Chapter 13: Haven

Sally took aim with her target pistol, just as Sonic aimed his blaster pistol at the targets downrange. The two of them fired several shots, striking several of the targets. Sally looked impressed.

"You've improved, Sonic."

"Yeah well, it's all I've really had time for, except for jogs. I mean, I feel ready to take on an army of Stormtroopers or SWATBots, or both...but this is so frustrating, Sal! It's been nearly a month now, and we haven't seen any real action! I want to be out there, taking the fight to Robuttnik or the Empire! Sitting here on this rock isn't gonna get anything done!"

"Sonic, we've talked about this. If we're gonna win this, we need to let the wheels of war turn. The Rebellion knows what they're doing."

"She's right, you know," said Jericho.

Sonic and Sally turned to see Jericho and his squadmates getting in some target practice of their own. Jericho fired an A280 blaster rifle down range, hitting several of the targets with precision accuracy.

"Yeah well, doesn't mean I have to like it! I've been jogging 'round this planet several times a day and I'm getting bored of it!" said Sonic.

"Sapphyrus is a good home-away-from-home, Sonic. It's good to be somewhere where we don't have to worry about Robotnik for once, not him, not his pollution. This planet is a shining example of what Mobius will be again once we liberate it someday," said Sally.

"Whatever," said Sonic.

Terry was firing his A280 on the range, and when venting out the built-up heat, he saw Ross, who was next to him, checking an older weapon.

"Baldwin, why are you still using that old thing?"

"Why not? It's an R67C Blaster Rifle, one of the standard rifles for the Mobian Military back in the day, it works fine."

"Yet that thing is ancient compared to this thing. State-of-the-art equipment from the Rebellion."

"Those things are old too. Plus, they feel like children's toys in my hands. I'll stick with this."

"Yeah, but who used it last? Your grandfather?"

"It's a Mobius DefTech product, those things are invincible."

"Do you two plan to keep this old vs. new-school feud going on?"

Terry and Ross turned to look at Emil.

"Until this one learns some value, Lieutenant. Meanwhile, you're using one of those old Claymore Heavy Blasters," said Ross.

"Indeed," said Emil.

"Good taste, Lieutenant, those things are invincible. All the ones from 30-40 years ago are still working fine. It's a CryonTech Product after all," said Ross.

"Yes indeed, Chief. That's the beauty of Mobian equipment, even in old age, they cannot die," said Emil.

"Speaking of old-school, Natalia here is moreso than we are, you know. She uses that crossbow," said Ross.

Nearby, Natalia began placing crossbow bolts on the table, each one with a differently shaped tip.

"I still can't believe she uses that of all things, that kind of weapon is ancient. Bowcasters are the way to go," said Terry.

"You weren't complaining when she put one between the eyes of that guy on top of you back on Scarif, Ryback," said Kirk.

"Yeah, that's true...I didn't even heard it until…"

"After the guy was shot, Ryback," said Ross.

"Yeah, right. Stealth kills," said Terry.

Natalia loaded a single bolt into her crossbow, as Sally, curious, walked behind her to observe. Natalia fired it at a Stormtrooper dummy wearing armor, but it failed to penetrate very deeply.

"Oh come on."

She loaded another bolt and tried again, but it ricocheted off the armor. She hissed a bit, and loaded another one and tried yet again, the bolt failed to penetrate even the outer layer.

"OH COME ON!" she said.

She then loaded another bolt and tried again. This time, this one seemed to penetrate much deeper than the rest. She pushed the button to move the dummy target to her. She pulled the bolt off, and examined the tip, seeing it was one with four jagged expanding blades. She then stuck her finger in the hole, to examine how deeply it went in. She then looked at the bolt again and took a few notes.

"Interesting, using a weapon like that in this day and age," said Sally.

Natalia jumped and screamed at Sally suddenly speaking. She froze up, feeling like her tongue was too twisted to speak.

"Then again, we use whatever we can get, and sometimes the old things help us defeat the new things," said Sally.

"Um...y-y-yes…." said Natalia.

"I take it you've...had practice with it?" said Sally.

"Well, um...well ...I...I...I…"

"I think what Natalia's trying to say is that she's had years to refine her tools and technique, Sally. She's a hunter, therefore, she hunts, and does so quietly so the prey won't see it coming, so to speak. Isn't that right?" said Jericho.

Natalia quietly nodded.

"Yeah, a quiet approach allows you to even up the odds a bit so it turns against the enemy," said Geoffrey.

Geoffrey loaded one of the same bolts Natalia used into his wrist crossbow, and fired it at Natalia's target dummy.

"Yeah, well, quiet is for when something's at stake. Otherwise, if the odds are against you...you just make 'em go out with a bang," said Declan.

Declan shouldered his micro-grenade launcher and fired it downrange, destroying several practice dummies in the blast. Meanwhile, a Rebel Soldier approached Natalia and spoke to her as Jericho and Sally observed.

"Just don't be so focused on destruction that you accidentally destroy an objective, Declan," said Mitchell Turtle.

"Oh, relax, MC, I am an artist. I condition my art according to the canvas I must paint with explosives," said Declan.

"Aw, brother," said Terry.

"Good to see your squad is as sharp as ever, Jericho."

"They're good people, Sally. We'll be ready to help out any way we can."

"Good, because we're gonna need that."

"Um, excuse me, sir, you have a visitor waiting for you at the pad," said Natalia.

Jericho saw Natalia pointing towards the direction of the shuttle launchpad near the city.

"Did they say who it was?"

"Um...what was her name...uhh...Ariana...no, Adina? No, that's not it either…wait, Athena! Yes, Athena, that's it!" said Natalia.

"Really? Thank you, Natalia. I'll go there now," said Jericho.

Jericho walked away as Sally went to rejoin Sonic. Natalia was confused by Jericho's reaction, while the rest of the squad, minus Terry and Ross, seemed surprised.

"So, Athena's here," said Dayton.

"I thought she was still back home," said Declan.

"Evidently, not. Should we be worried?" said Mitchell.

"Nah, Athena's a good kid, she's not gonna do anything," said Emil.

"Uh, guys, something we oughta know?" said Ross.

"Yeah, who are we talking about? Friend of yours?" said Terry.

"Yeah, she is. Known her since before we joined up with the Rebellion," said Emil.

"Remember that woman from Scarif we fought? Tasha Spector?" said Dayton.

"That...that half-roboticized woman that Jericho fought? I remember she killed herself after you and him talked with her…why? What about her?" said Natalia.

"Athena, she's Tasha's daughter," said Dayton.

Natalia was stunned at those words.

"...Really?"

"Yeah, she's the same age as you and me. Like the LT said, she was our friend long before the Rebellion, you, Ryback, and Baldwin came on. She's a little...unusual, but she's good. I hope we get to see her soon," said Kirk.

"Yeah," said Dayton.

Jericho arrived at a docking bay only a short distance from the base, and saw crowds of people disembarking the shuttle, seeing all sorts of species, and then he saw a female Mobian Wasp wearing a hooded jacket with a stoic expression up against a doorway. He walked up and she noticed him.

"Athena."

"Jericho."

Athena's voice was almost deadpan, with only small bits of emotion that appeared to be discerned from her speaking voice.

"How long have you been waiting here?"

"Close to a half-hour now."

"What are you doing here?"

"Everything I own is in this bag here. I sold my mom's place, used it to pay a shuttle fare to make my way here to join up with you guys, you got a problem with that?"

Jericho saw Athena's bag, which was little more than a backpack with a few items sticking out of it.

"Join up? Athena, you know we're grateful for the things you've done for us, but-"

"Don't wanna hear it. I got nobody back home. You guys are all I got now that mom's gone. Mom may turn over on that improvised grave the Empire dug her on Scarif, but I don't care if she thought she was protecting me. You guys are the real family in my life."

"I guess it's pointless to argue with you, Athena. You'd rather spit on your mom's grave and do the exact thing she didn't want you to than do…whatever you do."

"You know me."

"We may have trained you a bit for fun in the past, but we gotta put you through the training and all that, which shouldn't be that hard for you if you remember the stuff we taught you."

"Been a while, but a good refresher will bring it all back."

"Good. Then let's go then."

"Copy that...sir."

Jericho picked up Athena's bag as the two of them set off together back to the base. When they arrived, they didn't encounter any of the squad members.

"It's late, probably out relaxing in the lounge. That's all right, though, you'll get to see them soon," said Jericho.

"I know," said Athena.

They walked into the barracks, and made their way upstairs to the bunks.

"We're just using these until we're ready to set off, then we'll move back to the Salvation."

"Alright, where do you want me?"

"Take that top one there, unload your stuff in that footlocker and come up to the lounge when you're ready. Take the elevator up to level five and follow the signs, you'll find it," said Jericho.

"Copy that," said Athena.

Jericho then left as Athena opened the footlocker for her bunk and began unloading her bag. Before long, Natalia came out of the refresher when she saw Athena, not realizing who she was.

"Um...hello there...what are you doing with my bunk?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry, the lower one must be yours...I'm just taking this top one here, it was open," said Athena.

"Uhh...sure, I guess?" said Natalia.

Athena finished with the last of her things and shut her locker, and she then turned to Natalia, looking at her for the first time.

"Are you sure you're in the right place?"

"Um, yes?"

Athena squinted and looked closely at Natalia, noting her appearance.

"You look a bit...sweet. You just stand out a bit. I know everyone on Jericho's squad, but you I've never seen before, are you really a part of this?" said Athena.

"Yes, I am a recent addition, I've only been with the squad for a few months now. Um, my name's Natalia...Natalia Mydaus."

"Athena Spector."

"Wait...oh, so you're Athena. Jericho and some of the older squad members were talking about you when I told him you were here. But you're...not what I expected…"

"What did you expect?"

"I guess I didn't...and...I only just found out about your relationship with….your late mother, who...by the way, I saw die on Scarif."

"You didn't know her, obviously. So the less that is said about that coward, the better. I believe we're supposed to be somewhere."

Natalia felt a chill down her spine from Athena's stoic words as she tied her hair back.

"May I...walk you there?"

"Yes, thank you. I'm dying to see everyone."

Natalia put her shirt back on as she walked with Athena to the elevator and they took it up to level five, and they walked into the lounge. The rest of the squad was talking when the two women walked in.

"There she is," said Jericho.

"Hello, everyone," said Athena.

"Hey, Athena. Good to see you," said Dayton.

"Good to see you, girl," said Emil.

"Hey guys...it really is nice to see you all," said Athena.

"I see you met Natalia, good. We also picked up two more guys since we last saw you, Terry Ryback and Ross Baldwin, they're both transplants from other squads," said Jericho.

Athena took a look at Ross and Terry, standing by the bar. Terry looked at her and grinned.

"They look the part to me," said Athena.

"Hello…." said Terry.

Athena took little notice of Terry as she walked to the bar.

"Athena is formally a part of our squad after all these years. So we gotta whip her into shape and makes sure she's hasn't forgotten what we've taught her," said Jericho.

"Hey, we'll take any help we can get," said Ross.

"And her computer skills will be a big help, maybe take some of the load off me and the droids," said Kirk.

"You managed this long without me, Kirk, maybe you're getting sloppy," said Athena.

"Hardly sloppy, been keeping up on my slicing skills, Athena. I'll show you some of the stuff I picked up after dinner," said Kirk.

"Sounds good," said Athena.

The squad then gathered around the bar for a round of drinks and dinner, well into the night. Several hours later, Sonic was in his bed in a Laurent house guestroom, looking very lost in his dream as he slept away.

"Mmm…yes, Uncle Chuck...I'll have another chili dog...yeah...a whole platter sounds good to me….mmmm…."

Soon, NICOLE appeared next to Sonic's bed.

"Sonic?"

Sonic was awoken from his sleep and freaked out when he saw NICOLE standing next to his bed.

"GAH! NICOLE, I told you never to do that again!" he said.

"Apologies, Sonic. But we need you in the conference room. I have something important to share. Sally and the rest of the Rebel staff are present," said NICOLE.

"Okay...I'll be right down...I hope it's worth the loss of a good chili dog dream…" said Sonic.

Later, Sonic walked downstairs to the conference room, where he saw Sally, several Laurent-McCormick family members, and Jericho, Milena, Dayton, and Geoffrey gathered around a holoprojector, which NICOLE was using to display herself.

"Sorry we had to wake you up, Sonic. But NICOLE said it was important," said Sally.

"If it has to be at 0300 in the morning, Sal, it had better be worth it," said Sonic.

"NICOLE?" said Sally.

"Thank you, Sally. I was randomly going through some communication satellites that the Rebellion had tapped, looking for intel on that hull plating we recovered from that freighter. I was listening to communication signals when I came across something unusual broadcasting on the network. Listen,"

NICOLE began playing back the looped signal, which had no words.

"What is that?" said Soledad.

"Ah, too regular to be random interference," said David.

"Not to me it isn't. I recognized it immediately, it's an old planetary-based transmission signal that the Freedom Fighters used back on Mobius," said NICOLE.

"Yeah, now that you mention it, it sounds familiar," said Jericho.

"NICOLE, boost the power by 19% and slow it down a bit, and decode it," said Sally.

"Processing. Stand by…..complete."

NICOLE then displayed the decoded message on the holoprojector, it was a single word.

"Haven?" said Soledad.

"What does that mean?" said Indigo, Jr.

"I know I've seen that before," said Geoffrey.

Sally became unresponsive for a minute, her mouth hanging open as she tried to sort through her thoughts, eventually smiling.

"Sonic, do you know what that is?"

"Yeah, Sal! That's the distress signal!"

"Our friends...the other Freedom Fighters...they're alive!" said Sally.

"Uhh...Princess, care to fill us in here?" said Soledad.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Lady Soledad. Let me start over," said Sally.

"Yes, what does this mean?" said Saffron.

"About a year and a half ago, we found an old military bunker buried under the junk in Robotnik's junkyard in Robotropolis, and we realized it would make a perfect safehouse, since Robotnik doesn't pay much mind to it. I wanted to have a place that a displaced Freedom Fighter group could go, like if they got compromised and were forced out of their region. But we only told their individual leaders and had them swear to secrecy, to ensure if anyone got captured, they wouldn't know where it was. It would allow them to hide out until the heat died down and we could get them safely to Knothole," said Sally.

"It's true, Geoffrey & I helped stock the place with some weapons and ammunition for whoever was held up in there," said Jericho.

"And this signal, it's some kind of distress signal that they're holed up at this…safehouse?" said Soledad.

"Yes, they were to send this signal when they were safe inside the bunker. It was a signal NICOLE could pick up and decipher, it was an old signal nobody uses anymore, it's too slow by modern standards," said Sally.

"Well, what are we waiting for? We gotta go back to Mobius and get them!" said Sonic.

"Have you forgotten one thing, Sonic?" said Jericho.

"And what's that?" Sonic said.

"There's still a whole Imperial Force between us and them," said Jericho.

"Oh…right," said Sonic.

"Lady Soledad, is there anything we can do?" said Sally.

"I understand you want to help your friends, but it's risky. For one, after the destruction of the Death Star, we cannot afford to risk those kind of resources with what the Alliance is dealing with. Second, we're not doing what was done at Lothal, risking an assault, too many lives were lost for a victory that really didn't give us much. And lastly...how can you be certain your friends sent that? It could be a trap," said Soledad.

"Aye, the Imperials may be tuggin' at your heartstrings just to draw you out," said David.

"No, the Empire would have never discovered that. The Freedom Fighter leaders were told to commit that information to heart and memory, and they'd die or get roboticized before they talked," said Sally.

"Well that's just great. Our friends are suffering and trapped on a world full of people who want them dead or roboticized, and it's not like we can just waltz on down and just take 'em off world!"

Sally thought for a moment upon hearing Sonic's words. She thought hard until finally, something went off in her head, and she grinned.

"I have the old plan," she said.

"Whoa, I know what that means...what do you have in mind, Sal?" said Sonic.

"Well, you said it yourself, Lady Soledad, an assault is out of the question. So all that means is that we need to find a more covert approach," said Sally.

"That's true. Discretion may be a better choice here," said Soledad.

"If you're planning on smuggling them off world, you'll need a suitable vessel for the job," said Geoffrey.

"Yeah, in my experience, the Empire always assumes that we prefer fast and maneuverable vessels for escape, and tend to pay close attention to them. Also, I always see these ops run into issues with clearances and schedules, that kind of makes them stand out," said Jericho.

Sally thought for a moment, and then turned to Marquand.

"Mr. Marquand, how exactly do you get people off-world?" she said.

"Well, Princess, my fleet of merchant vessels regularly travels between Mobius and the colony worlds, among others. For people who want to get off world discreetly, we usually smuggle them aboard as new crewmembers, hide them among cargo, and we take them where they want, some want to join our cause, others just want a new beginning on other worlds. But this operation regularly gets my ships harassed by Imperial patrols," said Marquand.

"But it is do-able?" said Sally.

"Indeed," said Marquand.

"So what if...we tried smuggling them off-world on a scheduled vessel?" said Sally.

"What do you mean?" said Soledad.

"Well, you heard Jericho, if we try slipping in with say, the Star Tornado, we'll already raise suspicion on the fact we're not supposed to be there in the first place, so we hide in plain sight," said Sally.

"You're suggesting we approach one of the civilian transport crews?" said Soledad.

"Why not just hijack one of the Imperials' vessels?" said Sonic.

"Cause that would require sourcing a human crew for it, and we don't have that kind of time," said Jericho.

"So that means we use a civilian vessel. Won't raise too many questions about crew, since they could come from anywhere...Mr. Marquand, how often do supply convoys come and go from Mobius?" said Sally.

"Maybe once every week or so, why?" said Marquand.

"Get me a list of some of the regular vessels in those convoys...I need to brainstorm here," said Sally.

"Of course, Princess," said Marquand.

"Okay, I guess we're doing this, then," said Nora.

"Alright, let's get strategizing," said Jericho.

"Sonic could you go bring our friends up to speed? No pun intended," said Sally.

"I can do that in a Sonic second, Sal!" said Sonic.

"I'll go brief the rest of the team," said Dayton.

"I'll go put on some coffee, we're gonna need it," said Milena.