Chapter 15: The Return Home

Two days had passed, and the Freedom Fighters were making their final preparations. A GR-75 transport was sitting on the landing strip of the base, as Tails' modified TC9s were loaded aboard.

"Those transports may just be what we need once we're back in Mobotropolis," said Sally.

"Even though they're fast in name only. I'm stickin' to the ol' ground transportation," said Sonic.

"Sonic, we talked about this. If you run around, people will know it's you. Discretion."

Sonic rolled his eyes.

"I know, Sal. Even though it's the most boring form of mission ever."

"Your ego aside, it's important, we only got one shot at this, Sonic. Our friends are counting on us."

"I know, Sal. I wanna save 'em too, but it's no fun goin' this slow."

"Sonic! Sally! It's almost time to go!" said Tails.

"We'll be right there, Tails," said Sonic.

"Sonic, just trust me on this," said Sally.

"You know I will, Sal. Doesn't mean it's any fun," said Sonic.

Sally then kissed Sonic's cheek, making Sonic awkwardly stagger a little.

The two of them then walked out to the waiting Star Tornado, where the rest of the Freedom Fighters were already climbing aboard. The two of them headed straight for the cockpit as the others took their seats.

"Personally, I am not looking forward to ze returning of home," said Antoine.

"Now why is that, Ant?" said Bunnie.

"Because it iz…how do you say...decimated? No…"

"Ah think you're thinkin' 'desecrated', Ant."

"Yes, thank you, Bunnie. It will be...desecrated...it iz ze feeling of violation zat will last forevair over our home," said Antoine.

"Ah know it's gonna be a cloud over our lil' ol' heads, Ant. But ah know for a fact that when we all are at peace, Mobius is gonna be all beautiful again, since we're all gonna be workin' together to make it so," said Bunnie.

"You think so, Bunnie?"

"Ah do think so, Ant," said Bunnie.

"Well, zat iz all right, then, I guess we will have ze new goal of removing zair stink from our planet once ze war is ovair," said Antoine.

"Count on it, Ant," said Bunnie.

"Yeah, we need to stay positive. At least it gives us goals for when the Empire is defeated," said Amy.

In the cockpit, Sonic and Tails started up the ship and eventually, they took off and began flying out of the hangar into the sky. The Star Tornado began flying out of the atmosphere, with the Storm Ranger taking off not far behind it. The two ships flew off into space and straight towards Derecho Alley.

"Are they ever gonna clean up all this debris? It's a travel hazard for large ships," said Knuckles.

"Lady Soledad told me that scavengers are free to take whatever they find, but the locals may be using it as an informal graveyard, to remind travellers of all those who died defending this planet during the Clone Wars," said Sally.

"I get why people want to remember the battles, but not at the expense of good commerce," said Knuckles.

"It's more than adequate for freighters, they haven't had any complaints," said Sally.

Soon, the two ships exited Derecho Alley and jumped to hyperspace. It didn't take them long to arrive at their destination: the Cortosis Pride, which was right where Sonic & Tails left it, as it was still docked with the Revenant and Andromeda.

"Cortosis Pride, this is the Star Tornado, requesting permission to land," said Sally.

"Star Tornado, this is Cortosis Pride, you are clear to land."

"Thank you...Mr. Marquand," said Sally.

"You're welcome, Princess. I'll be meeting you on the bridge."

The Star Tornado and Storm Ranger flew under the Cortosis Pride, and each of them flew into one of the ship's three hangar bays, and as soon as the doors closed beneath them, allowing them to set down. The respective crews disembarked and made their way up to the bridge of the ship, where they saw the various crewmembers working.

"Okay, now we just leave the flying to these fine gentlemen on the payroll of Marquand," said Jericho.

"You know I'm right here, boy," said Marquand.

"I know that, sir," said Jericho.

"Are they trustworthy?" said Sally.

"Yeah, Marquand's guys, they won't talk. And this ship's new captain knows exactly what to do to get a ship like this down there, isn't that right?" said Jericho.

"That's right."

Derek turned to the voice, which was very familiar to him, and he soon saw why.

"Dad?"

"That's me, son."

"Mr. Alddelfor has previously crewed on cargo ships like this one, so he knows how to walk the walk and talk the talk, so to speak. He's gonna be responsible for getting this ship onto Mobius and later off it," said Jericho.

"Exactly. You experience one cargo ship, it's not hard to remember how the procedure goes," said Rodney.

"Marquand wanted someone trustworthy, and Mr. Alddelfor was on the top of the list," said Jericho.

"This man managed to get the Republic some supplies while getting past a Separatist fleet once," said Marquand.

"I thought I was going to be vaporized, but thanks to the codes you graciously obtained, it all worked out in the end," said Rodney.

"And Marquand's men know what they're doing, they've done this several times before. Anyway, once we get to Mobius, our ship has been cleared to remain in port for up to 48 hours. After that, we're required to depart," said Jericho.

"That doesn't seem like a lot of time," said Rotor.

"It should be more than enough if we work quickly, Rotor," said Sally.

"The spaceport only has a few spots for ships this size, and 48 hours is when this merchant convoy leaves. We have to keep up appearances that we're running this ship on schedule, like the others. If we don't abide by it, the Empire is gonna ruin our day," said Jericho.

"Exactly. So once we arrive, time is of the essence, we're gonna have to work fast and quickly to get our friends to safety, we're gonna have to improvise on this one," said Sally.

"Did you say 'fast'? Sal, you're speakin' my language," said Sonic.

"And I don't mean 'Sonic fast'," said Sally.

Sonic simply pouted as Sally smirked.

"There's only one bit of advice for operations like this; fly casual," said Rodney.

"Exactly, Mr. Alddelfor," said Jericho.

"Marquand, time for us to step off and leave them to it," said David.

"Alright then. Good luck to all of you. We await your return," said Marquand.

"Aye. Good luck down there," said David.

The two of them then left the bridge, making their way to the airlocks to return aboard the Revenant. Before too long, the Revenant detached itself from the Cortosis Pride, and Rodney directed the Cortosis Pride to go full speed ahead.

"Course plotted, captain. Ready for the jump to lightspeed," said A.J.

"Stand by…..go," said Rodney.

The ship's pilots engaged the hyperdrive, and the Cortosis Pride entered hyperspace. After a short while, it exited hyperspace, with a large convoy of various freighters and cargo craft ahead, under the escort of several Lancer-class Frigates.

"There's the convoy. Hope they don't mind that we're late to the party," said Jericho.

"Only one way to find out. They're hailing us," said Sally.

"Leave it to me," said Rodney.

"Imperial Escort Alpha to Cortosis Pride, greetings. You're late."

"We had some problems with our hyperdrive. It's been corrected. Sorry for the delay in arrival," said Rodney.

"Fall into formation and await further instructions."

"Copy that. Cortisis Pride out," said Rodney.

"That's a start," said Sally.

"I doubt they're gonna look at us too closely. We're a tramp freighter, and this ship hasn't been back to Mobius for a while," said Jericho.

"Keep your fingers crossed," said Tails.

"I'm more worried about those frigates. They'll board us the minute they see a wrong move," said Rotor.

"Will you relax? I've been in this situation before. Just follow their instructions to the letter and transmit the proper codes, we'll be fine," said Rodney.

It seemed like a half-hour had passed before the Imperial escorts contacted the convoy vessels.

"All cargo vessels, prepare for the next hyperspace jump. Transmitting coordinates now."

"Okay, you see that? Phase one complete. Smooth as silk," said Rodney.

"Now comes the first tricky part," said Jericho.

The convoy began to move out, and one by one, they jumped into hyperspace alongside their escorts. The Cortosis Pride did the same, and not too long after, they exited hyperspace above Mobius. The Freedom Fighters felt a mix of awe and sadness as they saw the fleet of Star Destroyers in orbit.

"Look at 'em all!" said Sonic.

"What did you expect? They're an occupation force," said Jericho.

"It's just as bad as when we left," said Sally.

"Try worse, thanks to Sonic," said Derek.

"Hey!" said Sonic.

"Zat fuel just had to be blowing ze stuff down," said Antoine.

"I heard that, Ant!"

"Shush! They're getting ready to hail us! Be quiet and act casual," said Rodney.

"All Cargo Vessels, this is Imperial Customs, prepare for inspection. Transmit your manifests to the customs frigates and prepare for scanning."

"Here comes phase two," said Rodney.

The customs frigates slowly scanned each vessel one by one and eventually one of them approached the Cortosis Pride.

"Here it comes. Hope they don't decide to send a boarding party," said Jericho.

"Only if they have reason to suspect anything," said Rodney.

"If they do, Han Solo's book of tricks is gonna get us out of it," said Seraphine.

"Who? Oh, that Corellian smuggler who boasts as badly as Sonic?" said Rodney.

"Yep."

"Cargo Ship Cortosis Pride, we detect two smaller vessels in your hangars. Transmit their registrations, please."

"Oh, I hope they don't look too closely at our ships," said Sally.

"Relax. It'll be fine. Transmitting registrations now," said Rodney.

"Those fake IDs better hold up good," said Dayton.

It was silent for a minute before the frigate responded.

"Sorry about that, Cortosis Pride, just checking. Clearance granted for docking at Docking Port 3."

"No problem and thank you."

Rodney then grinned at the others.

"See? What did I tell you? Marquand has us prepared for anything. Now let's get you all down there," said Rodney.

"Marquand didn't smuggle refugees from here without learning the Imperial tricks," said Jericho.

"Indeed. Okay, head for the TC9s, we're gonna drive the rest of the way once we land. The TC9s are unmarked and clean, so the Empire won't look at us too closely," said Sally.

The Cortosis Pride flew past the massive Skyhook in orbit.

"That eyesore is still as ugly as ever, even up close," said Sonic.

"Yeah," said Tails.

Within minutes, the ship was entering the atmosphere and flew into the skies of Mobius, where it passed through rainclouds over the city, and when it cleared the clouds, the city came into view.

"Robotropolis, aka Mobotropolis….home," said Sonic.

"For what that's worth," said Rotor.

"Glad to see that it ain't changed or nothin', for what that all's worth," said Bunnie.

"I bet it smells even worse," said Amy.

The Cortosis Pride flew towards the Spaceport, approaching it's docking port. The ship slowed to a stop next to the port, and moved into position for the gangways and docking pylons to lock onto the ship, which they did. After that, the ship's engines shut down, and the ship was ready for loading and unloading of cargo. The Freedom Fighters in their TC9s, waited as the boarding ramp attached to the door in front of them, and then the door slowly opened to allow them to disembark. Inside one TC9, Sally, sitting in one seat, directed Rotor, who was driving, to set off. Jericho & his squad followed them in the remaining three transports. They drove down the boarding ramp until they were at ground level, approaching a checkpoint, where they were stopped.

"State your Business on Mobius," said a SWAT Bot.

"Salvage crew, evaluating potential business," said Rotor.

Rotor transmitted the registration from the control console.

"Let's hope those fake registrations work," said Knuckles.

"They got us this far, Knux," said Sonic.

A few minutes felt like an hour before the SWAT Bots responded.

"Registration Confirmed. Have a good day," said the SWAT Bot.

The Force Field deactivated and the Freedom Fighters and Rebels drove out of the Spaceport, onto the street. Sally pulled out her comlink.

"Okay, let's head for the junkyard. But let's drive casually," said Sally.

"Agreed. There's a lot of activity on the streets from what we could see from the ship. Stay sharp," said Jericho.

"Understood," said Sally.

The group drove along the streets until they finally got into the city streets. They saw the usual SWAT Bot patrols working the streets as the citizens tried to go about their business. Only this time, Stormtroopers were patrolling the streets too, and as they drove by, they saw one group harassing a family of five. Sonic clenched his fists, but Sally placed her hand on his.

"I know what you're thinking, Sonic. Don't."

"Sal, you know this makes my blood boil."

"I know...but we can't help everyone right now," said Sally.

Sonic simply snarled defiantly as their transport drove on. They approached one of the Main Citadel Street intersections and were stopped. Soon, they saw a group of AT-STs pass by, escorting a group of AT-ACTs.

"Now we gotta contend with this?" said Tails.

"Sure 'nuff," said Bunnie.

The walkers moved slowly past the intersection, but soon, coming in the opposite direction, the familiar marching sound of Robians echoed off the buildings, as a large group under SWAT Bot escort marched by, heading towards one of the factories. Sonic and Knuckles could only clench their fists harder as the group walked past. Once the Robians and walkers were finally clear, the gates opened up and the Rebels and Freedom Fighters continued onwards. They crossed more streets and saw more Imperials brutalizing and shaking down the civilians all across town. They soon stopped at an empty warehouse with an open door.

"Park the transports here. We're walking," said Jericho.

The Freedom Fighters parked their TC9 in a spot inside the warehouse, Dayton got out and closed the doorway to hide them.

"The junkyard is not much further," said Sally.

"Yeah, we're just walking the rest of the way," said Jericho.

"Sounds fine. Let's go," said Sally.

The group snuck out a back door and walked down the street towards the junkyard, where they made their way through a gap in the fence.

"Um...should we really be in here?" said Natalia.

"Relax, Mydaus, nobody ever comes in here," said Emil.

"Yeah, Probe Droids aside, there's not a lot of reason for anyone to look closely out here," said Jericho.

Sally looked around and saw one pile of junk in particular.

"There. There it is," she said.

They walked up to the hidden door as Sally opened a compartment and entered the code.

"Moment of truth. Here we go."

As soon as the door opened, Sonic rushed in first, with everyone following close behind. The bunker was empty and quiet.

"Oh no…" said Sally.

"We're too late…"

"YOU'RE NOT TAKING US WITHOUT A FIGHT, IMPERIAL MONSTER!"

Sonic snapped to attention, seeing Tangle confronting him with a blaster in her hands.

"WHOA! WHOA! Tangle! It's me, Sonic! CHILL! CHILL!"

Tangle lowered her blaster when Sonic spoke.

"Wait….Sonic?!"

"SONIC?!"

Sonic turned and saw many of the other Freedom Fighters emerging from hiding spots around the bunker. Their faces all lit up when they saw Sonic and the others.

"It is Sonic!" said Spike.

"We're saved!" said Sonar.

"Alright, Sonic! You came back!" said Dulcy.

"Everyone!" said Sonic.

All the Freedom Fighters began exchanging handshakes and hugs with each other as they happily reunited.

"The Wolf Pack...The Shijin Warriors….The Desert Raiders….The Mercians….and the Arctic Freedom Fighters, and even the Downunda Freedom Fighters. You all made it! I didn't think there'd be so many of you," said Sally.

"Indeed we did, Princess," said Walt.

"Lupe has been running things since we got here, Sally," said Dulcy.

"I can tell...thank you, Lupe," said Sally.

"You're welcome Princess. The important thing is that you came. We didn't know if you'd ever receive our message," said Lupe.

"Thank NICOLE, if she didn't listen for things like that, we wouldn't even be here now," said Sally.

"Now for the question we're all asking; where have you guys been?" said Dulcy.

"It's a long story...let's just say thanks to Jericho and Geoffrey here, we wouldn't have escaped otherwise. And at least we have new allies who can help us," said Sally.

"Who?" said Bow.

"You'll see. But even so, the Empire came to Mobius because we unwittingly drew their attention to us with that attack on Robotnik's Chemical Plant on the Silvanus River," said Sally.

"What?" said Jian.

"Robotnik was suppressing information about us from the Empire, probably to keep them from upsetting his business here. But we unintentionally destroyed some construction material meant for the Empire in the attack, and that was the straw that broke the Bantha's back, so to speak," said Sally.

"Are you saying those two knew this might happen, and said nothing?" said Barby.

"Calm down, they were following orders from their bosses," said Sally.

"Besides, it was inconvenient for us. But in the end, it doesn't matter how it played out. If you hadn't attacked that plant, our organization would've inadvertently set it in motion anyway. In other words, our recent victory over the Empire would've brought them here anyway," said Jericho.

"Victory? What's he talking about?" said Guntiver.

"Their organization is the resistance movement against the Empire, the Rebel Alliance. They recently scored a major victory over the Empire not too long ago. They destroyed an Imperial Super Weapon that destroyed an entire planet, I saw the Empire do it," said Sally.

"An entire planet?" said Sonar.

"Which one?" said Lupe.

"Alderaan," said Sally.

Everyone turned and murmured in shock at this news.

"Weren't they friends of our people?" said Friar Buck.

"Yes. One shot, and they were gone," said Sally.

"All the more why we gotta keep fighting," said Sonic.

"That's why we're here now, we're here to get you guys off this planet," said Tails.

"That's good to hear. We didn't try it ourselves cause we didn't know who to trust," said Bunker.

"Do you have a plan, Sally?" said Lupe.

"Yes. There's a cargo ship at the spaceport that our allies commandeered. It's going to smuggle us off this planet to safety, but now we have another problem," said Sally.

"Which is?" said Erma.

"We need to improvise a way to get you guys across the city to the spaceport without being seen," said Sally.

"Why not just fly us there?" said Augustus.

"The Empire would raise eyebrows at a transport landing in the junkyard," said Geoffrey.

"And we don't have much time. We have less than 48 hours to get you guys aboard," said Sally.

"And our transports don't have the capacity for all of you," said Jericho.

"We'll think of something. In the meantime, you all need to get ready. One way or another, I am not leaving here without you guys," said Sally.

"Indeed, Sally," said Lupe.