suit prototypes such as the GAT-X103 Buster, GAT-X202 Blitz, GAT-X105 Strike and lastly the GAT-X303 Aegis. All of the mobile suits were completed, but it seemed work crews were trying to put on the finishing touches to make them fully functional.
"Wow so this colony is developing mobile suit." Bokkun pointed.
"I thought ZAFT only had mobile suit technology." Bocoe asked.
"Remember the PLANTs and the Alliance are at war…naturally the Orb Union is trying to develop its own mobile suits to combat the ZAFT mobile suits the PLANTs have should they ever come under attack." Lucas said as he reminded his three helpers of a few facts to consider. "Record and get a good shot of everything…wait zoom in over" Lucas instructed as a group of people talking in one corner of the factory caught his attention.
As the image was enlarged and cleaned up, Lucas saw two people…one was a woman around twenty-six years of age with long brown hair wearing a green cap that matched her work uniform she was wearing and her companion an older man was dressed in similar attire. They were talking to a pair of Earth Alliance officers.
"I see…Orb isn't developing these machines for themselves, but for the Alliance."
"But isn't Heliopolis suppose to be neutral?" Decoe asked.
"It is officially, but it seems the Alliance are taking advantage of Heliopolis's status as a neutral colony to secretly develop these mobile suits without any fear of an attack by ZAFT. They must have some secret alliance or agreement with Orb. Maybe their computer mainframe will tell us more once I hack into it." Lucas said as he began establishing a connection with the bug bot that has linked itself to Kato's personal thermal. "I am logging in…once I am in I'll have instant access to all of their designs and date regarding those machines."
After carefully hacking into the Morgenroete Corporation's mainframe; Lucas cracked their firewalls and established a fake user name and password while making sure to cover his tracks so in the event if he is discovered there will be nothing to lead them to him by passing a few ghost users on their computer network linked to the ghost thermals he created in the Heliopolis Computer Network.
"I am in…accessing mainframe."
"Good luck doctor."
"Let's see…G Weapons…this sounds about right." Lucas said as he began accessing the G Weapon Files. Lucas was silent for several minutes as he quietly studied and looked over the design specs for all of the GAT-series mobile suits including technical specifications for the special technologies they created as well. "Hmmm how did they get this far…these designs are actually not bad. The Operating System for these machines are laughable, but the hardware machines have is impressive. They are even building a new kind of mobile assault ship to carry them in…the LCAM-01XA Archangel, now that's a good looking ship and its armaments are nice. Begin copying everything…this Phase Shift Armor and Mirage Colloid technology they created is going to be useful once my father gets a hold of it."
"We're copying and downloading all of the files now."
"What's this…it seems Professor Kato has his own little project. The Astray Project…more mobile suit designs." Lucas said as he examined the three Astray Mobile Suits Orb was creating. "So Orb is making their own machines…not as good in design and hardware as the Alliance models, but their Operation Systems for them are a little better than the Alliance ones. Decoe copy and download all files related to the Astray Project."
"Yes sir"
"We downloaded all of the files regarding the G-series mobile suits and all related research and development materials including the design specs for all five prototypes including the new ship they are building." Bocoe reported.
"Strange they have already come so far in mobile suit development, but" Lucas said as he continued shifting through files while Bocoe and Decoe carried out the copying of downloads of files that were deemed valuable. Suddenly Lucas came across an image of an old man wearing a white lab coat and turtleneck sweater who bore a very strong resemblance to his father.
"What…great grandpa…why do they have information about him in their system."
"Who is that?" Bokkun asked.
"That is Doctor Gerald Robotnik the greatest scientific mind of his time and my great grandfather as well as Doctor Eggman's grandfather. Great Grandpa did work for Orb as the lead scientist in their government research facility, so I wonder if they were using some of his research for their mobile suit project. Lets see if I can find any information related to him." Lucas said as he began searching the mainframe.
After a few minutes of searching Lucas found some old robot designs that Gerald had created including an ancient robot he had studied which was the ground work for his other designs.
"I see so they were using some of great grandpa's old robot designs for their mobile suit projects. No matter" Lucas said as he suddenly stumbled across a sealed file dubbed top-secret and was password protected. "What do we have here…check file properties." Lucas examined the file properties and saw that the file hasn't been open in fifty years and the original creator of the file was Gerald Robotnik. "Password…Eggman?" Lucas said as he typed in Eggman, but he got an error message.
ACCESS DEINED
"The password breakers aren't working…your great grandpa sealed up that file good. I don't think anyone has seen what was in that file." Decoe commented.
"Then lets crack that password…let's try Robotnik."
ACCESS DEINED
"Damn it…ok" Lucas tried another password, but he got the same message.
ACCESS DEINED
"Damn it" Lucas said as he slammed his fist on the command console. "Wait…I know…lets try Ma-ri-a…Maria."
ACCESS GRANTED
"I did it…I am in."
Meanwhile inside Morgenroete Research Facility, more specifically the security room…Lucas accessing the sealed file alerted the security team inside the room that they had a hacker in their system. At one of the computer control consoles a young man with blonde hair wearing a light blue shirt and black tie was trying to track down the hacker. His superior approached him from behind; he was wearing a black business suit with dark brown hair and green eyes that appeared to be in his late forties.
"Sir we got a hacker…he used an unknown password to access a file in our secured database no one has seen in fifty years."
"Cut off his access!" His superior ordered.
Back on his ship "Damn it they detected us…did you copy those Astray Project files?"
"Yes sir…it's done." Decoe replied. "No one knows we copied the files."
"I am beginning downloading of file." Bocoe said as he was copying the file while Lucas was working against Morgenroete's computer techs to avoid getting caught and cutting his access off.
"Delete the original file when it's done. Leave no traces."
"Deletion of the original file from host computer beginning." Decoe reported.
"Shut down the entire system quickly." The young tech's superior commanded.
"I'll try"
Back aboard his ship Lucas was pushing it as he kept their computer techs off of him long enough for the download to finish and the original file and all traces of it was deleted from their system.
"Download Complete" Bocoe reported.
"Original File has been completely deleted from host computer."
"Good work…now lets see what is in this file." Lucas said as he opened the file to examine its contents. "No way…this is my great grandfather's diary. I am checking out the last entry," Lucas said as he scrolled down to the last entries Gerald Robotnik made in his diary. "I have done it" Lucas began as he began reading the entry out loud. "My greatest design is now complete, the ultimate creature…Shadow. My enemies think they have defeated me, but Shadow will carry out my orders without question. It sleeps now, but one day it will be reawakened…Shadow will bring total destruction."
"Your great grandfather created the Ultimate Creature?" Bokkun commented.
"Apparently so…Project Shadow, and great grandpa I am going to awaken Shadow for you." Lucas said as he began laughing maniacally. "Quickly log on using the second ghost user we created and I want everything related to Project Shadow from Morgenroete." Lucas ordered as he and his two robot sidekicks were hacking back into Morgenroete's system using a second ghost user. "We need to act fast."
"Shouldn't we wait?" Decoe asked.
"No…if we wait then next time there security will be ready for us…lets do it now before they have a chance."
A few minutes later Decoe found what they were searching for. "Sir I found something…Project Shadow kept in underground vault below Morgenroete Research Facility. I am downloading and copying all files." Bocoe said.
"Good…kill the link once it's done before they detect us again."
"We barely got it…Morgenroete has shut down its entire system. Link cut off…they never found us or know about the other files we copied." Decoe reported.
"Open the files and tell me about the security?"
"The vault itself is not only directly below the facility, but its inside the superstructure of the colony itself…security is tight. The only way in without destroying the vault or damaging its contents is going through the facility and then entering the elevator that leads to it."
"Blast it…we could force our way in" Lucas said as he began considering a plan of action. "But, those mobile suits Morgenroete are building are something we can't allow to continue as well. Prepare all Egg Dolls for combat; also prepare a Combot Team to infiltrate the colony along with a SWAT bot raiding party. Get the E-100 robots ready too."
"WHAT!" Decoe, Bokkun and Bocoe exclaimed together.
"You heard me…tomorrow afternoon we're going to put the breaks on the Alliance's mobile suit weapon's project and deal the first blow to the Orb Union and the Alliance."
"But will your father be ok with that?"
"Of course…after all my primary objective here is to create as much chaos as possible. Not to mention to help our invasion force we need to weaken the Alliance and Orb as much as we can."
"I guess that's true, but I am not sure."
"Speak of the devil, you got Eggman holding on line one." Bokkun noted with a cheerful smile.
"Put him on the main viewer."
A moment later Doctor Eggman's face appeared on the main screen viewer as he locked eyes with his son.
"You are late with your report…anything wrong?"
"No father…in fact I was about to contact you. I just hacked into Morgenroete's computer system and found something you'll find very interesting." Lucas typed a few commands into his control console as he began sending a packet containing a copy of all of the files they downloaded. "The Earth Alliance and Orb are secretly producing new mobile suits here at this colony. The programming and operating systems suck…but the hardware including the technologies they are incorporating into them is quite something."
Doctor Eggman began looking over all of the files Lucas had just sent him…after a few minutes. "You're right…this new Phase Shift Armor and Mirage Colloid are impressive. Still some of these mobile suit designs are not half bad."
"There is something else…great grandpa's greatest creation is being stored here. Project Shadow. I just downloaded his diary a short time ago from their mainframe."
"Really" Eggman declared as he quickly shifted through the files for the copy of his grandfather's diary. "His greatest creation is here…I had seen some data and a few notes making mention to something called Project Shadow my father's old lab assistant had, but I never realized it existed."
"I am going to raid Heliopolis, capture or destroy those new machines as well as destroy all of Morgenroete's production and research facilities. As well as awaken Shadow for great grandpa."
Much to his surprise Eggman was silent, but a few moments of quiet consideration the mad genius nodded his head.
"You have my approval to go ahead with the invasion…do what must be done, but don't forget that other item I wanted you to recover…however most importantly come back safely."
"Don't worry father I already found it…I am sending data you wanted from the Morgenroete University Geophysics Research Department. We hacked the data from their computers yesterday and I was reviewing it before sending it…you should be receiving it now."
"Excellent…take care son, contact me after your operation is completed." Eggman said as he smiled at the second data package his son sent him. With their conversation done the doctor ended communications while Lucas laid back in his chair smiling before turning to Decoe.
"Decoe take the Phase Shift Armor and Mirage Colloid technical specs and follow me to the lab workshop…we're going to make some modifications to my Egg Mobile before the raid."
"Is that why you are waiting until tomorrow?" Bocoe asked.
"Yes…I am going to install Phase Shift and Mirage Colloid on my Egg Mobile."
"What about attaching one of the armor add-ons to it?" Bokkun suggested.
"Then it won't be able to enter the facility or reach the elevator where the vault is. It will still have laser cannon, an energy shield and six mini-missile launchers on it to give me some formidable weaponry."
"I think we could incorporate the Phase Shift Armor and the Mirage Colloid cloaking system to your Egg Mobile sir. We have all of the parts and tools needed…we'll just have to tweak the design a little." Decoe pointed out.
"Of course that is why I am going to help you. Now lets get started the sooner we finish the modifications the sooner we can start the raid…in the meantime prepare all robots for battle and go over the Egg Fort and make sure we are at one hundred percent combat readiness."
"Yes sir" Bocoe and Bokkun said as they offered a salute as Lucas left the bridge with Decoe in tow.
Meanwhile at that moment a late shuttle flight from Earth was arriving at the Heliopolis colony, after the craft docked inside the main harbor its passengers began disembarking. Among them was a sixteen-year-old girl with shoulder-length blonde hair, orange-reddish eyes and a fair complexion.
She was wearing a long-sleeved brown coat with a large black hat that had most of her hair tucked up inside of it. Completing her attire the young woman wore a pair of light tan high-water paints and brown shoes with red socks. In her left hand was a black leather overnight bag while her other hand held her passport and a few other papers that would be required for her to enter the colony.
As everyone else throughout the colony began to retire for the night no one knew that the son of an evil genius was hard at work preparing to unleash havoc and destruction on the colony soon, but unknown to all parties another group had just learned about the new mobile weapons the Orb Union was producing for the Alliance on the neutral colony.
Now they were changing course to head to the colony where they were also planning on capturing them.
A/N: sorry if this chapter was a little shorter than the last one and I was going to expand a little on the subway scene, but I decided it was fine as is. Sonic and co will be coming soon and Shadow will be unleashed upon the world and a certain young man will be placed behind the controls of a special mobile suit coming tomorrow.